SharePoint Portal Evolution for a Global Gold Mining Company
Summary
A global gold mining company ran its corporate communications on a SharePoint-based portal but could not publish news without involving developers, and could not give each region its own news and permissions. INNERLUXES re-shaped the portal architecture around region-specific site collections, built custom news authoring forms, and added social and analytics integrations — giving administrators full control over content while lowering maintenance costs.
About the Client
The Client is one of the world's largest gold producers, with around 32,000 employees and contractors and operations spanning several continents.
A Corporate Portal That Could Not Publish News Without Developers
The Client already operated a corporate SharePoint portal but needed to extend it. The existing out-of-the-box news and announcements process was rigid, and every change to it required developer involvement. The Client engaged INNERLUXES for its SharePoint development and customization expertise to deliver a more flexible portal.
The solution had to satisfy two core requirements:
- The ability to create and edit news without any developer involvement.
- The ability to create a separate site for each region, with its own news and independently managed permissions.
Region-Specific Site Collections With Delegated Administration and Custom News Forms
INNERLUXES first investigated the Client's existing infrastructure and re-shaped the portal architecture to match the requirements. Separate site collections were created for each region, which made it possible to manage permissions and user access per region and assign a dedicated administrator to each. This structure was chosen so that regional teams could work independently without affecting one another.
The team then built custom forms for every news list and extended the out-of-the-box functionality. With new fields and tailored forms, administrators can manage all news easily, including both spotlight and regular front-page items, with no developer support.
INNERLUXES also added the following capabilities to the portal:
- Social media links across the portal.
- Facebook feeds embedded into relevant pages.
- Quick tools and quick links for faster navigation.
- Web analytics integration (Piwik) for usage insight.
An Easier-to-Manage Portal With Lower Maintenance Costs
- The Client received a multifunctional portal that covers all of their major requirements.
- The new functionality significantly simplified working with news and made the portal interface more user-friendly.
- Reduced reliance on developers for everyday content lowered the portal's maintenance costs.
- Satisfied with the outcome, the Client continued the collaboration with INNERLUXES.
Technologies and Tools
SharePoint 2010, .NET, C#, JavaScript, jQuery, Visual Studio, SharePoint Designer.