Microsoft Windows Server SystemCustomer Solution Case Study

Knowledge Management Portal Saves Time and Money, Improves Productivity

OverviewCountry or Region: IndiaIndustry: Information Technology

Customer ProfileWipro provides complex development, deployment, and management services to its clients. With offices in the Americas, Europe, and Japan, Wipro has more than 130 global Fortune 1000 customers.

Business SituationLooking to archive critical business knowledge, Wipro sought a solution that would create a repository of business knowledge and create greater collaboration throughout the company.

SolutionUsing Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services, Wipro created Knowledge Net (KNET), an interactive Web portal that helps workgroups collaboratively increase efficiency and productivity.

Benefits At least 10 employee days saved

per project Employees can collaborate

remotely Easy to identify experts

“The customer had estimated that the project would take 340 person days to complete…we completed the project in 200 person days, saving 140 person days.”Raghunath Thali, Head of Knowledge Management, Wipro Technologies

Wipro Technologies is a global information technology

company offering world-class solutions to its customers.

Wipro needed a way to collate the knowledge gained by

its employees so that other employees could access this

information easily. Wipro wanted to provide a unified

repository of various knowledge artifacts to its sales and

support staff. Another goal was to make it easy to

search for and find people with the right knowledge and

domain expertise. Wipro built Knowledge Net (KNET), a

Web portal solution using Microsoft® Windows®

SharePoint® Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint

Portal Server, to meet these requirements. KNET

became an easy-to-access repository for all documents,

processes, and knowledge artifacts generated by

company employees.

The portal has helped reduce time-to-market, increased

efficiency, and improved collaboration among

SituationWipro Technologies provides comprehensive IT solutions and services to global corporations. The company’s portfolio includes systems integration, information systems outsourcing, solution implementation, application development and maintenance, and research and development services. Wipro’s customers are a virtual who’s who of the Fortune 1000, in virtually every industry possible.

The company employs over 30,000 people in project locations and offices across the globe. It was apparent that significant business benefits could be achieved, if there was an easy way of tapping into the knowledge pool residing in these employees.

In 2000, Wipro decided to create a centralized knowledge management portal to capture client, project, and process knowledge across the organization. Company executives wanted the solution to help maximize the capture of knowledge and experience gained from previous projects and facilitate their application in future projects.

Wipro also set up three key business results that the knowledge management solution had to deliver: decreased cycle time, reduced time-to-market, and increased collaboration.

The solution needed to be scalable, given the company’s growth rate both in terms of knowledge and people. At

the same time, it had to be easy to use and engaging. Obviously, detailed search capabilities were going to be a critical factor in deciding the success of the initiative.

SolutionProject designers explored several collaboration solutions, including PlumTree Enterprise Web Suite, Open Text Corporation’s Livelink Enterprise Suite, and Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services. After careful consideration, Wipro chose to base its solution on Windows SharePoint Services.

Knowledge Net (KNET) was created. SharePoint Portal Server 2001 was the initial backbone of this globe-spanning portal that “Wiproites,” wherever they are on the globe, could access to search for stored experiences, best practices, documentation, presentations, and domain experts from across the company.

The KNET portal connects people to people, people to content, and people to the organization through the collaboration of individuals, workgroups, and business lines. KNET is made up of five subportals: DocKNet, KoNnEcT, KNetworks, Reusable Components, and War Rooms. Together, these portals are the repositories for all forms of Wipro content, and employees have two responsibilities toward KNET: use and contribute.

“Having relevant

information and

Knowledge easily

available to employees

on time has enabled us

save significant person

days from each project

and in turn deliver cost

savings to our clients.”Raghunath Thali, Head of Knowledge

Management,

Wipro Technologies

DocKNet is a comprehensive document portal that contains knowledge artifacts relevant to all employees. DocKNet has one section containing general and technical information that is accessible to all employees. Another section for sales support material contains sensitive information such as pricing and proposals, and its access is restricted.

KoNnEcT is a directory of employees who are experts in various technologies. Employees needing guidance can go to KoNnEcT, find an expert, and post a query to that person. If an expert isn’t found, the query is sent in an e-mail message to the entire company. Replies are captured in a database for future reference.

KNetworks are online discussion forums designed to enable employees to discuss or exchange information on a particular project or technology. Any employee can start a new query or participate in existing discussions.

Reusable Components is a high-value portal, which helps users save a significant amount of time in all aspects of work. Its mission is to help “stop reinventing the wheel.” Within this portal, employees can find items such as ready-to-use templates, best practices, reusable code, tools, and methodologies. The goal of this portal is to minimize time-to-market and create corresponding cost savings. “Having relevant information and Knowledge easily available to employees on time has enabled us

save significant person days from each project and in turn deliver cost savings to our clients,” explains Raghunath Thali, Head of Knowledge Management, Wipro Technologies.

The War Rooms portal is for workgroup members situated at different physical locations. It is an invitation-only area and is used for large-scale projects. Each sub portal or War Room comes to its own when putting together large proposals that require input from multiple workgroups, located away from each other.

