Taking Stock:
A website stock-take in 2017 showed the New Plymouth District Council it had:
- 16 different websites
- 6 different content management systems.
- 3 different hosting environments
This added complexity for the council staff as new feature development was inefficient and costly, so a major website consolidation process was started.
Deciding on a digital platform
The first step was decide the hosting environment and content management system that all websites would be migrated to, the criteria included:
Hosting Platform
- An industry standard hosting platform that the infrastructure team was already working with for other projects
Web Content Management System
- Designed to run on the chosen hosting platform
- Designed to be customised for those unique council situations
- Designed to be easily integrated with other council systems including ARC GIS, Cemetery software, museum collections management, rating solutions, and more.
- Uses industry standard development tools that were widely available
- Open source
- User friendly allowing both the communications team to construct beautiful pages or the council secretary to quickly add meetings, agendas and minutes.
Microsoft Azure and Umbraco
Microsoft Azure and the Umbraco Content Management System were chosen for their interoperability, flexibility, ease-of-use and longevity. A decision which has already saved hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on CMS licensing, hosting and development costs.