Zebranet client case studies

From construction to stock control

Below are just a few case studies from recent projects to highlight the diversity of what we do here at Zebranet.

This is not a comprehensive list but it just gives a flavour of some of the projects we’ve undertaken recently. Who knows, your project could be next on the list!

Electrical safety services organisation, Sheffield

We were approached by the company with a view to design and build a solution allowing them to undertake electrical surveys on-site and allow them to submit the results back to a database for their clients to view.

After consulting with the company, we specified a solution whereby the engineers would take tablet pc’s on-site with them and fill in the forms electronically using a bespoke Microsoft Access database written by me. The information gathered would then be transmitted automatically over the web to a dedicated client SharePoint site hosted on the company’s servers. Their client would be given logins to their own site so that they would be able to view and download their reports.

we designed several custom pages in SharePoint so that the format of the reports resembled the BS standard paper forms.

We then set up a training programme for the internal office staff an engineers, so that they would be fully skilled in using all aspects of the system. We also performed ‘administrator’ training for key members of the internal office staff to enable them to manage several aspects of the system themselves.

Testing, inspection and compliance services organisation, Burton-On-Trent

This company required a SharePoint-based intranet solution building. Within this, there were several departmental applications that needed to be included in the build:

The company had recently merged with another organisation and had a requirement to be able to internally invoice between the two businesses. We designed and developed an invoicing facility within SharePoint using a combination of SharePoint’s built-in workflow functionality and custom programming to create an efficient solution which is used daily.

There was also a requirement to build a disaster recovery solution, where all solutions and scenarios are logged within the site and actions taken accordingly. This used standard SharePoint functionality and some custom development.

The company is split over more than 20 sites and laboratories, so we had to make sure the system was accessible across all sites.

We also designed several different training workshops for the company to cover all the levels of technical ability and user focus.

Rail engineering company, Loughborough

We were approached by a company who repairs and refurbishes rolling stock for the rail industry. They were looking for a way to move away from paper-based time tracking. At the time, workers would log their time on a sheet at the end of the day, send it to the foreman to confirm, who would then transfer the figures onto a spreadsheet for the management and finance team to process.

After consulting with various members of staff, we came up with a solution using touchscreens in the workshops, and a web-based reporting solution for foreman and management.

Integrating with the existing entry systems, we used the access cards to identify the staff members to the system. They would then select a project, vehicle, and work package on the system before going of and undertaking the work. When a task was complete, the worker would then use the touch screen to log on to another task or log out of the system at the end of the shift.

The foreman could then see, in real-time, the status of any project and vehicle. This meant that any issues or delays could be spotted and dealt with right away. At the end of each shift the foreman simply checked the times on the system and signed off the work for the day, saving a great deal of time and cutting down on potential mistakes.

Finance were then able to generate reports to check actual times against predicted, and check efficiencies of different projects. Finally they were able to submit the data to the financial systems, saving time again on data input.

Aerospace and defence organisation, Motherwell

We are working with this company to build a company Intranet incorporating: Document Management, HR solutions, Quality tracking, and building a full reporting solution linked to their ERP system.

This involves integrating SharePoint with several third-party solutions in order to retrieve and post data to various areas within the organisation. One of the other requirements is to build a customer portal in SharePoint whereby their clients can log in and see the status of projects, create and monitor concessions and also provide feedback. The key of this solution is to provide a central area bringing together several systems and remove the need for manual reporting, and reduce the amount of paper the company produces. The business is across several sites in the UK and the USA, so connectivity, stability and security are paramount.

We worked with the internal IT team and trained them with basic administration skills so that they can take the solution over in the long term. We’ve also worked with the management team in workshops so that we can build the right solution and define the project goals from the outset.

Relationship support charity, Doncaster

This charity needed a way of keeping the information about their practitioners in an easily navigable system. Keeping track of training records, qualifications, documentation, roles and registration for over 1,800 people all over the country required a bespoke system.

We were initially given a full specification from the client, but on closer inspection we realised that there were going to be problems with functionality if we stuck to it. So we went through the whole thing with the project stakeholders and changed the direction the system would take. This made it far more user-friendly and cut down on a great deal of duplication of data.

We built it from the ground up to be a web application so that it could be accessed from any number of devices. It has saved time, money and manpower since it went live back in 2013.