NTP RadioIsotopes 2008
Finding a central space to share ideas and source information to operate effectively and efficiently is no longer a concern for this global radioisotope production and marketing heavyweight.
THE SITUATION
NTP Radioisotopes is the world’s third-largest producer and distributor of radiochemicals for the medical sector, selling its products in nearly 60 countries on five continents. But in the past couple of years, its systems simply haven’t kept up with business demands. The need for efficient collaboration and timely exchange and management of information prompted NTP Radioisotopes to seek a new intranet platform, and the team approached Microsoft partner Intervate to assist.
THE SOLUTION
The brief clearly indicated the need for incorporating the existing document and records handling systems. The solution was found in IntraBox, Intervate’s packaged offering which combines various prebuilt software and process components, with analysis, customisation and configuration services, in order to provide a high value and rapid solution based on industry best practices. Later phases will include extensive dashboards that are able to source NTP’s data directly from other internal systems.
The core product is Microsoft® Office SharePoint Server 2007, with the secondary products being Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 (dependency for MOSS 2007); and Microsoft® Windows 2003 Server (dependency for MOSS 2007 and SQL 2005).
“This is the best compatible single solution for the company’s IT infrastructure, covering various business needs and requirements,” comments Mpumi Nhlapo, Sales Director at Intervate.
The implementation proceeded extremely well even though the large number of NTP’s 200 staff members were involved in drawing up the requirement specifications for the system. The impact on business was low.
“Since implementation we have noticed a steady increase in user adoption at all levels of the company”, says Gavin Ball, Manager of the Technology Development Department and the Project Sponsor at NTP Radioisotopes. As a company, we are already seeing the benefits of the system in that the efficiency and speed of communication has greatly increased. The product is delivering everything that we hoped for and more.”
THE RESULTS
“We have named the system Me ‘n’ U,” explains Roland von Gogh, head of Marketing and the originator of the name. “We want the staff to think of it as the first port of call for all matters. It is a case of ‘me and you together make up the company’ and if we all use the system and populate it correctly we will all benefit. In other words, we see it as a meeting place where we ‘get together’ to share ideas and source the information we need in order to operate effectively and efficiently.”
The results have been well received, with the solution greatly improving the efficiency and speed of communication to employees, via company-wide messages on the main page as well as the various dashboards.
The collaborative portal has increased productivity and communication within the technology development division and has resulted in key decisions being taken quicker than they would have been previously.
“For the future, we envisage integrating more of the existing systems within SharePoint thereby enabling future business intelligence and performance reporting, information management, content management, and electronic forms-based processes,” says Gavin.