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WikiSuite for a Digital Services department

There is a trend in government to set up Digital Services departments, such as:
UK: Government Digital Service, Parliamentary Digital Service
USA: U.S. Digital Service, 18F, Colorado Digital Service, Defense Digital Service
Canada: Canadian Digital Service, Ontario Digital Service, Nova Scotia Digital Service
Australia: Digital Transformation Agency
France: beta.gouv.fr

Related: Budgeting practices for major software initiatives by Waldo Jaquith (18F) at the Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee.

WikiSuite is a superb choice within the toolbox of a Digital Services departments. WikiSuite is the "most comprehensive and integrated Free / Libre / Open Source enterprise software suite"

  1. Features: Chances are, whatever you need now and in the future is an existing feature.
  2. No need to manage complex licenses with fees. Just agree to standard the Free / Libre / Open source licences
  3. Full access to the source code makes it easy to make any necessary modifications to work in your specific infrastructure
  4. A sensible lifecycle: https://info.tiki.org/Versions
  5. Your Digital Services department (or external firm) can proceed to a security audit of the code.
  6. You can self-host or get it hosted by one of the Service Providers
    • Ex.: start outside to confirm the platform corresponds to your needs, and transfer internally when it makes sense (confidential data, IT is ready to provide support, etc.)
  7. Community-managed: You can get involved and influence the roadmap!
  8. Extensive web admin panels: Power Users can configure the tools without the need for software developers or to edit configuration files. Once it's installed, you almost never need to use server access.
    • Wiki pages are used for templates, and thus, there is inherent versioning and permissions, and everything is stored in the database.
  9. No lock-in
  10. Built-in enterprise features such as connecting to Active Directory
  11. Both community and enterprise Support are available. The architects of the solution are available for consulting (Support, sponsored development, training, configuration and customization, business consulting, etc.)


See also: Deployment scenario: Enterprise department

See also