A government organisation streamlines external collaboration
Government organisations have a range of critical duties that include: the economy, education, health, justice, rural affairs, housing, environment, equal opportunities, consumer advocacy and advice, transport, and taxation
We sat down with a government organisation we work with to find out how they moved to a new single source of truth solution to aid in their day to day and project based external collaboration.
We spoke to two Programme Managers from the government organisation who took us through the immediate benefits they saw compared to platforms they had used before, how they use Ideagen Huddle to streamline their process and how their project delivery has improved.
The challange
Throughout the course of their work, the Programme Managers and their team found it difficult to use tools already in place when collaborating with external partners on documents.
Another key issue was making sure everyone was able to access the documents that they needed when they needed to.
The team continued to use SharePoint as their main document storage and collaboration platform until it was no longer a viable platform for the team.
The team were told that they would be losing the use of SharePoint which gave them and organisation the perfect opportunity to find a better serving platform.
“Once we knew that they were going to be closing down SharePoint, that’s when we started making the move towards another collaboration tool” explained one of the Programme Managers.
With over 100 projects to keep up to date with across the department, the team needed a system that was robust enough to handle a huge amount of workflow coordinated between internal and external collaborators.
The team searched for a new platform that would fit their criteria. We were told that the team did an initial internet search for systems that fit their criteria for collaboration, management, and security, which led them to the G Cloud website, where they followed proper government procurement procedure.
“Huddle was the only one that met all our criteria, including the security aspect.”
The challange
Throughout the course of their work, the Programme Managers and their team found it difficult to use tools already in place when collaborating with external partners on documents.
Another key issue was making sure everyone was able to access the documents that they needed when they needed to.
The team continued to use SharePoint as their main document storage and collaboration platform until it was no longer a viable platform for the team.
The team were told that they would be losing the use of SharePoint which gave them and organisation the perfect opportunity to find a better serving platform.
“Once we knew that they were going to be closing down SharePoint, that’s when we started making the move towards another collaboration tool” explained one of the Programme Managers.
With over 100 projects to keep up to date with across the department, the team needed a system that was robust enough to handle a huge amount of workflow coordinated between internal and external collaborators.
The team searched for a new platform that would fit their criteria. We were told that the team did an initial internet search for systems that fit their criteria for collaboration, management, and security, which led them to the G Cloud website, where they followed proper government procurement procedure.
“Huddle was the only one that met all our criteria, including the security aspect.”
Huddle was the only one that met all our criteria, including all the security aspects.
Usage
The Programme Managers recalled that the setup of the system was incredibly fast. “We got the system and it we were on it quickly. They also offered to do presentations to our stakeholders and those that were using the system internally as well.
So, once it was all signed off, it all happened really quickly.”
The last programme of work, all of which had a different brief, required transparency and coordination between many external stakeholders.
One of the Programme Managers explained to us how Huddle was used for this work, “There were two main things, and one of them was the department’s process. We needed to make sure that we had a platform to capture all the different changes that might be happening in those individual projects.
If a piece of research had to go in a different direction because a tool was no longer available, they would submit a change request and therefore we would have a central audit of what changes were happening in those projects, and whether we approve them or reject them.”
The use of Huddle has expanded to include more external stakeholders since its first use, making it easier for more people to collaborate together across the broad spectrum of work.
The team have now also created Workspaces for documents related to research programmes and meeting documentation; it is a central source of information that the whole team can come back to time and again.
With the use of the comment box facility, the team have ensured that conversations regarding a particular document are kept tight and in one place, reducing the need to collate from multiple sources.
Usage
The Programme Managers recalled that the setup of the system was incredibly fast. “We got the system and it we were on it quickly. They also offered to do presentations to our stakeholders and those that were using the system internally as well.
So, once it was all signed off, it all happened really quickly.”
The last programme of work, all of which had a different brief, required transparency and coordination between many external stakeholders.
One of the Programme Managers explained to us how Huddle was used for this work, “There were two main things, and one of them was the department’s process. We needed to make sure that we had a platform to capture all the different changes that might be happening in those individual projects.
If a piece of research had to go in a different direction because a tool was no longer available, they would submit a change request and therefore we would have a central audit of what changes were happening in those projects, and whether we approve them or reject them.”
The use of Huddle has expanded to include more external stakeholders since its first use, making it easier for more people to collaborate together across the broad spectrum of work.
The team have now also created Workspaces for documents related to research programmes and meeting documentation; it is a central source of information that the whole team can come back to time and again.
With the use of the comment box facility, the team have ensured that conversations regarding a particular document are kept tight and in one place, reducing the need to collate from multiple sources.
Benefits
With this transparent way of working, the Programme managers explained the benefits they began to see, “Huddle’s definitely allowed us to have more sight over project delivery in terms of changes and having it all in a central place.
The department now have one place to go to, to see the changes that have been submitted for that whole programme, the ones that have been accepted and which ones have been rejected - everyone can go on and see that.”
In terms of bringing in stakeholders to work efficiently, the Programme Managers went on to say, “Having somewhere that we can put files for meetings that involve external stakeholders, again, was beneficial because we, and external people, go to the same platform to see pieces of work that were collaborating on.”
Huddle give the team a lot of transparency when it comes to keeping on top of individual tasks which was important to the running of the projects, “The tasks feature on Huddle was also useful because it can allocate the tasks as the change comes in.
I set the tasks every time the change request comes in. It means that I only need to go in and check if it’s being done rather having to keep chasing somebody up. So that is really useful in saving time.”
Benefits
With this transparent way of working, the Programme managers explained the benefits they began to see, “Huddle’s definitely allowed us to have more sight over project delivery in terms of changes and having it all in a central place.
The department now have one place to go to, to see the changes that have been submitted for that whole programme, the ones that have been accepted and which ones have been rejected - everyone can go on and see that.”
In terms of bringing in stakeholders to work efficiently, the Programme Managers went on to say, “Having somewhere that we can put files for meetings that involve external stakeholders, again, was beneficial because we, and external people, go to the same platform to see pieces of work that were collaborating on.”
Huddle give the team a lot of transparency when it comes to keeping on top of individual tasks which was important to the running of the projects, “The tasks feature on Huddle was also useful because it can allocate the tasks as the change comes in.
I set the tasks every time the change request comes in. It means that I only need to go in and check if it’s being done rather having to keep chasing somebody up. So that is really useful in saving time.”
Huddle has definitely allowed us to have more sight over project delivery in terms of changes and having it all in a central place.
Conclusion
The team within this government organisation have found the platform to be helpful in terms of external collaboration as they juggle a large number of projects and vast amounts of documentation.
The overall oversight and transparency they have gained was something the team needed which makes for a smoother process day to day for everyone across the team.
Ideagen Huddle offers dedicated project workspaces and portals for external collaboration, all in a highly secure single-source-of-truth environment
Conclusion
The team within this government organisation have found the platform to be helpful in terms of external collaboration as they juggle a large number of projects and vast amounts of documentation.
The overall oversight and transparency they have gained was something the team needed which makes for a smoother process day to day for everyone across the team.
Ideagen Huddle offers dedicated project workspaces and portals for external collaboration, all in a highly secure single-source-of-truth environment
The top three benefits the department found were:
The ability to set tasks that don’t need constant chasing
Having a central platform for all participants to go to when collaborating
Being able to audit what is happening within the programme of work
Improve your data management today
Contact Ideagen for more information on how Huddle could help your organisation.