Case Study: Iterio streamlines all processes on Omnia

Using a Project Portal, a Document Management System, a Contract Management System, and a Quality Management System – all developed on Omnia – the engineering consultant Iterio gains better control and quality as well as highly efficient processes. Through easily accessible and clear templates, a centralized place for all tools, and a uniform way of working, project management and internal collaborations are streamlined.

“Our modernized and Omnia-based digital workplace offers quick and easy access to our tools, document templates, quality processes, agreements and contracts, governing documents, and other project resources. Through seamless integration with Teams and Microsoft 365, we can ensure that all assignments and projects are started and managed in a uniform, secure and efficient way and that all standards and process rules are implemented. Today, it’s much easier to do everything right and to work and collaborate efficiently. However, it’s still a challenge to get everyone to adopt the new ways of working,” says Iterio's CEO Jonas Jonsson.

Enhanced clarity and simplicity

Iterio is an urban planning and management consulting firm. They offer project management and IT coordination services in the fields of geotechnology, environment, and traffic to organizations like municipalities, property companies, architects, the Swedish Transport Administration, and Region Stockholm.

The company was started in 2011. It has today around 120 employees and plans to keep growing rapidly. As part of the business's improvement work, Iterio has continuously sharpened its processes, internal communication, and collaboration through increased digitalization. In 2018, Omnia was implemented as a new platform for the intranet, Quality Management, and internal collaboration. During the pandemic, as consultants increasingly worked from home and away from the office, Teams took over as the primary collaboration tool.

In 2022, Iterio further modernized its digital workplace by developing a Project Portal as well as a new Document Management System, a Contract Management System, and a Quality Management System on Omnia.

Previously, all documents and project templates were managed through a rudimentary folder-based file system in Dropbox. It was a blunt instrument that made it difficult to achieve a uniform and efficient way of working. It also led to duplicates, outdated information, and document templates being inadvertently altered or destroyed.

“By creating a well-structured Quality Management System and a Document Management System and visualizing all processes in Omnia, we have gained better control, security, and overview. Now it’s basically impossible for unauthorized users to edit and alter a template. It has also become much easier to understand the processes and to know what to do in each process step and which documents and templates to use,” Jonas explains.

A prerequisite for environmental certification

Governing documents and templates are linked in the visual process map, which is developed with Omnia Process Management (OPM). This enables users to click through the process tree to quickly find and retrieve the right document template and process description. Most assignments and projects are also today created via Team templates in Omnia, supplying the users with the right document templates and tools from the start and keeping every project within a uniform structure. In addition, all agreements and contracts are created and stored in the Omnia-based Document Management System.

“We do not store all types of documents in the new Document Management System. However, all templates, agreements, contracts, and governing documents are available here. It gives us a secure, easy-to-manage, automated, and robust structure for all business-critical documents. It’s very practical in contract management as we get automatic reminders for annual pricing updates and other conditions in our contracts that are important to revisit. This helps us ensure that we deliver what we are supposed to and that we also charge the right amount in our long assignments. Similarly, the document owners are reminded to revise the governing documents in time. We also have our entire sustainability and environmental policy here, which is practically a prerequisite for our certification process,” Jonas emphasizes.

Boosted quality and efficiency

At the beginning of 2023, Iterio integrated the time reporting system Blikk with Omnia and Teams to make it even easier to manage assignments and projects. By consolidating all tools, templates, process descriptions, and other project resources in the Project Portal, it has not only become easier to start, manage, and follow up on projects and collaborations. The quality of work and productivity have, according to Jonas, also improved:

“I’m sure that both the quality and efficiency of our processes and collaborations have improved due to the new solutions. Mainly because it has become much easier to find the right information and resources when everything is gathered and accessible in one place. With the process visualization and the linked governing documents, you are also guided on how to solve various tasks. Getting an overall grip on our project management, we also ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. In the past, when our tools and software solutions were more ad hoc-based, things could be forgotten. That doesn't happen today, which is a big improvement!”

Jonas says that even though the digital workplace remodeling project is largely completed, much remains to be done. It’s mostly about getting all employees to adopt the new more efficient working methods that the revamped digital workplace offers. This is done, among other things, via various campaigns and Inspiration Coffee Meetings. Iterio has also set up a Suggestions Inbox on the intranet to boost engagement and get new ideas for the improvement work.

“We regularly hold Inspiration Coffee Meetings where new solutions are demonstrated. Old habits are hard to break, but we see that employees who try new ways of working quickly realize how much easier everything becomes. As part of this work, we have also introduced a Suggestions Inbox on the intranet where we see fresh ideas for various types of workplace improvements pouring in. We strongly believe that the employees are more likely to adopt new solutions if they are involved in and can influence the improvement work,” Jonas points out.