Background
As Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) plays a critical role in resolving disputes and upholding fair workplace standards. However, its conciliation services particularly for unfair dismissal cases were constrained by fragmented legacy systems and manual processes. Citizens faced inconsistent experiences, and staff struggled with inefficiencies that hindered service delivery.
FWC set a bold vision: to enable users to “Start Online, Stay Online.” This meant creating a seamless, secure, and intuitive digital experience that empowered individuals to engage with the Commission on their own terms.
Challenge
FWC’s existing conciliation process relied on many tools including Microsoft Bookings, SharePoint, and Virtual Appointments. While these provided short-term relief, they placed strain on ICT resources and frontline teams. The scheduling and management of conciliation sessions were long, error-prone, and lacked integration, impacting both staff efficiency and user experience. Additionally, the legal nature of the request needed to be strictly integrated with the established CaseHQ platform for records and matter management.
Through strategic and technical discovery sessions, FWC identified two core pain points:
External User Experience: Citizens expected to engage with the Commission through a single, secure online location like their experience with other public and private services.
Internal Efficiency: Staff needed upstream efficiencies to reduce duplicative manual data entry, improve accuracy, and streamline service delivery.
FWC engaged Exco Partners to help ideate and deliver a future-ready solution that would address these challenges across four key stages, starting with a proof of concept and culminating in a fully integrated customer portal.
Approach
Exco Partners applied a structured, human-centred design methodology across three key phases:
Discovery & Proof of Concept: Co-design workshops and technical assessments helped define a future-ready architecture using Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem.
Platform Development: Agile delivery teams built and validated core components including case routing, agent interface, and AI-powered workflows.
Customer Portal Integration: A full-service portal designed to support diverse user groups from first-time applicants to legal professionals enabling secure, end-to-end digital engagement.
To accelerate delivery and ensure scalability, Exco leveraged its suite of modular accelerators, including:
These accelerators, aligned to Microsoft’s technology blueprint, enabled rapid prototyping, reusable components, and consistent delivery across phases. Built on standard cloud technologies, the framework supports customisable workflows, AI-driven models, secure identity management, and omni-channel communication.
Exco Partners has been deploying these accelerators across other agencies, demonstrating their broad applicability and proven success.
