Michelle Weaver
Senior Advisor, Engagement
As 2021 draws to a close, it’s a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon the year that was, to take stock of progress against our goals, celebrate our achievements, and prepare for the work that lay ahead of us in 2022.
Whilst 2021 has proven to be yet another challenging year for many, from the mouse plagues in Regional NSW to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, and much more in between, our Digital Channels team has shown determination, resilience, and a relentless commitment to the customer.
Our goal, to make it easier for customers to seek (and find) the information they’re looking for, provide feedback and complete a task, has never been more important. It is during both challenging and prosperous times that citizens and businesses turn to NSW Government for information and support. This is why we’re focussed on creating a positive digital experience for customers, based on their needs, not the structure of government.
OneCX program aims to create a unified, customer-centric experience of NSW Government.
What have we achieved in 2021?
nsw.gov.au website and social channels
In 2021, nsw.gov.au saw:
- 62.8 million visitors (users) – +195% more visitors than last year
- With a whopping 1.8 million visitors in one day, on June 26th!
- 65.1 million total visits (sessions) – +267% more compared to last year
- 85% to COVID-19 information
- 361.5 million page views in total
- 1.8 million site searches
- 73% visitors accessing content on their mobile phone
NSW Government Facebook page:
- 230,100 followers
- 87,994 new followers in 2021, growing by 59% on 2020
- Total 9.8 million engagements
- Reaching 9.9 million people
Amongst the delivery of critical information, customers have enjoyed and responded positively to the injection of humour!
nsw.gov.au and the OneCX program website migrations
In 2021, the OneCX program team collaborated with various NSW Government agencies to redesign, refine and migrate 11 websites. In the process, we launched over 2000 pages to nsw.gov.au and decommissioned 66 sites and 522 pages, through the refinement and de-duplication process.
In February 2021, Innovation NSW, a cross-agency microsite, migrated to nsw.gov.au. Working in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders, content on the cross-agency projects was stream-lined and de-duplicated. As the leading state in Australia for start-up’s, NSW citizens can now more easily access support and resources to help achieve their goals.
This month, we also launched Readspeaker (text to speech), in addition to the language selector. Accessibility is a key consideration across all content migrating to nsw.gov.au.
April 2021: E10 went live, making it easier for drivers to complete an E10 compatibility check, find E10 fuel nearby and learn important facts about E10 and the environment.
June 2021: Resilience NSW provides disaster relief and support to customers impacted by natural disaster. Launched during the peak of the mouse plague, with a mobile first approach, it’s now quicker and easier for customers to access information and support, during time their time of need.
It was also in June, that we recorded the highest number of daily visitors to the site, with 1.8million users accessing information in one day.
Taking advantage of drop-down menus and improved search functions, the user experience was significantly improved for visitors seeking disaster relief and support.
July 2021, saw the first instalment of the Transport for NSW (TfNSW) migration, with the launch of Roads and Waterway’s vehicle registration and mobile safety checks. Taking large volumes of complex information and simplifying with location specific, searchable content, optimised for mobile.
August 2021: As the site continues to grow, our monthly website users reaches over 14 million per month.
September 2021: Business Connect content launched on nsw.gov.au, with simplified navigation and improved content, making it easier for businesses to access free tools and resources to achieve their business goals.
TfNSW’s Waterways Safety and Rules and Road Safety and Rules, boasting an improved visual layout, a new audio player to listen and learn boating signals, and training video content to help roads and waterways users safely navigate their journey.
Transport for NSW content is migrating in 10 instalments. With 8 completed in 2021, we're almost nearing the finish line!
October 2021 was a busy month with four migrations completed, and an upgrade of our content management system.
The Mental Health at Work migration consolidated over 150 pages into 50, creating a simplified information architecture. A new registration form and workplace pulse check enables businesses to better understand how they can provide a mentally healthy workplace.
Just as the weather started warming up, water enthusiasts could take advantage of the newly released Using Waterways content. The pages were optimised for mobile and offer information on using our beautiful NSW waterways whilst on the go.
