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More Efficient and Better Document Management
With a growing number of documents and an outdated intranet, ProWonen faced the need to renew and further professionalize its internal information provision. For ProWonen, SharePoint is the organizational tool that enables more efficient work and the sharing of information and documents.
Why Did ProWonen Choose to Work with SharePoint?
“Our intranet needed replacement, and we wanted to further professionalize our document management,” says Rob Spit, Communications Advisor at ProWonen. “We chose to integrate our intranet with our G-drive, where we now store our documents. SharePoint offers us this possibility. The implementation and rollout were joint projects involving both Communications and IT. This collaboration is important because I expect an even greater increase in digital communication, both internally and externally, in the future.”
This year, ProWonen solved several internal problems with SharePoint. The replacement of the outdated intranet was the trigger. Spit explains, “The old intranet didn’t encourage reading internal news, and the large number of documents on the shared drive kept increasing.”
Why Did ProWonen Choose QS Solutions?
In the orientation phase, ProWonen explored various packages and contacted QS solutions. “QS solutions invited us to a symposium and a presentation on SharePoint. We were immediately enthusiastic about this product. QS solutions made the package clear and showed how we could combat the increasing fragmentation of packages, manage our documents well, and work with a single internal information portal.”
How Is SharePoint Being Implemented?
With the now-operational foundation, communication has improved significantly. The major task of cleaning up and entering documents into SharePoint starts in May. Spit notes, “Employees will transfer their documents themselves, and first we need the support of all managers, otherwise, it’s a non-starter. We explain very clearly why we’re switching to this package. Our principle is that all documents go into team folders and are visible to everyone. It should be clear what the content is, who created it, and which version it is. We have no secrets, but we do properly secure truly sensitive information. We will soon start with real estate projects, each of which will have its own website within SharePoint, accessible to every team within the organization. We’ve also added other topics and themes in SharePoint, such as our business plan, annual report, budget, etc.”
Spit wants to convince employees of the package’s usefulness step by step. “We’re transitioning to the new system team by team, keeping a close eye on experiences and what aspects we can improve immediately.”
How Is the Implementation of SharePoint Progressing?
It quickly became clear that SharePoint offers a lot. “In some ways, that’s challenging because you need a good understanding of the product.” Spit disagrees with the Microsoft philosophy that everyone should be able to work with the package. “Those who want can delve into SharePoint, but we don’t want to overwhelm our employees with all its capabilities. Not everyone is an IT specialist. So, we’ve established a basic setup with a surrounding layer that everyone can use to do what they need in SharePoint. This layer includes internal communication and the necessary functionality to store and share documents. Our IT team expands this layer as needed.”
In May, ProWonen began initial discussions with QS solutions. After the summer, the implementation took place, and SharePoint went live on January 1, 2012.
What Is the Added Value of SharePoint?
The time aspect is crucial, says Spit. “Employees work more efficiently, can open templates more easily, and always encounter relevant formal and informal messages. The many documents are easy to find, and we can share all our information with a click. I expect the amount of email will decrease because information is readily available through SharePoint, for instance, via master data on the homepage of each SharePoint site. There’s also a staff directory, calendars, employees can book meeting rooms, there’s an image bank with various photos, project groups introduce themselves, news and announcements are central, etc. SharePoint gives our employees a better view of the organization as a whole. In the future, we’ll make SharePoint accessible on iPads, and external contractors can log in through a special portal to edit documents and exchange information. Our supervisory board also has its own SharePoint site.”
What Is the Added Value of QS Solutions?
“QS solutions guided us well. They have all the knowledge of SharePoint and know how to tailor the package to our industry. The collaboration is going well, and we have regular contact. That was certainly necessary at the start; now, after a year, we’re very satisfied and have great confidence in QS solutions and the product.”
What Does ProWonen Do?
Housing Corporation ProWonen operates more than eight thousand homes, garages, and commercial spaces in the Achterhoek region, spread across eight large and seventeen small centers in the municipalities of Berkelland, Bronckhorst, and Oost Gelre. ProWonen also regularly sells (new-build) homes. About 100 people work at ProWonen.
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