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NZ Drug Foundation

Ongoing maintenance and support to continually enhance the digital experience.

  • website migration
  • Managed application stack
  • expert reviews
  • ongoing support

Silverstripe website migration and ongoing monthly maintenance and support.

After meeting the NZ Drug Foundation team at a community meetup, and subsequent discussions about what we do and how we both like to work, we migrated the NZ Drug Foundation and Tūturu websites in early 2019. They were looking for an ongoing provider who could work through their wishlist of changes and features efficiently.


Switching over the website.

The website migration process involved obtaining the code, database and assets and setting them up on new environments. Our setup means that we have a staging environment available for comprehensive testing that doesn’t affect any of the data going live.

We managed the switchover timing in order to have minimal disruption to the content editors, and no down-time for the public in viewing the website.

Continuous improvements and support.

The website is one of NZ Drug Foundation’s key tools for telling their story, getting information into the hands of people who need it to keep safer or help someone else, and sharing information that shifts the debate on drug policy.

It houses a large amount of valuable content, and it’s extremely important that this content is easily accessible and usable for all of their audience. Therefore consistently reflecting on the design and functionality, and making enhancements is crucial.

We follow a simple process with good tools to back it up. This means that we get clarity and agreement on what needs to be done, there are regular opportunities to discuss things if a piece of work becomes blocked, we report on our process and plan future work routinely. The tools also helped with transparency across the broader team.

  • Weekly check in

    Discuss current tasks and blocks

  • Monthly review + plan

    Review what was achieved and prioritise next month’s tasks

  • Monthly report

    Recap tasks resolved and hours used.

  • Quarterly retro

    Reflect on what’s working and what can be improved

We have been careful to make sure we find a good balance of planning, reviews and work where all stakeholders can see immediate change and improvement.

The progress we make through this process gives us momentum and energy to keep improving.

Why it matters.

NZ Drug Foundation is taking the lead in Aotearoa New Zealand educating, advising and standing up for healthy approaches to alcohol and other drugs

By supporting the website we help the Drug Foundation to get information into the hands of people who need it, and to share information that positively influences New Zealander’s and their attitudes to drugs.

The organisation is driving change to develop policies that are informed by evidence and aim to reduce the social, health, economic harms and cost to individuals, their whānau and community.

We are very proud to be able to play a part in this important work.

Other highlights


Kicking off with a workshop

Early in our engagement we held a workshop with the Springtimesoft and NZ Drug Foundation teams at the NZ Drug Foundation office. This was a great way for us to meet and connect with almost everybody involved and understand some of the underlying thinking behind the website and digital platform.

Reviews and recommendations

On a website that is highly dynamic and regularly developing it is important to pause and take stock of where things are at. During migration we conducted a code review and shortly after migrating the website we did a design review to find any existing issues or opportunities and identify quick wins. We have since undertaken further reviews including accessibility, pagespeed and navigation.

Because we didn’t do the original build this is also a great way for us to gain an understanding of the website and any obstacles we might come across.

Support ticketing

As well as regular catch ups with the website Product Owner, we also have a support ticketing system set up via Zendesk that allows various members of the team to submit issues or bugs that they come across. This has been used to great effect by the Drug Foundation team and helps to get everybody engaged in the work.

The Drug Foundation has realised for a long time that giving our website regular TLC pays off. Moving to Springtimesoft has provided a real boost to the website. The key metrics are up, and the website looks great after many refinements. These have been especially important around being mobile friendly. Working with the team is easy and enjoyable, and what they produce is very high quality. What I really like is that no question is too much to ask. They’re helping us achieve our vision for the website, so we are happy to have made the shift.
Stephen Blythe — Communications Manager | Kaiwhakahaere Whakapā
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