Office 365 Server Migration and Sharepoint Solution for a Non-Profit Agency Leads to IT Support Engagement

Client Description

The client is a community foundation in the Northeast.  A foundation of and for the community, the Foundation is a connector, convener, catalyst for change and a collaborative partner to the entire community; Residents/Non-profits; Institutions, Government, and the Business Community. 

Challenge

The foundation wanted to reduce their reliance on in-house equipment, which required maintenance by a staff member, and move their files to the cloud thus shifting the server infrastructure responsibility to experts outside the foundation and providing more flexibility. They also wanted to create a more collaborative environment for their staff and provide a seamless method of file sharing outside the foundation to the Board. As an additional enhancement for collaboration, the foundation was looking for an intranet solution to store and share internal files securely. Office 365 provided them with the technology improvements they were looking for.

Technology

The foundation had an aging server and was having challenges with file sharing among staff and board members. They decided to install Office 365 as a way to facilitate and streamline collaboration. In order to ensure a smooth transition with as little disruption in service as possible, they realized they needed a strategy and plan for migrating files from the server to Office 365 file sharing and Sharepoint.

Ninestone’s Approach

Ninestone began the engagement by creating a temporary share space for the foundation files to limit staff downtime during the transition from the in-house server to the cloud and intranet solution. Once the files were removed from the server, the server was decommissioned. Office 365 was implemented and Ninestone created a design for a Sharepoint based intranet site and a strategy for file sharing using OneDrive and the Sharepoint site. We implemented the Sharepoint site including creating and assigning group permissions.

During the server transition process, the foundation determined that their current IT support vendor was not adequately supporting the foundation. After working with Ninestone and experiencing the close partnership throughout the implementation of Office 365 and transition to the cloud, the foundation decided to hire Ninestone as their new IT Support team. Initially, we set up antivirus, antispam, and a file backup solution. We also worked with the foundation staff to create a process for technology onboarding of new staff and cleanup for staff as they left the foundation. 

Results

The foundation now has a protected efficient technology landscape providing them secure file sharing within and outside the foundation as well as ongoing IT support tailored to their needs.

 

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