Jamestown Properties SharePoint Document Management System

Challenge

Jamestown Properties is a dynamic, progressive company with ongoing real estate interests in many markets, yet its method of storing files was as outdated as the corner store. Since its inception in 1983, the company had utilized a flat-file structure for document storage and retrieval related to the properties they manage. Recognizing the inefficiencies of working with its documents in this manner and in conjunction with their Business Intelligence project, the company contracted with Abel Solutions to develop a site template that would enable more effective storage, search, and retrieval of both active and archived property documents. However, it was critical for the firm that the document migration process cause minimal disruption to the company’s employees and ongoing operations.

Solution

Working with Jamestown company representatives at its offices in Atlanta, Abel assigned an experienced Microsoft Office SharePoint project manager/business analyst to Jamestown to determine which and how many data files and types would be migrated from among the pool of active properties and archived documents. Early challenges also included determining the metadata, naming convention and search criteria for each document type; verifying the folder mapping to each document library and exploring the best solution for user upload of documents and other stored files.

Once consensus was reached on these criteria, Abel Solutions developed the system by which the identified documents could be migrated to their respective property sites. Abel Solutions also documented all work involved with the migration to ensure consistency and accuracy. As an aid to Jamestown during the process, Abel Solutions assigned an experienced SharePoint consultant and other specialists to provide expertise throughout the process.

Results

Jamestown is known for its entrepreneurial spirit and nimbleness, yet a cumbersome, antiquated document storage system was impacting its operating efficiency. In the rapidly evolving real estate market, having the appropriate information to make decisions and implement strategies is crucial. With its new MOSS document storage portal, company employees and management can have any document at their fingertips in a matter of seconds. This enormous challenge was achieved in an almost seamless fashion with no impact on the company’s operating effectiveness.