Client Profile
One of the largest owners and managers of commercial property in North America,Trizec Properties, Inc. is a real estate investment trust with a highquality portfolio of 50 office properties totaling approximately 37 million square feet. Headquartered in Chicago,Trizec has seven offices nationwide and employs approximately 700 people.
The Business Challenge
An internal company portal should boost productivity and make it easier for employees to distribute, find and access information.The Trizec IT management team realized its existing portal was not meeting this critical objective. In fact, the loosely integrated system was forcing the company’s employees, many who are spread across geographies nationwide, to spend time duplicating the work of other employees or searching various locations to find documents and information. Additionally, the portal applications were difficult to manage, creating security risks for the entire company and
maintenance challenges for IT staff.
A new, highly integrated portal solution was needed to boost workforce productivity, encourage effective collaboration, reduce work duplication, improve security, leverage existing Microsoft® desktop technologies and reduce IT administrative workloads.
Getting Started
Trizec’s IT team had developed a precise picture of what the company needed the new portal to be: a single, highly secure online location where employees can go to easily search and locate information.The new,My Trizec II portal would need to seamlessly integrate with Trizec’s existing Microsoft desktop solutions to dramatically increase ease-of-use for employees and reduce the heavy administrative burden on the IT team.
PointBridge Envisions Flexibility and Functionality
A Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, PointBridge was selected to complete the envisioning and architecture stage of the new Microsoft-based portal solution.
PointBridge brought in two expert consultants, an infrastructure architect and an engagement manager, to analyze the existing portal environment, technologies and related administration.Over several weeks, the consultants spent extensive time interviewing Trizec’s portal manager regarding functional requirements and working with Trizec’s systems IT manager and overall IT director to determine technical and high-availability requirements.
At the end of a four-week period, the PointBridge team had developed a comprehensive envisioning and planning document for the new portal.
The suggested architecture from PointBridge ensured that all the functionality from the previous portal solution was still in place while integrating the extensive functionalities and added capabilities of SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft Content Management Server 2002. The envisioning document also detailed the team and technologies required to complete the solution, focusing on how to minimize disruption to the user on the front-end while creating a secure, easy-to-manage backend.
After reviewing the envisioning report and accepting the proposed architecture, Trizec engaged PointBridge to develop and implement the portal solution from start to finish.
The PointBridge Solution: My Trizec II Portal
PointBridge expanded its project team to include a dedicated practice manager, project manager, developer and infrastructure architect, all highly experienced in the development and implementation of SharePoint Portal Server and Microsoft Content Management Server solutions. The team took a phased approach that allowed for continuous progress reviews and milestone reporting.
Phase 1: Design
PointBridge utilized the results from the envisioning and architecture stage to carry out the portal design. The team developed detailed specifications for key portal functions, including navigation, content management, security and workflow.
Phase 2: Development
PointBridge managed the development of all solution components, including the integration of Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server and Content Management Server, to yield one highly effective portal solution. In addition to developing the code and documentation for all functional elements of the portal, the PointBridge team was responsible for planning out the solution infrastructure—from business processes, such as content management and backup and recovery all the way to support services. To demonstrate the extensive requirements fulfilled during the development phase, below are a few examples of the many tasks the PointBridge team completed:
- Customized and implemented the content management system, which now allows authorized employees to author and publish content
- Created a company and property directory solution via ASP.Net and SharePoint Web Part technologies
- Replaced Trizec's print newsletter with an online version that allows readers to print a page, an article or the entire newsletter
- Integrated Active Directory® into the portal solution
- Configured SharePoint search capabilities to index content from multiple content sources
- Established single sign-on capabilities for internal applications connected to the new portal solution
- Reduced maintenance and eliminated day-to-day intervention from IT for content authoring and publishing tasks
- Published targeted content to identified users using SharePoint audiences and custom lists
- Implemented a system to track the editing of content, allowing for rollback capabilities
Phase 3: Stabilization
Simulating portal usage under genuine environmental conditions, PointBridge conducted extensive testing across all functions and features. PointBridge worked in tandem with the Trizec IT team to rapidly identify and eliminate potential challenges.Trizec employees also participated, exploring and testing the portal and giving feedback to the solutions team.Through this rigorous “real world” testing process, PointBridge was able to quickly prepare the portal solution for deployment.
Phase 4: Deployment
Once the stabilization and testing of the portal was complete, PointBridge supported the content migration from the old system to MyTrizec II. PointBridge oversaw the launch of the solution in cooperation with the Trizec IT team.The deployment phase was also a transition phase during which project operations and support were handed over to the Trizec IT team.
Phase 5: User Training
In order to help Trizec employees nationwide rapidly learn and work effectively with the new portal, PointBridge worked with the Trizec Portal Manager to provide usage training and developed end-user manuals. In addition, the PointBridge project team provided training to IT personnel on specific tools, such as the SharePoint administration pages and CMS Site Manager.
End Result
With the new Microsoft-based portal solution successfully developed and deployed,Trizec now has a single, user-friendly and highly flexible tool for sharing, searching for and storing information. Employees companywide are thrilled with the new portal, which offers easy content publishing and editing, simplified information retrieval and extensive new functionalities.
The new My Trizec II portal is already helping to increase workplace productivity. For example, the content management system has relieved Trizec’s IT team of numerous site publishing and editing duties, allowing skilled technical staff to focus on strategic business and IT priorities.Trizec anticipates significant year-over-year cost savings in the form of increased employee productivity, reduced technology maintenance expenses and improved workplace efficiency and collaboration.
About PointBridge
PointBridge leverages Microsoft technologies to enable collaborative work environments that improve business performance. Based in Chicago, PointBridge is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in Advanced Infrastructure, Information Worker and Security Solutions. PointBridge was recently named the worldwide Microsoft Partner of the Year for Advanced Infrastructure Solutions and won the Microsoft Exchange Solution of the Year Award in 2005.
For more information, please call 312.334.1900 or visit www.pointbridge.com