One hundred employees, twenty countries, and every team storing its documents in its own way. Woord & Daad wanted to change that. Not with a new system, but with a smart layer built on top of SharePoint. In this case study, project leader Jacobus Verheul explains how it went and what the benefits are.
About Woord & Daad
Industry: international development cooperation | Headquarters: Gorinchem | Active in approximately 20 countries | Approximately 100 employees |
Focus: education, decent work, agricultural development, and combating child exploitation | Transition: from uncontrolled growth in SharePoint to a uniform metadata structure with Docubird
The challenge: twenty countries, no standardized approach
Woord & Daad is a development organization that works to ensure a dignified life for vulnerable people, guided by Christian values. The organization is active in some twenty countries, with programs focused on education, decent work, agricultural development, and combating child exploitation.
Jacobus Verheul is the project manager for programs in Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone. He also spearheaded the internal project to streamline document management. “We’re a fairly flat organization with self-managing teams,” he explains. “That works well, but it also meant that each team had its own way of storing documents. Since colleagues are often involved in multiple teams at the same time, it took a lot of searching. You had to understand the folder structure of all the teams before you could find the right documents.”
By standardizing all thematic plans, every library is now organized in the same way. Documents can be found in the same way across all thematic plans.
The selection process: building on what employees already know
Woord & Daad didn’t want a radical system overhaul. They were looking for an approach that aligned with the workflow their employees were already familiar with. “Our people already had experience with SharePoint,” says Jacobus. “So the best choice was an add-on that builds on that.”
A second requirement was integration with the ERP system. Woord & Daad wanted the project structure from the ERP—including project numbers and team members—to be automatically displayed in the document environment. No manual data entry, no duplicate work.
And then there was the cost issue. “We rely on funding,” says Jacobus. “The money has to go to our target group; it can’t just stay in the Netherlands. An affordable approach was a prerequisite.”
After a selection process involving proof-of-concept demonstrations, Docubird was chosen.
ERP integration: a smart and secure alternative
Establishing a direct link between the ERP system and SharePoint proved to be difficult and, as a result, costly. Docubird came up with a smart and secure alternative. “They worked with us to find a solution and came up with a practical approach,” says Jacobus.
The result: when Woord & Daad creates a new project in the ERP system, a document library is ready the very next day—with a fixed structure and the appropriate access rights for the assigned project team members.
The result: consistency across all thematic plans
The biggest benefit is consistency. All project teams now work in the same way. There is a standardized metadata structure, and everyone saves documents according to the same guidelines. “That’s a real improvement over where we were before,” says Jacobus.
In addition, Docubird has developed an image library for Woord & Daad. “It took some time,” Jacobus admits. “But the colleagues who use it are pleased. It’s much easier for us to access our images than it used to be.”
The partnership: pragmatic and accessible
Jacobus is positive about the collaboration. “What I appreciate is their pragmatism. When we agree on something, they follow through. And if I have a question, Docubird is always ready to help me figure it out.”
Woord & Daad continues to evolve. Thanks to its new way of working, the organization is more agile and better in control. The environment is scalable, and they now handle most of the management themselves. For more complex issues, they call on Docubird.
Tips: Invest in change management and a clear design
Jacobus has two pieces of advice for organizations looking to start using Docubird. First: invest in change management. “People are used to their own way of working. Implementing a new structure requires proper guidance. A manual alone isn’t enough.”
Second: develop a clear plan of what you want before you start. “We did a proof of concept, and that was valuable. But in hindsight, we could have refined our own plan even further beforehand. That saves you work halfway through the process.”