PORTAL - INTRANET/EXTRANET

McCann Worldgroup, one of the world’s largest marketing communications companies, spans 130 countries and represents the world’s leading global marketers. McCann needed an easier way to find people and expertise within its seven separate business units, and it wanted to search and share content across the many networks that it had built for clients, business units, and locations. Using the search, portal, and content management capabilities in Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007, McCann enhanced both its internal and client communications sites and implemented new search solutions across the enterprise. Now McCann Worldgroup is providing its various business groups, project teams, partners, and clients with solutions to collaborate more effectively, find and share content more easily, and manage workflows more productively.

E-Service Vehicle Registration Certificate Process Cut from 15 Days to Three Days

The Dutch government’s Department of Road Transport (RDW) aims to bring seamless, electronic services to citizens and businesses, and in 2007 won Computable Magazine’s Innovation Award. With the help of Microsoft® Services, the RDW built an electronic services framework using Microsoft Commerce Server 2007. Using this, it developed e-services, which citizens and businesses can access through a Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 portal. Available 24 hours a day, the portal includes an online application facility for replacement vehicle registration certificates. In just four months, 45 per cent of applicants have started to use the e-service, which helps ensure new documents are issued to citizens in just three days instead of 15 days.

University Creates 4,200 Faculty Web Sites with New Content Management System

Saudi Arabia’s leading institute of higher education, King Saud University (KSU), wanted to improve the quality of campus life and its own reputation for innovation by creating new Web sites in Arabic and English. The previous system was no longer fit for purpose, with only a limited number of people being able to upload and change content. In May 2007, KSU chose a new content management system based on Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 and Active Directory® services, taking advantage of the university’s favourable low-cost licensing agreement with Microsoft. KSU has created more than 4,200 faculty Web sites, trained dozens of content editors, and improved the efficiency of content management by 10 to 15 times. Before, students and academics didn’t look at the Web site, but now they check it at least twice a day.


School District Improves Education by Linking Teachers, Students, Parents Online

The fourth-largest public school district in the United States needed a consistent way to deliver information to more than 1 million students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Miami-Dade County Public Schools built a Web-based portal to give all these constituents a single point of access for relevant information, services, and applications. The district has improved learning potential for children, enhanced parents’ ability to participate in the education of their children, and improved the effectiveness and productivity of teachers and school administrators.

University Uses Web-Based Collaboration Platform for Student-Centered Learning

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT) at Washington State University (WSU) is well known for its research into how technology can encourage student-centered learning. The CTLT had been looking for collaboration technologies to integrate into university curriculum so that students can take control of their learning experience and reach beyond the boundaries of the classroom. The CTLT found such a technology with Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007. Using the My Site feature, students can create their own workspaces, reflect on their learning, and share information with people inside and outside the university. All over WSU, students and faculty are using My Site to move beyond traditional classroom learning, better preparing graduates for using collaborative digital technologies in the workplace.

University Launches Online Courses, Measures Learning Outcomes with Education Portal

North Carolina’s Queens University of Charlotte wanted to better support its community’s need for online education. Queens knew that online offerings and Web-based support for faculty would enhance the school’s ability to attract faculty and students. Queens deployed Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007, the Microsoft Learning Gateway portal, and the Microsoft SharePoint Learning Kit to create a portal with customized sites for every course offered at Queens. Faculty can now easily create online courses and better communicate with students. Queens is using Office SharePoint Server 2007 technology to collect student work and better measure learning outcomes over time, expand enrollment through online offerings, and acquaint students with collaboration technology used in the professional world. What’s more, the solution’s maintenance costs are low and reliability is high.

Law Firm Improves Operational Efficiencies and Collaboration with Software Deployment

Founded in Philadelphia in 1904 and now operating worldwide, the law firm of Duane Morris LLP has a long tradition of promoting a culture of camaraderie and of maximizing client service while minimizing operational costs. Seeking to reduce costs even further, Duane Morris decided to migrate its desktop software from Microsoft® Office 2003 to the 2007 Microsoft Office system. With the help of Microsoft Software Assurance benefits such as Training Vouchers, E-Learning, and the Home Use Program, the firm is rolling out the 2007 Office system to its 1,600 employees throughout the United States and in Europe and Asia. As a result, Duane Morris is seeing productivity improvements, cost reductions, and stronger collaboration among employees and clients. The firm also is well positioned to retain top talent and has begun plans to implement a unified communications infrastructure.

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