Professional Services
Our professional services include:
process consulting
needs assessment
performance support
user training
discovery
application integration
software development
As a Microsoft partner, we offer the full breadth of professional services to support our client’s use of collaborative tools and technologies
Business Process Consulting
Optimal team performance requires a deeper understanding and awareness than
merely having SharePoint and Groove accessible to all team members. It requires
an understanding of how virtual teams work, how to manage them, and how to
optimize their performance. This requires not only the technical understanding
but also an operational understanding of what it means to collaborate and
work as a member of a virtual team. Our team can evaluate your business processes,
including understanding different project requirements, and make recommendations
on how your team can implement best practices to take full advantage of today’s
collaborative tools.
Needs Assessment
We have significant expertise in providing needs assessment consulting to
our clients. We can be used to facilitate brainstorming sessions amongst management
and team members to identify and prioritize the best next steps for fully
utilizing collaborative tools. A needs assessment typically includes gap analysis
to determine where there are deficiencies in how collaborative tools are being
implemented and used within an organization. The needs assessment culminates
in a prioritized list of initiatives that can be undertaken to achieve the
full value of your technology investment.
Performance Support
Blue Atlas can help resolve any identified technical difficulties that arise
as usage of Sharepoint and Groove expands. This service can be used to augment
what is already provided by your internal IT support staff, or as a direct
technical support service. Performance support can include:
- Managing user accounts
- Backup/restore/archive
- Transferring licenses amongst computers
- Troubleshooting synchronization issues
- Utilization of collaborative tools
User Training
The ultimate success of any application deployment depends largely on widespread
user adoption. Confidant, informed users are more likely to readily adopt
a new technology. Blue Atlas is available to provide training support to new
or current Sharepoint and Groove users. Blue Atlas can provide customized
training solutions at multiple levels. This includes not only the basic training
(ie, application functionality), but also how to use it most effectively (the
possibilities). The training can include lessons learned from other virtual
teams and provide a deeper understanding of what capabilities can best address
different project requirements.
Training can be provided via the following avenues:
- web-based training (self-paced)
- web-based training (instructor led)
- on-site training
Discovery
Blue Atlas can augment your internal IT team to investigate technical issues
that are specific to the client’s network infrastructure and configuration.
We will determine how to accomplish a specific task and share this information
with your team so that it can be implemented internally. This is an ideal
scenario for using Blue Atlas as ‘an extra set of hands’ without
incurring the costs of outsourcing the entire task.
Integration with Legacy
Systems
Integration of third party applications with Sharepoint and Groove is another
service Blue Atlas offers. By integrating legacy applications with Sharepoint
and/or Groove, the applications will be extended to authorized users. For
example, disparate databases being used internally can be considered for integration
with Groove via the EDB or Web Services.
Groove/SharePoint Integration
Blue Atlas offers expertise in integrating Groove and SharePoint. By synchronizing
SharePoint document libraries with Groove, users can share documents between
the two platforms. This integration enables organizations that are extensive
users of SharePoint to continue using the platform they are comfortable with,
while still benefiting from the collaborative aspects of Groove.
Form/Tool Design &
Development
As your team continues to use and evolve with Sharepoint and Groove, additional
features and functionality may be identified that are not currently a part
of either application. Blue Atlas can provide the software development services
to develop and integrate new applications to enhance and customize Sharepoint
and Groove to meet specific requirements of a given project.
Blue Atlas is a Microsoft partner providing support, integration and development
services in support of Microsoft's collaboration product suite. Contact
us to learn more about how Sharepoint and Groove can help your dispersed
workforce be more productive.