From tight timelines to triumph: fast-tracking a government website

The challenge: new policy, new pressures

Picture this: A government environmental agency faced with implementing a new website offering an important new service on a tight deadline.

The organization’s existing CMS wasn't cutting it, and they needed a fresh approach that would let them move quickly without sacrificing quality or security.

This new service was being introduced to allow organizations to speed up the approval process for a range of infrastructure, housing and development projects with significant regional or national benefits.

They needed a solution that was:

• Incredibly quick to implement – with only 7 weeks idea to launch
• Secure and reliable for handling sensitive project information
• Easy to use for staff

Adding to the complexity, the Squiz team was working across the holiday season, compressing their actual build time to just 4 weeks.

The solution: Component Service

The organization chose to partner with Squiz to create a separate, standalone website using the Squiz DXP and a modular component approach. Squiz was also recommended by another organization, following a successful project.

This project strategy included:

• Using edge components for superior site performance
• Leveraging Content Management and Squiz Search capabilities to help users find the information they need quickly and easily
• Creating a streamlined information architecture

Squiz Search was particularly important for this project, as it provided both global search capabilities and specialized push collections – enabling users to find relevant information quickly while ensuring new projects would appear in search results immediately upon publication.

With such a tight deadline, the team decided to take an iterative approach. They focused on the essential features needed for the launch of the website while planning for later enhancements like mapping functionality.

The outcomes: speed, savings, and self-sufficiency

The transformation delivered impressive results across multiple areas:

• Timeline success: Delivered a complete website in just 4 weeks’ build time
• Massive time savings: Squiz's automated migration tool saved 27 hours of manual content loading
• Intuitive system: Internal staff learned their way around the Squiz platform quickly with minimal training
• Seamless launch: One of the "easiest go-lives" the team had ever experienced
• Independence: Content team gained the ability to make updates without developer support
• Enhanced discoverability: Squiz Search enabled users to find relevant information quickly across the site
• Scalability: Created a foundation for planned enhancements and future growth

Perhaps most impressively, what would have taken 27 hours of manual content loading was completed in just 3.5 hours, a 87% reduction in effort (see step 3 of the ‘5-step process’ for more detail).

How did they make it happen? The 5-step process

STEP 1: Leveraging core components

This project successfully implemented Squiz's Component Service – which allows for easy page building using core components like carousels, hero banners and quick links – providing a foundation of reusable elements that accelerated development:

• Created consistently branded elements across the site
• Established patterns that could be reused across future projects
• Built team expertise that would benefit subsequent projects
• Improved performance through edge component hosting e.g greater security, faster loading, and quicker updates
• Laid groundwork for faster iterations and updates

The Component Service was delivered with edge components. Edge means to process data closer to its source, on devices or local servers rather than a back-end data center.

This enhances performance of page components and and allows organizations to deliver highly personalized experiences without sacrificing
speed or security. More benefits:

• Reduced page latency
• Greater reliabilty
• Enhanced scalability

As one team member noted, "Component Service is probably the biggest win. It's definitely going to be the way forward."

STEP 2: Building with bite-sized blocks

Rather than tackling the entire site at once, the team broke the project into manageable chunks:

• Created a simple but effective information architecture
• Developed various webpages
  • A projects section to showcase approved fast-track applications
  • A process section to guide users through the application steps
  • A news section for updates and announcements
• Implemented a holding page strategy for seamless transition. This means to make the website live, but with a ‘coming soon’ holiday page. This allows the team to make the site live whilst final work is completed in the background.

This strategy allowed them to make steady progress and adapt to changing requirements without getting overwhelmed by the tight timeline.

Project lead: "It was very seamless. Probably one of the easiest go-lives we've done."

STEP 3: Automating the heavy lifting

When faced with loading hundreds of project pages onto the new site manually, the team got creative.

Instead of tedious copy-and-paste work, they repurposed an existing Squiz migration tool to automate the process:

• Modified an internal migration script to read from the organization's spreadsheets which contained content to be uploaded to the new site
• Transformed raw data into properly formatted content pages
• Automatically populated metadata and content structures
• Reduced a 27-hour manual task to just 3.5 hours
• Freed up team resources for higher-value work

This automation not only saved time but reduced the risk of errors that commonly occur during manual data entry.

STEP 4: Empowering the internal team

From the beginning, the project focused on creating a system that the team could manage independently, with:

Designed intuitive workflows that matched their operational needs: the client needed to allow any authors to edit a page, and use a small team of admin-level users, to approve and make pages live.

Created self-service capabilities for content updates: the client needed to be able to make content updates independently without replying on any technical resources. Squiz took a ‘Train the Trainer’ type approach with the client and one member of the team has been able to upskill the rest of the team on content editing themselves.

The client also has access to 24/7 on-demand learning via Squiz Academy, so teams can upskill in their own time.

The Squiz project lead speaks to how quickly the client was able to get started, “By week two he was already delving into our product documentation, and asking great questions about how to get the most out of certain features (e.g. Workflows, User Groups and Permissions etc).

The results were immediate – the team quickly became self-sufficient, often figuring things out on their own with minimal support.

STEP 5: Adopting an agile approach

The team embraced an agile methodology to navigate the project's tight timeline and holiday season constraints:

• Focused on an interactive project approach, delivering essential features first
• Established a holding page strategy for a smoother transition
• Prioritized elements that delivered the most user value
• Maintained flexibility to adapt as requirements evolved
• Planned for future enhancements in subsequent phases

This adaptive approach allowed the team to deliver the core website on time despite the compressed four-week build window, while setting up a clear roadmap for planned enhancements like mapping functionality and SharePoint integration.

From tight timelines to triumph: Building digital independence

This project stands as a perfect example of how the right technology, coupled with smart implementation strategies, can turn a challenging situation into a success story.

The team delivered a website that effectively separated this new initiative from the agency's main website while providing an intuitive platform for both content managers and users.

The use of Component Service, Squiz Search, and automation tools not only accelerated the initial build but established a foundation for future enhancements – proving that even with the tightest of timelines, it's possible to create sustainable digital solutions that empower rather than restrict.

Want to see how other organizations are tackling a range of digital experience challenges?

Learn how teams like yours are managing websites with complete control and fewer developer bottlenecks → dive into "The Website Transformation Playbook" for even deeper insights into accelerating your digital experiences.