TasWater has won a global award for a business-wide digital project.

The Tasmnian water authority’s Virtual Workplace Program (VWP), which began in 2020 and was established to create an online virtual workplace for all TasWater employees and trusted external parties, won a silver award at the Step Two Intranet & Digital Workplace Awards. 

Comprising three projects, the VWP deployed contemporary technology tools with a focus on building capability and delivering business outcomes.  

  • The Intranet Replacement Project focused on decommissioning legacy intranet portals and replacing them with SharePoint Online and integrated Microsoft365 products. This involved a complete rebuild of the intranet, including new architecture, functionality, content, and look and feel.

  • The Knowledge Platform Foundations Project saw the addition of SharePoint Online as TasWater’s new platform for document management and collaboration, providing greater document management functionality and better alignment with record keeping obligations

  • The Document and Records Integration and Accessibility Project integrated TasWater’s existing Content Manager more closely with Microsoft365 products. This program also involved work to migrate content from various network shared drives to deliver a “single source of truth” 

TasWater’s General Manager Governance and Assurance Ailsa Sypkes said the award was an important recognition of the VWP team, and every employee’s investment in the program. 

“The VWP touches every part of the business and the solutions it delivered are used by everyone at TasWater. This breadth of coverage required a highly consultative, user-centric approach, giving everyone the opportunity to have ownership over the outcome,” Ms Sypkes said. 

She said although it was a challenging project, the delivery of the VWP has transformed the way our people work. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic hit in the early stages, so certain parts of the program were significantly accelerated to enable a rapid response to the changing working landscape,” Ms Sypkes said. 

“While this presented challenges, it also validated earlier foundational work in establishing a sound, but flexible architecture, allowing the program to deliver on an immediate need for all employees.”