The Grand Avignon has chosen to adopt a modern intranet. For this, the agglomeration community called upon Blue Soft Empower to implement the Powell Intranet solution. As the person in charge of internal communication at Grand Avignon, Manon Ibanez piloted this implementation with the teams Empower. She agreed to share her feedback on the whole project.
Presentation of the Grand Avignon
Grand Avignon, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is an agglomeration community of 15 municipalities, plus Avignon, the central city. It covers an area of more than 300,000 km2 and has a population of just under 200,000. Greater Avignon straddles two departments (Gard and Vaucluse) and two regions (Occitania and PACA).
Ms. Ibanez explains: "Internally, we have about 650 agents with very different profiles. We had to take this variety into account when creating our intranet. Indeed, we have conservatory teachers, ballet dancers, artists at heart, performance technicians as well as field and administrative agents. We are spread out over about 20 sites in the metropolitan area."
Why did you choose Powell Intranet?
"Our intranet was aging, dating back about ten years. It had mainly become a storage space, where it could be difficult to find what you were looking for. It no longer met the needs and uses of users and administrators. We therefore decided to start from scratch, in order to create an intranet focused on communication.
First, we had to choose between an intranet "Open Source"intranet, which was more ergonomic, attractive and customizable, and a SharePoint intranet, which fit more naturally into our IS environment under Microsoft Office 365. Logic and reason made us turn to a SharePoint solution. However, the condition was that there was a Powell Intranet type overlay, in order to facilitate the learning process. This solution allowed us to have a more ergonomic and easy-to-use interface, both for the readers and for the contributors. It allowed us to go further in customization than SharePoint alone. In addition, with Powell Intranet, development was faster. It was therefore more attractive to us in terms of our objectives.
As the project progressed, we saw the various advantages of Powell Intranet. This solution allowed us to design our intranet as we wanted, to have an attractive, customizable interface. The big advantage is that Powell Intranet is scalable. After a good training provided by the Empower teams, we became autonomous to take it in hand" indicates the head of internal communication of the Grand Avignon.
How was the intranet of the Grand Avignon built ?
"The intranet project was led by the communications department, to which I belong. I piloted it with the support of the information systems department, which advised me and gave me technical advice. We called on a project management assistant to draw up our specifications. Then, we made a consultation for the creation of an intranet under SharePoint with a Powell overlay. It is Blue Soft Empower that we chose to accompany us on the project.
We wanted to create an intranet with different aspects. Firstly, we wanted to make the information accessible to everyone, even to "non-connected" agents . Today, the 650 agents can access the intranet by logging in with their e-mail address. The interface opens at the start of the session on the dedicated computer stations. Mobile agents can access the intranet from their smartphone or tablet. Secondly, we wanted to have a section dedicated to resources, whether they be documentary resources or work tools. Thirdly, we wanted to encourage exchange and conversation between agents, on professional and extra-professional subjects. This part is a bit lacking today, because the intranet is not yet a year old, and the confinements have not helped. We are going to support the agents in this aspect in the coming months, because it is not yet part of their usage. In the meantime, Yammer is our exchange space," says Manon Ibanez.
She adds: "As far as the contribution is concerned, we have chosen to limit access to a few departments and divisions. I am the main contributor, assisted by a colleague in external communications. To enrich the information and news section, I work with correspondents who give me information on their departments or projects. The human resources department contributes autonomously to the HR news, the announcement of new arrivals or departures in particular. The Assemblies and General Resources department has a hand in assemblies, bodies and administrative agendas. The archives and documentation department is also autonomous in this area. Finally, the IT department helps us with the more technical part.
What is your opinion of the team Empower and its work?
"In one word: great! The team Empower, with whom we immediately hit it off, knew how to understand me, to adapt to the fact that I didn't master everything because I don't come from the IS world. The team showed a lot of patience, availability and reactivity to my doubts, my worries and sometimes my misunderstandings.
At the beginning, I was a bit afraid of the handling. And in fact, it goes very well, it is fluid, accessible. This is also the case for the contributors that I trained myself after having been trained by Empower at Powell Intranet. In any case, we know that Empower is never far away! No matter what their audience is, I have the impression thatEmpower knows how to adapt and this has been the strong point of our collaboration" concludes Manon Ibanez.
