How the City of Peterborough Modernized Records with Microsoft 365 and Collabspace

About the Municipality

The City of Peterborough (“the City”) is a municipality northeast of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. It’s home to over 83,000 residents and is governed by a mayor and ten city councillors. Council is responsible for all facets of the municipal government including operations such as police, fire, water and social services.

Technologies

SharePoint Online
Collabspace
Power Apps
Power Automate

By the Numbers

83,000+ residents
1000+ employees
30+ divisions and sections
25+ SharePoint sites launched

“This project opened our eyes to using Microsoft 365 in general.”

- Manager, City of Peterborough

Business Context & Goals

The City was already using Microsoft 365 for email, file storage, and collaboration — including SharePoint and Teams. But their existing electronic records management system (EDRMS) and intranet needed an upgrade. The City brought in Gravity Union to help modernize both, using Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Online to create a more efficient, integrated solution.

The primary goals included:

Replacing the legacy EDRMS and file drives with a well-designed SharePoint solution to manage retention, improve efficiency, and reduce the time staff spend handling records.
Introducing modern tools and workflows to simplify how records are created, accessed, and maintained.
Supporting departments in migrating their content to a new, well-structured SharePoint Online environment.

Solution Highlights & Benefits

Starting with collaboration sites as the foundation for success

Gravity Union kicked off the project by working closely with three pilot groups from the City. These early partnerships helped test the approach and confirm the steps across different teams.

Every group across the City took part in designing their own site. Gravity Union led structured activities including card sorting and mind mapping to help each team shape a site that made sense to them. This hands-on process ensured the final setup matched how people think about their content and workflows — making the transition smoother and adoption easier.

As the project progressed, responsibilities shifted to a shared model using an “I do, we do, you do” approach.

"Gravity Union is doing amazing work at the City. “

— Manager, City of Peterborough

Organized files, smarter search, better work

The City’s files were restructured to make them easier to find and manage in SharePoint Online. The result? Better search, less duplication, and smoother day-to-day work. Staff no longer waste time digging through emails for the latest version or wondering which document is the right one.

Project files and related status tracking in the Geomatics SharePoint team site

The City tracks files and status related to road closures in a SharePoint library

Operational improvements included:

Invoices are tagged with key details such as year and keywords in a SharePoint library, enabling faster processing by the Accounts Payable team before being saved into SAP.
Materials Management has centralized all procurement projects into SharePoint template sites. These sites function as working spaces for staff to manage procurements and projects, enabling streamlined processes and automated retention.
Maps and technical documents such as bylaws are tracked in SharePoint document libraries with version history, comments, review status and compliance checks with standards like the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
Emergency and risk information is in a SharePoint site that streamlines incident management as well as emergency and disaster tracking for the City.
Project sites bring together files and updates related to an initiative into one place. This makes it easier to track project status across divisions and future dashboards will connect team efforts to larger capital projects.

A few examples of SharePoint libraries and collaboration in action:

Example of a SharePoint document library for Invoices

Bylaws sorted and organized in a SharePoint library

Automated Records Management with Collabspace

To support long-term compliance and reduce manual effort, Gravity Union implemented a file plan based on TOMRMS (The Ontario Municipal Records Management System).

Gravity Union worked closely with the City’s Records Manager to map content in SharePoint to the right record classifications in Collabspace, applying a single retention rule per document library to keep things simple and accurate.

Custom metadata was captured to trigger event-based retention, and Document Sets were used as case files — ensuring related documents stay together and follow the same retention schedule.

Part of the TOMRMS-based file plan configured in Collabspace

Example of a retention workflow in Collabspace

Automated retention and disposal are amazing! It works great because things are organized well, and people save information in the right place for retention.

— Records Management Specialist, City of Peterborough

Project Results

One source of truth for critical records
The City eliminated duplicate files and pulled key documents — like bylaws, council records, corporate policies, and contracts — into centralized SharePoint libraries. Now there's a clear place to go for the most up-to-date version.

Smarter organization with better metadata
Important content, like software documentation and procedures, was pulled out of scattered folders and tagged with meaningful metadata. Staff can now quickly see who owns a file and find what they need without digging.

Time saved, easier collaboration
With better structure and search, staff spend less time hunting for documents and more time getting work done. Role-based and project-specific sites also make it easier to move between teams and stay in sync — even when the work shifts day to day.

Image source: Wikimedia, Creative Commons

Fun fact

The City of Peterborough is home to a Quaker Oats plant dating back to 1902. Some days the wonderful aroma of toasted oats wafts around City Hall! Yum.