This publicly traded company produces, processes, and sells coal from eight business units located across the Northeast.  This large organization hosts a diverse application infrastructure including a complex ERP package, multiple CRM solutions, and numerous line of business applications.  Each of these systems plays an important role in daily business execution.  Also, with eight business units spread across multiple companies, corporate communications were consistently challenged.

The primary objective of this engagement was to design and implement a solution that fosters more efficient business processes, collaboration, and improved communication with Alpha employees, customers, partners, and prospective customers.

• Design, Implementation, Deployment, and Rollout of an Enterprise Employee Portal built upon Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
• Implementation of a centralized web framework for all web applications including intranet (employee portal), extranet (customers and partners) and internet (public website)
• An agile implementation process allowed for continual reprioritization and deliverance of features with the highest return
• An enterprise workflow solution to facilitate document and content management processes such as press release publication, steering committee approvals, and document collaboration
• An HR solution providing targeted content and benefit information to all employees based upon various criteria including employee status, type, location, and company
• A BI solution timely surfacing key data from multiple systems consolidated into a data warehouse.  Presentation layer leveraged SharePoint, PerformancePoint, SQL Server Reporting Services, SQL Server Analysis Services, and Virtual Earth
• Replacement of the public website to encorporate a more appropriate brand and user feel, a wider breadth of dynamic content, and a more cutting edge interactive experience
• A set of composite applications providing drastic efficiency gains by providing interfaces into multiple systems from one location
• A project management solution fostering improved communication and tracking while offering rollups of tasks, KPI's, and other project information to individuals and targeted management personnel
• An enterprise Business Intelligence solution creating a central data warehouse architected to allow for advanced analytics, data mining, drill down, and investigation of various key performance indicators
• Implemented an employee directory spanning all companies integrating three contact management systems into a single interface

A more efficient and connected infrastructure allowed for significant gains in the following areas:

• Decreased human resource costs while delivering a higher level of service to its employees
• Business productivity was increased in key operational areas through composite applications and search capabilities
• Better executive decision making based upon reporting more timely and accurate data
• Decreased training time required to complete various business processes through automated workflow and integrations with ERP, CRM, and other line of business applications
• Document Management capabilities in the areas of search, authoring, editing, versioning, archiving, workflow, approval, collaboration, and publishing
• More up to date public website content due to increased content publishing and management capabilities
• An innovative website more accurately portraying the client  image as a leader in the marketplace and a steward of the environment