The Grandparent’s Day campaign site migrated in October, in the lead up to the annual event.
Celebrating the diversity of grandparent relationships, customers can now easily search for local events, access resources, and also count down the days, with a newly introduced countdown ticker widget.
Finally, the Office of Responsible Gambling commenced it’s migration with the initial responsible gambling grants landing page launching on nsw.gov.au. A lot of the work completed on this piece, then fed into the design and development of the new Grants and funding finder tool, launched in December. More on that shortly!
November 2021: This month we launched two campaign sites, Child Protection Legal Conference and Safety starts with you.
The ticker widget from Grandparents Day was replicated on this campaign event site for the Child Protection Legal Conference, maximising use of pre-built functionality.
We also launched the fifth instalment of TfNSW’s migration, with Driver and Rider Licences. Working with over 30 subject matter experts across TfNSW to deliver 125 pages. This content includes Find a Safer Drivers course provider, High Performance vehicle registrations and approved motorcycles for novice riders and improves usability through new search functions and refinement of content across all pages.
December 2021, was a bumper month as we finalised a number of migrations and further improvements across nsw.gov.au.
TfNSW’s Vessel registration, Boat and PWC licences went live. In addition, we launched the first instalment of Training Services NSW, and the beta version of the Grants and funding portal on nsw.gov.au
The aim of the portal is to list all grants from across NSW Government in one location. Making it easier for customers to search and discover grants relevant to their needs, rather than having to locate on various agency’s websites. We developed search and filter functionality, enabling customers to easily find the latest information on available grants, which are open, closed, ongoing or coming soon.
This beta site doesn’t yet capture all grants across government. Many grants link out to agency sites. In time this content will transition over to nsw.gov.au. This is the first stage to test and capture customer feedback.
The Grants portal helps customers to find a government initiative, grant or funding program to help support their business, project or community
Lastly, in December we updated the website to align with new Government branding, implemented Customer Satisfaction scoring, and piloted improved translation service. This translation service combines machine and human translation. After we review findings and make further refinements, we aim to launch in the new year.
Our challenges
COVID-19 response
Again this year, COVID-19 presented many challenges for citizens and businesses of NSW. The Digital Channels team worked tirelessly to ensure customers were kept informed. Updating the nsw.gov.au and social channels with the latest information on testing clinics, travel restrictions, Covid-19 safety and rules, and support for businesses.
Our aim, to engage and inform the community, to keep our state safe throughout the pandemic.
Capability and Technology
Throughout the year, our capability program has supported a learner-led approach for digital capability uplift across all Government program partners. Our team facilitated over 170 training sessions for 497 people. Empowering and enabling our people from across 16 NSW Government agencies, to use the CMS (content management system) platform.
This capability program ensures the migration work and ongoing maintenance of content is of the highest standard. This work will continue and expand in 2022, as the site grows.
In 2021, our team has and will continue to implement robust IT security practices and provide support training to program partners on our platform technology. Allowing agencies to remain focused on excellent experience design.
The year ahead
2022 is gearing up to be a big year for the Digital Channels team as we accelerate the work of the OneCX program and continue to deliver critical information and support to the citizens and businesses of NSW.
We’re building a best-in-class open-source tech platform, with security at the heart. Over the next year we will be piloting new functionality in distributed content, personalisation and enhanced translation services.
We’ll continually track our success by monitoring customer sentiment, customer journeys, engagement with customers, and trust in Government. Our team will focus on:
- migrating content from across government onto nsw.gov.au
- finding customer pain points and fixing them
- identifying and delivering cost savings by reducing unnecessary duplication of functionality
- continually improve our product based on data driven customer insights.
Our roadmap for 2022 will focus on content for young people, regional NSW, grants, events, and business.
Thank you to each member of the Digital Channels team for their ongoing collaboration, dedication, and customer focus, in bringing together this culmination of work for the citizens of NSW.
Find out more about the work of the nsw.gov.au program achievements, including milestones, launches and upcoming work. Or, subscribe to our OneCX program newsletter for monthly updates delivered straight to your inbox.