At a glance

$201K-$400K
2021
2 to 4 months
Completed
Drupal
State government
Build & migration
Whole of government, Civic tech, Open APIs, Web development
Agile delivery, Tools & systems, Security, Design, Open standards & common platforms, Open source

WA Government’s challenge

The WA Department of Premier and Cabinet (WA DPC) on behalf of the WA Government engaged Salsa to build a phase 1 service locator service early in 2020 (view phase 1 case studyExternal Link ). This provided WA citizens with basic service information, however it lacked detail and wasn't personalised.

WA Government’s transformation

Salsa and the team at WA DPC envisaged a richer, more personal service locator. The project built on the original service locator, adding in service location landing pages as well as service location content pages. Agencies can manage the content of these pages via an API, and personalisation can be added via alerts based on a user’s location.

The outcomes

  • A more personalised service locator experience for citizens based on services relevant to their location

  • More detail on relevant services and more logical paths to that information

  • Support for agencies to self-serve the service details they offer

“Salsa Digital is a pleasure to work with. They’re engaging, collaborative, transparent, well organised and deliver value in every interaction.”

Bill Bell, Director Digital Services and Policy
WA Department of Premier and Cabinet

WA Government’s challenge — a basic service locator

WA DPC had a basic service locator for WA citizens. However it lacked detail and wasn’t personalised to the user. The feature allowed users to see the nearest ServiceWA centres via a map, and basic centre details were presented. Salsa and WA DPC had always positioned this first-generation service locator as a framework for something better in the future. It was time to build the second-generation, enhanced version.

WA Government’s transformation — a richer service locator experience for WA citizens

The three main areas for the solution were:

  • Enhanced presentation of service details
  • Location-aware personalisation
  • Authorised agency service access

Enhanced presentation of service details

WA DPC and Salsa compiled rapid conceptual models for an enhanced service locator. These models explored improved presentation of service centre information. They also explored how more detailed service information could be displayed via discreet service location content pages.

Location-aware personalisation

WA DPC and Salsa had previously built a location-based alert system for the WA Government (view alerts case studyExternal Link ). A concept for the enhanced service locator was to re-use the location-awareness of the alert system to offer a more personalised experience for users. If the user’s location is able to be inferred from the IP address via GeoLocation then the service locator could display the service centres closest to the user’s current location.

Authorised agency service access

WA DPC wanted the ability for agencies to self-serve their service information, including data management via API access. The project allows agencies to add/modify and archive service locations in a database. This database is then used by wa.gov.au to present service location information to citizens.

The outcomes — richer, more personalised service locator

WA citizens are offered a more immersive service locator experience. The initial service locator delivered by Salsa provided a basic map and an ability to show high-level service information as clickable pins on the map. The more immersive experience delivered:

  • Automated location detection based on GeoIP and mapping of relevant services to user’s location

  • Richer service locator summary information

  • The ability to navigate to a service centre content page that presents:

    • Contact details

    • Service details

    • Service category information

  • Personalised events/messages based on the user’s location

  • The ability to manage and consume the available data via API endpoints

About WA DPC

The WA Department of Premier and Cabinet (WA DPC) acts on behalf of the WA Government to be well-informed, collaborative and innovative. Its purpose is to lead the public sector in providing whole-of-government advice and support the Premier and Cabinet in service of the WA community.