How the Shire of Mundaring transformed its digital workplace with SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365.

• Client: Shire of Mundaring
• Industry: Local Government
• Organisation size: 200-500
• Challenge: Create a trusted digital front door that improves information discovery, communication, governance and self-service across the organisation.
• Solution: Designed and implemented a native-first SharePoint Online digital workplace, enhanced with PnP Modern Search, Viva Connections and selected Injio components to deliver enterprise search, knowledge management and employee self-service.
• Technologies: Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva Connections, Microsoft Search, PnP Modern Search, Microsoft Power Automate, SharePoint Brand Centre, Injio
• Headline result: More than 120,000 hub visits, 113,000 SharePoint site visits and increased Microsoft 365 Adoption Score, demonstrating strong organisation-wide adoption and a successful transition to a modern digital workplace.
• Service pillar: SharePoint Online Intranets & Digital Workplaces

The Shire of Mundaring is a local government authority serving communities across the Perth Hills in Western Australia. 

Like many local governments, the Shire recognised that its intranet had become more than a place to publish news. Staff increasingly relied on it to locate policies, procedures, forms, corporate knowledge and everyday business information. The organisation wanted to create a modern digital workplace that would become the trusted starting point for work, whether employees were based in the office, working remotely or out in the field. 

The Shire’s vision was simple. 

Create a trusted, central hub where staff could quickly, clearly and confidently find what they need. 

Achieving that vision required more than replacing an existing intranet. It meant improving the way information was managed, discovered and consumed across the organisation. 

The project focused on nine key business outcomes: 

• creating a single source of truth for organisational information  

• improving search and information discovery  

• increasing productivity through self-service  

• strengthening internal communications  

• driving organisation-wide adoption  

• delivering a modern, intuitive user experience  

• improving governance and content ownership  

• breaking down knowledge silos  

• supporting long-term Microsoft 365 digital workplace transformation  

WebVine designed and implemented a modern SharePoint Online intranet that balanced Microsoft’s native capabilities with targeted enhancements where they delivered genuine business value. 

Approximately 75% of the solution uses native SharePoint Online functionality, helping minimise complexity while ensuring the platform remains aligned with Microsoft’s roadmap and can be managed sustainably by internal teams. 

Rather than replacing native functionality, enhancements were introduced only where they materially improved the employee experience. 

The solution included: 

• SharePoint Online Home Site and communication sites  

• SharePoint Hub architecture  

• SharePoint Brand Centre  

• Microsoft Viva Connections  

• Microsoft Search  

• PnP Modern Search  

• Microsoft Power Automate  

• Selected Injio productivity components, including Magic Suite and Global Alerts  

The result is a digital workplace that feels cohesive to employees while remaining simple to govern and evolve.

Finding information was one of the organisation’s highest priorities. 

To support this, WebVine designed a series of dedicated knowledge hubs using PnP Modern Search, each focused on a specific business need rather than a department. 

These included: 

• Document Hub for policies, procedures and corporate documents  

• How Do I…? knowledge hub for common business processes  

• Newsroom bringing together organisational news and updates  

• Video Gallery supporting training and knowledge sharing  

• Collaborations Hub showcasing internal projects and cross-organisational initiatives  

Rather than relying on manual page maintenance, each experience is powered by metadata and Microsoft Search, allowing content to surface dynamically as it is created and maintained. 

The result is a platform where staff spend less time searching for information and more time using it. 

The intranet was designed to become part of employees’ everyday workflow rather than another application they needed to remember to visit. 

Integration with Microsoft Teams through Viva Connections placed organisational information directly alongside collaboration tools, while Microsoft Search provided a consistent search experience across SharePoint content. 

Power Automate workflows introduced governance around document approvals and publishing, and the information architecture was designed with Microsoft 365 Copilot readiness in mind, ensuring content structure, permissions and metadata would support future AI capabilities. 

This approach allows the platform to evolve alongside Microsoft’s modern workplace roadmap rather than against it.

The new SharePoint Online digital workplace quickly became the organisation’s trusted destination for communication, knowledge sharing and everyday work. 

Organisation-wide adoption 

The platform achieved strong adoption across the organisation, demonstrating that employees quickly incorporated the intranet into their daily work.

Within the first 4 weeks: 

• 113,906 SharePoint site visits  

• 120,404 hub visits  

• 237 unique hub users translating to almost 100% of users  

• 203 unique visitors to the Home site  

These figures indicate that employees weren’t simply visiting the homepage. They were actively navigating knowledge hubs, operational resources and business content across the wider digital workplace. 

Knowledge discovery at scale 

Knowledge hubs rapidly became some of the most frequently accessed destinations within the intranet. 

The Document Hub attracted significant ongoing usage, providing staff with a trusted place to locate organisational policies, procedures and operational resources. 

Similarly, the How Do I…? hub became a valuable self-service resource, helping employees complete common business tasks without relying on colleagues or lengthy procedural documents. 

Together, these knowledge experiences support the Shire’s objective of reducing information silos and improving organisational productivity.

Microsoft 365 adoption beyond the intranet 

The project wasn’t simply about implementing SharePoint Online. 

It was about encouraging broader adoption of Microsoft 365. 

The organisation’s Microsoft Adoption Score increased from 51% to 78%, with continued upward momentum following deployment, demonstrating increased utilisation of Microsoft 365 services as employees adopted the new ways of working. 

Integration with Viva Connections further embedded the intranet into Microsoft Teams, making organisational information available within the applications employees already use throughout the day. 

Supporting the original vision 

The completed solution delivers against the organisation’s original objectives. 

Native Where Possible. Enhanced Where It Matters. 

One of the guiding principles for the project was to maximise the use of native Microsoft 365 capabilities while introducing enhancements only where they delivered clear business value. 

This approach reduces technical debt, simplifies long-term administration and keeps the platform aligned with Microsoft’s ongoing investment in SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365. 

For the Shire, it means having a digital workplace that is not only easier to manage today but is also well positioned to adopt future Microsoft innovations without requiring significant redevelopment.

• Microsoft SharePoint Online  

• Microsoft Teams  

• Microsoft Viva Connections  

• Microsoft Search  

• PnP Modern Search  

• Microsoft Power Automate  

• SharePoint Brand Centre  

• Selected Injio Components  

• Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness 

• Microsoft Clarity 

The Shire of Mundaring achieved excellent outcomes working with WebVine on our new Intranet. Looking back at our original objectives for the project which were ambitious, all were met plus the added bonus of improving our overall Microsoft adoption score with our staff really building confidence with the use of these tools. Alongside a really attractive, flexible and intuitive Intranet we are super pleased with the ability to enhance our internal communications and vastly improve search capabilities which will no doubt go a long way in supporting our ongoing transformation and productivity goals. WebVine, led by Rachel Harnott, provided outstanding guidance, technical support and project governance landing us on time, budget and with an Intranet we can continue to grow.  Lara Stephen, Corporate Strategy and Change Specialist

Working with WebVine has been an absolute pleasure. Their project management and planning style was appreciated, always giving us clear updates on where we were and where we were heading at any point in the project. Response times were great, and you won’t meet more friendly people who are passionate and energetic about what they do. The delivered outcome has been something we can all be proud of. Rob Grieves, ICT and Technical Lead for the Project