What agencies should consider when evaluating GovCMS, Drupal and the right hosting approach for their digital requirements.

GovCMS is an established part of the Australian Government digital landscape, providing a Drupal-based content management and hosting platform designed specifically for government.

For agencies planning a new website, redesign or migration, GovCMS can provide a secure and proven foundation. It currently supports hundreds of Australian government websites across Commonwealth, state and local government. 

But choosing GovCMS isn't simply a matter of deciding to use Drupal. Agencies also need to determine whether GovCMS is the right environment for their requirements and, if it is, whether Software as a Service (SaaS) or Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides the appropriate level of flexibility and control.

That decision is best made through discovery and technical validation.

What is GovCMS?

GovCMS is a whole-of-government content management and hosting platform managed by the Australian Government Department of Finance.

It is built on Drupal, an open-source content management system widely used for complex government and enterprise digital platforms. GovCMS currently provides both Drupal 10 and Drupal 11 environments. 

For agencies, one of its major advantages is that much of the underlying platform and infrastructure has already been established around government requirements.

Digital Garden works with agencies to design, build, migrate and support websites within GovCMS, as well as helping determine whether GovCMS is the most appropriate solution in the first place.

GovCMS SaaS or PaaS?

One of the first decisions is which GovCMS service model is appropriate.

GovCMS SaaS

GovCMS Software as a Service provides the more managed environment.

GovCMS takes responsibility for the infrastructure, Drupal application maintenance, security updates and web protection services, while agencies and their digital partners focus on the website itself and its content. 

This can be a strong option for government websites where requirements can be delivered within the capabilities and constraints of the GovCMS SaaS environment.

It reduces the technical and security responsibilities that would otherwise sit with the agency and its development partner.

GovCMS PaaS

GovCMS Platform as a Service provides agencies with greater control over the Drupal application.

That flexibility also brings greater responsibility. PaaS customers are responsible for the application layer, including Drupal security updates, patching, modules and application maintenance. 

PaaS can therefore be appropriate when a project requires greater customisation or functionality than the SaaS environment supports, provided the agency has the internal capability or an experienced Drupal partner to manage those responsibilities.

Start with requirements, not the platform

It's tempting to make the technology decision at the beginning of a project.

We prefer to start with the requirements.

What does the website need to do? Who needs to use it? What systems does it need to connect with? What are the security requirements? How will content be governed? What functionality needs to be introduced in the future?

These questions can significantly influence the most appropriate technical approach.

A relatively straightforward government information website may be an excellent candidate for GovCMS SaaS.

A website with more complex integrations, custom functionality or application requirements may be better suited to GovCMS PaaS.

And in some circumstances, the requirements may indicate that Drupal hosted outside GovCMS is a better fit.

When requirements call for greater flexibility

The National Library of Australia is a good example.

GovCMS was considered as part of the initial solution approach. Through discovery and technical assessment, requirements were identified that called for greater flexibility.

The Library's digital environment included complex requirements and integrations with key services such as the Catalogue, Trove and NLA Bookshop.

Rather than forcing those requirements into a predetermined platform model, Digital Garden delivered the solution on Drupal with managed cloud hosting.

The underlying technology remained Drupal, but the hosting and application environment provided the additional flexibility required by the project.

This is an important distinction. Choosing Drupal and choosing GovCMS are related decisions, but they aren't necessarily the same decision.

Why discovery matters

Discovery isn't simply about gathering requirements for a website that's already been defined.

It should also test the assumptions behind the proposed solution.

For a GovCMS project, this can include assessing:

• functional requirements
• content types and publishing workflows
• integrations and APIs
• authentication and permissions
• search requirements
• content migration
• accessibility
• security and privacy
• expected traffic and performance
• application support requirements
• future functionality
• hosting and ongoing operating costs.

This allows the team to identify potential constraints early and determine whether SaaS, PaaS or another Drupal environment provides the best fit.

GovCMS itself recommends evaluating the differences between SaaS and PaaS, development requirements and the characteristics of the proposed website when determining whether the platform is appropriate. 

The advantage of Drupal underneath

Whether an agency chooses GovCMS SaaS, GovCMS PaaS or another managed Drupal environment, Drupal provides a strong underlying foundation.

It supports structured content, publishing workflows, granular permissions, integrations, multisites and complex content models.

For government organisations, that flexibility is particularly useful because digital requirements rarely remain static. Services change, new systems need to be integrated, accessibility requirements evolve and content estates grow.

The platform needs to accommodate that change rather than becoming a constraint.

Digital Garden's GovCMS and Drupal experience

Digital Garden has extensive experience designing, developing and supporting government digital platforms across both GovCMS and other Drupal environments.

Our work spans strategy and discovery, user research, information architecture, UX and UI design, accessibility, Drupal development, integrations, content migration, testing, deployment and ongoing support.

This experience across different Drupal environments is important because it allows us to approach platform selection objectively.

We're not trying to make every project fit the same solution.

The objective is to determine the simplest, most appropriate and sustainable technical approach for the requirements.

Choosing the right approach

GovCMS can be an excellent choice for Australian government websites, particularly where agencies want the benefits of Drupal within an established whole-of-government platform.

But the choice between SaaS, PaaS and other Drupal hosting models should be based on what the website actually needs to deliver.

Start with the users and requirements. Understand the integrations, security responsibilities and operational model. Consider not just the initial build, but how the platform will be supported and evolve.

Then choose the technology and hosting environment that best supports those needs.

For some organisations, that will be GovCMS SaaS. For others, it will be GovCMS PaaS. And where requirements call for greater flexibility, managed Drupal hosting may provide a better approach.

The right platform isn't simply the one that can launch the website. It's the one that can support it effectively over the long term.