Council Platform vs Single Digital Presence

Council Platform is a web service for running local government CMS websites. Its drag-and-drop editor lets teams create complex pages without developer time, with a customisable front end based on the GOV.UK Design System. Features include service directories, news, event calendars, global search, CRM functions, forms, and editorial workflows. The platform supports manual and machine translation for bilingual sites, plus multi-site publishing and document management. The maker describes sites as accessible from the outset and says subscribers receive free accessibility audit scans. Listed integrations include Bartec, ModernGov, Elgin Roadworks, Council Advertising Network, Microsoft Azure Chatbots, Google Analytics, SiteImprove, and ReciteMe. Security provisions include two-factor authentication, password complexity requirements, and automatic logout. Subscriptions include production and test hosting, support, documentation, uptime monitoring, security updates, and a 99.9% uptime SLA. Pricing is based on monthly page views: the plan up to 5,000 page views costs £200 monthly licence fee (ex VAT), while the 5,001–15,000 tier costs £400 monthly licence fee (ex VAT). Plans above 100,000 monthly page views add features including microsites, cookie-less analytics, accessibility auditing, and PDF conversion.

Single Digital Presence (SDP) is a web publishing platform for Victorian Government websites, established on Drupal in 2016. Its CMS provides publishing tools, data collection forms, revision history, federated approvals and domain redirect management. Each website receives Google Analytics dashboards. The service also provides security assessments and updates, Drupal and Ripple upgrades, outage and update alerts, bot protection and disaster recovery. The Ripple design system supplies styles, components and patterns for Victorian Government branded digital products. SDP’s design framework states technical and design compliance to Level AA of the latest WCAG accessibility standards. Victorian public servants can access online content training, a help centre and a Community of Practice. Technical support covers website bugs, malfunctioning elements and CMS assistance; 24/7 emergency support applies to outages and emergencies covered by the service level agreement. The service runs over 140 instances across 60 sites. Creating a new section on vic.gov.au costs nothing and requires approval from the lead department’s Digital Management Committee. Independent websites or components require a quote after a requirements document; some features and services incur charges.