A Local Government Council

About This Project

A Local Government rapidly implemented the rollout of Office365 in 2020, resulting in the requirement to review the internal corporate function of Records Management to ensure compliance with policy was being maintained.

The Situation

The City Council deployed and enabled MS Teams in response to urgent needs.  Given the urgency of the decision, there was no time to perform the standard planning work that would normally take place as part of project deployment.

It then needed to establish MS Teams governance across the organisation, ensure they addressed emerging risks, and improve the leverage and return on their implementation of MS Teams and Office365.

The Approach

Information Professionals Group was engaged to do this work and advise on best practices and industry standards for its internal systems and capabilities regarding information management within the Office365 environment.

Information Professionals Group reviewed the existing configuration of Office 365 reviewing this against the required Public Records standards, including PROV.  We identified a range of settings that either supported these standards, did not support the standards, or were omitted.

There was also the opportunity to replace ECM with SharePoint online, which was included in Office365.  To enable best practices, industry standards, and a PROV-compliant records management environment an additional add-on was required.

Information Professionals provided design recommendations that would enable the council to develop and establish a records management regime with the standards issued by the Public Records Office Victoria (PROV) and its obligations under the Public Records Act (1973).  We also produced a SharePoint Governance plan that supported decision-making and risk management through any project rollout. This provides a tool for the council to understand what it needs to keep highlighted as a risk moving forward with the project rollout.

The City Council matured its broader understanding of the role of information and supporting digital technologies as key enablers to fulfilling its community mission and transforming its capabilities. As a follow-up to this initial implementation of MS Teams, it engaged the Information Professionals Group to advise on best practices and industry standards for its internal systems and capabilities regarding information management within the Office365 environment.

The Impact

The Council addressed its risks and started capitalising on its Office365 investment.  They matured their broader understanding of the role of information and supporting digital technologies as key enablers to fulfilling its community mission and transforming its capabilities.