Success Story: Avalon

Development of a portal for storing project documentation for Avalon


  • It is hard to argue with the fact that Lviv is one of the most beautiful cities in Ukraine. And preservation of the city’s beauty is largely supported by development companies that plan and implement projects taking into account the historical architecture and the canons of urban planning.

    Avalon has been dealing with real estate development in Lviv since 2014. As a rule, a company has 8-10 active projects at different stages at the same time, so it is easy to imagine what volume of documentation employees have to work with.


Customer

Avalon
Website: avalon-inc.com.ua
Country: Ukraine
Industry: Development and construction
Customer size: SMB (up to 500 employees)

Customer profile

Since 2014, the company has been engaged in the construction of architectural objects in Lviv. It has repeatedly won the European Property Awards in London.

Software and services

Microsoft 365
Share Point
Teams
Power Automate
Azure Functions

  • Each project consists of the main stages: analysis of the site, competitive environment (as a result of which conclusions are drawn about the class and type of future housing), determination of the financial model and project margins, marketing promotion, sales, design and construction itself. The final and, as a rule, the most enjoyable stage is the commissioning of the object and giving keys to the investors.

    In order to structure and get real-time access to project documentation, Avalon decided to use cloud storage with a clear hierarchy. The construction company has already appreciated the benefits of Microsoft Teams, so the main requirement was to use Microsoft’s products and services.

    Avalon’s project

    SMART business offered to build a portal on Microsoft SharePoint, which has direct integration with Teams. This solved the problem of disorganized files and documentation. Structuring and migration to the cloud allowed employees who work remotely or are at the presentation to show the project to investors in real time. Now every employee has access to files from any device and from any location.

    Also, the SharePoint portal is synchronized with the local resources of the company. This is to make it easier to work with “heavy files” and architectural software such as Autodesk Revit or AutoCAD.

    “We wanted to keep up with the times, so we provided project teams with a folder structure in which all project-related documents were organized according to a specific methodology. The SMART business team immediately understood our business need and implemented the project within 4 months. According to our calculations, Avalon will receive a return on investment in less than six months“.

    Author's imageAnton ShamovIT Director of Avalon

    Not only employees, but also contractors have access to company files. Avalon can be confident in the security of the solution, because the SharePoint platform is already versioned, and the portal is synchronized with on-premises resources. So, if necessary, it is always possible to turn to local versions. And, of course, Microsoft as a vendor is an excellent security guarantee in itself.

    Project sites in Avalon Project Hub

    The solution provides for a multi-level setup of access rights. There is separate access to a directory or the entire file, write and read rights. At the moment, the company uses 2 roles: administrator and regular user, but it is planned to add a separate role for companies that are involved in outsourcing.

    “We got rid of chaos. Previously, only the key user had certain information, but now all employees understand where the information is centrally stored. When new people come, it is easy for them to navigate and find the necessary documents without involving more experienced colleagues”.

    Author's imageAnton ShamovIT Director of Avalon

    The customer was provided with the most convenient file uploading and the ability to independently add new elements to the structure.

    To implement this project, besides SharePoint Online and Teams, the following services were required:

    • Power Automate, a low-code platform that helps automate workflows between applications and other services. With its help, files are synchronized and data is collected.
    • Azure Functions also helps create automated workflows, but with hand-written code. Thanks to the use of this service, it was possible to create an intuitive, pleasant file structure interface.

    Avalon’s residential development

    “The Avalon project is a great demonstration of how a little automation can lead to big change in a company. I am delighted that innovations from SMART business are enabling Avalon employees to shift their work time away from document retrieval to more creative tasks. And judging by how creative and elegant the completed projects in Lviv look, colleagues from Avalon do an excellent job with that”.

    Author's imageNatalya Onyshchuka Managing Partner of SMART business

    “Our company closely monitors all innovations and technologies in the global community.
    We try to implement new tools as quickly as possible to optimize internal processes and increase the efficiency of our teams at all levels.
    Now, when the entire business is digitizing its internal processes, in the era of global digital transformation, the introduction of new software makes it possible for us to adapt as quickly as possible to any changes in the market, keep up with the times, organize the work of the teams within the company as efficiently as possible, which means faster development and saving the most valuable resource in the modern world, which is time”.

    Author's imageAnastasiia DavydovaCommercial Director of Avalon

     

    To learn more about the solutions and services of SMART business,
    call +38 (044) 585-35-50 or submit your request here.

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