Defence provide a holistic view on GovCMS

In 2018, the Australian Army Research Centre (AARC) chose to move their content from the Australian Army website. Branching out allowed them to tailor a new website with functions to meet the needs of their audience.

‘The AARC regularly publish blogs, video seminars and research articles. As our content grew we identified the need for a sophisticated research functionality. The Army website didn’t have this. We also wanted to allow users to contribute to research. This encourages analysis and debate,’ said Thomas, Website designer.

As a small team of four, they chose to host their website on SaaS. This meant they didn’t have to worry about security and platform maintenance. It also meant they could manage the front end of their website without being an expert in IT. Using GovCMS gave the team confidence their website met government and best practice standards.

‘Hosting our site in a government controlled environment helped our business case. It’s important to have a service we can trust. All we need to do is focus on creating quality content,’ said Matthew, Website Manager.

There were also procurement benefits. ‘Building our website on GovCMS saved us going to market. We were able to access a supplier from the Drupal Services Panel. The GovCMS team helped us through the whole contract process. They verified we had covered everything we needed. It made my job much easier,’ said Stephen, Procurement Officer.

Customer research helped inform the development of the new website. Much of the customer feedback focused on the need for in-depth content searches. The team analysed search terms and how customers could use a search environment. This helped them understand the expectations of customers—and the vendors delivered! AARC factored the ability to operate at an OFFICIAL: Sensitive level into their build.

‘We have recently activated a log-in section where users can add comments and contribute to research. Building a website is an iterative process. We have lots more to come. We’re looking at using an RSS feed and a podcast feature,’ said Dr Albert Palazzo, Director, War Studies.