Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Power company shuts off Lotus Notes and upgrades to Microsoft platform
Overview
Country or Region:Serbia
Industry:Electricity and Gas Services
Customer Profile
Home to over 2 million citizens, Belgrade - the capital city of Serbia - relies on Elektrodistribucija Beograd for its electric power distribution needs.
Business Situation
Despite inheriting a Lotus Notesand Domino setup, Elektrodistribucija Beograd was unable to fully meet its operational needs as its legacy system lacked mission-critical features and a vibrant developer community to plug those gaps affordably.
Solution
Elektrodistribucija Beograd chose to migrate to Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange 2007 server for messaging, Microsoft ISA server for improved security, and a SharePoint custom solution.
Benefits
Legal Compliance
Consolidated User Data
Enhanced Collaboration
Mobile Connectivity
Confidence in the Solution / “We needed a partner that could identify specific pain points and provide the best solution, and help us ownit without a big maintenance bill … we’re very pleased with our experience with Microsoft and Smart.”
GoranPrelic, Head of Information and Technology Directorate, Elektrodistribucija Beograd
Based in Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, Elektrodistribucija Beograd supplies electric power for over 2 million of the country’s citizens. Given the mission-critical nature and regulatory environment that Elektrodistribucija Beograd had to operate in, it found that its legacy Lotus Notes system lacked the functionality and native collaboration features that it needed. Weary of limping along with a messaging and collaboration platform that failed to completely meet its operational expectations, Elektrodistribucija Beograd decided to migrate to the Microsoft platform with the help of Microsoft systems integration partner, Smart d.o.o.
Situation
Daughter company to Elektroprivreda, Serbia’s main power distribution company, Elektrodistribucija Beograd covers the largest portion of the country’s electric grid and delivers the lion’s share of annual revenue. When the current IT management of Elektrodistribucija Beograd inherited the Lotus Notes and Domino environment, they saw immediately that the system was not meeting even the company’s basic needs. It was crystal clear that without the proper training on how to administer the system, or the implementation of expensive updates, Elektrodistribucija Beograd would be severely limited in their operations going forward.
Mobility for the Information Worker
At the time, the popularity of mobile devices with email capabilities was growing rapidly in Serbia. Solutions could no longer be tied only to the desktop work environment; information workers needed solutions with the ability to move with them.
“More and more managers demanded ActiveSync features for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices, and information workers demanded that their mailbox always be accessible to them,” says GoranPrelic, Head of Information and Technology Directorate, Elektrodistribucija Beograd. Users needed 24/7 connectivity to their mailboxes and a secure network to deliver that information quickly and effectively.
Archiving Functionality Required
“Our company is the electric power distribution provider which supplies Belgrade, capital of Serbia, with the electric energy which is crucial tothe daily lives of more than 2 million citizens. It is of utmost importance to have all the official communication saved as a record,” says Prelic. However, Elektrodistribucija Beograd wasn’t able to confidently archive emails with its Lotus Notes system, which presented it a legal compliance issue that could lead to serious legal ramifications down the road. From an operational perspective, it was also unacceptable to have everyone from end-users to supervisors being at risk of losing important email messages. It was thus critical that Elektrodistribucija Beograd solved this issue and provided the necessary archiving functionality.
Improving Collaboration
As Elektroprivreda, the holding company ofElektrodistribucija Beograd, had already been operating on the Microsoft platform for several years, a first step in improving collaboration meant that there was a need to standardize the messaging platform between the two entities. The features of Elektrodistribucija Beograd’s messaging client needed to function effectively with Elektroprivredato enrich communications and collaboration between the two operations. A second requirement was to enhance the internal collaboration capabilities of Elektrodistribucija Beograd itself.
Solution
A Better Choice
Elektrodistribucija Beograd chose to adopt the Microsoft Active Directory for identity management, Exchange 2007 server for messaging, Microsoft ISA server for improved security, and a SharePoint custom solution for increased collaboration, to be implemented after the initial migration.
A key consideration was Elektrodistribucija Beograd’s desire for a smooth migration from their Lotus Notes environment to the Microsoft platform, so the migration was just as important as the products themselves.
“Exchange 2007 has built in tools for migration from Lotus Notes Domino, and that was definitely a big plus,” says Prelic.
Providing a Seamless Transition
During the migration, it was extremely critical that the daily operations of Elektrodistribucija Beograd were not interrupted or a single email lost. To facilitate this, Elektrodistribucija Beograd employed the help of Microsoft partner Smart d.o.o. Before the January migration began, Smart d.o.o created a migration guide and ran testing in a non-production environment to iron out the kinks.
This led to a textbook migration with no interruption or loss of functionality for ElektrodistribucijaBeograd as well as becoming a hands-on learning experience for its IT team.
“It’s not so much IT-related as it is relationship-related,” says BojanBuhac, Senior Expert, Smart d.o.o. By including the internal Exchange administrators of Elektrodistribucija in the transition, Smart d.o.o. addressed the initial competency concerns that had hindered its experience with Lotus Notes in the past. As a result, the current IT administrators of Elektrodistribucija Beograd were able to quickly learn the features of the Microsoft platform and operate the system successfully by the end of the migration.
Benefits
Legal Compliance for Communications
With the introduction of the Exchange 2007 server, Elektrodistribucija Beograd now has the ability to painlessly restore and back up email communications, allowing it to address the legal-compliance issues the company had faced. Users will also have Outlook 2007 and Exchange Journaling features in order to store important business emails.
Consolidated User Data
By utilizing Microsoft’s Active Directory and Exchange solutions, there is now a central integration of user accounts and data, so the need for two separate locations for storing this information – as was necessary with the previous environment – was now unnecessary.The IT administration can now easily calibrate mailbox size for specific users through an intuitive and accessible interface.
On the previous Lotus Notes system, Elektrodistribucija Beograd had accounts on both the directory as well as Notes, resulting in two non-integrated systems.
The new system not only addresseduser management but it helpedElektrodistribucija Beograd consolidate users, application, and hardware identity as well. The overall management of the system has been simplified, while the features are much richer.
Mobile Connectivity
By using Exchange Active Sync with Windows Mobile and Mail4Exchange Symbian Devices for webmail, the information worker at Elektrodistribucija Beograd now has continuous access to their mailbox through mobile devices. With the further integration of SharePoint, users also have the option to open documents on their mobile devices, allowing for increased productivity and connectivity for the end user.
Full Control, Total Transparency
With the strong support and training provided by Microsoft and Smart d.o.o.,ElektrodistribucijaBeograd is now well-placed to make the most of its new messaging and collaborative capabilities, without the need to engage expensive consultants or worry about being trapped and burdened with a hefty services tab.
Much of the credit in helping ElektrodistribucijaBeograd’s steady ramp up has to go to Smart d.o.o., which played a pivotal role in allaying the initial discomfort of ElektrodistribucijaBeograd’s IT administrators by including them extensively in the testing and actual migration.
“We needed a partner that could identify specific pain points and provide the best solution, and help us own it without a big maintenance bill … we’re very pleased with our experience with Microsoft and Smart,” says Prelic.
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
For more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to:
For more information about Microsoft Exchange Server, go to: