Delta Community Credit Union is a data-driven financial institution that relies upon a robust knowledge base to enhance the overall banking experience for more than 430,000 members and to increase productivity among their employees.
As a customer service tool, the organization’s central information repository is used to create, curate, maintain, and share articles, FAQs, and other troubleshooting guides that representatives access when fielding calls and fulfilling other requests from members. It also supplies content for the self-service support features of the company’s digital channels and mobile apps.
At the operational level, the Delta Community knowledge management system allows team members to quickly and easily access the information they need to perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively. It’s proven particularly beneficial for internal training, collaboration, information-sharing, and communication.
Inside the organization and out, Delta Community’s knowledge database is, quite simply, central to its success.
The Challenge
In early 2019, the technology provider for Delta Community’s knowledge base announced plans to sunset its on-premises system and replace it with a new cloud-based solution.
Due to privacy laws and security concerns, Delta Community officials had reservations about moving the organization’s knowledge base—and all of the sensitive data in it—to a serverless platform. However, they knew it would be difficult to find adequate support for their existing system moving forward, and the technology itself would prove limiting in the long term.
Bottom line: The Knowledge Management team at Delta Community had just ten months to identify and implement a solution that met their current and future needs.
Given the investment of time and resources, the new knowledge base had to perform as well as or better than the original system and address potential issues with privacy and security. It also needed to be flexible enough to evolve as the company grows, ensure a seamless transfer of more than 4,000 articles stored in the database, and minimize disruptions for members and employees alike.
The Solution
In fall of 2019, ThreeWill initiated deep conversations with Delta Community to gain an intimate understanding of the organization and its database needs. Following more than four months of information-gathering and relationship-building, ThreeWill launched, in mid-January 2020, the Analysis and Design stage of a multi-phase project rooted in agile methodology.
Analysis & Design
ThreeWill began by conducting an exhaustive evaluation of off-the-shelf solutions, quickly pinpointing a list of finalists based on Delta Community’s requirements for functionality and performance. The team then used samples of production data to develop Proof-of-Concept (POC) scenarios that more effectively compared usability and features between the alternatives.
Throughout the process, ThreeWill illustrated how the solution would look and operate with a traditional server-based system and on a cloud-based platform. The strategists paid special attention to Delta Community’s security and privacy concerns, all the while refraining from trying to steer their client to a certain product.
Ultimately, Delta Community decided a custom solution designed by ThreeWill was the best fit, in terms of features, function, and integration with the existing information architecture.
The new system would be anchored by modern SharePoint pages and leverage additional capabilities from the full ecosystem of Microsoft 365 applications and infrastructure. Ironically, it would be stored in the cloud, marking a dramatic shift in thinking for Delta Community officials.
Implementation
Phase A of Implementation began in mid-May and continued through October, with ThreeWill focused on strategy, planning, and execution of the knowledge base conversion. For its part, Delta Community spearheaded change management within the organization and coordinated education efforts for employees.
During the conversion, ThreeWill led the development and integration of the core knowledge base features, including a uniform way to create, store, and retrieve content in the system. The team also developed security features to control who can access the data, and oversaw the migration of all content from the old system to the new solution.
Key stakeholder groups within Delta Community met with ThreeWill every two weeks to discuss progress and make adjustments for new requirements or challenges. The short, iterative pacing of the campaign facilitated collaboration, ensured transparency, and alleviated any concerns with functionality and performance.
The improved outcomes strengthened the overall partnership and smoothed the transition to the second implementation stage. Phase B, which ran from May through October 2020 centered on building automated workflows for content archiving and improving search capabilities.
The Results
Officials at Delta Community don’t measure the success of the knowledge base conversion in terms of cost savings or other financially-oriented metrics. Instead, they track the solution’s ability to enhance the user experience for members, improve employee performance and efficiency, and grow with the organization and its evolving needs.
On a tactical level, transitioning to the new Microsoft 365-based platform has enabled Delta Community to:
• Implement key governance and authoring capabilities for content that’s accessed through the corporate website.
• Strengthen the security of both knowledge base articles and related document attachments.
• Filter articles and search results more thoroughly via keywords and synonyms.
• Incorporate article feedback from users to continually refine content.
• Automate content migration.
• Leverage a previous investment in Microsoft 365 licenses at no additional charge.
Perhaps more importantly, the project became Delta Community’s first organization-wide integration of a cloud-based application. Leadership now has experience with the process, confidence in the strategy, and a roadmap to follow as they move other areas of their business to a serverless infrastructure.
CONTACT THREEWILL TO LEARN HOW WE CAN ASSIST YOU WITH YOUR KNOWLEDGE BASE NEEDS
About Delta Community Credit Union
Delta Community Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial cooperative with a mission of providing better service and value on the products consumers use to manage household expenses and save for the future. Founded in 1940, Delta Community is Georgia’s largest credit union, with more than 430,000 members, 26 metro Atlanta branches, and three out-of-state branch locations. It welcomes anyone living or working in metro Atlanta as well as employees of more than 150 businesses, including Chick-fil-A, Delta Air Lines, RaceTrac, and UPS. Visit Delta Community Credit Union to learn more.
About ThreeWill
Ranked in the top five percent of Microsoft partners based on four independent surveys, ThreeWill helps teams work together better by building solutions on SharePoint using agile processes. Established in 2001 and based in Alpharetta, Georgia, the company is a Microsoft Partner with Gold Application Development and Gold Collaboration and Content competencies.
