A Sustainable Solution to manage Document Sprawl

The task

Being a sizable organisation Phoenix wanted to address how they could improve communication across the whole business making the same information readily available to everyone who needed it. It appeared at times that various documents were being accessed by different people at different times and in some cases at the same time making following the changes to the documents extremely difficult. Other instances included certain documents being out of date but still in circulation. This made it extremely difficult for HR and Health and Safety to police their documentation. A system was needed to manage their documentation so that this problem was a thing of the past. Senior software consultant, Jonathan Hyde explains, “GMA’s approach to such a project not only requires the technical skills but also the business acumen to help understand the project from a commercial perspective in order to identify any financial impact.”

As their trusted IT partner, Phoenix turned to GMA to help them address the issue and we were tasked with finding a sustainable strategy. GMA being a Microsoft Gold partner one of GMA’s competencies under the previous Microsoft Partner program was SharePoint. Phoenix had an intranet based on SharePoint 2001 that was not used and we needed to freshen up the look of the site and make it more intuitive for users to find what they are looking for. By using SharePoint Foundation and Search Server Express 2010, GMA created a new intranet based on the free version without incurring any software licensing costs. We took many of the files from folder trees and presented them in SharePoint as categorised lists enabling users to be more efficient. It also enforces consistency as new items are added. Several Excel lists were converted to SharePoint custom lists which allowed access to anyone with a browser and correct permissions. Help was given on the site pages to encourage users to discover the views and filtering options to be able to quickly find items on long lists, group suppliers and sub-contractors by trade and display the latest information for easy comparison. Search was extended to index the content of some of the existing data that was to remain on file shares. It is now possible to search company information as easily as performing any internet based search, the way it should be.

Phoenix now have a collaborative environment which has increased the efficiency of the businesses processes. SharePoint has provided them with a secure environment that has improved performance and reliability whilst providing a foundation for future growth.

Phoenix

Phoenix Electrical Company Limited

Established in 1931, Phoenix Electrical Company Limited is based in East London. Specialising in the complete installation of electrical services to most work sectors including quality office developments, commercial and public buildings, data centres, retail, health, education, leisure, hotel, residential and pharmaceuticals. The company has an extensive blue chip client base including financial institutions, insurance companies, the legal and accountancy sectors and major pharmaceutical companies. Their clients include prominent management contractors such as Bovis Lendlease, Canary Wharf Contractors Limited, Mace Limited, ISG Interior Exterior Plc, Structure Tone, Chorus, Knight Harwood, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska, and BAM and major developersStanhope Plc, Land Securities and British Land. Their experience ranges from projects with a value in excess of £50 million, to small works contracts ranging between £100k and £1m.