Northeast Health Wangaratta Intranet Case Study

See how We've transformed

Northeast Health Wangaratta (NHW) is a leading Victorian health service committed to providing quality health care to more than 90,000 people across North East Victoria. Our vision is to build thriving communities in North East Victoria, achieving the best quality of life for everyone.

The Challenge

NHW’s previous intranet was built on a version of SharePoint no longer supported by Microsoft. The functionality was outdated, and the intranet needed a refresh in terms of how content was presented.

We have 1,700 clinical and non-clinical staff members working across multiple departments and locations. Our diverse operations require people to access resources from different settings in various ways.

We were looking for a provider to redevelop our intranet and deliver a centralised information point for all staff members while protecting data confidentiality and privacy. The intranet needed to be user-friendly, easy to navigate, contemporary, secure, and accessible for staff to access and share an extensive amount of information and resources. The capacity to link to external provider sites and applications required for their work, as well as the ability for staff to connect off-site/external to the network securely, were also key considerations.

You are here:

The Elcom team were very responsive and demonstrated the expertise to redevelop our intranet according to our requirements. We have been able to deliver a comprehensive and easy-to-navigate intranet accessible for all staff on and off the network in a secure way. Karen Rourke, Manager Media & Marketing
Northeast Health Wangaratta

Northeast Health Wangaratta Intranet

The Solution

As a public entity, we have a rigorous procurement process to ensure the integrity of our selection. Our procurement panel evaluated vendors based on a range of considerations, including the required functionality, value for money, and adherence to accessibility standards.

We determined that the Elcom product could deliver what we needed for the new intranet. We also had confidence in the Elcom team’s ability to redevelop our intranet based on their experience working with health services organisations.

The business relationship has been really smooth throughout the project and the team readily provided information on how the Elcom product could meet our requirements. We collaborated with different team members at Elcom, from design to IT support, for various project components. Knowing that a team member was always available during our working hours to respond to questions and tasks was invaluable.

The new intranet, Connect, enables staff to stay updated on what's happening across services, access information, and link to the resources required for their jobs.

Connect guides users to the right information when they need it, including clinical and non-clinical resources. We've benefited from strong search functionality, a user-friendly ‘I want to’ dropdown for users to select key actions, and quick links to external applications and systems that staff need to access. Communication levels have also improved by displaying key reminders and alerts separately from news and prominently displaying the news upon login.

Extra security overlays have been added to protect our resources and systems. Staff can connect from multiple devices and off-site locations with multifactor authentication, enabling access to resources from various settings for our diverse operations that need access to resources from various settings.

We have also custom-developed scenarios that support secure, flexible access. On-site staff using our network have access to all resources and links. However, accessing the intranet from a mobile phone or devices off-site offers a different experience, with some functionality greyed out or inaccessible outside the secure network, to protect confidential data. Staff can still view information such as their roster, news feed, career opportunities, training, events and links to key documents, allowing them to stay informed and connected even when working remotely.

We were drawn to the strong forms and workflow feature and its potential to improve efficiency and streamline internal operations. This integration allows forms to be easily accessed and completed on-screen, routed for approval, and automatically sent to the next department. We are working to convert paper-based or PDF forms to online versions.

The Benefits

One of our key goals at NHW is to improve our employees' working day and engagement across the organisation. The intranet is designed to help us achieve this by providing news, information, and resources in a way that is secure, streamlined and easy to navigate.

We have delivered real improvements to our intranet offering through the Elcom product. We can now understand what our levels of engagement are and target our actions and communications to meet the needs of the organisation and our workforce. Connect helps staff access resources to do their jobs and show their care for each other. For example, through the online reward nomination feature, staff can recognise each other, fostering a positive culture.

We have received positive feedback about the contemporary design and staff are being proactive in providing suggestions and information they want to see on the intranet, which we really appreciate and encourage so we can deliver a tool that meets their needs. The analytics we can glean from the site, such as key search words, help us understand what information people are looking for and help make this process as smooth as possible.

Connect also helps new employees in navigating our organisation by providing information on parking, maps, booking training, and completing mandatory training, with integrated system links to streamline processes and clarify form purposes.

We implemented extra security overlays to ensure our resources and systems are protected appropriately. At the same time, we strive to make the user experience as streamlined as possible, accommodating varying levels of IT literacy and enabling staff to access information whether they are working on-site, remotely, or via a mobile device.

Want a PDF version of the Northeast Health Wangaratta success story? Click to download.

visit or see more case studies