CTG Migrates Data and Modernizes SharePoint for Manufacturing Firm

Key Challenges

Data concentrated in headquarters region limited global access

Traditional SharePoint version restricted ability to scale, create a cohesive UX, and set up workflows for business units

Business Benefits

Streamlined data access across international regions

Implemented efficient Root-Hub-Spoke architecture model, improving efficiency and providing autonomy to business units

The client is a multinational manufacturing firm with business units across international regions that operates from a centralized headquarters, managing its enterprise data through cloud-based SharePoint infrastructure.

The Challenge and Opportunity

Managing vast amounts of data across multiple international regions posed a significant challenge for a multinational manufacturing firm. With their data concentrated in their headquarters' region, employees in other locations faced difficulty accessing crucial information quickly and efficiently. Though the firm's SharePoint data was already in the cloud, they used a traditional version that limited their ability to scale operations, create a cohesive company UX, and set up effective workflows for their business units (BUs). The firm needed to migrate its data to another international region for easier access while completing a comprehensive upgrade to its SharePoint UI and organization.

The Solution and Results

CTG's SharePoint experts guided the firm through a smooth migration that gave the firm's BUs much-needed access to data from HQ. After the migration, CTG's consultants developed a plan so that all BUs followed a consistent company-wide theme. The plan would also allow BUs to develop their own custom workflows to speed up operations. Beyond workflows, CTG also set up each BU with their own information architecture and security parameters. This allowed each BU to set permissions for which personnel had access to which data, while also keeping their data set up for fast retrieval. The model for the re-architecture was a "Root-Hub-Spoke" model.

Global Manufacturing Firm_SharePoint Data Migration_Root Hub Spoke

Modern SharePoint Architecture

Modern SharePoint site design uses "Hub navigation" and communication sites. This helps create and connect department "hubs" to the main intranet portal without rigid rules.

Key Architecture Components

The BUs are good models for Hub Sites since they're governed by their own unique activities and policies.
Each BU has multiple internal functions for project, functional, team-related data, documents, and workflows. The "hub" model lends itself to team sites and project-specific communication sites.
Team sites are meant for a defined group of users/data, documents, and lists. Existing sites can be associated with a hub as well.
Communication sites are meant for wider views or edits.
Team and communication sites follow a flat hierarchy, and these sites may be reassigned to other hubs as needed.

Navigation Approach

The central intranet "landing portal" acts as a root that connects all sites.
Users can navigate to department hubs from the root.
All spoke sites automatically inherit each hub's portal's theme and navigation.

By reorganizing their information architecture and migrating their data, the firm's BUs could now retrieve the data they needed locally. Combined with custom workflows and a restructuring of their SharePoint setup, the firm dramatically improved the efficiency of their operations, unified their company-wide intranet experience, and provided more autonomy to the BUs.