The Right Skillset at the Right Time: Deployment of SharePoint Document Management system globally for a NZ Government Ministry
Projects can be complex and absorb as much resource as you can throw at them. Having the available skilled staff with the bandwidth to concentrate on specific components or the whole of a solution isn’t always possible. Being able to call upon dedicated resource with specific experience can make the difference in the successful delivery of your project.
Business situation
Document collaboration and management are crucial to an organisation’s communication and functionality. The Ministry that hired Prophecy for this project had a head office in Wellington and multiple satellite offices worldwide, each with their own separate document storage / management systems. As a result, collaboration within the Ministry could only be achieved by emailing documents between staff.
To provide staff with direct access and the ability to collaborate on documents worldwide, a project to design and implement a SharePoint document management system was established.
The system was to be implemented using a combination of the Ministry’s operational staff and staff from an outside vendor, with the operational staff working both on implementation and supervision of vendor staff. This dual role meant people resources needed to be managed closely.
Because the system design was still being developed, a lengthy process of multiple builds in both the test and production environments were required as various components were tested and revised. The speed of the design process was also affected by the need to minimize impact of the deployment to existing operational support staff while ensuring that the staff had exposure exposed to the new system and awareness of any possible issues.
When the design phases of the project had been underway for some time they were seen to be absorbing all the project’s available people resources. As the project approached its immovable delivery end date, a decision was made within the Ministry to employ another resource to focus on the change and release process, allowing other staff to continue to concentrate on completing the system’s design.
Solution - Prophecy Project Management Services
Because of its project delivery experience and technical understanding, Prophecy was approached to contribute the delivery stream of the project.
Prophecy’s deployment manager handled the technical and process implementation of the new document management system in both the Test and Production environments. They ensured that implementation met the required timelines by:
Outcomes
Having access to a skilled project management resource at a critical time allowed other project team members to concentrate on design of the solution.
The project manager ensured that system builds were actioned, tested and stabilised in time to meet tight delivery deadlines and that the installation and configuration of the client-side applications occurred with few major issues worldwide.
The user population was well supported throughout the rollout by the project team; any incidents and queries were logged and managed with quick resolution of most issues.
Larger on-going issues were documented and tracked until resolved or accepted. Information was provided to staff and IT support teams on the new system’s possible issues and fixes, easing the transition to business as usual.
Together, the various types of project support provided by Prophecy ensured that the requirement of minimal impact to the workload of the Ministry’s operational teams was met.
Projects can be complex and absorb as much resource as you can throw at them. Having the available skilled staff with the bandwidth to concentrate on specific components or the whole of a solution isn’t always possible. Being able to call upon dedicated resource with specific experience can make the difference in the successful delivery of your project.
Business situation
Document collaboration and management are crucial to an organisation’s communication and functionality. The Ministry that hired Prophecy for this project had a head office in Wellington and multiple satellite offices worldwide, each with their own separate document storage / management systems. As a result, collaboration within the Ministry could only be achieved by emailing documents between staff.
To provide staff with direct access and the ability to collaborate on documents worldwide, a project to design and implement a SharePoint document management system was established.
The system was to be implemented using a combination of the Ministry’s operational staff and staff from an outside vendor, with the operational staff working both on implementation and supervision of vendor staff. This dual role meant people resources needed to be managed closely.
Because the system design was still being developed, a lengthy process of multiple builds in both the test and production environments were required as various components were tested and revised. The speed of the design process was also affected by the need to minimize impact of the deployment to existing operational support staff while ensuring that the staff had exposure exposed to the new system and awareness of any possible issues.
When the design phases of the project had been underway for some time they were seen to be absorbing all the project’s available people resources. As the project approached its immovable delivery end date, a decision was made within the Ministry to employ another resource to focus on the change and release process, allowing other staff to continue to concentrate on completing the system’s design.
Solution - Prophecy Project Management Services
Because of its project delivery experience and technical understanding, Prophecy was approached to contribute the delivery stream of the project.
Prophecy’s deployment manager handled the technical and process implementation of the new document management system in both the Test and Production environments. They ensured that implementation met the required timelines by:
- Overseeing and facilitating the progress of the solution through the Change and Release processes.
- Working with ICT management around architectural, Change and resourcing issues
- Supporting Ministry staff prior to, during and after the cutover to the new system.
- Training and supporting the operational support staff
- Compiling and reviewing user and technical documentation
Outcomes
Having access to a skilled project management resource at a critical time allowed other project team members to concentrate on design of the solution.
The project manager ensured that system builds were actioned, tested and stabilised in time to meet tight delivery deadlines and that the installation and configuration of the client-side applications occurred with few major issues worldwide.
The user population was well supported throughout the rollout by the project team; any incidents and queries were logged and managed with quick resolution of most issues.
Larger on-going issues were documented and tracked until resolved or accepted. Information was provided to staff and IT support teams on the new system’s possible issues and fixes, easing the transition to business as usual.
Together, the various types of project support provided by Prophecy ensured that the requirement of minimal impact to the workload of the Ministry’s operational teams was met.