Drone technology consultancy gets more out of its investment in Microsoft 365
Solution Summary
This innovative drone technology start-up company is on a mission to unite those looking to maximise their benefits from drones with those developing the best solutions for them.
They approached Intelogy to help them re-design and deliver a Microsoft 365 based documentation and collaboration platform that provided a ‘single source of truth’ for all their project-based business activities and service offerings. We consolidated the use of their different Microsoft 365 tools into one workplace and provided a bespoke and consistent Microsoft Teams site experience to run projects more effectively and efficiently. This allowed the consultancy to grow whilst providing easily accessible data and remaining compliant with its processes and procedures.
Challenges
Staff were already using Microsoft Teams for meetings, chat, and file collaboration. They had grasped the concept of Teams channels and were actively using these. However, it had become a challenge to locate information and the organisation did not feel confident that they had a ‘single source of truth.’ Additionally, they were not making the best use of the supporting SharePoint functionality and information was becoming buried deep in filing structures that had no logical framework.
Our team discovered that there was evidence of ‘Teams Sprawl,’ which posed the risk of not having clear distinctions between the purpose of each Team.
They already had a home SharePoint site that was provisioned as part of the Microsoft Business Pro licences that the company uses. However, it was not being used as a focal point of their intranet, where their staff could come to get information from or see related activities.
Solution Overview
Intelogy held an initial workshop with the business founder where a simple overview of a similar project-based company’s intranet was demonstrated. The virtues of a Microsoft Teams integration into the intranet were explained and it was decided to follow a similar architectural framework.
The solution consisted of a core ‘Home Hub’ (intranet) site that contained all the business documentation, along with their process and procedural templates.
The next layer contains four operational hubs for the different areas of the business. Each of the hubs is associated with the parent core hub and has an individual structure to suit the needs of the business function.
We created Teams sites for the business’s functions and integrated them into the corresponding hub areas. Each Teams site contained the assets and artifacts associated with the chosen Teams template that contained channels, calendars, and linked apps e.g., Project Teams site for project activities.
As a new client is onboarded, a Teams Site (project template) is created and assigned to the Client Facing Hub. The team admin can then add client-facing external channels along with internal-only channels to actively manage their interactions and data. Thus, providing them with a single place to work and capture the data, as well as deliver client updates.
The delivery of this structure allows for growth by the implementation of further Hubs and associated Teams as the organisation requires it, and company-specific information is incorporated into the Hub Home(s) for each of the current business functions.
As part of the consultancy activity, our team also addressed the information management capabilities and tools like retention policies, sensitivity labelling, terms and tagging and how those can also be attached at Hub(site) level to comply with governance and legislation frameworks.
We designed a matrix-style SharePoint Online (SPO) navigation and used it to go to the SharePoint surfaced Teams Page, where documentation, conversations, and Teams calendars are visualised and can be used seamlessly and collaboratively, also maintaining end-point security with the external facing channels.
Together, we decided that the Teams app would be where staff would go to work. To this end, the documentation templates stored in the Home Hub (SPO site) will also be surfaced as template documents in Teams, or alternatively, blank documents can be created using the connectivity and integration capabilities of the Microsoft 365 Platform.
Additionally, two new SPO lists were created to capture client-facing activity as data, enabling an overview of all the activity around these processes and activities in a centralised location. The design on the list columns minimises the input required by the user by having tags and pre-determined choices for quick and easy input. This embeds standardisation of data and information definitions. This data is now ready to be linked to the Microsoft Power Platform, where business information, analytics and visualisations can be provided in the future.
Once cleansing and the migration of the exiting data has taken place by the business, the redundant Teams are ready to be managed according to their information lifecycle plan.
Client benefits and results
The consultation, design and implementation have given this consultancy peace of mind as it grows in the knowledge that they are working in the best ways to capture, share and collaborate in the most effective ways internally and with clients. It has also shown them the power of the Microsoft 365 integration capability, and that the infrastructure is secure and can be flexibly managed.
If you are looking for a partner to not only support your key systems, but also develop a plan for their onwards maintenance and provide the wrap-around care – come and talk to Intelogy. The team are enthusiastic about this technology, and businesses can use it to grow their capacity or to streamline their in-house team. The Intelogy modular managed service is designed for growing businesses and could be just what you need. You can find out more about our flexible range of Support Service offerings here.
