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Why managing documents with one source of truth can improve your business efficiency

Jessica is a senior marketing professional with over 10 years in the industry.
Jessica Mckenzie
07 December 2020
Documents as a central source of truth

Creating a central source of truth in which all documents are easily accessible can help improve your organisation’s project visibility, team productivity, accuracy, and efficiency.

Poor document management practices, like storing important documents in personal inboxes or saving them to desktops or personal folders, result in information being hidden from the rest of the team. This can lead to mistakes, missed deadlines, and version control issues on projects.

Collaboration tools, such as Microsoft 365 SharePoint and Teams, help businesses get away from the chaos and confusion that occurs when there is no clear document management process in place. However, it’s important to think about your staff and their daily tasks when considering these processes. Aim to make processes for storing and accessing documents as simple and fast as possible to avoid your team members finding workarounds and reverting to old habits.

There are four essential benefits your company can achieve by creating a single source of truth:

  1. Rather than waste time browsing disorganised fileshares, employees will immediately find the document they need, helping them work more efficiently.
  2. Employees can be certain that they’re using the right document version and the most up-to-date information, ensuring deadlines aren’t missed and work is done accurately.
  3. In a search, contextually relevant documents will be surfaced, helping employees find the documents they need as well as any related information that can help with their decision-making and productivity.
  4. Information will no longer be locked in people’s email inboxes or on desktop computers or impenetrable fileshares. Instead, colleagues can collaborate more effectively and access the documents they need, when they need them.

It’s important to include emails in this source of truth, as they are often overlooked when it comes to saving documents, however, the information contained in emails can be crucial to a project, making it essential that they are searchable and accessible to those working on the project.

In an ideal solution, Microsoft SharePoint, Outlook, and Office 365 should seamlessly integrate. If users spend most of their day working with emails, they should have a button in Outlook that lets them save, retrieve and send documents regardless of type or location, unlocking the power of SharePoint without becoming complicated. The solution should also use metadata to make it easier to search for the right document every time.  

Metadata makes finding all relevant documents easy so you can immediately get the information you need while excluding irrelevant files. Metadata also manages version control, ensuring users work with the most recent version of documents.

By creating a single source of truth and leveraging metadata, organisations can improve overall productivity and make employees more productive and efficient.

To find out how you can make your document management processes more organised and efficient, contact OnePlace Solutions today.

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| Jessica Mckenzie | Blog

ESPC23 Unwrapped: Navigating the Future with Microsoft Innovations

Europe’s top Microsoft technologies conference, ESPC23 took place last week, and we were there, thrilled to be part of it!

This event delivers the opportunity to learn the most up-to-date practices, advice, and techniques from the finest Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams, Power Platform, and Azure experts globally, including Microsoft Product team members and independent community leaders, including Regional Directors (RDs), MVPs, and Microsoft Certified Masters (MCMs). Because of this, an extraordinary community of like-minded people converge!

Thank you to everyone who visited our booth during the event or the demo in the community area – it was great to meet old and new faces alike, and hear your feedback and ideas – it shapes our future, so stay tuned for what's to come! If you would like to continue the conversation, please contact us.

Here are key takeaways from ESPC23:

Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot – The Next Big Thing!

  • Co-Pilot emerged as a game-changer, but success hinges on quality data input
  • Ensure data is centrally stored and easily accessible to maximize Co-Pilot's capabilities
  • Data cleanliness is paramount – you get out what you put in! Prioritize accurate data for Co-Pilot effectiveness
  • Eliminate outdated or conflicting data to prevent confusion and enhance Co-Pilot's decision-making prowess

SharePoint Embedded Public Preview - Now Available

  • Explore a revolutionary way to build custom content apps for enterprises and ISVs with SharePoint Embedded, now available for public preview.
  • Learn more about this exciting development announced at ESPC23.

The New Microsoft Teams Client: Performance, Rollout, and Feature Parity

  • Since Microsoft announced the general availability of the new rebuilt Teams client in October, ESPC23 delved into discussions about performance enhancements, technical rollout, change management, and achieving feature parity with Teams classic.
  • Discover the ins and outs of the new Microsoft Teams client Introducing the new Microsoft Teams client – Teams | Microsoft Learn

In-Person Conferences: The Power of Connection and Networking

  • Despite the digital era, in-person conferences remain an invaluable way to connect and network.
  • A Microsoft MVP captured the sentiment: "This is the only time I see people in person; I'm now 100% remote. I feel like this is my chance to come to the office and talk with my fellow speakers."

To learn more and explore how we provide a streamlined and consistent approach way for people to engage with business systems built on Microsoft 365 for better information management and governance, contact us for a personalized demo.

| Jessica Mckenzie | Blog

ESPC23: Visit the top European Microsoft Conference

Join us at the top European Microsoft Conference, ESPC23 - where an extraordinary community converges to explore the latest innovations and trends in the realm of Microsoft technologies

| Jessica Mckenzie | Upcoming

ESPC23 Amsterdam

Join us for Europe’s top Microsoft technologies conference, ESPC23, 27th – 30th November 2023, in Amsterdam.

At ESPC, you will hear the latest expertise on Copilot, Microsoft Teams, AI, Azure, Microsoft Viva, Microsoft Graph, Microsoft Power Platform, Governance, CoE, SharePoint, Migrations, PowerShell.

Schedule a demo

See the OnePlace Solutions product suite in action and unlock the potential of your data by leveraging the SharePoint platform.

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Download and try the full OnePlace Solutions product suite for Windows Desktop and Apps for Microsoft 365.

Contact us

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