Verdo & WorkPoint 365
Verdo quality-assures workflows with uniform documentation and process management.
Verdo is an energy group that operates and develops sustainable, critical infrastructure. It is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of sustainable, certified biomass for industry and district heating plants, and is the biggest actor in Denmark in the operation and maintenance of street lighting. Verdo also supplies its customers with heating, water and electricity 24 hours a day, all year round.
A long run-up, thorough preparatory work and just the right technological match mean that they can now tick the box for one common platform for documentation and process management with a new project management solution from WorkPoint implemented by certified WorkPoint Partner, Simplitize.
As I see it, there’s only one solution in the market for managing documents if you go the Microsoft way, and that’s WorkPoint. We now have a solid, flexible solution that we can grow with, and all the good things that Microsoft develops will automatically benefit us directly in WorkPoint.
The right solution was long-awaited
With 18 companies, 550 employees and five business divisions, there’s a lot to keep track of, and standardising processes and systematising hundreds of thousands of existing documents across such a large corporate group is certainly not child’s play. Verdo knows all about that. It takes time and draws on resources internally. That’s why the right solution was a long time coming.
Everyone at Verdo agreed that there was a major need for a common documentation solution, and various options had been looked at over a number of years. When Thue Stensgaard came to Verdo, there was even an internal joke that it was ‘the solution that never came to anything’, so that put a certain amount of pressure on him from the start, he tells us.
The choice was obvious once the requirements were clear
Initially, it was a case management solution that Verdo had in mind, but during the process of specifying the solution, it became clear that the need was greater. Ideally, the solution should handle cases, projects, agreements, plants and both departmental and company documents. At the same time, the solution had to support Verdo’s Microsoft strategy. The more they zoomed in on the needs, the simpler the choice of solution became.
We don’t have to worry about how to gain access to all the good things that Microsoft develops, because we have it automatically in WorkPoint. Furthermore, WorkPoint is simple to work with and we can often customise the solution ourselves, so any need for external consultants and coding is limited. And WorkPoint is absolutely ingenious at managing access rights, which was crucial to our need for one common solution for the entire corporate group.
Simplitize as implementation partner
The subsequent choice of implementation partner was also not difficult, as both competence and chemistry proved to be a good match between Verdo and Simplitize.
I had a good gut feeling when we started up, and that’s stayed with me all the way. Simplitize was quick to understand our business and the collaboration is based on trust. We’re given good advice on how to address special processes, and Simplitize is good at advising and ensuring that we get things done. We feel that what comes from Simplitize is solid, thoroughly tested, usable and meets our requirements. And they just have the best WorkPoint and Sharepoint consultants.
Focus on the business during implementation
Verdo started with the utility companies, where the need was greatest, but other parts of the business have also benefited from the solution. The rollout, with 15 small ‘go lives’ instead of one big 'go live' has made the process more secure which gave them great opportunities to adapt the system and learn as they went through the process. They were able to conduct the implementation in relation to what suited the Verdo organistion.
The flexibility also allowed us, for example, to take an agreement module into operation at the request of some colleagues who came to us with a very specific business need. For them, we were able to adapt the solution pretty quickly, which completely replaced manual workflows, even though it wasn’t in the plan at that point.
A shared solution for the entire Verdo Group
Asked to sum up what is different today and how Verdo in particular benefits from their new WorkPoint solution, Thue Stensgaard highlights standardised processes, flexibility, one common solution and the strength of the Microsoft universe for both users and IT.
With WorkPoint and in collaboration with Simplitize, we now have some standardised processes that optimise our workflows and enhance our quality assurance. We also now have a solution with which we can grow flexibly. If there’s a need in the business, there’s usually also a good solution. And we now have the common solution we’ve long been in need of, one that gives us exactly the synergy effect across the Group that we wanted. Users have quickly embraced the solution because they recognise elements from Sharepoint, for example. From an IT management perspective, there are only good things to say, because we now have a solution that is much simpler to maintain and build on.
Three top tips for implementing WorkPoint
Based on his own experiences, Thue Stensgaard, Senior IT Project Manager, shares three pieces of advice for those embarking on a WorkPoint implementation
- Involve the right users early in the process – spend time identifying and involving those who know the processes in the business. If they are involved in developing the solution, you will have better acceptance in the organisation and better process support.
- Appoint local superusers – involve them in a superuser community and prepare them for the ongoing dialogue with users. They can be both 1st level support and contribute to the ongoing development of the solution, so that it continues to support users.
- Prioritise the preparation of data – do not underestimate the scale of the task of getting data under control. There’s a lot to consider once you start going through everything. It’s a high-level deep clean, and it’s both important and time-consuming.
The challenge
For many years, Verdo had been on the lookout for a case management solution that they could use across the organisation. Several initial measures had been pushed to one side, as they either failed to embrace the Group’s complexity or were not compatible with the existing IT platform. A common Microsoft-based solution was an absolute requirement.
The solution
With WorkPoint, Verdo has built a total solution with standardised processes that not only cover cases, but also all documentation related to projects, agreements, plants and both departmental and company documents. The common solution embraces the whole organisation and is fully compatible with Verdo’s Microsoft strategy.
The outcome
Verdo now has a uniform documentation and process management platform that is flexible and modellable. In collaboration with Simplitize, they are continuously expanding the solution to support as many needs as possible. Documentation and standardised processes are now contributing to quality assurance and more efficient workflows.
WorkPoint Project Management
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