Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation

The Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC) is a young organisation that has been entrusted with the task of aiding the Banjima People in attaining their life objectives. This entails serving as the central point of contact to cater to the requirements of both members and the wider community.

The overarching vision is for the Banjima People to cultivate a strong cultural identity, ensuring their well-being and stability, while also enjoying a variety of life choices and the autonomy to shape their own destiny. This vision is anchored in the principles of robust cultural heritage, communal cohesion, and effective governance.

Its vision is the Banjima People, a proud identity focused on strong culture, are healthy and secure with diverse life choices and the ability to determine their own future. The foundation centres on strong culture, community unity and effective governance.

Approaching illuminance Solutions for assistance, BNTAC sought support in establishing and refining comprehensive systems, processes, and protocols right from the ground up. These were to be meticulously crafted to ensure their enduring utility.

BNTAC was on the lookout for a service provider experienced in the sector, who valued the strategic implementation of technology to foster positive societal advancements within the community.

When BNTAC decided to collaborate with illuminance Solutions, the organisation was faced with several challenges and limitations such as:

• Dependency on a third-party trustee to manage funds and funding applications, resulting in limited insight and control over day-to-day operations, hindering BNTAC’s ability to effectively serve its members. The lack of transparency escalated data handling and redundancy issues, thereby increasing operational costs
• The ongoing development of BNTAC’s member services team revealed the need for a certain level of digital literacy and general computer proficiency, even though the specific future business processes were yet to be determined
• BNTAC confronted the classic dilemma encountered during business expansion, where two distinct business requirements were interdependent on each other’s progress

illuminance Solutions effectively utilised Microsoft’s out-of-the-box tools and nonprofit support to create an affordable solution with these features:

• Leveraged Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement for:
  • Managing constituents and funds
  • Handling fund applications and advocacy
  • Tracking member communication via email and SMS
  • Integrating contextual document storage using Microsoft SharePoint
• Established a Member Portal powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Portals for beneficiaries to submit, track, and archive fund applications
• Utilised Microsoft Power BI for comprehensive dashboards and reports to analyse fund distribution and operational data
• Seamlessly integrated with third-party services and platforms through Microsoft Azure serverless resources
• Empowered BNTAC’s member services team with streamlined information access for daily tasks

• Provided community members with a responsive Member Portal for convenient access to BNTAC’s services on any device
• Enabled management and board members to make informed decisions using Power BI visualisations for compliance and data interpretation
• Supported BNTAC’s goal of becoming a comprehensive resource for the Banjima People through improved systems and processes
• Facilitated greater community independence and progress with technology-driven solutions
• Acknowledged the value of Australian Indigenous culture and proudly associated with BNTAC’s vision for community impact through effective technology use

Testimonial

“In 2018 BNTAC and illuminance Solutions embarked on a journey together to develop systems and processes to enable BNTAC to achieve compliance in its distributions of charitable funds and importantly establish a high level of service to the Banjima people. Drawing on illuminance’s extensive industry knowledge and experience, we worked in partnership to create and build processes and systems, which have provide us with a comprehensive solution.

The implementation of illuminance Solution’s Aboriginal Trust Management System built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform, has enabled BNTAC to quickly establish a service that drives efficiency and enables continual, incremental, refinement of the service we provide to the Banjima people.

We look forward to continuing this collaborative partnership with illuminance as we plan to further evolve our system as our knowledge and understanding of the platforms capabilities grows.” 

Matthew Maxted

Member Services Manager, Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation