The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) works at the heart of Ontario’s power system – ensuring there is enough power to meet the province’s energy needs, now and for the future.

In 2018 Sandbox was contracted to lead a research and discovery phase to assist the IESO in the selection of a new Intranet. As with many organizations, their Intranet had an excess of pages, outdated information and a search feature that returned inaccurate results. Making content updates was difficult, and site governance put the burden on specific departments.

  • Develop vision and strategy for the development of a new corporate intranet
  • Conduct comparisons and make recommendations on a Content Management System that is intuitive and meets corporate technical requirements
  • Provide recommendations for ensuring AODA compliance
  • Provide strategic branding recommendations to ensure the new intranet is distinct and the go-to-source of information for IESO employees.

Solution

Sandbox conducted advisory board sessions and key informant interviews on-site at different locations to ensure total organizational inclusivity. The results were unified on what needed improvement; searchability of the Intranet, as well as the document libraries, and an improved organizational chart. Staff also participated in an online website survey where they shared their opinion of the current Intranet and what features were important for the new one.

Outcome

Our discoveries revealed that the new Intranet could deliver on staff expectations through proper content management system (CMS) selection. It was also important to take advantage of linking their third-party systems for document management and human resources to the CMS. We recommended that staff be involved in renaming the new Intranet and established new governance policies, to encourage different departments to take ownership for specific areas and content.

IESO Screenshot image shadow

“Their approach to first understand the views of employees and combining that with supporting features, tool integration, and IT needs has given us a complete and well thought through approach to our redevelopment efforts.”

— Jordan Penic, Communications & Government Affairs, IESO

Sandbox was able to draw on our deep experience in Intranet and Portal development to assist the IESO in making technical recommendations for their new Intranet, including Information Architecture and site governance.

> Portals & Intranets

As part of this project Sandbox researched, reviewed and compared multiple CMS technologies to allow the IESO to make an informed decision on a solution that met their exact needs.

> OASIS Content Management System

Our Digital and Content Strategists worked closely with the team at IESO and facilitated multiple on-site workshops for staff. These discovery sessions enabled Sandbox to generate a detailed report that included recommendations on technologies, security, site structure and more.

> Digital Strategy & Consulting