Limited offer: Free LocalGov Drupal sandbox installation and consulting for 10 councils
Annertech is offering 10 councils a free hosted LocalGov Drupal developer sandbox environment for a minimum of six months, plus three hours of expert consulting.
This offer is particularly attractive to those councils who are interested in LocalGov Drupal – or LGD, as it’s become known – but would like to try it hands-on before making the switch.
Councils’ digital team members now have the opportunity to thoroughly test out the LGD environment to see whether it will work for them. This limited offer includes free setup and hosting of a sandbox (testing) environment for LGD for six months!
“We’re also offering three hours of free consulting so they can get the most out of the experience – so we’ll talk the councils through how LGD works, how things fit together, and show them how their content could be structured in LGD. The consultant will be available to advise or answer any questions they may have,” explains Mark Conroy, who is Annertech’s Director of Development, and also heads up the LGD front-end working group.
What is LGD?
LocalGov Drupal is a platform that utilises the open source Drupal CMS to create excellent digital experiences for people using local government websites.
The LGD philosophy is in line with the Irish government’s 2030 ICT Strategy, which has Build to Share as one of its tenets.
So not only is LocalGov Drupal built using an open-source platform, its many features were actually developed and funded by other councils, and they are also available for other councils to use for free.
Because the code is shared freely among local governments, digital budgets can be directed into other avenues, rather than paying to develop features that have already been developed.
"LocalGov Drupal is a great product. It does exactly what it promises – offers councils and local governments the platform to produce a brilliant website with tried and tested features that will allow citizens to have the best digital experience possible,” says Mark.
“The idea behind the offer is to help councils evaluate LGD and help them understand how it might work for them. It would work well for councils who have an idea about what they want from a website, but who just need a bit more information in order to make a decision.”
Some councils who use LGD
Tipperary County Council was the first Irish council to have an LGD website.
The exciting developments on this project were that Tipperary County Council developed two new features that will be invaluable to Irish councils: Integration with the Irish Services Catalogue; and Irish language translations.
Plus, the entire project was finished in just four months.
Another project that also took just a few months to complete was the Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council website.
Their SharePoint website wasn’t working the way they wanted it to, and they were delighted with the results they got from LocalGov Drupal.
Not only is the new site modern and sleek, it provides easy access to information for the residents, partners and stakeholders, and – like all LGD websites – is WCAG 2.1 AA compliant. This will soon be WCAG2.2 compliant, as development continues on making LGD sites as accessible as possible.
Conclusion
As more councils join the LGD movement (35 and counting), more features are added, more technology is introduced and accessibility is always a priority. These are just some of the advantages of this collaborative platform, where everyone gets the benefits of each other's investment for free.
Are you thinking about moving your site to LGD?
This limited offer is only available to 10 councils. If you’d like to have the opportunity to test out the LGD platform with the help of an Annertech consultant, please fill in the form below.
Alison Visser Head of Content
After more than two decades in journalism, Alison now collaborates with Annertech's clients to ensure that their content is the best it possibly can be.
