RSMUS.comAt RSM, we often collaborate with clients who operate within the financial industry. Through years of providing expert consulting services to these clients, we have observed that financial institutions exhibit common patterns when creating successful intranet implementations. In order to support our many FI clients, RSM has developed a template called FI Connect that serves as a valuable starting point for clients looking to establish an intranet in the Microsoft ecosystem. This template allows our clients to leverage our hard-won experience and harness other pre-existing templates to expedite their intranet development.
FI Connect allows our clients to bypass the complicated conversations around general intranet setup and configuration. Now, they can shift their attention to finding out which business processes can be enhanced, creating automated workflows to optimize resource efficiency, and identifying tools that will enable their department resources to driving productivity without depending solely on IT. This RSM template leverages SharePoint Online as an intranet tool, empowering our clients to take advantage of the built-in features for document management, communication, and security.
FI Connect is not only suited for newcomers to the Microsoft ecosystem; existing Microsoft 365 customers will be able to jump-start or revitalize their intranet as well. It allows our customers to maintain a consistent look and feel for their intranet while also providing room for additional customization. There are various sample department templates available for use, including Human Resources, Lending, Operations, and Retail, with each able to be lightly customized through configuration.
FI Connect’s other major component is the methodology that RSM follows to ensure a successful implementation. The four essential elements of every FI Connect project are:
- Requirements
- Design
- Content
- Training
Requirements
Requirements sessions, often referred to as requirements gathering or elicitation sessions, are essential activities in the software development and project management processes. These sessions serve as a critical step in understanding and defining the needs and expectations of stakeholders for a project. By leveraging our FI Connect template, RSM is able to jump-start these conversations by tailoring the template to our client’s needs and discuss business processes that would be effective within their Intranet.
Design
Based on the findings from the requirements sessions, a design and implementation plan is drafted to showcase the features and functions of what the end result will look like. The technical design document involves defining the system’s architecture, structure, components, and their interactions to meet specific requirements. RSM ties this together with the FI Connect template to have a consistent theme, navigation layout, and structure throughout.
Content
Whether it is existing intranet material or documents, it is important to have an Intranet launched with relevant content such as news articles, quick links, documents, or calendars. RSM will work with our clients to determine how and where content should be stored to enhance findability and searchability for their users.
Training
Training will be a valuable opportunity to teach both end users and power users how to best utilize the new intranet. Power users will learn how to create content, author documents, and manage their site going forward. End users will learn how to navigate, search, and understand the purpose of this solution. RSM will work with our clients to customize training to their new intranet and meet their training needs.
If your financial institution is eager to expand the reach of your Information Technology team, leverage the technology that you may already own but aren’t utilizing, or attain a better understanding of what is possible in the Microsoft ecosystem, please do not hesitate to reach out to RSM so that we can work with you to clearly convey the Power of Being Understood.
Contact us:
LeAnn Weber: leann.weber@rsmus.com
LeAnn Weber
LeAnn is a seasoned content migration engineer and content management architect. Her specialty is aligning unique business needs to Microsoft Cloud technologies. She has a strong track record of supporting clients of varying sizes, focusing on efficient and effective solutions in the ever-changing digital landscape.
