Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007Customer Solution Case Study

Japanese Cellphone Provider Streamlines Processes and Improves Collaboration With SharePoint Server

OverviewCountry or Region: JapanIndustry: Communications

Customer ProfileThe NTT DoCoMo, Inc. Shikoku Branch is an NTT DoCoMo branch office that provides a cell-phone carrier service for the Shikoku region. Starting out as a provider of pager services in the Takamatsu area in 1972, its services has gradually expanded.

Business SituationThe office introduced Lotus Notes/Domino in the latter half of 1990, using it as an IT infrastructure for information sharing and workflows. However, it was not without its problems such as high maintenance costs and difficulty in securing and training technical staff.

SolutionNTT DoCoMo deployed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007.

Benefits Notes Maintenance Costs Eliminated Easier To Secure Staff For System

Management And Development Low-Cost Development Of New Apps

“Simply installing a Notes/Domino bulletin board required skills unique to Notes/Domino system designers, so figuring out how to continue with such a system was an ongoing problem.”

Shinsaku Iwaida, Section Chief for IT Infrastructure Systems, Information Systems Department, NTT DoCoMo, Inc. Shikoku Branch

The NTT DoCoMo, Inc. Shikoku Branch office oversees cell-phone services for the Shikoku region. This office recently migrated to SharePoint Server 2007 after using Notes/Domino for a long number of years. The major incentive was the wide-scale reduction of system maintenance costs. Another benefit was the use of versatile and easy-to-use Microsoft products which would make it easier to secure staff needed to operate and develop the system. The company was already using more than 150 Notes/Domino databases but a pre-migration inventory helped to consolidate the number of databases for migration to 14. Finally, the migration to SharePoint Server 2007 was achieved by installing 50 templates. This simplified the composition of applications and improved the overall transparency of office systems.

SituationThe number of companies that computerized information sharing practices and workflows in the 1990s and are still using Notes/Domino is by no means small. However, many of these companies share the same frustrations – that is, the considerable burden of annual maintenance costs and difficulties in securing technical staff needed to maintain system contents.

Also, since user administration and integration with other systems is problematic, considerable labor hours are incurred every time there are personnel changes, often placing a great burden on system managers. To put an end to such problems, the NTT DoCoMo, Inc. Shikoku Branch decided to migrate from Notes/Domino to

SharePoint Server 2007.

This company had installed Notes/Domino in the late 1990s. In addition to sharing information such as news releases, customer information, branch information, and schedules; workflows including meeting notes and improvement proposals were all catered for by a wide range of applications built via Notes/Domino. By the end of 2007, the number of databases topped 150. System clients were developed for use in DoCoMo Shop and offices so the client licenses rose to more than 2,000.

Mr. Shinsaku Iwaida, the Section Chief of IT Infrastructure Systems, Information Systems Department of the NTT DoCoMo, Inc. Shikoku Branch, said, “We started talking about what we should do with Notes/Domino applications from around 2006.” He explained that the major motivation was the maintenance costs for both client and server. The company also faced difficulties training technical staff to handle Notes/Domino. He said: “Simply installing a Notes/Domino bulletin board required skills unique to Notes/Domino system designers, so figuring out how to continue with such a system was an ongoing problem. Also, no matter how hard we tried to train new technicians, every time there was a personnel change, they were replaced by new staff. While we could see the benefits of training new technical staff to operate a versatile system such as Microsoft .NET, we were dubious about investing training costs to continue running a system like Notes/Domino with its inflexible and specialized technology.”

Mr. Yosuke Ishikawa, who oversees IT infrastructure systems in the Information Systems Department in the NTT DoCoMo Shikoku Branch, said that “the server we were using to operate Notes/Domino was old

and needed to be replaced.” If the hardware were to be replaced, we might as well replace Notes/Domino, he added.

SolutionWhat encouraged the Shikoku Branch to look at migrating from Notes/Domino to SharePoint Server 2007 as a “realistic option” was the migration proposal presented in 2007 by Web System Technology Co., Ltd., a system integrator company with experience in developing Notes/Domino systems which recently started to develop solutions utilizing SharePoint Server 2007.

Mr. Toshihiko Kishimoto of Web System Technology said, “We were the first company in Shikoku to develop Notes projects when Lotus Note R3J was first launched and it helped to add extra functionality to old groupware systems. Recently, however, it seems that more and more user companies are unable to see room for development and are feeling increasingly boxed in by it.” Cases of companies migrating from Notes/Domino to SharePoint Server 2007 have become increasingly common, he said. “As opposed to before when there was no other product to replace Notes applications such as workflows, the situation has changed drastically due to the emergence of SharePoint Server 2007. This product covers an extremely wide range of functions so it is seen as a very promising successor to Notes/Domino.”

Web System Technology developed two types of prototype applications to run on SharePoint Server 2007, including a bulletin board function similar to that operated on Notes/Domino as well as easy-to-install workflow/security functions. In view of these, the NTT DoCoMo Shikoku Branch seriously explored the possibility of system migration and decided to migrate to SharePoint Server 2007 in September 2007.

