Johnson Matthey is a sustainable technologies company with 13,000 employees operating out of 30 countries. As part of a wider project to deliver an ambitious new SharePoint Online global intranet,as well as launch Yammer and Office 365, we implemented a governance framework.

A sustainable platform

The governance framework was designed to ensure a truly sustainable platform, drive healthy levels of adoption and underpin great content.

We worked closely with stakeholders from both IT and Communications to help define the policies, processes and roles that would help the intranet to run smoothly, reduce risk and ensure strategic alignment, while also drive use of Office 365.

One source of truth for governance

We carefully documented an information governance plan to act as one source of truth for business site owners round the world, providing a holistic view of their responsibilities as well as rules around usage and access.This comprehensive overview also described essential details such as identifying different intranet stakeholder groups and content retention policies, and the critical milestones that needed to be followed.

Owning the framework

To ensure the framework was embedded throughout Johnson Matthey we recommended that the governance plan be owned an advisory group made up of functional stakeholders such as IT, HR and Legal. Additionally, we suggested a strategic development group set the roadmap for future development.

Clarity for site owners

The framework has provided owners across collaboration, project and publishing sites with clarity on their responsibilities and areas of accountability, establishing a sustainable, decentralised ownership model for the digital workplace.

Comprehensive support

Support models and channels have also been established to help site owners carry out their duties as well as drive Office 365 adoption. These include Yammer groups for site owners and end users to ask questions, as well as a Centre of Excellence for Office 365 and SharePoint support analysts.

We also created a Help Centre available through the intranet, My JM, that acts as a one stop shop to request sites, find learning resources, make suggestions and get up to date information on Office 365 projects. Employees can also access a library of how-to videos covering various different aspects of the intranet and Office 365.

Enabling a successful launch

With the governance plan in place and support mechanisms fully operational, it meant that the Office 365 and intranet teams could go ahead with their ambitious launch plans.

Governance that underpins the digital workplace

Although there were some challenges around change management and the governance plan took longer than expected to fully implement, MyJM and Office 365 are now an everyday part of working life at Johnson Matthey.

Site owners have the confidence and training to be fully responsible for their own areas of the digital workplace, while the polices and processes are in place to help staff from around the world successfully communicate, collaborate and stay informed.