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“SP Marketplace is affordable and they can quickly turn around and implement the solutions either on the cloud or on-premise in less than three weeks.”
- Relfe Tan, Director of Information Technology |
501(c) Services uses SP Intranet Portal on Office 365 and SharePoint to Empower Employees and Increase Business Efficiency
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501(c) Services, based in San Jose, Calif., has been working with nonprofit organizations for more than 30 years to help pay for unemployment claims and provides claims management. 501(c) Services also provides a wide range of programs for nonprofits, such as its Nonprofit HR Hotline, 501(c) Agencies Trust Group Retro Plan for Washington nonprofits, and the Boy Scouts of America Unemployment Plan.
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“Our company is more efficient because our company news and events are now published in a centralized area, as well as the multiple documents that can now be accessed and updated from a single source in the Intranet Portal.." |
The Challenge
Before implementing SP Intranet Portal, 501(c) Services did not have a centralized repository for important documents. With numerous documents spread out across multiple servers, and in some cases the latest revision saved to the local hard drive, searching for and finding a particular document became inefficient and cumbersome.
The biggest challenge was to make sure that employees at 501(c) Services knew how to find the latest revision of the contract templates, HR, and benefits documents.
The biggest challenge was to make sure that employees at 501(c) Services knew how to find the latest revision of the contract templates, HR, and benefits documents.
The Solution
501(c) Services had been looking for a turnkey solution for quite some time. Their search began by looking at different vendors, they considered hiring a web developer to help build an Intranet, and asked a colleague who already had an Intranet in place.
Ultimately 501(c) Services looked at the Intranet portal from SharePoint to see if it was something they could develop on their own. They also looked at the Office 365 solution from Microsoft Cloud.
“After several weeks, we realized that the solution from Office 365 was too cumbersome to use and very difficult to manage. We conducted another Google search and found SP Marketplace that included all the features we were looking for at a minimal cost,” said Relfe Tan.
Ultimately 501(c) Services looked at the Intranet portal from SharePoint to see if it was something they could develop on their own. They also looked at the Office 365 solution from Microsoft Cloud.
“After several weeks, we realized that the solution from Office 365 was too cumbersome to use and very difficult to manage. We conducted another Google search and found SP Marketplace that included all the features we were looking for at a minimal cost,” said Relfe Tan.
In looking for an Intranet portal that fit their specific needs, it was necessary to track when employees were out of the office for vacation or last-minute business travel.
“Almost every department had their own calendars in place with no visibility to all of our employees,” said Tan.
In searching for a suitable Intranet portal that met its needs, 501(c) Services required a centralized repository for all organization documents that could easily be accessed by all employees.
“One area of SP Intranet Portal that really stood out was the ability to enter our time sheets electronically versus in the past when we did it manually,” Tan said.
Another valuable feature of SP Intranet Portal was the workflow built into the product that allowed 501(c) Services to electronically submit vacation requests for PTO, and the workflow that triggered manager approvals electronically.
“Almost every department had their own calendars in place with no visibility to all of our employees,” said Tan.
In searching for a suitable Intranet portal that met its needs, 501(c) Services required a centralized repository for all organization documents that could easily be accessed by all employees.
“One area of SP Intranet Portal that really stood out was the ability to enter our time sheets electronically versus in the past when we did it manually,” Tan said.
Another valuable feature of SP Intranet Portal was the workflow built into the product that allowed 501(c) Services to electronically submit vacation requests for PTO, and the workflow that triggered manager approvals electronically.
The Result
Prior to implementing SP Intranet Portal, employees would either manually send multiple emails or call other departments on the phone in order to find the latest document templates or HR forms. Additionally, upper management would send important company announcements and updates by email, which often would get lost, precluding employees from keeping up-to-date with the latest company news.
Since implementing SP Intranet Portal, 501(c) Services is able to track when employees have scheduled vacation time because they now have one single calendar that allows employees to submit their time off and view the overall company calendar as well.
“Our company is more efficient because our company news and events are now published in a centralized area, as well as the multiple documents that can now be accessed and updated from a single source in the Intranet Portal,” said Tan.
Since implementing SP Intranet Portal, 501(c) Services is able to track when employees have scheduled vacation time because they now have one single calendar that allows employees to submit their time off and view the overall company calendar as well.
“Our company is more efficient because our company news and events are now published in a centralized area, as well as the multiple documents that can now be accessed and updated from a single source in the Intranet Portal,” said Tan.
Business Example
There are cases were 501(c) services must send out the latest version of an insurance contract or business proposals to customers. In some instances there is a delay in sending these out because of the difficulty in locating the latest revision is because it is constantly being updated.
“Now there is no more issues with that because we know exactly where the latest version of that proposal is located,” Tan said. “But SP Intranet Portal provided by SP Marketplace features versioning so there is no more question about where to find the master copy of that.”
“Now there is no more issues with that because we know exactly where the latest version of that proposal is located,” Tan said. “But SP Intranet Portal provided by SP Marketplace features versioning so there is no more question about where to find the master copy of that.”
In working with SP Marketplace, one aspect that stood out for 501(c) Services was the technical support provided by its Services team because of the number of support staff readily available at any given time.
“When we have issues where we need new features updated, SP Marketplace was very quick to help,” explained Tan. “SP Marketplace was also very quick to turn around and implement its solutions to us. It took less than three weeks to turn around and implement the solutions to us. That was really an eye opener. I didn’t expect it to be that quick, so that was a big plus for us.
“When we have issues where we need new features updated, SP Marketplace was very quick to help,” explained Tan. “SP Marketplace was also very quick to turn around and implement its solutions to us. It took less than three weeks to turn around and implement the solutions to us. That was really an eye opener. I didn’t expect it to be that quick, so that was a big plus for us.
Final Thoughts
“If you are a small company like us with little or no IT staff, the turnkey solution from SP Marketplace is the best way to go, and this is from my experience. Their out-of-the-box solution not only solved the problem but it empowered our users to frequently log into our web portal to enter their vacation requests and view current company events,” Tan said.
Real World Example
501(c) Services provides free lunch every day to its employees and posts the menu on SP Intranet Portal for employees to see what is available for a specific day or see the entire menu for the week.
“SP Marketplace is affordable and they can quickly turn around and implement the solutions either on the cloud or on-premise in less than three weeks.”
Real World Example
501(c) Services provides free lunch every day to its employees and posts the menu on SP Intranet Portal for employees to see what is available for a specific day or see the entire menu for the week.
“SP Marketplace is affordable and they can quickly turn around and implement the solutions either on the cloud or on-premise in less than three weeks.”