The Project Data Bank (PDB), an integral part of KNET, contains detailed information about closed projects. PDB is a regularly updated repository of all the projects by Wipro. The Integrated Process Automation Tool (iPAT) is the project management tool used to manage and capture all project-related material. The PDB gets direct input from the iPAT once a project is closed. All employees have access and can refer to the PDB for knowledge and experience gained from previous projects. As useful as it is for new projects, its larger value is in helping to teach new employees what not to do. “With KNET things have changed; you now easily get the information or at least find a starting point. Wipro is a large organization with skills across most disciplines of Information Technology. E.g., did you know we have experience in CAD? Check it out in KNET,” explains Hari Menon, Sales Support – Energy & Utilities, Wipro Technologies.

“KNET is my Google

within Wipro.”

Gurucharan Murudeshwar, Project

Manager–Telecom Solutions, Wipro

Technologies

“With KNET things have

changed; you now easily

get the information or at

least find a starting

point. Wipro is a large

organization with skills

across most disciplines

of Information

Technology. E.g., did

you know we have some

experience in

CAD? Check it out in

KNET.”

Hari Menon, Sales Support–Energy &

Utilities, Wipro Technologies

In 2003, Wipro decided to upgrade from Windows SharePoint Portal Server 2001 to Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Existing features of KNET on Windows SharePoint Portal Server 2001, including the exhaustive customizations, were integrated with the new level of functionality provided by the new portal software.

In the same period, Wipro was adding as many as 500 to 600 people per month to its workforce. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 was equal to the task of scaling up as the number of users kept on increasing. Not only that, SharePoint Portal Server was able to handle the security requirements arising out of increased access over the Internet.

The solution has added a new level of innovation to the way in which the company’s employees share and access information.

BenefitsInitial acceptance was cautious and slow. But once people started using KNET, they began to see the benefits and the potential the tool held. As more and more people started using the portal to post and exchange information, it became richer and more robust.

KNET has become a significant strategic tool for Wipro. Wipro has seen an increase in productivity and knowledge sharing leading to faster time-to-market, and a reduction of

costs related to the creation and delivery of proposals and projects.

Employees Can Collaborate RemotelyPrior to KNET, multiple workgroups creating large proposals would have to come together at one physical location. The normal practice was to fly everybody to one location until the proposal was finished, thus affecting other activities. With War Rooms, all collaboration is now online. The War Room provides standard operating procedures for specific tasks. It also offers version control, thus enhancing productivity by avoiding reruns. Because the War Rooms are located within KNET, everything is available right on hand when group members need more information. Users can alternate between a project War Room and the other portals within KNET, without leaving the War Room.

Today, KNET saves several employee days for Wipro on almost every project. In a large proposal, almost 40 percent of the information is static. Providing that in KNET translates to a savings of 10 employee days per proposal for Wipro.

Easy to Identify Experts and Seek GuidanceWhen one of Wipro’s existing clients approached the company for a new application, the team dealing with the client was not familiar with the technology or the problem. A search on KNET showed a similar project. It was easy to identify employees who had worked on that project and bring

them on board. “KNET is my Google within Wipro,” comments Gurucharan Murudeshwar, Project Manager – Telecom Solutions, Wipro Technologies, a frequent visitor to KNET.

Reusable Components Increase Productivity“The customer had estimated that the project would take 340 person days to complete, but because of the existing knowledge contained within the portal, we completed the project in 200 person days, saving 140 person days,” comments Raghunath Thali, Head of Knowledge Management, Wipro Technologies. This increase in productivity allowed Wipro to execute the project with a much smaller budget than the client had estimated and pass on the savings to the client. This in turn helped Wipro consolidate its position as delivering higher value per dollar spent.

Future PlansWith the key components of KNET in place, adoption levels of the portal solution reached new highs in 2003. In the future, Wipro plans to continue expanding its knowledge management solution on Windows SharePoint Services. For example, Wipro recently added a homepage on each one of its customer organizations which serves as a repository of information for Wipro employees. Wipro also plans to build features within KNET that allow remote users to access the portal using portable wireless devices.

Microsoft Windows Server SystemMicrosoft Windows Server SystemTM integrated server infrastructure software is designed to support end-to-end solutions built on Microsoft Windows ServerTM 2003. It creates an infrastructure based on integrated innovation, Microsoft’s holistic approach to building products and solutions that are intrinsically designed to work together and interact seamlessly with other data and applications across your IT environment. This allows you to reduce the costs of ongoing operations; deliver a more secure and reliable IT infrastructure; and drive valuable new capabilities for the future growth of your business.

For more information about Windows Server System, go to:www.microsoft.com/ windowsserversy ste m

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Wipro Technologies products and services, call (877) 462-9477 or visit the Web site at:www.wipro.com

© 2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Microsoft, SharePoint, Windows, the Windows logo, Windows Server, and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Document published November 2004

Software and Services Microsoft SQL ServerTM 2000

Standard Edition Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Enterprise Edition Microsoft Windows SharePoint

Services Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal

Server 2003

Hardware Wipro Netpower 7225 Wipro Netpower 5215 Dell PowerEdge 2450