There's been a lot of emphasis on online government in recent years. Probably, the highest profile result is that you can now complete your tax return online, but that's just one of a wide range of national and local services now available to citizens online.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to putting the business of government online. Web sites and e-business don't just have a lot to offer when it comes to making services more accessible to the public, they can also help improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the internal operations of government organisations, from Whitehall departments to local authorities.

Colchester Borough Council is one of a growing number of local authorities in the East of England that is using e-business solutions to transform the way it works. Its new intranet site, launched in September, is fast becoming the hub of its organisation - the place where its employees can find the information they need to do their jobs.

The site builds on the Council's experience in making information and services available to the public online. In August, for example, over 37,000 visitors accessed almost 200,000 pages of information ranging from details of vacancies and planning applications to tourist information. The Council has also created a successful series of email newsletters targeted at specific interest groups.

It was a success the Council was keen to repeat when it came to launching an intranet site for its employees. Working with A Recipe For Success, it decided that the most important thing was to get everyone involved in the project. If the site was to be a "hit" with employees, the information available had to be absolutely up to date, and the only way to achieve this was for each department to be able to update its own pages directly.

Then there was the question of what to publish on the site first. A huge number of documents were spread across the Council's organisation and it was clear they couldn't all be published online on day one. A series of workshops involving people from across the organisation was organised to discover what would be most useful, and therefore had to go online first.

A Recipe For Success then worked with the Council's staff to build the new site, organise the information and put in place an easy way for people to publish and update information. A Recipe For Success also made sure the design was easy for everyone, including those with disabilities, to use and included a range of features to help people locate the information they need.

That left the final step - to get the Council's employees used to working online. The site was called the Hub to make it easy for people to talk about, and features were added to make it as much a social centre for the organisation as its business centre. Sales and wants notice boards and lists of internal vacancies were made available alongside business information such as a staff directory, departmental and job-related information, HR policies and forms and other data.

Launched only two weeks ago, it's still too early to judge just how successful the Hub has been, but early indications are very promising. For some employees, the Hub is their first real experience of being online, so there's been a lot to learn. However, regardless of experience, people are finding it easier and quicker to get the information they need. That's a significant achievement on its own, and suggests the site will be playing an increasingly key role in the Council's future.