Document management based on Microsoft Office 365 & Microsoft SharePoint
DMS at Alight
At Alight, we prefer to implement document management on the basis of Microsoft SharePoint or SharePoint Online from Office 365. We build on the Microsoft SharePoint standard and add add-ons. We either develop the add-ons individually for the customer or use the already application-specific solutions from manufacturers such as d.velop and Solutions2Share.
Since the foundation of Alight, we have been supporting customers from different industries in the implementation of a DMS. Especially in contract as well as policy management, we draw on numerous experiences in trade, production and the automotive industry and are happy to pass these on to our customers.
Why SharePoint & Microsoft 365?
SharePoint & Microsoft 365
SharePoint is the ideal basis for implementing document management. Why? The functionalities of a DMS are alreday largely available in Microsoft SharePoint or Office 365. Whether on-premises or online, in both cases the storage of documents is possible, the recording of metadata and versioning facilitate the search, authorisations can be assigned and archiving can be set up. Together with the offline capability, this represents a colourful bouquet of pre-configured functionalities that are already available in the standard SharePoint and Office 365. After setting up the basic components, further strengths of SharePoint come into play for the ideal implementation of a DMS. Documents are not only stored, but are also kept in lists and libraries, several users can work together in documents, communication and interaction can take place via them, and possible calendar entries or appointments can be generated for them. The overall package could hardly be better suited for this, which is why Alight has specialised in the implementation of document management systems on SharePoint and Office 365.
Technologies
Alight implements document management systems exclusively on the basis of SharePoint or Office 365, with all data being stored in SharePoint (Online) document libraries and lists.
Extensions are based on Microsoft Patterns and Practices (PnP) and in the Office 365 environment on the Microsoft Graph API. Furthermore, depending on the complexity, components from Azure, web services, web jobs and interfaces based on Javascript or SharePoint Framework (SPFx) are added.
What defines Alight?
What distinguishes our projects in the area of DMS? Alight mainly supported large companies with several 10,000 employees with solutions in the area of policy management and process portals. Both the scope of such solutions and the desired details of each corporation brought an enormous amount of experience to the implementation. For example, Alight was able to migrate the policy management of the automotive group MAN, which enabled several hundred companies in hierarchical dependencies to roll out policies across the group and ensure their release. Detailed information about the reimplementation of a comprehensive portal for policy management at MAN SE can be found in our case study “House of Policies”.
SharePoint functionalities
In addition to the typical DMS functionalities, SharePoint offers additional functions in the standard version that support collaboration on documents.
Cooperation
Alight uses the competences of its partners for the implementation of SharePoint-based DMSs. The advantage is that the respective strengths of each can be used precisely in the corresponding customer projects.
Solutions2Share
As soon as the collaboration factor is in the foreground, our partner Solutions2Share comes into play. We also like to use the strengths of our service provider for customers with a high individual component of their document portals. The special adaptations of each customer, in different sectors and with a medium degree of complexity, can be optimally implemented by the product solutions of Solution2Share. You can find out more about this in the case study on our customer Pieris.
File management
d.velop
If the organisation of the DMS in files is the central structure, our partner d.velop is called in with the ecspand solution. As an example, contract management is often implemented as a file-based solution. Its purpose is to map all metadata related to contracts and to make the strengths of an ECM usable. For this and other areas of application, d.velop supports us with a mature solution for all aspects of file management. The digitization of a Personal– or customerfile is just as much in focus as modern administration in authoritiesbanks and health insurance companies. In this context, d.velop solutions can map extensive and complex issues in the area of file administration and contract management in a customer-specific manner. Would you like to know more about this? Then you are welcome to read the d.velop white paper here.
