Antares

Client Problem:

The Australian National Maritime Museum, located in Sydney, features historic vessels and migrant ships of interests to the public as well as maritime research facilities.

The museum had an existing intranet portal that was not only outdated but also incomplete. The intranet was not easy to use, with links throughout the site broken and information seemingly hidden. Furthermore, there was often more than one source of information that was largely inconsistent. Some staff did not even identify with or use the existing intranet portal. These internal intranet problems ultimately lead to confusion and time wastage.

As part of an infrastructure and collaboration project, Antares Solutions was engaged to implement a knowledge management solution to improve communication, collaboration and content management within the Museum.

Our Solution:

Antares Solutions proposed the creation of 'On Deck Portal' as a corporate communication channel. Using Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Service Enterprise, NewsGator, and FAST Search products, Antares was able to drastically improve the communication channel at The Australian National Maritime Museum. The solution involved the following:

• A corporate communication and collaboration platform  
• A document management system that involved moving information from other storage locations onto the intranet portal and indexed so that it could be easily searched and located. 
• An enterprise wiki system where employees could collaborate, share and learn.
• A fast search sever which allowed searching functionality to be extended to include other sources of data including existing museum records.
• Systems integration of other business systems into one common platform that from a front-end perspective worked seamlessly.
• A process automation platform for online forms and processes that moved away from manual, time consuming systems.
• Extended social computing that allowed social communication and blogging.

Benefits:

Ultimately, Antares Solutions made it easier for employees to do their job. Antares developed the 'On Deck ' portal that allowed all employees within the Museum to communicate in a practical, beneficial fashion. The 'On Deck' portal also benefited staff as:

• It allowed information to be easily located saving time and effort.
• It allowed staff to find employees and external people of interest quickly through extended search features.
• It allowed information transparency, as information was now stored in one location and not deep in an email inbox.
• Built a culture of collaboration and helpfulness through a single communication channel and extended social networking features.
• Provides an opportunity to connect with people you don't know through profile searches. 
• Allows access to relevant content and functionality from one location as there is now single source of truth.

At the same time, Antares was able to reduce:

• Communication costs such as time savings and physical storage costs.
• Email clutter and spam, as announcements and general information can be pushed through the intranet portal.
• Mistakes and waste such as reduced paper-based forms due to business process automation.
• Outdated processes flows and high printing costs as information and data are now pushed online.
• Barriers to intranet use as 'On Deck' portal is now accessible from home, not just the office.

Antares did substantial training and development with The Australian Maritime Museum staff to successfully ensure the adoption of 'On Deck' portal. As the museums internal IT department is small, change management was a critical activity to allow museum staff to fully capture the benefits of the knowledge management solution.