Port Waratah Coal Services Intranet Case Study

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Port Waratah Coal Services has been receiving, stockpiling, blending, and loading coal for export in the Port of Newcastle for over 45 years. Port Waratah plays a vital role in the Hunter Valley Coal Chain. Streamlined operations ensure the delivery of high-quality, reliable, and agile coal services to customers, while responsibly managing environmental, social and governance obligations.

The Challenge

Port Waratah had a requirement to upgrade their ten-year old intranet built on a SharePoint 2013 platform that was no longer supported. What started purely as a technical upgrade for the IT team, quickly evolved into a broader initiative.

The Internal Communications Working Group at Port Waratah, a significant stakeholder in this project, also had a desire to enhance staff engagement through communication and storytelling. A new look and feel and improved delivery of communication via the intranet were added to the requirements.

The primary objectives were to deliver an intranet solution on a modern, secure and supported platform, simplify the intranet design and content, and most importantly to provide a great user experience. It had to respect branding guidelines while establishing its own identity, plus be fully mobile responsive to meet the needs of an increasingly mobile workforce. The intranet is a gateway to everything that employees need to know, therefore it was imperative that the intranet was easily accessed both on and off site and across multiple devices.

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The Elcom team really took the time to understand our brand and requirements, delivering an amazing intranet that met our objectives. It has been a very positive project and a great, collaborative experience. I look forward to our ongoing partnership. Jennifer Murphy, Specialist Business Information
Port Waratah Coal Services

Port Waratah Coal Services Intranet

The Solution

The original intent was to upgrade to SharePoint online, but it was quickly established that the online version of SharePoint did not provide a great user experience or strong company branding for intranet sites. Port Waratah explored the market and received many varied proposals. Stakeholders at Port Waratah landed on the Elcom solution, as it met all the requirements set out in the proposal and offered the compelling design they were looking for.

It was also necessary to ensure the intranet worked seamlessly within the business and integrated where necessary. Cybersecurity compliance was crucial - moving to a secure, cloud-based solution alleviated on-premises obligations.

Elcom was very responsive throughout the project. They led a discovery exercise with Port Waratah stakeholders, identifying pain points and valuable features. The resulting scope of work provided confidence that Elcom understood the requirements. Once the design and development started, ongoing collaboration between Elcom and the Port Waratah internal IT team helped ensure a smooth handover and successful launch.

At Port Waratah, its intranet, The Channel, is the main communications tool for employees. Need-to-know information and high frequency links are now front and centre on the homepage in a visually engaging and user-friendly way, making it easy to access. The new custom design has been well received by employees - from the news articles and people search to the homepage links to other applications with single sign-on.

The intranet has been built in a way where publishers don’t have to go into the backend part of the CMS. When a publisher logs in, they see the option to publish content on a page such as the ‘Manage News’ button on the news page. This empowers different teams to easily publish and update content including alerts and notifications on the frontend with a streamlined yet controlled user experience.

Port Waratah has two coal terminals, Carrington and Kooragang, physically located in Newcastle. There are dedicated pages on the intranet for employees and contractors working on these sites, to provide one-click access to essential alerts, notifications and key functions. It also displays overarching business metrics and specific operational statistics. Licence to operate and safety statistics for the terminals are pulled from the company on-premise data warehouse and displayed on the intranet via an API. This information is valued at the shift level, with some shifts proudly showcasing over 5000 days without a safety incident.

The intranet is primarily the gateway to information and links in the Elcom platform direct users to documents in the Port Waratah managed SharePoint libraries in a streamlined and efficient way. The Elcom document manager is used for company Quick Guides.

Post-launch, continuous improvements are being made to the intranet and an ongoing partnership with Elcom has been maintained.

The Benefits

Together with Elcom, Port Waratah has delivered a great intranet that has met all objectives. It is a secure, modern, and mobile-responsive platform with an excellent user experience that respects branding guidelines.
The Channel is the gateway to the important information employees need access to. It has been well received, and engagement has improved with the new design. The targeted content capabilities make it easy for anyone to navigate and find what they need, whether it’s an emergency phone number or essential job information.

The Channel supports a diverse mix of employees. For support staff, it loads when they open their browser for the day, so visual appeal and user-friendly access were important to foster engagement. For operators who don’t spend much time at computers, it was crucial that they could easily access necessary information when they require access by logging on using their devices. All of this was factored into the design. Key information was made front and centre in an easy-to-navigate and uncluttered way which has made a big visual impact.

The delivery of internal communications has improved significantly. It used to be a challenge to get people to provide stories and content, but this is steadily increasing. It is easy for publishers to keep the intranet constantly refreshed and engaging. At Port Waratah, there is a focus on storytelling, and the intranet provides a platform to highlight good stories about work, environmental care, and community involvement. This storytelling aspect is a big part of engaging employees.

The project's success was a result of the joint effort between both teams. Elcom made sure to grasp the essence of the brand and information requirements. The team from Port Waratah contributed their expertise, with their IT personnel offering vital guidance to ensure that the intranet met the required standards, integrated smoothly with existing systems, and was successfully rolled out to staff members.

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