SharePoint Intranet Upgrade for Improved Usability and Navigation
Project Summary
ScienceSoft improved the usability of a SharePoint-based intranet for a healthcare organization. We were working on content organization and navigation, employee directory and visual design of the intranet.
About Our Customer
Our Customer is Red Nucleus, an advisory and technology solution company that focuses on the life science industry and helps its clients make strategic business decisions as well as raise the efficiency of day-to-day activities. Red Nucleus is a team of 700+ subject-matter experts who own scientific, technology and market knowledge. Founded more than 30 years ago, the company has been loyal to its mission of improving the overall level of healthcare services and the quality of people's lives. For true excellence in its field, Red Nucleus has 500+ awards and recognitions.
ScienceSoft worked as a subcontractor for Red Nucleus, while the end Customer was a healthcare company whose name is under a strict NDA.
Taking Up a Hard-to-Use SharePoint Intranet
The client of Red Nucleus used an intranet built on SharePoint. Created with no involvement of SharePoint consultants or developers, the intranet had just limited out-of-the-box functionality.
The company stored a lot of content on the intranet (educational materials, videos, newsletters), and cumbersome navigation was a serious issue. Employees wasted time searching for a necessary file. The company's stakeholders felt the need to solve the usability problems.
Due to the lack of SharePoint expertise, Red Nucleus couldn't help the company directly, and they engaged ScienceSoft, a provider of SharePoint services since 2007.
Upgrading SharePoint Intranet for Brand Consistency and Usability
ScienceSoft started with clarifying and structuring rather vague requirements. We learned the client's pains and offered solutions visualized in short demos. This way, it was easier for the stakeholders to assess, discuss and approve the proposed changes. They were impressed that the existing functionality could be so much more convenient to use.
Andria Hoda, Senior Account Director at Red Nucleus, praises the approach chosen by ScienceSoft:
The final visual interactive experience <ScienceSoft created> exceeded expectations. As busy as the stakeholders were, they appreciated such time-saving presentations of information and the very quick turnaround for their requests.
The intranet improvement plan offered and implemented by ScienceSoft covered several intranet aspects.
Content navigation. The client got a clearer content structure (just 25–30 intranet pages) with:
- The content arranged into folders and playlists (for media files).
- Content pre-view possibility.
- Files categorized by country.
- Different web parts (e.g., buttons, maps) to facilitate content consumption.
- A clickable table of contents in corporate newsletters, which are PDF documents of 6–7 pages.
Employee navigation. As the company's team is spread across tens of locations, we offered to improve the findability of employee information. We created a custom app with a map where employees are linked to the geographical location of their workplace.
Visual design. We added branding elements to the home page, community hub and map, news feed, and employee directory. Consistent with the brand identity, the intranet encourages employees' emotional loyalty to the company.
How Improved Intranet Impacts Employee Experience
- Employees find the information and files they need around 2 times faster and are more productive at daily work.
- Employees are more eager to explore new educational and corporate materials issued by the company.
- Employees have a stronger sense of community, despite the geographical separation.
How Red Nucleus Benefits from the Cooperation with ScienceSoft
By engaging ScienceSoft, Red Nucleus acquired SharePoint expertise needed to help its client. As ScienceSoft's team is experienced in different cooperation modes (including as a subcontractor), it was easy for Red Nucleus to organize the work of three parties: its project management team, the client's stakeholders, and ScienceSoft's SharePoint developers.
Red Nucleus appreciated the proactivity of ScienceSoft's team. The developers gently helped the stakeholders understand the capabilities of SharePoint and choose the changes that promised maximum value.
Technologies and Tools
SharePoint Online, SharePoint Framework, JavaScript, React.
