The Colac Otway Shire Council is a shire of 13,000 people located in south-western Victoria. Learn how local governments can use integrated digital webforms to deliver better experiences for residents.
About Colac Otway Shire Council
Client Since 2017
The Colac Otway Shire Council is a 3,438 square kilometre shire located in south-western Victoria. The Shire has a population of 13,000, expected to grow to 20,000 by the year 2050 and is based around the major centres of Colac and Apollo Bay. The Colac Otway Shire Council engaged Symphony3 to improve online service delivery to residents and employees.
Requirement: DIY Forms
Symphony3 developed a customer portal, intranet with forms portal, and integration to core council systems.
The Challenge
- Poor digital service delivery - collection of pdf forms and stand-alone non-integrated forms delivered a frustrating experience to citizens.
- Old, outdated intranet delivering no internal value. Content was no longer relevant and there were no tools for streamlining internal processes.
- Difficulty connecting existing digital applications (online forms and intranet) to internal systems as existing platforms lacked integration capability.
Solution Symphony3 Delivered
- Delivery of a new customer portal and intranet on a secure and stable platform.
- Implementation of internal and external forms. Many forms were copied from Symphony3 forms library (e.g. replication of forms from other councils).
- Integration of digital platform with core systems including Civica Authority, HP Content Manager, MS Active, and Merit CRMS.
- Staff training to build own digital services/forms.
Client Benefits and Outcomes
- Enhanced customer experience and 24/7 service delivery. Citizens can quickly and easily access content and services.
- Better employee experience – staff use the intranet to apply for internal services including annual leave applications and to book training courses.
- Automation of processes via integration with core systems eliminates time-consuming manual processes.
- Integration allows new systems to be plugged into existing core systems ensuring use of existing systems is maximised.
- SaaS model removes security and upgrade responsibility from the IT department. – Symphony3 manages all software patches and upgrades on its platform, meaning council IT staff can focus on core systems and core tasks.
- Unlocking of Staff Potential – employees can build and expand the platform by adding their own integrated forms and digital services.
A seamless customer experience with no data-entry