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Envirostep online self-assessment

As Kermit the Frog famously said, it's not easy being green. But it's a lot easier with Envirostep, a free web-based self-assessment tool for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Envirostep home page
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Ministry of Economic Development

Public Sector: Application development, Web-enabled business, Managed services

Envirostep was built by Optimation for the Ministry of Economic Development and is designed to encourage businesses to take practical steps that benefit both the environment and their bottom line.

Envirostep provides SMEs with a simple web-based questionnaire that assesses their environmental sustainability performance, then helps them to make improvements and gain business benefits by doing so.

After completing the web-based assessment, users automatically receive a customised report containing a score, profile, comparison with the national average, recommendations for improvement and links to further information.

We delivered:

  • A web-based self-assessment system that is easy and intuitive for business people to use
  • A flexible design that allows the customer to make changes without needing input from specialist technical staff
  • A modular framework which can be easily modified and extended for other applications, such as health and safety assessments
  • A collaborative, agile approach that enabled the design and functionality to evolve during the development process while still ensuring delivery to budget and timeframes
  • On-going support and enhancements

Why Optimation?

After viewing an online business self-assessment system we developed for NZTE and the Business Capability Partnership, MED approached us for a solution that was conceptually similar (web-based, simple to manage and intuitive to use), but which took a different development path that made the most of new Microsoft technologies including the ASP.NET MVC development framework.

"We found Optimation's team to be flexible, resourceful and communicative, which made it a pleasure to work with them," says Howard Markland, Senior Adviser on the Ministry of Economic Development's Eco-Verification Team. "Almost everyone who has used Envirostep comments on its ease of use and the practicality of its recommendations, and that has been critical to engaging people in the assessment process."

"We're also happy with the modular format and the ease with which it can be extended or modified. This enables us to use the same platform for a diverse range of applications, and reduces our reliance on input from specialist technical staff."

The flexible design framework has attracted the attention of larger organisations that see potential in adapting the tool for performance assessment and reporting across their corporate structure and supply chains. Those interested to date have included large corporate organisations, councils, the military, certification bodies and volunteer groups.

Try out Envirostep for yourself.

Want to know more? Download the full case study (PDF, 212kb) or talk to our team.