To centralize and govern the use of data, make it accessible via the cloud, and streamline management and communication processes.
WyldLynx must work quickly to meet clients’ deadlines for technical projects and support services. But administrative processes can slow down its business.
For example, WyldLynx employees need to find documents quickly so they can complete projects and answer clients’ questions. They might need information about clients’ contracts, software licenses, support history, and IT environments. If these are stored haphazardly on network folders, it would be difficult to respond efficiently.
Keeping track of WyldLynx employees’ daily workflow can also be a time consuming process. Employees deal with numerous clients’ projects and requests to resolve technical problems. They must record how long they work on each task, so they know how much to bill clients.
The employees must be able to do all these things from any location. For example, WyldLynx employees often visit clients’ offices or travel to conferences to do business. If they can’t easily access data remotely, their productivity is limited.
WyldLynx’s clients also have similar problems, and rely on WyldLynx to solve them. They need help identifying, categorizing, and managing business plans, financial records, training material, and countless other types of documents. Otherwise, they can’t work efficiently or comply with information privacy regulations.
Established in 2009, WyldLynx is an IT services provider based in Queensland, Australia. WyldLynx uses Micro Focus Content Manager to manage many of its activities. This has reduced the time employees take to find information, and streamlined the way the company manages its business and communicates with clients. WyldLynx also sells, implements, and supports Content Manager for businesses and Australian Government agencies.
Rather than purchasing different software for each of these tasks, WyldLynx uses Content Manager to streamline all of them.
At a basic level, Content Manager helps WyldLynx save time by keeping documents in one place where they are easier to find. It also applies policies regarding who can access documents and how long organizations should keep them.
But WyldLynx uses Content Manager for much more than organizing and finding documents. Its employees use it to manage support requests, track work so they can bill clients, and deliver online training to clients. Additionally, WyldLynx has connected Content Manager to Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, allowing employees to access the same data and functions wherever they are working.
“Content Manager is not just the product we store our corporate records in. We’ve built our business processes around it,” says Carl Duncan, WyldLynx Product and Development Manager.
By building custom interfaces that connect to Content Manager, WyldLynx can now tackle an even wider array of problems for its clients. “Content Manager has very open development options for those keen enough to have a go,” Duncan says.
Carl Duncan – PRODUCT AND DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
WyldLynx
Duncan estimates WyldLynx employees collectively save 10 hours each week by using Content Manager to find information. This is because they don’t have to hunt for documents on computer desktops or in network folders. “Content Manager provides us with one source of truth. That makes information much easier to find,” he says.
For example, WyldLynx employees can use Content Manager to quickly search for screenshots or notes relating to a client’s sup- port request. All the information about each support request can be stored in one record, making it easier to find.
Employees benefit from fast mobile access to this information while attending conferences and traveling to meet clients. Because Microsoft’s Azure cloud service hosts WyldLynx’s Content Manager records, employees can access the data without the need for a virtual private net- work or remote desktop access software.
“If I’m on the way to a meeting in New Zealand and I don’t have a document, I can use my mobile to get it,” Duncan says. “It definitely makes our lives a lot easier and gives us a lot of flexibility.”
By adapting Content Manager to complete additional tasks, WyldLynx reduces the number of other applications it needs to buy.
For example, its employees use Content Manager as a ticketing system for customers who need technical help. Employees have created a record type in Content Manager that allows them to document the date they receive a support request, the deadline for delivering support, and the urgency of the issue. They also record the type of support request, the date WyldLynx responded, who they assigned to provide the support, and the date they closed the support ticket.
While employees use a spreadsheet to track how long they spend on each task, Content Manager makes this process easier. Instead of entering a description of each task in the spreadsheet, staff members only need to enter a job number corresponding with a record in Content Manager. When managers are processing the spreadsheet, they retrieve the additional information about each task from Content Manager. “Our administration costs are lower because I don’t have to transpose details about what the technical guys are doing into the timesheet,” Duncan explains.
WyldLynx has plans to further streamline the time-tracking process. It has developed a web-based timesheet that automatically retrieves information about each job from Content Manager. “Then we can monitor how much effort we are spending on any client at any time,” says Duncan.
Without Content Manager, WyldLynx would have also had to buy software to catalog, review, and deliver client training material. The company stores this material in Content Manager in PDF, video, and other formats, then allows clients to access the material via Microsoft Azure. “We haven’t had to go and buy a training solution and host documents somewhere. We are managing it all out of Content Manager,” Duncan says. Content Manager automatically reviews the training material to make sure it is up to date, further streamlining document control.
WyldLynx also develops custom interfaces for Content Manager that are closely adapted to individual customers’ needs. Adapting a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product in this way reduces the risk, implementation time, and cost compared to developing a solution from scratch. “Content Manager provides all the base functionality, including authentication and security. But to the end-user, it just looks like an application designed to solve a specific business problem,” Duncan explains.
By configuring Content Manager for additional tasks, they can get more value from it and they don’t have to set up additional line-of-business applications. “Doing a little bit of development on top while still using Micro Focus software under the hood means you won’t have multiple systems to worry about,” Duncan says, adding that Content Manager’s versatility sets it apart from other electronic content management systems. “The ability to create an interface that interacts with the content management system is quite hard to do with other products.”
To extend Content Manager’s capabilities, WyldLynx has also built its own add-on software called SmartTools. For example, the SmartPDF tool allows users to create and save PDFs within Content Manager.
Finally, WyldLynx uses Content Manager to control access to its own data and its clients’ data. This is an important consideration when addressing information privacy laws in many countries.
For example, Content Manager protects confidential documents by encrypting the data and restricting which documents certain users can access.
This is a key concern for some WyldLynx customers, including the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission. The Queensland Department of the Premier and Cabinet is also a WyldLynx client, and uses Content Manager to manage sensitive cabinet documents.
Information security is also important for WyldLynx clients in the education sector. For example, it used Content Manager to help an Australian education organization control access to confidential student records.
“Most people only use 20 to 40 percent of Content Manager’s functionality,” Duncan says. “It’s such a large product that can do so much.”
