“ We were impressed with the relative ease with which Sitecore was implemented and that we were able to have it configured for our requirements rather than customized. „

- Patrick Ng, Deputy Government Statistician – Collections & Dissemination

Challenge

The existing Content Management System used to publish content to the website was Microsoft CMS 2002. It had been highly customised to meet SNZ’s requirements, including a tightly integrated workflow process. The CMS was outmoded and Microsoft had announced that full support for the platform was being withdrawn in 2011.

The existing website was subject to various limitations:

• The extent of the customisation meant that change was cumbersome and time-consuming.
• Outdated technology restricted the ability to implement modern website features.
• An information architecture which did not meet the needs of the website’s diverse audience.

Additionally, SNZ needed to ensure their new platform allowed their content authors to:

• Create content which could be easily located via the website’s navigation and search engine.
• Modify the layout of templates and web pages without the need for external developer involvement.
• Create high-quality PDF versions of web content in real-time, without the need for separate formatting or workflow processes.
• Create content based on a wide variety of requirements, from simple written content to complex reports based on database cube information.
  

Solution

SNZ defined their requirements and information architecture and issued an RFP through the Government Tendering process.  Sitecore was selected on the basis of functionality at an excellent price point, and as a product that enables non-technical business users to manage the content easily, increasing the amount of control that they have over the website. Sitecore also is strong in the separation of functionality from presentation, allowing the easy re-purposing of content for both print and web media.

According to James Fraser, Datacom solution architect, “Statistics NZ’s requirements called for a platform which could be easily modified without extensive, complex customisations. Sitecore’s modular and pluggable architecture allowed us to meet these requirements whilst providing a platform that is fast, easy to maintain, and a flexible framework for future development.”

The Sitecore platform allowed Datacom to implement the new graphical design to match the designer’s vision rapidly with full W3C standards compliance, matched to an improved search implementation based on a Sitecore produced XML content feed for the external search engine.  The site communicates key messages to a number of different audiences each with specific and unique requirements, from statistical products for businesses and researchers, to online census data, classroom activities, and careers information.

Result

The website launched and immediately began to draw enthusiastic feedback from users with its improved information architecture and modern, crisp visual design. The improved information architecture has improved the usability of the website. The previous architecture was cumbersome and required knowledge of SNZ’s internal lexicon to locate content.  Now people can locate content using just a few clicks with plain-English navigation options. An intelligent search engine has been deployed, allowing SNZ to define searching through configuration. Content authors have complete control over the site and are able to release statistical content and products in a timely and reliable manner.

Print media versions of statistical products are authored using the same Sitecore interface as their webpage counterparts. This ensures that all the distribution channels to which SNZ publish share a centrally-authored, consistent view of information. The previously arduous task of authoring these large and complex documents (often 70 pages or more) has been simplified, and Sitecore flexibility has allowed Datacom to create seamless integration between the PDF generation software and the out-of-the-box authoring tools. As well as being simple and intuitive to author, the new PDF creation process is faster compared to the previous solution thanks to Sitecore’s support for modern development standards.

In addition to SNZ’s main corporate website, Sitecore is also being used to deliver additional websites. One of these sites is Statisphere, New Zealand’s official statistics portal. The Statisphere website enables users, producers and researchers to quickly find all available official statistics. Hosted on a common Sitecore platform, the Statisphere website was able to leverage the code and templates which were created for the main SNZ site. This code reuse has delivered maximum return on investment for SNZ and was instrumental in reducing development and delivery timelines.

SNZ has an ambitious roadmap in place for information gathering and dissemination in which their websites are expected to play a key role in achieving their goals. Sitecore provides a robust, flexible platform with which to move forward and meets these goals

Technical Description

Solution Special Ingredients

• MS SQL Server Datacubes integration for displaying Census information
• Automated PDF generation to produce high-quality print media products
• Multiple websites hosted within a single Sitecore installation
• Consumes and provides various XML feeds to external systems e.g. external search provider.