Essex County Council's Schools Infolink Site
Customer success case study
Upgrading Essex CC’s Schools Infolink site in record time
How we helped one of the largest UK councils meet a daunting deadline to transform its Schools’ Infolink using LocalGov Drupal, rewriting and migrating 250+ pages along the way.
Project brief
“Our Schools Infolink platform expires in 4 months so this is a top priority project. We need a trusted partner to urgently design & develop a new site that works better for users.”
38%
faster user journeys (av.)
21%
page reduction
66%
compliance issues resolved
This was a challenging project due to the volume of content, pressure of a short deadline and complexity of having both public and secure areas. But Ryan and his team steered us expertly through and we now have a high quality, modern website that all our users – both ECC colleagues and schools – are extremely appreciative of.
Clare Ovenden
Education Information Manager, Essex County Council
The problem
Plans to overhaul ECC’s Schools Infolink site were accelerated when news hit that the current platform would become unsupported in a matter of months.
A big silver lining to this sudden rush was the chance to tackle known issues with the current site, including: outdated content, complex navigation and non-compliance.
Having worked with us for SEND Local Offer, ECC chose to collaborate once again to knock this time-sensitive project out the park alongside our partner agency Big Blue Door (BBD).
An urgent action plan was needed to improve digital inclusivity and comply with essential WCAG standards.
So they called us in to help.
Our task was to not only identify and outline failures but to also support in getting the site’s UX ship-shape and the team trained up to keep it that way.
Our key actions included completing an accessibility audit, running a tailored training session and offering support during the fixing phase. This was all finished successfully within the 2 week project timeline.
The solution
We knew it would take a precise plan, carefully executed to get this end-to-end assignment done by the deadline.
Our team jumped straight behind the wheel and work was split into 2 key phases:
Phase 1:
User Research & Discovery
We started by digging into the current site data (both public and secure .net sides), honing in on performance stats, Information Architecture (IA), content, user behaviours and more. A comprehensive accessibility audit followed, measuring against GDS and WCAG 2.2 standards to highlight problem areas and failures.
We also engaged directly with users, stakeholders and content owners to understand the existing experience and processes in detail, and introduce best practice concepts.
Phase 2:
Design, Develop, Test, Repeat
Working hand in hand with BBD, we mapped, designed, prototyped and developed an enhanced Schools’Infolink site using LocalGov Drupal. This included building a new IA, optimising 250+ pages, rewriting a huge chunk of content (with little pushback from content owners) and extensive testing / retesting.
Lastly, we delivered a bespoke LGD training programme for ECC teams and provided a 3, 6 and 12-month evolution roadmap.
The outcome
The all-new Schools Infolink site went live bang on time, project goals were smashed across the board and some standout results were achieved.
Let’s take a look at some before and after stats…
Key user journey times, before and after Invuse involvement:
User Journey 1: Find the Essex SEND Strategy
User Journey 2: Find information on how to submit a request for an exclusion penalty notice
User Journey 3: Find information on the EHC needs assessment process
User Journey 4: Find information on how to provide an update to a Personal Education Plan.
Trained-up to maintain the LGD website for many years to come, we left the ECC team confident and optimistic with a renewed pride in their platform. But, as always, we are always on hand to advise and support if needed.
Final thoughts
Close collaboration with the wonderful teams at both ECC and BBD contributed hugely to the successes at every stage of this project. We were really pleased to help ECC offer a more user-focused digital experience for schools, and move one step closer to a fully-LGD web estate.