The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) is an independent authority whose role includes reporting on parliamentarian expenditure. The data published on IPEA’s website is essential to this transparency work. With its first website nearing end of life, IPEA contracted Morpht in March 2022 to build a new site on GovCMS SaaS Drupal 9.
The solution
The key KPI’s of the project were to facilitate large amounts of data, improve the performance of displaying results and improve the search and findability of parliamentarian expenditure data.
Morpht went through an extensive discovery phase to identify the key areas for improvement across the site. This included defining the solution, undertaking technical discovery to determine a scalable solution for returning and filtering data while maintaining the data integrity and improving user experience.
Many content types
To support site indexing and SEO, we introduced many new content types which automatically populate when importing datasets.
We also developed a proof of concept for data imports to demonstrate that IPEA would be able to self-manage the import process.
Better report automation
With its old website, IPEA had to upload a PDF report per parliamentarian each reporting period for users to download. This involved uploading over 200 PDF files each quarter and linking them to the person’s name for each reporting period. Morpht’s solution was to create a Person content type which is automatically generated on import.
Data discoverability
Solr search and our content model helped us display all reports quickly. We indexed only the required content for each report display, providing immense data processing and rendering efficiencies.
Other features include filters and facets to drill down to specific content, and a dynamic query to link aggregate data to detailed reports. When a user selects a value in the Expenditure report for a specific period, it automatically takes them to a detailed report with pre-populated filters.
Content management
We used Convivial CXP as a starter site for the project specifically designed for the GovCMS SaaS platform. It contains improved built-in features to assist Content Editors with their daily content tasks while providing a solid framework for web accessibility standards.
This provides site managers, editors, and content creators with the tools to manage content and page layouts without the need for developers. This also gave the project a great head start with many content types, components, and view modes in place to use straight away.
Importing of data
IPEA publishes the expenditure reports of parliamentarians so they are publicly available. Some of these reports contain over 30,000+ records in one dataset. This was previously managed by third party suppliers and was a costly and time-consuming activity which occurred on a quarterly basis. Morpht’s solution allows IPEA the ability to import all reporting data itself. This was achieved by using the Media entity and the Migrate modules.
Achieving this result has meant that IPEA is no longer dependent on a third party to produce its reports and is able to achieve its regulatory requirement in a more efficient timeframe.
The outcome
Morpht was able to provide IPEA with a new website on the GovCMS SaaS platform, upgraded to Drupal 9, which allows site editors to import all reporting data without the need for external help. The site also has a greatly improved page speed and a new design and interface which maximises the findability of parliamentarian expenditure reports.
Back to topWorking with the Morpht team on our website rebuild has been a very positive experience for IPEA. The Morpht team listened to IPEA’s requirements, understood the context within which we work, and gave professional, quality advice throughout the project. Morpht was committed to meeting IPEA’s deadlines and went above and beyond to deliver excellent results in our site’s functionality, look and feel, while maintaining our data integrity.
Helen Woittiez | Senior Communications and Media Advisor | Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority
Morpht went through an extensive discovery phase with IPEA to identify the key areas for improvement across the site to import large amounts of data, improve the performance of displaying results, and improve the search and findability of parliamentarian expenditure data.
IPEA's old website was slow and both expensive and complex to maintain. IPEA wanted to move to GovCMS SaaS Drupal 9 but had custom modules on its PaaS site that couldn't be migrated. IPEA also needed the ability to import data and edit content without a third-party vendor.
Technical Specifications
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Key modules/theme/distribution used:
