NFP Compliance site requirements

The Office for the Community Sector wanted to reduce the reduce red tape faced by Not for Profit (NFP) community organisations and increase productivity.

Our solution was a dedicated online portal where NFP community organisations could easily access all regulatory information, licences, forms and related support materials.

A significant step forward in simplifying compliance

The NFP Compliance Centre represents a significant step forward in simplifying regulatory compliance for what has been a highly valued – and in many ways, highly burdened – not for profit sector.

Building on research previously undertaken by the Office for the Community Sector, we conducted a research and consultation process with users and stakeholders of NFP organisations to refine and describe user segments, business and user requirements for the website.

Recommendations were then put forward to develop a user-centred design and information architecture, functional specifications and content writing template to ensure the website met the needs of the business and NFP organisations (users) to reduce the complexity of existing compliance information.

The recommended model provides information in simple, accessible language and is a gateway to other relevant websites, adding value through deep links to specific content and processes. The solution was based on the following principles:

• Single ‘go-to’ destination for NFP compliance information and tools, irrespective of departmental, jurisdictional or agency ownership of information
• Accessible content easily digested by the range of NFP audiences within the sector, including users with language difficulties
• Direct navigation – The fundamental basis of navigation on the portal was the accomplishment of tasks, rather than reading and browsing of content. Users are time-poor, over-burdened with red tape, and often not professionals in their role. Site navigation and page templates were then proposed which provided alternative paths to required information via topics, service types, task-based tools and common questions approach to make compliance information and tasks more accessible to NFP organisations.