SharePoint

Click on a piece of the SharePoint wheel to see samples of our work.

Using InfoPath Form Services, integrated workflow process and the Business Data Catalog (all part of the Office Sharepoint Server 2007 suite), streamlined business processes for the following areas:

• Automated Expense Report submission including a workflow that submits the expense report to accounting for approval.
• Vacation Requests including a workflow that submits the vacation request to the employee's supervisor for approval. Once approved, the vacation is automatically added to the company-wide Sharepoint vacation calendar.
• Developed customized forms for "Requests for Quotes", tied in with other corporate SQL databases, that allows salespeople to quickly and consistently develop customer quote requests and using workflow, automatically submit the requests to the estimating department. The workflow allows one day for the estimator to respond to the request and notifies the salesperson if the estimate is not completed in that day; once the estimate is completed the salesperson is electronically notified via the workflow and can generate the customer Quote letter directly from Sharepoint.
• Created a new customer setup form and workflow that ensures that new customers are set up accurately and in a timely manner. Previously, the process was difficult to manage and monitor. Now management has the capability to ensure that the process flows smoothly and quickly to ensure new customers are taken care of quickly.
• Created a Customer-driven request for quote form and workflow that notifies the salesrep when a customer requests a new quote. The workflow also notifies the customer when the quote has been updated with a price and, if the quote is accepted and an order placed, notifies the customer when the product ships.

Using standard Sharepoint Report Center, Excel Services, SharePoint KPI capabilities and integration with other company application databases, developed a management dashboard providing up-to-date revenue analysis, order metrics and budget status for top managers. Replaced numerous reports run out of multiple systems plus manual effort required to bring the information together in a useable format. The SharePoint management dashboard allows top management to have their finger on the pulse of key company metrics on a daily basis.

Using Excel Services and Sharepoint document management, developed a method for on-line posting and document sharing for departmental and production schedules. Previously, schedules were updated, manually printed, and distributed 5-7 times per day. Now, schedules are accessed in real-time by all departments including the production floor. As schedules are updated, they are automatically refreshed on large display monitors on the production floor, improving efficiency, productivity and reducing errors. Management can also log into the portal remotely and review schedules when on the road or at home.

Developed business forms and workflows for a new customer setup process that also provides for a centralized repository for all customer tax exempt documentation. Previously this documentation was stored in paper files and was very difficult to pull together during audits - now, there is no concern about pulling together the proper documentation for future audits and for ensuring that all customer tax exempt documentation is complete and accurate.

Customer Portals
Created SharePoint portals for a company's key customers, providing access to up-to-date production information, calendar showing key production milestone dates, forms for requesting quotes and to report a product quality or delivery problem.

Internal Portals
Designed and developed an internal SharePoint portal to improve productivity and collaboration. The company did not have an intranet and now uses the SharePoint portal to manage numerous business processes, provide a centralized repository for all key company information including production schedules, vacation schedules, policies and procedures, etc., and to communicate and collaborate bring everyone on the same page.

Vendor Portal
Developed a vendor portal that allows vendors to review open purchase orders (including copies of the PO documents), delivery history, acknowledge purchase order receipt, respond to requests for quotes, view items provided and most recent quoted prices, and check payment status for open invoices. The SharePoint portal is developing using SharePoint web parts which allows you to easily mix/match the pieces you want to include in the portal and is integrated tightly with the WorkWise TCM ERP system, but could be easily adapted to other ERP systems.

Using standard Sharepoint collaboration capabilities, developed a company-wide bulletin board with search functionality. To help reduce e-mail overload, the bulletin board is used to post requests for information, share tips and ideas by all departments.

Since a full history is maintained, employees can search the bulletin board first to see if their question has been addressed in the past or they can post a new topic.

Set up enterprise search capabilities in SharePoint to allow searching of:

• Sites and sub-sites
• People
• Infopath forms
• Microsoft Office Documents
• PDF documents (using an add-in function)
• Lists, calendars, tasks, etc.
• Microsoft Exchange public folders (e-mails)
• File shares
• Any data exposed by the Business Data Catalog (anything in your back office or ERP system)