SharePoint technology for intranet and quality management

Data overload and increasing requirements are forcing many companies to improve their internal processes and communication channels. Cathalog GmbH from Steinfurt is meeting this challenge with its digitalization roadmap to gradually create more transparency for information that is used across departments. The introduction of a Microsoft SharePoint-based intranet and a quality management manual were the first steps on this path. A special novelty for the Steinfurter was the agile approach. Under the moderation of noventum consultant Dina Sibai, various teams and functions worked together in an agile manner and gradually developed the new solution for their company. After the good experiences, agility is now set at Cathalog and the employees qualify for future agile projects.

Map the complexity of requirements with SharePoint solutions

Like many other highly specialized service sectors, the care and healthcare sector is increasingly dealing with a flood of data and quality requirements that are far beyond its core competence and its actual products. Digitization is inexorably permeating every area, but even "classics" such as fleet management, facility service or payroll and financial accounting are becoming more complex and need to be mastered.

This is where Cathalog GmbH comes in with its comprehensive service. With the diverse tasks of its customers from the healthcare sector, Cathalog also takes on their complexity and must find solutions to deal with it. This applies, for example, to the very high quality requirements when dealing with medical applications and processes. As the amount of data grows daily, the demand for cross-departmental transparency and document control becomes louder. Microsoft SharePoint provides the technological basis for such a requirement.

Introducing Microsoft SharePoint step by step

The possibilities of Microsoft SharePoint technology are manifold and it makes sense to develop these possibilities step by step together with the later users. In addition to the managing director Kai Eickelpasch, employees from the quality management, IT, marketing and human resources departments were involved in the development of SharePoint at Cathalog. The initial project was the quality management manual. The content structure of the sharepoint pages was designed by the respective departments. noventum consultants Marvin Beckonert and Kai Gräwe took over the SharePoint implementation and customization.

The noventum process model "Agile Working" defined a possible framework for the iterative development process. In an overview workshop, the requirements of the departments were defined in user stories, and responsibilities and the sequence of development were worked out. Afterwards the noventum SharePoint developers could start concretely. The clients were involved from the beginning and included in the agile development process. Through this intensive participation, the Cathalog employees were able to help shape the agile process and acquire know-how for their own future work steps. First prototypes (intranet pages) were developed, tested and passed on to the next development stage.

Learning and testing agile working in concrete practice

Through the creation of backlogs, the formulation of user stories and the step-by-step march through agile meetings, the employees involved convinced themselves of how efficient and goal-oriented agile work can be. The noventum developers estimated the effort for the individual implementation steps and so at the end of the joint planning there was also an initial budget planning. Weekly coordination and the cycle's final reviews with the inclusion of new requirements (initially for the backlog) gave the project direction and dynamics. With the moderation of noventum consultant Dina Sibai, everyone could be sure that the project was driven forward in a goal-oriented manner and at the same time test and secure their roles in the agile process.

Aha experience agility

Originally planned as an introduction to Microsoft SharePoint technology, in retrospect the development project for Cathalog GmbH was also a convincing introduction to a new work organization method.

noventum will continue to support Cathalog in the independent further development of its SharePoint, whereby this support is exclusively process-related and no longer technical. Through targeted know-how transfer, the Cathalog IT staff are now able to further develop their SharePoint themselves. Dina Sibai moderates the planning, review and retro of the project on a few days a month. She has also taken on the task of "agilizing" Cathalog's IT team. Currently, one Cathalog employee is being trained as a "Product Owner", another as a "Scrum Master", so that Cathalog can also carry out projects in an agile manner in the future.

Cathalog IT manager Felix Junge-Bornholt is correspondingly satisfied: "noventum is our contact for complex IT projects and IT management in general. In the last few months, an extremely reliable and valuable, cooperative partnership has developed from which we benefit greatly. noventum knows how to absolutely convince and inspire not only on a professional level but also on a human level.“

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