Ohio Agency Gains Foundation for Information Management with Collaboration Solution

Microsoft Office System Customer Solution Case Study

Overview “The key to our ongoing success is our ability to Country or Region: United States update information in the tool on demand without Industry: Government using IT resources.” Customer Profile Deby Pancoast, Field Claims Technical Specialist, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, based in the state capital of Columbus and with 15 field offices throughout the state, helps protect Claims managers at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation injured workers and employers from loss as a result of workplace accidents and (BWC) often spent too much time looking for up-to-date policies injuries. and procedures in order to serve injured workers. Finding, using,

Business Situation and sharing information was a challenge throughout the agency The bureau wanted to provide faster and —one that extended to its extranet and public Web sites. To better service to its customers, while enhancing the internal productivity of its boost enterprise content management, collaboration, and employees. It needed to enhance its enterprise search, the bureau built a new intranet using intranet, extranet, and public Web site. Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007. Centralized Solution document libraries, role-based customization, and a fast, The bureau adopted an intranet solution based on Microsoft® Office SharePoint® relevant search capability have increased productivity Server 2007 and plans to deploy the throughout the bureau. BWC plans to deploy the Microsoft technology to its extranet and Internet sites as well. technology to its extranet and Internet site, giving the agency economies of scale in managing its “triplenet.” Benefits  Better customer service  More productive site management  Sharing of best practices with other state agencies “We knew we could Situation document sharing and approval takes The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ place largely through e-mail, the e-mail adopt Microsoft Compensation (BWC) is the link between system is clogged with attachments. And technologies for Ohio’s workers and the support they need multiple versions of those attached files when they suffer a workplace accident or proliferate, which in turn leads to version enterprise content illness. Providing that support efficiently is control problems and inconsistent and management, search, never more important than it is during inaccurate documentation. When tough economic times. documents aren’t provided as e-mail and collaboration with attachments, reviewers often have to minimal hardware and BWC has approximately 2,400 employees navigate through several layers of file across 15 satellite offices throughout the folders on shared drives to find them. In software costs.” state. The bureau’s policies are continually addition, employees have no easy way to Carl Phillips, Assistant Director of changing—in response to new legislation, know whether colleagues are available and Applications, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ litigation, and other causes—and claims the best way to reach them. Compensation managers need to have immediate access to current policies in order to solicit the right Solution information from the customers and provide In 2004, the bureau considered its options, the right answers. For field staff, knowing looked at research from major industry where to find the current policies and docu- market research firms, and decided to mentation has sometimes been hampered begin revamping its enterprise content by an inconsistent, homegrown intranet management, search, and collaboration that had ad hoc systems for content abilities using Microsoft® technologies. This management and search, and process has begun with technology disconnected repositories of information. deployments to some parts of the bureau. As a result, claims managers often had A full, enterprisewide deployment is not yet trouble finding the information they needed under way, but it remains the vision of —increasing the time it took to help their technology managers there. customers. The decision to use Microsoft technologies BWC has stored several types of was straightforward, according to Carl documents in several places, including Phillips, Assistant Director of Applications, personal computer hard disks, shared Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. drives and folders, and document libraries. “We knew we could adopt Microsoft Employees didn’t always know which technologies for enterprise content location to go to for information and, in management, search, and collaboration some cases, did not have access to that with minimal hardware and software costs,” information. In addition, when staff says Phillips. “We were already operating members leave the bureau, there is often on Microsoft software, so our developers no clear transfer of responsibility for their and support staffs were familiar with this documents and document stores. environment.”

Collaboration among bureau employees is The bureau began by working with a challenge as well. Because almost all Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server “Because of our 2003, the current version at that time. That Server 2003 to help provide secure instant experience taught Phillips and his messaging. Now, using the presence- SharePoint Server colleagues a variety of lessons, he says. awareness features of Live 2007 sites, we were They learned that content databases need Communications Server, employees can segmentation for the most effective storage know immediately whether their colleagues able to get that and use, and that multiple site collections— are online and, if so, can contact those information up that is, collections of subsites that roll up to colleagues through instant messaging for a a primary site—are more efficient to quick response to a question. That immediately.” manage than is a single, large-scale site eliminates the need to wait for a response Kim Monder, Online Communications collection. Most importantly, they learned to an e-mail message or phone call. Manager, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ that using the out-of-the-box features in Compensation SharePoint Portal Server was a better BWC has now positioned itself to replace approach than creating a lot of custom its series of public folders, drives, and e- code. mail with SharePoint document libraries. With that experience, BWC was well Employees have begun to use the prepared to adopt the next major release of document libraries as standard, centralized the product, Microsoft Office SharePoint locations in which to store and access Server 2007. It conducted a six-month pilot documents. They create libraries and of the software in 2007, running intranet subsites themselves, and establish sites within the IT department. “We went permissions for the libraries and subsites into the pilot looking at the SharePoint without having to rely on the IT department. Server 2007 capabilities for collaboration, In addition, BWC takes advantage of enterprise content management, and information, such as an employee’s role search,” says Rob Roach, SharePoint and location, contained in the Active Architect, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Directory® service to tailor the content that Compensation. “On the basis of the pilot, each employee sees on the intranet. The we decided to phase in the full range of result makes it easier for employees to SharePoint Server features.” discover relevant content. This improved relevancy of content helps to decrease the The bureau has deployed Office clutter that existed on the previous intranet SharePoint Server 2007 to some offices and to reduce the number of e-mail and units, and anticipates a broader rollout messages sent to broad groups of to include more of the bureau as employees. employees become more familiar with the software’s benefits. “Previously, we would have to send a communication that only applied to the To enhance collaboration, the bureau has central Columbus office to all of our field deployed out-of-the-box team workspaces, offices, so employees would have to sift including task lists, calendars, and through everything,” says Kim Monder, discussion boards. The agency has Online Communications Manager, Ohio complemented its use of Office SharePoint Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. “This Server 2007 collaboration technologies was time-consuming and cumbersome and with Microsoft Office Live Communications often frustrating for the field staff.” for information within the repository, The bureau recently used the targeted enterprise search also uses their Active announcements feature in Office Directory profiles to display only the most SharePoint Server 2007 to provide a relevant content. targeted, relevant communication to workers about a power outage that affected only their offices. “When we had a massive power outage because of Hurricane Ike, some of our service offices were closed without power,” says Monder. “Because of our SharePoint Server 2007 sites, we were able to get that information up immediately. All of our workers went to the SharePoint Server 2007 site to get that information. We didn’t have our CEO send out a mass e- mail as we would have done in the past.”

