Rural Ontario’s County of Bruce was spending limited resources maintaining legacy communication systems for 800 staff members spread over 42 locations.
The Technology Information Services (ITS) team leads envisioned “BruceWorx,” a Microsoft Azure cloud-based data-sharing solution based on Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint Online, and Skype for Business. NTT DATA provided support by:
“After seeing BruceWorx, other municipalities have asked, ‘We want that, can you do it for us?’ which is one of the best compliments you can ask for. We’re proud of what we’ve done with Microsoft, and we’re proud of BruceWorx.”
On the edge of the Ontario peninsula, the County of Bruce’s staff of 800 provides critical municipal services, such as roads, water and tourism support, for the 67,000 residents dispersed across nearly 4,000 sq. km.
BruceWorx was the ambitious plan by Bruce County, Ontario's five-person IT team to digitize a 1,500 square mile workplace in nine months. Built on Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint Online, and Skype for Business, this cloud-based digital transformation showcased how small governments can achieve cost-effective delivery of the right information at the right time.
NTT DATA supported Bruce County's IT investment as BruceWorx grew into a solution that local staff and other regional governments clamored for; BruceWorx's acceptance and evolution would guide it to win the MISA Ontario (Municipal Information Systems Association) 2019 Excellence in Municipal Systems Award.
The simplicity of BruceWorx's SharePoint team sites let local administrators create workflows and data-sharing policies without engaging IT. SharePoint's governance, combined with InTune’s smart data-sharing, balanced flexibility with security and data-sharing policies.
New staff can start working immediately on their own phone or devices with Office 365 and InTune. Video chat and screensharing enhances support for IT, instructions, or sharing practical physical events, such as snow levels, or physical infrastructure.
In 2019, BruceWorx won the Municipal Information Systems Association of Ontario’s Excellence in Municipal Systems award for Modern Workplace Transformation and is now a showcase for implementing O365 for Canadian counties.
*This case study was originally written by Sierra Systems Group Inc., which has become NTT DATA Services as of December 17, 2018.