Partnership approach upskills in-house team at local authority
Introduction
Orkney Islands Council (OIC) is the local authority for Orkney, Scotland and is Britain’s smallest local authority. Established in 1975, the council was one of the 3 original all-purpose authorities in Scotland, and became a model for the delivery of local government across the nation. Today, the council is also the harbour authority for Orkney and its Marine Services division manages the operation of the islands’ 29 piers and harbours.
Business drivers
The council was looking for expert support and guidance to help with the piloting phase of their Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) project. They needed a partner who could develop and subsequently roll out a Microsoft 365 Information Architecture (IA).
This EDRMS project built on the findings and recommendations previously made by Metataxis in a review of the Council’s initial Microsoft 365 project undertaken in 2022, as well as the more recent development of Information Architecture and Governance Frameworks for Microsoft 365.
Key requirements
OIC needed a partner to provide guidance, support and expert oversight on the next phase of the project to develop the Information Architecture (IA) for their implementation of M365. The partner was required to:
- Guide the council through the process of confirming high level design decisions
- Define repeatable methodologies and practices necessary to implement IA across the council
- Support the development of Pathfinder sites to establish standard approaches
- Provide initial support for the phased development of the IA, including retention management for M365
The council also wanted the partnership to support the transfer of skills and methodologies, enabling them to upskill their in-house project team and ultimately have the ability to lead their own implementation of the IA.
The Metataxis approach
As Information Architecture experts, Metataxis was engaged to provide consultant/analyst and project management support to the existing EDRMS project team at OIC.
We recommended a partnership approach to ensure the council would emerge with new skills and methodologies to take the development of IA forward. Our proposal also included a “crawl – walk – run” methodology for the council, which divided the project work into three clear phases, and would deliver a number of Pathfinder implementations. The expectation was that OIC would gradually take on more of the responsibility for future development of the Pathfinders over time, as they built up their skills base and became more confident with M365. Metataxis would also provide continuing support throughout the Pathfinder projects.
Our three phased approach:
Step 1: Crawl
Metataxis leads the development of a Pathfinder M365 site, with the OIC project team acting as participants and providing operational support as appropriate. The objective for this phase is to enable OIC to observe and learn the processes for the development of IA.
Step 2: Walk
Metataxis and OIC work together on a Pathfinder site, with members of the OIC project team making more significant contributions to the IA development. The objective of this phase is to provide OIC with some practical experience in developing IA while still working under the expert guidance and support of Metataxis.
Step 3: Run
OIC leads the creation of a Pathfinder site, with advice, guidance and quality assurance provided by Metataxis. The objective of this phase is to provide OIC with the opportunity to understand the requirements of leaderships, and gain intelligence to plan for scaled-up roll-out of IA.
Business benefits
As part of the project, Metataxis delivered:
- A number of Pathfinder sites
- An initial term set (taxonomy) document
- An IA development model
- High-level site/Team templates
- Retention schedule management assurance
The project has also delivered a number of benefits for Orkney Islands Council, including:
- A full understanding of the requirements of an Information Architecture, its constituent elements, and the steps to be taken when developing an IA.
- The ability to develop an Information Architecture independently, without calling on external support.
- A more skilled in-house Information Management team, retaining ownership and authorship of the solution design.
- Working solutions based on the original Pathfinders that can be used as-is and developed further as required.
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