Case study brief: Development support for Broxtowe Borough Council
In 2017, Broxtowe Borough Council decided to move their website and online forms from Goss iCM to Umbraco, an open source CMS procured through Meritec. As the council didn’t have an in-house web team, they called upon HeX to provide that role during the website project, attending all meetings and providing support throughout.
Transforming Broxtowe Borough Council's digital platforms made this case study unique
We consulted on a range of topics, working with Meritec and the council’s communications and IT teams to ensure good usability and accessibility practices were observed on their new website.
Development support activities delivered
- Accessibility testing
- Development work
- Delivering Accessibility Content and Editor Training
- Project management and accessibility consultancy
- Ensuring their services met with WCAG 2.0 standards
Accessibility testing
We made the most of our partnership with Shaw Trust Accessibility Services who tested the accessibility of the site at stages during its implementation to ensure that it is open to all of Broxtowe’s residents, regardless of their ability.
Digital form transformation
We helped Broxtowe implement their digital transformation strategy by redoing many of their transactional forms using ESB Forms, as well as building new ones to add to their online service portfolio. The forms were integrated into the back office, meaning that the incoming data was automatically linked into back-end systems, making for much more efficient processes.
Development project outcome and impact
We adapted the designs to ensure the finished product was both user-centric and accessible. The site meets World Wide Web Consortium Accessibility Guidelines 2 “Double-A” standard, meaning the council has no concerns about the upcoming public sector legislation.
HeX’s work helped the site rocket into the top five (fourth position) in Sitemorse Rankings of local government sites, which rates function and quality of a site, including speed, errors, code quality, PDF usability and accessibility.
The 2018 quarter 3 rankings saw Broxtowe climb 194 places from the previous quarter, when compared to over 400 other council websites.
Broxtowe’s new website was a great success – residents love it and, since the initial project, HeX has been providing web maintenance for the council, meaning that we are their go-to web team now. We’re there at the end of a phone whenever they need digital support and regularly get involved in form creation, website fixes and accessibility updates.
