Digital Transformation in Government Insight #79: New platform - notify.gov.au

Beta version of notify.gov.au

The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has released a Beta version of its new notify.gov.au platform. This whole-of-government digital platform allows local, state/territory and federal government agencies to send emails and messages either manually or automatically.

The new platform is currently in Beta, and the DTA is calling for agencies to trial the platform, for free, up to 30 June 2019. Agencies can access unlimited emails and up to 25,000 text messages during this period.

How it works

Once agencies have set up an account, they can start using the system.

Agency users type in the message they’d like to send. They can control the look and feel of the messages, changing the format, adding individual branding, and choosing the sending email address or phone number. Recipients can be uploaded via a spreadsheet or the system can be integrated with the agency’s website or back office system. The email/text message can then be sent manually or set up as an automated send. The platform tracks how many messages have sent, and any failures.

Notify provides lots of different options, such as sending bulk messages, sending personalised messages, scheduling messages and sending messages automatically via API. For integration, Notify libraries can be downloaded for Java, Node.JS and Python development environments. The Documentation section of the Notify website will guide you through the options.

Notify also allows you to set permission levels for different team members and invite new users.

Feedback

As part of the trial, the DTA is keen to get feedback from agencies. Feedback will help drive improvements and feature prioritisation for Notify moving forward.

Open source,whole-of-government platform

Notify has been built using open source code developed by the UK’s Government Digital Service. It’s also being offered as a whole-of-government digital platform, in line with the DTA’s Digital Service Platforms Strategy, which outlines the many benefits of whole-of-government digital platforms and why Australia should be focused on implementing common platforms.

Salsa Digital’s take

Not surprisingly, we love the fact that Notify is an open source, whole-of-government digital platform. We’re seeing more and more examples of governments moving to common platforms and to open source. Our own GovCMS solution and Single Digital Presence are good examples of open source whole-of-government digital platforms. The need for common platforms is also being specifically called out in strategy, such as within the DTA’s Digital Service Platforms Strategy, as well as the current Australian public sector review (see our blog The APS review — what it means for digital transformation for more information).

It’s great to have another open source, whole-of-government digital platform in the Australian digital landscape. It also reflects our vision, as an open source digital agency focused on helping governments and enterprises become more open, more connected and more consolidated. We’re hoping some of our clients will try Notify...and tell us what you think!