In order to overcome the restrictions and shortcomings of working on a small-scale platform with an old fashioned content management interface, the Hutt City Council's website (www.huttcity.govt.nz) needed a complete update of its back end technology.

The council's challenge was to streamline the site - which contained over 8,000 documents on 1900 pages - so the public could readily obtain clear, easy-to-access information about council services and services within the local region on a new and more dynamic website.

At the same time, the tourism marketing departments of Upper Hutt City Council and Hutt City Council created HuttValleyNZ, a joint brand to market the region. Tourism websites are a key marketing tool, and the brand required a vibrant new website at www.huttvalleynz.com.

The pain
Limited by a bespoke content management system (CMS), the Hutt City Council website required a smart new CMS solution to provide a rich, resourceful avenue to share valuable information about council services and offerings with the public.

“We set out to undertake a very careful process of evaluating CMS systems to see what technology would meet our criteria. EPiServer quickly identified itself as the platform that would satisfy our requirements,” says Anna Crooks, Hutt City Council's team leader, web services.

The council appointed Intergen based on the company's proven experience with EPiServer.

“Intergen was able to assess our needs and requirements quickly and understood the complexities of the two projects they were dealing with," Crooks says. 

"Concise navigation was a core requirement. The customisation of templates opened up a lot of flexibility for the way in which we wanted to manage and present information.”

Key outcomes
An eight-week turnaround time was achieved and the new environment, while still in its early days, is proving its value.

Twenty or more council staff are active in writing or managing content and are finding that EPiServer has put a range of smart tools at their disposal. The ability to schedule the publishing of content and the archiving associated with that process is a major gain and Crooks describes the efficiency in creating pages as something in the magnitude of five times faster. 

“From a content editor’s perspective, it is very simple and flexible and we have good consistency in the way information is presented. Automation has given us greater efficiency and we can control a good degree of future configuring ourselves,” she says.

A high degree of template customisation within EPiServer has been used to good effect, for example in presenting the Council’s calendar.

Revitalised & Redesigned website
The website has successfully captured the diversity of the region, highlighting tourism operators’ products such as activities, events, accommodation and more.  The flexibility to manage content ensures the site is fresh and dynamic. It’s also right on target.

One size does not fit all – and this site very cleverly targets content to fit the user when the click of a link identifies them as a local, New Zealand visitor or international tourist.

“Targeted content is pretty cool and it gives us the opportunity to really make the site a unique experience for the user,” Crooks says.

“Intergen has been right in sync with that thinking and responded with a website that is visually attractive and engaging.”

The gain
The tandem redevelopment of two key websites is positive news for the council and the future of the Hutt region. Public access to council information and services has never been easier.  And as a window to the region, the new huttvalleynz.com website has a distinct new flavour.

For more information
www.huttvalleynz.com

Shaun Donaghey
General Manager, Auckland
Intergen
09 966-3072
021 359 061
shaun.donaghey@intergen.co.nz
www.intergen.co.nz

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