GovCMS: Ways we communicate with you

Have questions about our communications channels? Read on to learn more about how the GovCMS community interacts through our various communication channels.

At GovCMS, we are all about making things easy for you, whether it’s connecting with each other, finding information, or getting answers, we accomplish this by having multiple communication streams in place. To support collaboration and communication, GovCMS encourages members of the community to make themselves familiar with our current communication channels, including how you can stay up to date with GovCMS changes, news and events.

In 2022 we started communicating using a shiny new email distribution service. This service enables us to send creative and secure communications to you. It allows you to manage your own subscription. If you feel that you don't always get our emails you can check with your IT department to see if the email has been caught up in spam, and request that they whitelist govcmscommunications@finance.gov.au and govcms@finance.gov.au. If you have any queries on this, shoot us an email to govcmscommunications@finance.gov.au

Here’s a refresher of our communication channels:

Community Update newsletter

Our Community Update newsletter is designed to keep you informed and connected. Distributed to our subscribers bi-monthly and published on our website, Community Update provides updates from GovCMS on current projects and priorities. Community Update also includes case studies, best practice advice, and tips and tricks on all things GovCMS. Subscribing to the Community Update newsletter means you’ll also be subscribed to receive invitations for events, user research opportunities and more.

Subscribe to the Community Update

Distribution Release updates

The GovCMS platform is constantly evolving and improving. To keep our customers well-informed on updates to the platform, their responsibilities, and the services available, we maintain regular communications through direct email release updates. When you onboard with us we automatically sign-up primary contacts to this channel. If you’re missing out and want to be notified by email about new release updates, head over and subscribe to GovCMS Release Notes!

GovCMS website

Our GovCMS website is a one-stop-shop for information on all things GovCMS. Our website is one of our key outlets for achieving our communication objectives – self-service, community and information. We are constantly working to improve our website and to support customers to self-serve answers to their queries. Our website is the perfect place to answer your questions, or find your way to the answer you’re looking for. For example, our new Resources page includes links to:

• Support information: pricing plans, GovCMS glossary, Drupal 10 and training manuals
• Forms and templates: how to contact us, Privacy Assessment template and checklists
• Videos and recordings: tutorials and how-to guides

Knowledge Base

Our Knowledge Base has answers to questions relating to all things GovCMS. Access to the Knowledge Base is included as part of access to the GovCMS Service Desk. You will need your credentials to login into the GovCMS Knowledge Base to access Knowledge Base articles. If you do not have access to the Service Desk, please contact your site owner to raise a ticket with the Service Desk. If you are the site owner, contact GovCMS using the Contact Us form.

GovCMS GovTEAMS Community

GovTEAMS is a whole of government service which allows government and external partners to connect on a security accredited collaboration platform. The GovCMS GovTEAMS community is where you can get in touch with your fellow community members, get involved in surveys and user research, or simply stay informed and ask questions.

Created as a place to share information and establish connections across the digital community, it has grown to include places to advertise and find events and job opportunities from across the community. If you’re not currently a member of GovTEAMS you’ll need to set up an account. If you are a member, you can submit this form and we can add you directly to our community.

Find out more about the GovCMS GovTEAMS community and how to join on our GovCMS GovTEAMS Community page. 

Slack

Like GovTEAMS, Slack is a messaging and collaboration platform used by our tech community. Slack is not an accredited government platform like GovTEAMS. GovCMS Slack is a community chat workspace allowing members to seek help, ask questions, share work, post updates or announcements and more. To join this workspace, you will first need to contact GovCMS using the Contact Us form requesting access. We will then review and add you to the GovCMS Slack channel. We are aware that not all government agencies have access to Slack, so you will also find our important updates on the GovTEAMS community channel and in our Agency Update.

GitHub

GitHub is where GovCMS provides its distribution to the public for download and use, including each of our releases. As part of this offering, you can also request new modules for consideration in the distribution. Also included is a Developer Wiki. This community driven wiki is curated by GovCMS, at the Department of Finance. The wiki's goal is to use clear language, useful overviews, and supplement this with links to other resources to help you maintain and build great websites. Our GovCMS developer wiki contains information about GovCMS Drupal distribution, GovCMS hosting platform (aka Lagoon), help for various platforms like Windows, Linux and MacOS as well as tips and troubleshooting information. You will need a GitHub account to create a new issue or contribute to the wiki – there is no cost associated with creating a GitHub account.

GovCMS is more than a whole-of-government web hosting service. It’s a growing community where we innovate, learn, and solve problems together. Connection with you is what makes us tick so make sure you are signed-up to all things GovCMS.