Migration to SharePoint Online supports Hawksford global growth plans
Solution Summary
Hawksford is an international provider of corporate, trust and fund services. In 2023, as part of their goal for standardising their global operating model, they embarked on a digital transformation programme, and a key aspect of that was the migration of client related information from an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system to Microsoft 365.
The goal was to standardise information management systems across all jurisdictions while meeting regulatory and compliance requirements.
Intelogy supported the building of a Microsoft 365 based target operating model for the Jersey headquarters, with the aim to adopt it worldwide across all existing and future jurisdictions. With the use of specialised tooling, we created >10k new secure repositories and orchestrated the subsequent specialised migration, all whilst causing minimal disruption to the business.
Moving to Microsoft 365 has opened new opportunities for Hawksford. The platform’s capabilities have not only streamlined their document management process but also provided a solid foundation for scaling their operations and adopting more Microsoft solutions to drive efficiency and introduce further innovation.
Intelogy stood out from the competition from the very beginning. Their level of professionalism, preparation and approach during the early stages were exceptional.
From our early interactions, we were impressed by the team’s ability to absorb and understand our requirements. They always went the extra mile to delve into our challenges, actively listened to our needs, and aligned themselves with our vision. At all times, we felt confident that our project was in good hands.
The success of this project was due in large part to our close collaboration with the Intelogy team. We achieved a seamless project delivery without impacting our operations, despite the tight deadline.
– Cory Kennedy
Projects and Applications Associate Director, Hawksford
Challenges
Migrating over 8 million documents, each with extensive metadata, to more than 10,000 new SharePoint sites by the end of 2023, coinciding with Hawksford’s server retirement, was the biggest challenge. The migration had to cause minimal disruption to the business, while establishing a consistent SharePoint information architecture for better collaboration among jurisdictions.
“Our goal was to build a user-friendly and future-proof document management system that could support our global growth. SharePoint offered the scalability and flexibility we were looking for.”
– Cory K., Hawksford
This architecture had to accommodate variations in data formats and compliance/regulatory rules. The information architecture was revised and improved during the discovery and design phases, and the proposed sites were tested by the business.
Switching from the legacy ECM system, which they had been using for nearly 20 years, to SharePoint Online was also a significant change for Hawksford, requiring extensive change management and prototyping.
“It’s been a great few years working with Hawksford to first analyse their existing operating model using legacy apps, then plan and implement a new target operating model for Jersey using M365. We implemented a large and highly configured SharePoint environment along with a substantial migration. Taking advantage of the advanced features of SharePoint metadata and security is automatically applied behind the scenes without any manual steps from staff. With advanced search and intuitive navigation at the heart of the solution staff can quickly find the files they need and collaborate with others. Now Hawksford have the structure from the outset to take advantage of generative AI and use Copilot with success.”
– Leon Armston, Practice Lead Content AI, Intelogy
Solution Overview
Intelogy partnered with Hawksford to review their ways of working and examine how their ECM system was used. We collaborated with key stakeholders across different business areas to review and road test prototypes of SharePoint sites, libraries and search.
Intelogy also partnered with Proventeq who provide specialist migration software and had a track record of moving complex information repositories from ECM systems to SharePoint. Following an initial Discovery phase, we finalised the information architecture and created the migration mappings.
To ensure controlled and consistent data storage across Microsoft 365, we implemented a new, streamlined site structure, document libraries and folders, combined with default metadata which replaced Hawksford’s complex architecture and enabled the introduction of advanced search capabilities.
We designed a variety of sites to match Hawksford’s business areas. Each site template included optimised pre-built document libraries, content types, views, and customised search functions.
With more than 10,000 SharePoint sites required, and with a fixed two-month project deadline for provisioning, efficiency was paramount. Provisioning by a custom script, estimated at 20 minutes per site, would have taken far too long. To meet the deadline we leveraged Orinoco 365, our records management tool, which excels as a provisioning engine for customised sites with enhanced security and compliance features. After extensive optimisation, Orinoco 365 enabled the creation of all 10,000 sites in under 40 days, while maintaining a quality standard of 100% and providing comprehensive audit log details.
Proventeq’s Migration Accelerator facilitated the migration, with Intelogy’s oversight ensuring seamless go-lives for each of Hawksford’s business areas. Intelogy provided quality assurance, validation and floor walking support after each migration.
Unlike other suppliers, Intelogy didn’t feel like a third party. The open communication and collaborative approach made them feel like a natural extension of our internal team. The project was delivered to the highest standard.
– Cory K., Hawksford
Client Benefits – Results
The proposed target operating model for a Hawksford jurisdiction has been defined with an information architecture for site structures, printing/scanning and other application integrations. In the future, this will be rolled out to the other jurisdictions around the world with the goal to use the same business systems and ways of working, with the flexibility in the information architecture to account for different regulatory requirements or differences in working.
Nearly 8 million files (~5 terabytes) were migrated to more than 9,000 sites. Hawksford’s Jersey operation is in a more efficient position now with all their files in SharePoint Online and physical servers decommissioned.
“The biggest benefit for us was moving to Microsoft 365 and creating a standardised technology platform across all our jurisdictions globally. We can now share documents, collaborate in real-time, and streamline our workflows. This foundation has set us up to leverage other Microsoft 365 products and introduce automation and efficiencies into our way of work, ultimately enhancing our service to clients.”
– Cory K., Hawksford
Hawksford are widely using Microsoft 365, taking advantage of an intuitive information architecture, metadata tagging, search and best-in-market compliance/security features. Retention labelling ensures Hawksford meets GDPR standards and stays compliant, while self-managing their data retention policies.
Their Microsoft 365 tenant is now well-positioned to leverage generative AI through Microsoft Copilot. The established information architecture and governance not only streamlines content discovery and generation but also ensure that Copilot works securely within Hawksford’s compliance and security framework.
Our positive experience has led to more projects and we’re excited to continue our partnership with Intelogy.
– Cory K., Hawksford
“We’ve really enjoyed working with Hawksford and very much value their expertise along with the trust they have given us to deliver a significant transformation programme for the business. It’s been great to follow the transformation from a vision to a reality and now see Hawksford staff really benefitting from the solution. I look forward to bringing the other Jurisdictions onboard in the coming years.”
– Leon A., Intelogy
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