Client Name: Age UK Devon
Industry Sector: Not for Profit
Locations: Exeter
Contact: Sophie Littlewood
Job Title: Chief Executive
Date: March 2020

Client Background:
Age UK Devon aim to improve the lives of older people in Devon through delivering a range of services or older people and their carers

They have a dedicated team of staff and volunteers who assist with the delivery of services and activities across Devon. From frontline Home Support Enablers/Assistants to Service Managers, everyone plays a pivotal role in making a positive difference to people in later life in Devon.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for governance of Age UK Devon. Trustees give their time on a voluntary basis to oversee their strategic direction, ensuring that they remain true to their vision and that they comply with all the necessary rules and legal obligations.

Volunteers donate their time to enable the organisation to provide fantastic added value to their services and activities and bring a wealth of skills and knowledge to the organisation.

Overview:
IT Champion have been providing IT support for Age UK Devon since July 2019. Recently the organisation requested that IT Champion propose a suitable replacement for their existing ageing server infrastructure, which provided access to users via an unreliable VPN connection.

Following a discussion about the many different options to replace their IT infrastructure, IT Champion recommended that Age UK Devon utilise their existing Office 365 subscription and fully migrate all data to Microsoft SharePoint in the cloud. This would enable users to have secure access to their data from any location with an internet connection, with the added advantage of audit trails, meta data for fast information search and retrieval and high-level security.

Description:
The project was planned by a senior IT Champion SharePoint Consultant. Key goals of the project were to:

• Migrate all on premise data to SharePoint online
• Ensure that all data was secure and accessible to authorised personnel
• Translate existing server folder structure using meta data and tags
• Create a branded Intranet with workgroup hubs for staff collaboration
• Enable multi factor authentication for additional security
• Drive adoption by delivering training via Microsoft Teams
• Publish policies, handbooks and other key documents for easy access
• Create an organisation news and events section in the Intranet

The project was a huge success and ironically, the day that the Age UK Devon SharePoint migration went live, the organisation closed its office and staff were asked to work remotely due to COVID 19. The utilisation of SharePoint online and ease of adoption has been invaluable in enabling staff to seamlessly work from home and preserve the service to their vulnerable clients.

Comments:
“IT Champion took the time to explain our options and provide a clear demonstration so we knew exactly what our new system could look like, and how it would operate. Unfortunately, Covid-19 forced our planned face-to-face training prior to launch to be conducted virtually and immediately after we closed our office and introduced home working for all office-based staff. The implementation of SharePoint was very timely as it enabled our staff to access the required files whilst working from home. IT Champion were on hand to assist with any initial teething problems and have been very supportive ever since.”

Sophie Littlewood - Chief Executive

Further Information:
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