Could One Smart Tool Save Your Council Valuable Hours?

When manual social media archiving ate up work hours, this council found a smarter, time-saving solution.

The challenge: a time-consuming recordkeeping trap

Cessnock City Council faced a mounting challenge: keeping track of social media records across multiple teams and social media platforms while ensuring compliance with NSW’s State Records Act. The process became complex and time-consuming.

Before Brolly, tracking social media activity was manual and time-intensive:

• Staff took screenshots of posts and comments.
• Staff who created the post had to record it, leaving records outside the control of the records management team.
• Risk of losing information from post edits or new comments after the initial capture.

"The person who created the post was responsible for saving it, but it meant records visibility and management was out of our hands,"

Amanda Hillman, Record Management Coordinator at Cessnock City Council.

Accuracy and compliance were at risk, but a key issue? Time. It would take hours each month to manually capture social media records.

Finding the right fit

The Council had tried another archiving tool, but it failed to integrate with their existing records system, Content Manager.

After reviewing their options, they discovered Brolly.

• Data hosted in Australia, ensuring data security and compliance with NSW recordkeeping regulations.
• Integration with Content Manager, meaning social media records could be stored alongside other council records.
• Automated, complete capture of all social media interactions, removing reliance on staff to save records manually.

"We liked what Brolly offered," Amanda explained. "Being Australian-owned with data locally stored – and knowing other councils who face challenges similar to ours use Brolly – gave us confidence in making the switch."

The solution: a smarter, more selective system

Cessnock City Council implemented Brolly in late 2021, using scheduled monthly exports to capture records. While this met their recordkeeping requirements, not all records needed saving into Content Manager.

The Council trialled the Content Manager integration, gaining greater control over what was archived:

• Rather than archiving everything automatically, they select which records require long-term retention.
• A simple tick-box moves selected records into Content Manager, maintaining edits and updates.
• Posts remain accessible in Brolly without being unnecessarily stored in Content Manager.

"We didn’t want to save everything in Content Manager, especially short-term promotional content. The ability to select what we keep has been a huge improvement,"

Amanda Hillman, Record Management Coordinator at Cessnock City Council.

The results: time saved, compliance achieved

Since implementing Brolly, the results speak for themselves:

• 142,756 records captured
• 917 records are archived monthly on average
• 15 social media accounts managed effortlessly
• Hours saved each month by eliminating manual screenshots and exports

"Before Brolly, if a post had any additional comments or edits after the initial screenshot, we weren’t seeing or capturing that. Now, we get everything,"

Amanda Hillman, Record Management Coordinator at Cessnock City Council.

Why Brolly works

• Compliance: the Council easily meets NSW State Records Act obligations
• Time efficiency: staff no longer waste time manually capturing every interaction
• Accuracy: reliable recording of captured posts, edits and interactions

Archiving that fits the workflow

For Amanda, the biggest takeaway is how smoothly Brolly has fit into their workflow.

“It’s straightforward, and it just works,” she explains. “We don’t miss a thing.”

And, unlike previous tools, Brolly has lived up to expectations.

“It was simple to set up, easy to use, and has never faltered.”

For this council, Brolly has become a time-saving, compliance-assuring essential.