The City of New Albany, a thriving suburb of Columbus and long-time Buckeye Innovation client, has experienced rapid growth in recent years. As the city expanded, so did the needs of its employees. Previously, most staff worked from a single building where information-sharing and personal connections happened organically. But with more departments, distributed teams, and evolving processes, the city needed a centralized hub for internal communication, resources, and employee engagement.
City staff sought to develop a user-friendly intranet where staff could quickly access important documents, HR policies, request forms, onboarding materials, and system links— all in one place. Additionally, they wanted to foster a sense of connection by including features that celebrated employee milestones like birthdays, work anniversaries, and new hires, as well as a place to give shout-outs for outstanding work. Their vision was a modern, secure, and scalable intranet that could keep pace with New Albany’s continued growth.
To meet the specific needs of the growing city, we made the decision to design an original, custom intranet from the ground up. Since we didn’t use any pre-made templates, we were able to create exactly what the city needed in terms of layout, navigation, and design.
We began the project by working with the city to interview every department. This helped us to understand their daily workflows, pain points, and must-have features. Then, we created a site map and user flows tailored to real employee needs.
With input from the city, Buckeye Innovation handled the upload of most internal documents, request forms, and onboarding materials. Special security protocols were implemented for police content, including separate credentials to ensure that confidential information could only be accessed within the department.
We also built out a robust staff directory using a linked CSV file with over 200 employee records, including photos, departments, job titles, birthdays, and work anniversaries. HR now has the flexibility to manage individual records or bulk uploads as the organization grows.
Throughout the build, we leveraged a powerful theme called Voxel, and we communicated frequently with the city’s team via Asana and email to ensure continuous alignment. We also hosted administrative trainings with the New Albany team to ensure long-term sustainability.
The completed intranet is a secure, user-friendly digital hub that unifies work systems and employee resources. Now, employees can access everything from HR policies to maintenance request forms, all in one place.
The staff directory and employee spotlight features help preserve the small-town camaraderie that defines New Albany’s culture, even as the city expands. Employees can recognize one another’s contributions, celebrate milestones, and stay informed with internal news.
The intranet also accommodates the specific security needs of the police department, ensuring that every employee can access the system in a way that’s both seamless and secure.
Perhaps most importantly, the new intranet builds long-term capacity within the organization. By empowering staff at every level to find what they need quickly and independently, the City of New Albany is not only improving internal efficiency but also reinforcing a culture of collaboration, recognition, and innovation.