Mr. Iwaida said that “one of the reasons for choosing SharePoint Server 2007 was the lack of add-on maintenance charges.” This is because SharePoint Server 2007 was included in the Microsoft package license NTT DoCoMo was using for day-to-day office work such as Microsoft Office applications. Also, because it was a package license, there was no need for license management.

Migration was also seen as a possible solution to the technical staff training problem. Mr. Ishikawa said that “there were actually only two people throughout all Shikoku branch offices able to carry out user authorization-related maintenance.” They did try to work around the problem by setting up bulletin boards for user departments and then having the department oversee the subsequent management. However, when personnel changes were made, those two members had to do all the work. He said: “If you try it out you’ll know, but with SharePoint Server 2007, authority settings such as user authorization can be done easily by just using a browser screen, so now anyone can deal with personnel change administration. Plus, user information can now be managed in an integrated fashion via the Active Directory.”

It was hoped that application maintenance would be improved. Maintaining Notes/Domino applications largely depended on the skills of developers, so if technicians moved jobs during development, application consistency was lost. This made the maintenance of previously-built applications difficult.

Mr. Kazuhiko Nakamoto, the executive vice-president of Web System Technology, said, “While Notes/Domino has some benefits such as its easy-to-use customizing features, office-based functions such as workflows have to be installed individually by developers.” In contrast, with SharePoint Server 2007, Windows Workflow Foundation is contained within the .NET Framework so applications can be developed

“Migrating to SharePoint Server 2007 from Notes/Domino helped to put in place a system accommodating the low-cost development of in-house applications.”

Shinsaku Iwaida, Section Chief of IT Infrastructure Systems, Information

Systems Department,NTT DoCoMo, Inc. Shikoku Branch

“As opposed to before when there was no other product to replace Notes applications such as workflows, the situation has changed drastically due to the emergence of SharePoint Server 2007. This product covers an extremely wide range of functions so it is seen as a very promising successor to Notes/Domino.”

Toshihiko Kishimoto, Web System Technology

within a shared infrastructure. “If a shared infrastructure is tightly maintained, there will be less need to rely on the skills of developers. It will then become easier to grasp the internal running of applications, helping to improve maintainability.”

The first task was to review and decide on the server necessary to accommodate SharePoint Server 2007 and to build a portal to operate within that environment. Following that, an inventory of all Notes/Domino databases was carried out from November 2007 to January 2008. The 150 and more databases that existed were then sorted into those that needed to be continued, those that overlapped with others and those that were already redundant. This resulted in 35 databases being earmarked for migration. Interviews were then conducted with user departments until March 2008, and those databases were then whittled down to 14. Databases were also classified according to the level of difficulty of migration.

Migration work started in April 2008. In Phase 1, SharePoint Server 2007 templates with the lowest difficulty levels such as shared calendars that could be used in their existing formats were migrated. In Phase 2, from July 2008, a bulletin board for information sharing was migrated. At this stage, the migration of 10 databases was carried out. Phase 3, which started in October 2008, included the transfer of relatively easy workflow items. Finally, in Phase 4, from December 2008 to March 2009, complex office workflows and detailed security functions were developed.

BenefitsThe number of templates used to realize these applications was 50. By taking the big step of carrying out an inventory as part of the migration process, the composition of the applications was neatly arranged, helping to improve the overall transparency of the office’s systems. The company saved on licensing fees and decentralized operating and management functions. Since authorization settings can now be done with ease, all user departments can undertake such tasks themselves.

User management has also been integrated into Active Directory, enabling single sign-ons. Under Notes/Domino, authorization information was hard-coded into the program but, now, using an authorization master based on Active Directory removes the need for such hard-coding.

Securing and training developers also became easier. This was thanks to the use of infrastructure applications such as workflow which needed less coding and specialized knowledge.

Mr. Ishikawa said, “Microsoft products can be developed simply through their versatile technology so in-house development of applications became easier. “When new applications needed to be created, this can be done independently by the company while gaining advice from Web System Technology,” he added.

Mr. Iwaida said, “Migrating to SharePoint Server 2007 from Notes/Domino helped to put in place a system accommodating the low-cost development of high-level in-house applications.” As Microsoft products are commonly used with other systems, migrating to an environment able to utilize a Microsoft shared infrastructure is extremely important, he pointed out.

Mr. Nakamoto said, “Not only does SharePoint Server 2007 offer high functionality, but it also looks set to evolve further in the future.” He noted that a major benefit is its compatibility with other Office products. “I believe that in the future, its integration with Office InfoPath will strengthen, leading to enhanced functionality.”

Microsoft Server Product PortfolioFor more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to:www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx

For more information about Microsoft SharePoint, go to:www.microsoft.com/sharepoint

For more information about Microsoft Exchange Server, go to:www.microsoft.com/exchange

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 in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. 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 Web System Technology products and services, call 087-897-3012 or visit the Web site at: www.websystem-tec.jp/

For more information about NTT DoCoMo products and services, visit the Web site at:www.nttdocomo.com

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

Document published April 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio

− Office SharePoint Server 2007− Exchange Server 2007