Case: Procurement Strategies using Microsoft 365

We carried out a project on Office 365 for a government organisation covering a procurement process. The customer asked us to help develop an environment to phase out existing systems and innovate by working together in a collaborative environment. Until now, the organisation has held off from doing this because it mainly didn't know how.

Requirements

The procurement process included multiple phases. During these phases, the status of documents changes, and not all documents are required to be included in the following phase. Moreover, certain records are reviewed by guest users, but they are not involved in the editing process.

As the processing of documents is subject to legal requirements, compliance with the Archives Act is necessary. We have considered various factors, such as the requirement to keep specific financial records for tax purposes for seven years. However, this requirement only applies once the records are no longer altered. The organisation employs document management systems, such as Hummingbird and Projectwise, that must be integrated into a central system while retaining metadata.

Collaborating securely with guest users who need to download and upload documents can be tricky. It's essential to ensure that data security is not compromised while maintaining productivity and efficiency. However, working with many different partners and users with high turnover rates can make it challenging to guarantee secure collaboration.

Approach

We gathered the client's requirements by conducting weekly meetings. During the development process, we adhered to the Scrum/Agile methodology. This enabled us to showcase our progress during biweekly demos.

We regularly consulted with multiple external suppliers, aiming to ensure a smooth transfer of documents from external systems like Hummingbird and ProjectWise to SharePoint Online.

Solution

The implemented solution for extensive document management includes using Office 365 with SharePoint for sharing, uploading, and managing documents. The process of moving documents is automated with a Power Automate workflow. PowerShell synchronises metadata between Hummingbird, ProjectWise, and SharePoint Online.

To comply with laws and regulations, Microsoft Compliance Center features enabled document classification and retention policies.

When users sign up, they agree to a confidentiality agreement (NDA) to ensure safe cooperation with partners. They can easily access their account using Azure Connected Organizations, which recognises the security settings of their parent organisation. Automated access controls are conducted via Azure Access Reviews.