Sector
Higher Education
Users
5,100
Solutions
Microsoft SharePoint Online
Microsoft Power Platform
The University of Greenwich is a London-based public university with over 38,000 students and 5,100 staff. It offers a wide range of courses and is known for its historic Greenwich campus and focus on career-ready education.
The Challenge
The challenge to Silversands (now part of the Chess Group) was to modernise well-used, existing applications and migrate to Office 365 in the cloud. However, this included a number of custom-built solutions used for storing department and faculty management documents and information within the University Business School. Some of the apps and processes also had a need to support external access.
The Solution
Silversands spent time analysing existing solutions and designing a cloud migration approach utilising as much out of the box functionality as possible, whilst being mindful of the constraints of the university’s need to securely share information both internally and with trans-national education partners.
We utilised Office 365 (now Microsoft 365) capabilities so the university can better manage security, permissions and data residency. A base SharePoint structure was implemented, then we used an iterative and responsive set of development sprints to develop, enhance and deliver the required solutions.
Utilising our Power Platform expertise we identified five apps that could be modernised. We created Power Apps with branded user interfaces, hosted in the SharePoint intranet. Power Automate was used to automate application and approval processes.
Once the solution was delivered, we supported the university through a period of launch acceptance and transitioned to ongoing business support.
The Result
The university now has a solution on an evergreen cloud platform which delivers more return on their existing Office 365 investment and frees up IT staff to work in other areas.
