Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina, spans over 8,600 acres across three contiguous campuses and a marine lab in Beaufort. It is renowned for its academic and research excellence.

Challenge

In 2008, the Duke University Alumni Association faced significant challenges managing its processes due to overwhelming paper-based systems. They sought a digital solution to streamline and enhance their process management capabilities.

What We Did

Our comprehensive solution for Duke University involved several key initiatives to modernize and centralize their IT infrastructure:

  • Migration and Centralization: Consolidated multiple SharePoint 2007 farms into a single, centralized farm to simplify management and improve performance.
  • Infrastructure Enhancements: Implemented Microsoft ISA 2006 to serve as a smart firewall, enhancing the security and integrity of their network.
  • Continuous Management and Upgrades: Managed the SharePoint farm over several years, including an upgrade from SharePoint 2007 to 2010, to ensure they remained on the cutting edge of technology.
  • Advanced Document Management Solutions: Developed sophisticated document management applications with features such as:
    • Enhanced findability and search customization for documents.
    • Document tagging and standardized hierarchical storage for intuitive access and retrieval.
    • Email integration allowing documents to be emailed directly into SharePoint with automatic filing and tagging.
    • Compliance and retention protocols to meet legal requirements, including automatic archival and secure deletion.
    • Robust security measures to control document access and detailed auditing capabilities.
    • Governance frameworks to maintain document integrity and standards.

The Result

The transformation at Duke University led to a dramatic reduction in paper dependency, significantly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Alumni Association’s operations. The new SharePoint environment not only streamlined processes but also enhanced document security, compliance, and governance, leading to better management of alumni data and engagement activities. This digital overhaul has enabled the Alumni Association to focus more on strategic initiatives and less on administrative burdens.