Togetha Client Stories

We don’t often talk about the work we do for clients because of confidentiality agreements and government agency approval processes. So it’s great to be able talk about our work for SURROUND – the first in a series of blog posts highlighting exciting customer stories we have had a hand in shaping.

Who are Surround Australia

SURROUND has a mission to ethically solve some of the world’s most complex problems and achieve real-world outcomes for people and society. They do this by dramatically improving understanding and decision by linking knowledge across operations, policy, planning and information repositories. Discover more about SURROUND here.

The Challenge Togetha

SURROUND wanted to provide an online service desk function as part of the Biodiversity Data Repository (BDR), which is a solution SURROUND provide to an Australian Government client.

The service desk had to accept emailed requests, structured requests using forms and online help (knowledge base). Some of the requests would be for adding/changing user access to the supported solution, others might include enhancements or defects. The ability to link enhancements and defects to versions of the BDR was also very important.

SURROUND wanted a solution they could quickly implement and improve over time where future enhancements might include:

• the types of requests may change;
• automation to create BDR users (after appropriate approvals) may also be of value to implement; and
• additional integration with service desks with other organisations involved in the BDR may be desirable

The Togetha Solution

SURROUND was already using Atlassian’s Jira and Confluence Cloud, so using Atlassian’s Jira Service Management (JSM) was identified as a strategic fit that would provide an integrated solution and familiar interface for the SURROUND team.

Atlassian is continually improving JSM, having recently implemented new forms capability which makes is easy to capture relevant data and the Confluence Knowledge Base enabled self-service for BDR users. Customers can raise requests via email, access self-help documents online and submit structured requests using the forms capability. Phone support was not required at this point (though the capability is available via Opsgenie if needed in the future). A workflow, with BDR owner approval statuses has been implemented to ensure there is traceability and recording of owner approvals. Requests may be implemented straight away (user access request) or scheduled for work as part of the BDR solution process.

The SURROUND and Togetha teams worked closely, rapidly implementing the first release of the SURROUND service desk to support the BDR. We are very proud of the work that we delivered and delighted to have SURROUND as a Togetha client. We enjoy these nimble projects which underpin delivery and support of an important capability for Australia, the BDR. The BDR makes data on living things easier to find, access, share and use. Learn more about the BDR here.

Atlassian Products used

Our solution was created using;

• Jira Service Management Cloud
• Confluence Cloud
• Jira Cloud  

Apps used:

• None

Thank you!

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