Helping agencies see what moving to nsw.gov.au would take

OneCX aimed to consolidate NSW agency websites into nsw.gov.au. Differences in content volume, publishing practice, technical dependencies and ownership meant one migration approach risked weak plans, resistance and disrupted public information.

Program teams needed readiness evidence; agencies needed a practical way to prepare before entering the pipeline. Without it, the first formal conversation could feel like an imposed mandate and missing evidence could become debate instead of early preparation.

Readiness had been something the program determined after an agency entered the pipeline. Agencies already held much of the evidence about content ownership, complexity and technical dependence, but lacked a common frame for comparing those conditions and deciding what to do next.

I reframed assessment as a service agencies could use themselves. The hub explained criteria, located their current position and identified preparation, so formal planning could start with evidence rather than mandate.

I mapped readiness across content complexity and technical dependence, translating program knowledge into questions agencies could answer from evidence already held across their teams. The hub connected assessment and interpretation to preparation, not pass or fail.

Likely site profiles tested whether the model separated straightforward content moves from deeper dependencies. I directed interaction and content principles while designers developed journeys; program, content and technical specialists challenged criteria that concealed substantial work.

I did not automate migration-wave allocation because agency answers still required discussion and a calculated wave implied unsupported certainty. Wave planning stayed with the program; the hub improved its evidence.

The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages was the first agency to move and our test of the criteria. I facilitated stakeholder and subject-matter workshops, then co-designed journeys so certificates, registrations and weddings used shared nsw.gov.au patterns rather than copying the old site.

Agencies could judge readiness and identify preparation. The hub gave agency and program teams a shared vocabulary for content and technical conditions; this case does not claim a measured reduction in migration effort.

Assessment moved earlier, so program conversations began with agency evidence and open questions rather than the mandate. Different migration profiles became visible without labelling an agency simply ready or unready, while preparation could begin before wave planning. Agency teams could start that work immediately.

A mandate works better when teams can see their evidence first. In platform consolidations, I now make criteria explicit, let teams locate themselves against them, and pilot the criteria on the easiest and hardest cases before broad use.