Customer Stories
Agriculture Victoria Services Pty Ltd
Discover how Agriculture Victoria Services consolidated board management with OnBoard, improving efficiency, security, and collaboration across the organisation.
Customer Stories
Discover how Agriculture Victoria Services consolidated board management with OnBoard, improving efficiency, security, and collaboration across the organisation.
Industry:
Agriculture commercialisation
Headquarters: Victoria, Australia
Board Management Goals
Results
OnBoard Capabilities Utilised
Agriculture Victoria Services (AVS) plays a crucial role as a portfolio entity of the State of Victoria’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and is responsible to the Government through the Minister of Agriculture. Acting as a commercial interface between government and the private sector, AVS provides services to the Department’s Agriculture Victoria Research division (AVR) within Agriculture Victoria (AV).
AVS manages and commercialises intellectual property developed by AVR to deliver collaborative and contract research and development outcomes for the benefit of Victoria’s agricultural industry.
Helen Liu, Financial Controller at AVS, is instrumental in managing the financial aspects of the organisation. AVS’s purpose and value proposition is to unlock the unrealised value of Victoria’s agricultural industries to drive better economic, environmental and societal outcomes.
Although AVS operates independently from the department, its governance is influenced by both government and private sector practices. “We are a separate entity,” Liu notes. “We operate independently, but we work closely with their team.”
Before adopting OnBoard, AVS managed board and committee meetings using a manual, paper-based approach that was time-consuming and inefficient. Board papers were distributed via email as individual PDF files to directors and stakeholders — a process that lacked structure and presented risks of errors and oversight.
“There was no other software in place before OnBoard,” Helen says. “It was just like a PDF document distributed to all the board members.”
This approach made meeting preparation a laborious task. Staff were responsible for collating, organising, and distributing multiple documents manually, often using tools like Adobe Pro to merge files. “We used to combine all the PDFs into one,” says Liu. “It was a very manual process.”
Additionally, this method made version control challenging and limited visibility into document access and updates. It also placed a burden on support staff, who were frequently required to resend materials or troubleshoot issues.
While Helen wasn’t part of the original team that selected OnBoard, she was involved during the transition period and quickly saw its value. “I helped Jasmine [Aqualina-Borg, Executive Assistant] to upload board papers on OnBoard during the transition,” she says.
The decision to choose OnBoard was influenced by the platform’s comprehensive feature set and security credentials — critical considerations for an entity handling sensitive government-related intellectual property. Although AVS did not run a formal competitive selection process, the organisation recognised that OnBoard offered a robust and secure solution that would grow with their needs.
“Even for other private companies like the same size as AVS, I find it’s a secure way to use,” Helen says. “OnBoard offers more than just a meeting agenda for board meetings.”
AVS’s implementation of OnBoard was relatively seamless. With a small, focused governance team, the learning curve was manageable. The company secretary took the lead in uploading materials, while Liu and her colleagues ensured financial documents were ready and properly linked.
Although AVS didn’t rely heavily on OnBoard’s customer success team during onboarding, the support was available when needed. “Sometimes Jasmine just supports them [board members],” Helen says. “If we can’t figure it out, then we contact [the OnBoard] team to help.”
Some board members needed time to adjust, particularly those accustomed to reviewing documents using PDF editors. “Most of them are familiar with Adobe Pro to edit and make changes or take notes,” Helen says. “But they are getting there now. I can see they are opening documents via OnBoard during meetings.”
Since implementation, OnBoard has delivered significant benefits to AVS, particularly in streamlining meeting preparation and improving access to materials.
AVS values OnBoard not only for the efficiency and organisation it brings to board management, but also for the ongoing support and proactive engagement from the OnBoard team.
“I just want to say thank you for you and Khalid [Khan, OnBoard Senior Customer Success Manager],” Helen says. “I find the OnBoard team is quite proactive, and you always touch base with us to see if there are any challenges or any new features.”
While AVS primarily uses core functions like document uploading and meeting book creation, Helen recognises the broader potential of the platform. “Although we are only using limited functions, OnBoard offers more than just meeting agendas,” she says. “I think it’s a secure and effective solution, especially for organisations like ours.”
When asked what she would tell other organisations considering OnBoard, Helen is clear: “From my own experience, I can recommend the platform. Even though I haven’t used any others, I think OnBoard is quite user-friendly and offers a lot more than we are currently using.”
— Helen Liu, Financial Controller, Agriculture Victoria Services Pty Ltd
OnBoard has transformed how Agriculture Victoria Services manages its board meetings, moving from cumbersome PDFs and manual assembly to a streamlined, secure digital process. With its intuitive interface, flexible access, and proactive support team, OnBoard has become a trusted part of AVS’s governance toolkit.
“Definitely, yes,” Helen says when asked if OnBoard made things easier. “It saves time, it’s organised, and it just works.”
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