Problem

The company was entering its 16th year, experiencing rapid growth. The market was changing rapidly due to national healthcare changes, and with many successes, a lot of new employees were being hired—growing from some 200 to more than 500 worldwide by 2016. Many internal systems were not designed or provided well for the new volume of employees and projects. An overhaul of Edifecs' intranet and communications was needed to support this growth and maintain company culture.

Solution

The internal solutions project was split into two areas: restructuring and designing the SharePoint, and standardizing internal communications and branding. This included providing a means to segment different locations so that each office would not feel left out from headquarters. Doing so would alleviate stress and issues new employees and teams would face, allowing more overall productivity.

Deliverables

The project delivered comprehensive improvements across internal systems:

• Redesigned Intranet homepage and department pages
• Restructured information architecture for better navigation
• Email communication templates for consistent branding
• Department blogs tied to email system
• Office-specific content segmentation

Research and Design

Several surveys were conducted within the company, asking employees Likert scale questions on different aspects of the company's SharePoint. Focus groups were conducted as well, with group rating exercises and card sorting exercises. Key findings:

• Tools - 20 points
• UI - 20 points
• Social - 16 points
• Company Info - 9 points

SharePoint Redesign

Over the course of several quarters, the main landing page was redesigned and rebuilt. The focus for the homepage was derived after surveys and focus groups were performed. The content focused on three parts: latest news, utility items, and calendar events.

Key Homepage Features

• Company announcement news banner
• A company news feed
• Event Calendars
• Quick links
• Office specific links

Department Pages

After rolling out the new homepage, each department site collection received redesigns for top level pages. Keeping each site collection at a high level consistent would allow any user to more easily navigate around. Before the redesign, each department site collection had its own design, layout, and information architecture.

Key Features: News Banner, Tiles of major links to subpages, Sidebar of links to resources

Internal Communication

To tie the internal redesign efforts together, standardized communication systems were created to ensure consistent branding and information delivery.

Email Templates

Company-wide emails are sent on a regular basis: event announcements, customer wins, internal classes, etc. For a long time in the company's history, no standard email template was enforced. The lack of cohesion meant the information being delivered to employees was very inconsistent. By creating unified email templates for internal use, the company could accomplish important goals: spread the new brand, provide consistent and digestible information to employees, and allow each department to have micro-branding to help set each other apart.

Blogs

Each department got its own dedicated blog. The blogging system is tied directly to the email templates, so departments can create both items at once. Blog entries are saved to a SharePoint list, and that list is surfaced on the newly designed homepage. This doubles as an email archiving system as well.

Successes

The redesign efforts produced measurable improvements:

• Improved employee navigation and reduced time spent on administrative tasks
• Better communication across all office locations
• Consistent branding and messaging through standardized templates
• Increased employee engagement with company news and events
• Streamlined content creation process for departments

Conclusion

The SharePoint intranet and internal communication redesign successfully supported Edifecs' rapid growth from 200 to 500+ employees. By restructuring information architecture, standardizing communications, and creating tools that segment content by location, the company maintained its culture and improved productivity. The new systems continue to evolve, supporting the company's ongoing growth and changing needs.