Diamond delivers Microsoft SDPS to Wawa
Diamond helps Wawa sort it out with SharePoint Deployment Planning Services
June, 2009
At Diamond Technologies, our clients ask us all the time "what can SharePoint do"? When we hear that, we're reminded of the old spaghetti sauce commercial, the one that no matter what ingredient was asked about, the answer was "it's in there". And that's the challenge with SharePoint, there's a lot in there. But with SharePoint or any powerful technology, the question we really should be asking is not "what can SharePoint do", but rather "what problem am I trying to solve?" A great way to sort through all of this and to find out what problems you're trying to solve and how SharePoint can help you solve them is through Microsoft's SharePoint Deployment Planning Services (SDPS).
Diamond Technologies is one of few select firms certified by Microsoft for delivering its SharePoint Deployment Planning Services (SDPS). SDPS is a Software Assurance benefit for Microsoft customers, in which they work with a pre-qualified Microsoft partner to develop a customized SharePoint Portal Server deployment plan for their specific environment and assess the overall cost for deployment of this technology.
- Bill Wills, Wawa
Diamond recently completed an SDPS engagement for Wawa, a regional leader in the convenience store and gasoline businesses. Wawa is a company that prides itself on being a great place to work. With over 16,000 associates working in over 600 stores throughout the mid-Atlantic, intra-company communication and employee performance are key ingredients to its success. The company currently has a rich employee intranet, built on Microsoft Content Management Server and is looking at SharePoint as the possible next generation for this solution and possibly much more.
The SDPS engagement included a business-focused Strategy Briefing Session to identify key business goals, problem and solution statements, and potential opportunities for meeting those with Microsoft SharePoint solutions. The IT-focused Architectural Design Session provided Wawa with a detailed information architecture for deploying SharePoint in a manner that effectively meets the needs of the business as identified in the Strategy Briefing. In addition to aligning business and IT strategy, SDPS offers the benefit of identifying potential organization and technical pitfalls and solutions in advance; so that value-centric SharePoint solutions can be delivered with proper governance and efficiency, on time and on budget.
About Wawa, Inc.
Wawa, Inc., a privately held company, began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th Century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family began a small processing plant in Wawa, PA, in 1902. The milk business was a huge success, due to its quality, cleanliness and, "certified" process. As home delivery of milk declined in the early 1960's, Grahame Wood, George's grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 as an outlet for dairy products. Today, Wawa operates more than 570 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
About Diamond Technologies
Diamond Technologies is a high caliber IT consulting firm that has been serving leading Fortune 1000 and public sector organizations since 1996. The company offers a comprehensive range of IT services and solutions, from strategy and planning through implementation and managed support. Based on our experience working with hundreds of clients, our ITFusion approach takes the uncertainty out of IT and virtually guarantees our clients' success.