5 Points From The Trinity ‘EHS Using Microsoft’ Event

On September 27, 2017 we teamed up with Trinity Consultants to deliver a training webinar on the topic of Microsoft programs for EHS management.

From Trinity, Adam Fornea, Business Consultant discussed best practices for implementation and how Microsoft solutions can reduce the risk of pitfalls. Andy Gray, Principal Consultant and Murray Ferguson, Director at Pro-Sapien complimented Adam’s advice by demonstrating some more complex functionality that Pro-Sapien’s solution on Microsoft SharePoint affords users, including dynamic forms, the Pro-Sapien Action Manager software, dashboards and reports.

Turnout was excellent and during the 90 minute session a vast amount of information was shared! Here are some of the main takeaways.

Success should be defined from four perspectives

EHS personnel are not the only stakeholders in a software project. There are four departments that will typically look to benefit from an EHS software implementation or upgrade.

• Management perspective: Accurate, timely performance without adding significant resources
• EHS perspective: Structured information, easily analyzed
• Operations perspective: Focused processes and reduced effort
• IT perspective: Secure, in line with policy and easy to maintain

Involve IT prior to implementation

The participation of IT in any software project is vital. Before there can be any progress, EHS professionals must get IT buy-in as if they are expected to maintain the system their wants and needs must be valued. This is especially true for an EHS system that will be based on your existing SharePoint environment. Decide who will be the system ‘Super Users’ prior to implementation completion within a system sustainability framework.

Lower expectations and prepare to make compromises

Adam Fornea from Trinity pretty much opened with the notion that there is no magic button – an EHS system will not make all your problems disappear. People and departments must make compromises. However, if you spend the time and money to get it right the first time, you’ll avoid common pitfalls and all four success definitions (management, EHS, operations, IT) will have more likelihood of being realized.

Microsoft solutions have five key benefits

The purpose of this webinar was to explore what companies can achieve with both out of the box SharePoint functions, before diving deeper into enhanced and more fit-for-purpose features that Pro-Sapien brings to the table. As a result of either of these levels, users can expect to experience five key benefits:

1. Low cost
2. A good first step
3. Update friendly
4. Supplement existing systems
5. Systems integration

Basic functions can be achieved in-house, but Pro-Sapien provides a professionally designed solution

Is it simply that Pro-Sapien manipulates Microsoft software to meet your needs? Yes and no. Pro-Sapien takes your system to the next level, with a combination of enhanced, underlying SharePoint features and software owned by PS itself. Furthermore, the Pro-Sapien solution is able to make use of anything you’ve already implemented on SharePoint due to our flexible approach to working with clients. By choosing a vendor that builds SharePoint solutions especially for EHS management, you’re removing the high risk of failure that many SharePoint systems developed in-house fall victim to.