When the bureau first considered choices for enterprise search, managers evaluated several search engines. They chose the enterprise search capability in Office SharePoint Server, both for its ability to deliver fast, relevant search results and because of the cost-effectiveness of using search functionality built into, and included with, Office SharePoint Server. Benefits BWC has found it handles key internal processes more effectively and enables broader use of the intranet while freeing its IT staff for activities that add the greatest value.

Better Customer Service A new Claims Online Repository is a one- stop site that gives claims managers all the applications and documents they need to support their customers, replacing the multiple sites and random searches on which employees formerly relied. Content is tagged for specific employee roles, so employees see only the data that is relevant to them. When employees search “We have organized more than 2,000 “The Records & Information Management resource documents and links in our [RIM] SharePoint site at BWC provides the SharePoint library, making them easily RIM Coordinators a place to store and available to our claims-processing staff,” share record inventories and record says Deby Pancoast, Field Claims retention schedules,” says Melissa Roach, Technical Specialist, Ohio Bureau of Manager, Legal Division, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. “The information Workers’ Compensation. “BWC has more is viewable in several ways, to meet the than 820 record retention schedules for the needs of the various staff members who different record types. The SharePoint access it. The feedback we receive is that site’s search feature lets RIM Coordinators the solution is easy to use and is a great easily search for the record retention time saver. We were able to implement this schedule they need to comply with the tool with little user training; most of our bureau’s RIM policies and procedures. The users are unfamiliar with Office SharePoint site has also been useful for notifying the Server outside of this solution. The key to RIM Coordinators when the bureau issues Figure 1. The bureau’s governance our ongoing success is our ability to update a legal records hold-order on a specific model, based on the Microsoft model, information in the tool on demand without record type. This list item in Office addresses content locations, duration, using IT resources.” SharePoint Server gives the RIM and classifications of SharePoint sites. Coordinator a place to identify records they have in their division that should be included in the legal records hold. “We are really excited SharePoint Server 2007 has made the from both public and private organizations. management of RIM information more The bureau has shared its best practices, about Microsoft Office organized and accessible.” resulting in high praise. “We’ve formed an 2007 across the alliance with the Ohio State Department of The bureau sees the potential for even Transportation because we wanted to agency. The better customer service after it deploys and share our experiences and best practices integration integrates Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007. across the state to benefit a broader “We are really excited about Microsoft audience,” says Roach. opportunities with Office 2007 across the agency,” says Office SharePoint Phillips. “The integration opportunities with Server are fantastic.” Office SharePoint Server are fantastic.”

Carl Phillips, Assistant Director of More Productive Site Management Applications, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Both business and IT department staff are Compensation more productive because subsite creation and management rest in the hands of business owners. Instead of possibly having to wait days for the IT department to respond to requests for subsite creation or changes, authorized employees can implement those changes themselves. So, the changes both happen faster and free IT staff time for more strategic, value-added activities.

Phillips estimates that 95 percent of subsite creation and maintenance is now handled by 150 administrative employees, who function as site owners and have added 1,000 subsites to the bureau’s intranet—an increase that otherwise could not be handled by the IT department’s four full- time employees. “As our employees have discovered the power of the intranet, they are turning to it more and more to facilitate their work,” says Phillips. “If they relied on the IT department for routine management, there is no way we could have kept up with demand except by expanding the IT department significantly.”

The successful deployment of SharePoint Server 2007 at BWC has garnered interest For More Information Microsoft Office System For more information about Microsoft The Microsoft Office system is the business products and services, call the Microsoft world’s chosen environment for information Sales Information Center at (800) 426- work, providing the programs, servers, and 9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft services that help you succeed by trans- Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- forming information into impact. 2495. Customers who are deaf or hard- of-hearing can reach Microsoft text For more information about the Microsoft telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) Office system, go to: 892-5234 in the United States or (905) www.microsoft.com/office 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com

For more information about the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, call 1-800-OHIOBWC (644-6292) or visit the Web site at: www.ohiobwc.com

Software and Services  Technologies  Microsoft Office − Active Directory − Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 − Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 − Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003

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Document published January 2009