Department of Premier and Cabinet - Victoria

The Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) Victoria is one of the five Lead Agencies and has an obligation to represent industry best practice in online information and services delivery.

Summary Details

• Date of Engagement: March 2003 to current
• Services Provided: Analysis and Consultation, Strategy Development, Interface Design, Information Architecture Design, Specification, Prototyping, Focus Group Testing and Standards Compliance
• Products Supplied: N/A
• Current Status: Morpheum continues to provide interface design to agencies such as Ombudsman Victoria that operate within the DPC shared services protfolio.

Their Requirements

With the release if new government web standards and guidelines and the completion of the Victorian Government Online project, DPC required specialist consulting and design services to assist in the redevelopment of the corporate Internet site.

The specified objectives of their brief was to:

• Identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of the current DPC internet site in relation to the portfolio online presence and government website rationalisation program
• Propose a new Internet information architecture, based on identification of target audience groups, available content and Information gaps
• Develop a new interface and graphic design supporting their new corporate brand and undertake user and community consultation based on a prototype development
• Development resulting graphic, template and style sheet requirements for implementation within their internal shared services content management application

Our Solutions

Morpheum undertook an extensive research and a range of internal and external user consultation based on a methodology that would provide findings and recommendations to support the redevelopment of the DPC and future redevelopment of other sites within the portfolio.

The methodology provided for our development of a working prototype in order to undertake focus group testing and specific accessibility compliance testing and validation.

The resulting consultation and design process culminated in the delivery of graphic, template and style sheet assets for internal implementation and was supported by the provision of style guides, workflow management model and quality control guidelines.

The results of this project were recognised as best practice and is evidenced by quoting the Victorian Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Marsha Thomson, who said on the 27th February this year in response to a question regarding the Victorian Government eServices Panel:

"These figures are proof that Victorian ICT businesses are leaders in the industry, particularly in areas such as Web development," Thomson said, citing the Web site development work performed for the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) by Melbourne-based Morpheum as an example.

"The research, design and information architecture work this innovative business has carried out for the DPC has made it far easier for users to find the information they are looking for. This saves people time and cuts out the frustration of having to trawl the web looking for important resources," she said.

- Victorian Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Marsha Thomson (as reported by ZDNet)

Reference Site: www.dpc.vic.gov.au