Introduction

Pepper Construction is a mid-sized construction firm with operations in multiple locations across the country. Over the years, the company has experienced significant growth, and as a result, it has become increasingly challenging for employees to communicate and collaborate effectively. The company was using disparate systems for different business functions, including email, file servers, and project management tools, which made it difficult for employees to access the information they needed to do their jobs.

Problem

The lack of a modern, integrated system for communication and collaboration was having a negative impact on productivity and efficiency. Employees were spending a significant amount of time searching for information, and there was a lack of transparency in the project management process. The company was also facing challenges in maintaining accurate and up-to-date documentation, which was essential for ensuring compliance with industry regulations.

Solution

To address these challenges, Pepper Construction decided to upgrade their existing SharePoint intranet. SharePoint is a web-based collaboration and document management platform that provides a centralized repository for storing, organizing, and sharing information. The company decided to utilize Modern SharePoint to improve communication and collaboration among employees, as well as to streamline business processes and increase efficiency.

Implementation

The implementation of the SharePoint intranet involved several key steps, including the following:

Planning and Design

The first step was to develop a detailed plan for the SharePoint intranet, including the design of the user interface, the organization of information, and the implementation of business processes.

Content creation

Next, the company created a library of content and information that would be stored on the intranet, including project documentation, company policies and procedures, and employee directories.

User Training

To ensure that employees were able to effectively utilize the SharePoint intranet, Workplace Engineering provided comprehensive training sessions for all users. The training sessions covered topics such as how to access and use the intranet, how to create and manage documents, and how to collaborate with other users.

Deployment

The SharePoint intranet was upgraded in place to minimize down time and workflow disruption. The client was provided with a Power Automate workflow to aide them in upgrading additional sites on their own.

Results

The SharePoint intranet has had a significant impact on the way that employees at Pepper Construction communicate and collaborate. The centralized repository of information has made it easier for employees to access the information they need to do their jobs, and the streamlined business processes have increased efficiency and productivity. The company has also been able to improve compliance with industry regulations through the accurate and up-to-date documentation that is now available on the intranet.

Key Features

Pepp Talk

Pepp Talk is an aggregated news feed that takes articles from each department or cross-team site in SharePoint and rolls the news up to the company landing page. This allows teams to easily share news from their respective department to rest of the larger team at Pepper.

This is a mostly out of the box feature in Modern SharePoint with an approval workflow added so articles posted to the landing page go through an approval process by the Internal Communications team before they are published for all to see.

Knowledge Center

Pepper Construction has a large amount of process and procedural documentation spread across a wide variety of departments and teams. Workplace Engineering created a special content type to house knowledge pages and developed a taxonomy for classifying this information.

Finally, a unified search area was created to search across all sites in the hub and providing faceted search filters based on Pepper’s taxonomy.

Employee Tools and Resources

Pepper Construction Employees have many tools and resources at their disposal to help with their daily tasks as well as a supporting Human Resources team to help with employment related activities.

These tools and resources have been placed on the company landing page for easy access and any updates to these tools are displayed in an activity feed. Employees can now stay up to date on new tools or updated functionality to help improve their productivity and working environment at Pepper.

Conclusion

The implementation of the SharePoint intranet has been a major success for Pepper Construction. By providing employees with a centralized platform for communication and collaboration, the company has been able to improve productivity, efficiency, and compliance. The SharePoint intranet has become an essential tool for employees, and the company continues to see significant benefits from its utilization.