Essex County Council SEND Website
Customer success case study
Upgrading and streamlining user experience for Essex County Council with LocalGov Drupal
Essex County Council (ECC) required a new website for their Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) service, co-designed and built with user needs at the core on LocalGov Drupal (LGD). This was the first time LGD was used to create a SEND Local Offer website, and our aim was to work as a blended team ensuring increased adoption and transformation of the website.
Project challenges
- The existing website had a complex layout and IA, which needed to be completely redesigned based on user needs.
- LGD directories were not originally configured with SEND in mind. The existing functionality required development and testing.
- SEND is a complex area with a lot of legislation, further complicated by a large geographic area within Essex and varying offerings.
- There were numerous users were to be considered, with variety of requirements for the website.
Project processes
Discovery and strategy
Using an agile approach with the ECC team, we defined a success criteria and guaranteed to be and transparent, publishing our research notes and code to keep stakeholders and the users of the SEND website informed.
Design and implementation
Once we were into the build phase, user engagement activities, including Guerilla and scenario based testing took place to ensure user needs were being met. Extensive work took place to ensure the directory, provided enough information for users.
A member of our team joined the Essex Service Design Team to ensure that user needs were identified, and the new website was built based on research.
The results achieved for Essex
- The research available to us was critical, learning from young people, families, carers and professionals to develop this service to solve the problem for all demographics.
- Accessibility was prioritised from the start, personas represented the audiences in every process resulting in a fully accessible website.
- An entirely new IA developed based on key user journeys.
- Reduced the reliance on professionals, service desks, calls and emails due to easier user journeys, and signposting that guides the user efficiently.
- The service developed ensured interoperability, which allowed SEND services to link to the wider council services.
- Project researched, designed and launched in
just 8 months.
30+
300+
75+
Invuse have supported us to understand the needs of users and professional teams, and translate these into a modern digital service that helps people to find the right local information, whatever their circumstances.
The opportunity to become embedded and work as one team with ECC was an absolute pleasure. We quickly formed a cohesive team, challenged assumptions and developed a new SEND Local Offer with user needs right at the centre. I am excited to continue working with the team as we move to the next phase, ensuring the website continues to evolve based on user requirements.
