On this page:
At a glance
$101K-$200K
2022 - 2023
6 to 9 months
Completed
CivicTheme, QuantCDN, Salsa Hosting, Drupal
State government
Build & migration, Hosting & maintenance
GovTech, Open source, Web development, Content management systems, Drupal Planet
User needs, Multidisciplinary teams, Agile delivery, Open source, Accessibility
Overview
Bendigo Law Courts’ challenge
The new Bendigo Law was designed to better serve the community’s needs for safe, modern, and accessible justice facilities. The project contemplated all aspects of building design and service delivery to improve the user experience and reduce the stress often associated with attending court.
To complement the new building, Court Services Victoria wanted a website and content management solution to support its suite of digital wayfinding products, including self-service kiosks.
Bendigo Law Courts’ transformation
Salsa built a new Drupal website using , a design system and Drupal theme with a ready-to-use library of interactive components. This was integrated with the new court building’s kiosks via an API. The website is built on Salsa Hosting and uses for the benefits of a content delivery network (CDN) and for enhanced cybersecurity.
The outcomes
- A new, visually appealing Bendigo Law Courts
- A quick, easy and cost-effective site build with
- A website that complements the broader project and makes it easier for people to engage with the Court
“Bendigo Law Courts website was built for Court Services Victoria (CSV) by CSV partner Salsa Digital using CivicTheme. The product was delivered in May 2023 as part of Bendigo Law Courts project, and since then it has been providing valuable information to Bendigo Law Courts users. The Salsa project team worked very well with the CSV team and delivered the project on time on budget and to the exact needs of CSV. The team was very helpful, knowledgeable, and demonstrated a great level of commitment and professional experience during the project and post go live.”
Mohammad Hajhusein
Program Manager | IT and Digital Wayfinding | Major Projects
Court Services Victoria
Detailed case study
Below is detailed information on the challenge, transformation and final outcomes/benefits.
Bendigo Law Courts’ challenge — an intimidating court experience
In the old Bendigo courts building, going to court was an intimidating and stressful experience. Court users didn’t know what to expect, how to prepare for their hearing, what support they could access or how to conduct themselves in court.
The challenge was to create a fully integrated physical and digital wayfinding solution to transform how citizens interact with the courts. The solution was designed to serve the functional and emotional needs of people, assisting both their preparation for court (the website) and their day at court (kiosks, information displays, and in-person supports).
The new Bendigo Law Courts building design prioritised wellbeing, safety, environmental sustainability and user-friendly technology. It needed a complementary website, a user-based technical solution to realise the vision for digital wayfinding within a fixed budget.
Bendigo Law Courts’ transformation — meeting functional and emotional needs
Salsa suggested the CivicTheme design to provide a mature visual theme that delivers a high quality site with less time and at a lower cost. CivicTheme is also standards-compliant (e.g. accessibility standards) and provides a consistent user experience.
CivicTheme is a design system and Drupal 10 theme with a ready-to-use library of interactive components.
CivicTheme was used mostly out-of-the-box, with some customisations to deliver the requirements.
Homepage of Bendigo Law Courts website
Discovery
Salsa and Court Services Victoria kicked off the project with 2 discovery workshops. During this time, we:
Reviewed the sample designs and highlighted key layouts and elements to be mapped into CivicTheme (including webforms and integrations)
Confirmed the visual design/brand application in CivicTheme
Validated the API solution against requirements
Validated the content loading plan
CivicTheme requirements were divided in three categories:
Adopt — delivered with no changes to the out-of-the-box CivicTheme feature
Adapt — delivered with some extension of an existing out-of-the-box feature
Custom — creating a new CivicTheme component
Build
In addition to CivicTheme out-of-the-box components, we also needed a few custom components. The customisations included:
- Building maps and tab filters
Screenshot of building maps and tab filters view
- Legal and support services tab filters
Screenshot of legal and support services tab filters
- Live daily courts schedule – data via API (not enabled at the moment)
Screenshot of live daily courts schedule (currently not live)
The project team also built a custom Kiosk CMS (integrated into the Drupal CMS) and API between the website and onsite kiosk system so website content authors can easily manage content displayed on the kiosk terminals around the building.
Salsa also loaded all the content for the website and the kiosk.
The platform
The new Bendigo Law Courts was built on Salsa Hosting. Salsa Hosting is up to 20x faster, 16x greener, 2x cheaper, and significantly more secure.
It uses for the benefits of a content delivery network (CDN) and for additional cybersecurity.
QuantCDN provides benefits such as:
- Cheaper hosting costs
- Improved security
- Faster websites
- The ability to scale easily during peak demands
provides a web application firewall (WAF). QuantWAF monitors and filters incoming web traffic, identifying and blocking malicious requests and maintaining compliance with security standards. This helps to protect sensitive data, prevent cyberattacks and ensures compliance with regulatory requirements. QuantWAF includes a dashboard for immediate security insights.
Outcomes and benefits include:
- Enhanced security posture
- Protection against data breaches and cyber threats
- Peace of mind for both developers and end-users due to stringent security measures
Training
Salsa also provided CivicTheme training for administrators and content authors, so they can easily work with the site going forward.
The outcomes — a better citizen experience
A new, visually appealing Bendigo Law Courts
A WCAG AA compliant website
A website that complements the broader project and makes it easier for people to engage with the court
Integration between a kiosk CMS (from the new Drupal website) and the kiosk system
Live updates of court schedules (not enabled at the moment)
Connection between the new physical building and the new website to support users before and after a court event. In particular to help them:
Prepare for going to court
Find their way around the courts building once they’re there
Connect to support services if needed
The benefits of Salsa Hosting including reduced costs, improved security, faster load times and scalability
The benefits of QuantWAF for cybersecurity
About Bendigo Law Courts
The Bendigo Law is a multi-jurisdictional court that hosts the Magistrates' Court of Victoria, Children's Court of Victoria, and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), as well as the Supreme Court of Victoria, County Court of Victoria, and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia on a circuit basis.
About the Bendigo Law Courts building
The new building has been designed for users, prioritising the physical and psychological wellbeing of court users, judiciary and staff. It also makes the most of technology and is environmentally sustainable.
The court was created in consultation with the City of Greater , legal practitioners, court users, and local community service agencies to create a user-centric experience.
The design is anchored to Bendigo's unique heritage and informed by the culture and connection to Bendigo's Traditional Owners.