Hardmetal Knives drops OpenOffice, chooses Microsoft Office and Windows Sharepoint services as Collaboration Platform

"Windows Sharepoint Services together with Microsoft Office has definitely improved information flow within our company. It's definitely a collaboration solution which is very beneficial even for a small and medium-sized company like ours."

Tan Lip Kee, Managing Director, Hardmetal Knives Sdn Bhd

Malaysian tooling manufacturer Hardmetal Knives Sdn Bhd was attracted to Open Source software because of the prospect of not having to pay for user licenses. It decided to deploy OpenOffice but soon discovered that the Open Source office productivity suite had certain drawbacks which affected staff productivity and efficiency. When Hardmetal Knives decided to deploy a collaboration solution, it made the strategic decision to migrate back to Microsoft Office to leverage on Windows SharePoint Services technology to develop its internal portal. Unlike OpenOffice, Microsoft Office integrates seamlessly with Windows SharePoint Services. The collaboration portal has since improved staff productivity, information flow and decision-making within the company.

Situation

Hardmetal Knives Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian toolings manufacturer which started life as a service company sharpening saws for the local sawmilling industry about 30 years ago. Hardmetal Knives and its group of companies now manufacture over 50 product categories of toolings for the woodworking, paper and engineering industries.

Producing over 10,000 items, it is probably the only toolings manufacturer with such a wide product range in this region. The company has achieved international recognition for the quality of their products which are exported to Japan, Germany, United States and the rest of Western Europe.

According to Managing Director Tan Lip Kee, Hardmetal Knives has over the years invested in various information systems to help it gain a competitive advantage. Its core IT systems are primarily on the Microsoft Windows platform.

Several years ago, the company decided to explore offerings available from the world of Open Source. Tan explains that there had been a lot of publicity then espousing the potential savings from free Open Source software. This prompted the company to deploy OpenOffice, an Open Source office productivity suite, on its desktops. "Not having to pay for user licenses was the main reason for installing OpenOffice," says Tan.

However, Hardmetal Knives did not phase out its existing Microsoft Office applications as many of its staff still preferred to use it. Tan acknowledges that OpenOffice had a number of drawbacks compared Microsoft Office.

For example, he says OpenOffice required more resources in terms of memory and its conversion function to the Microsoft Office format was often not reliable. This meant that layout formats would sometimes change after conversion and the staff would have to spend time correcting it. This was both inconvenient and inefficient.

Sharing files with customers and other Microsoft Word users was also not without its problems. Tan says there were cases where Microsoft Excel files from customers or suppliers were found to be not updated when viewed with OpenOffice. Staff would have to spend a lot of time checking and verifying the accuracy of data.

This forced Hardmetal Knives to stop using OpenOffice's spreadsheet application to view Excel files from external parties. "We found it was safer to just use Microsoft Excel to access Excel files," he explains.

Similarly, Tan says that the accounting staff discovered that OpenOffice's spreadsheet sometimes did not update itself automatically in the case of multi-linked files. In the accounting environment where the data accuracy and integrity is paramount, this was a major issue and a source of concern. "This was a problem they didn't encounter with Excel files. So in the end, our accounting department decided it was best to revert to Microsoft Office."

So eventually, OpenOffice ended up being used only by staff who handled simple functions such as word processing and non mission critical tasks.

Tan says that Hardmetal Knives could live with the limitations of OpenOffice but when it decided to deploy a collaboration solution, the writing was on the wall for OpenOffice.By end 2005, the company had made a strategic decision to migrate back to Microsoft Office.

Solution

Hardmetal Knives decided to leverage on its existing investments in Microsoft technologies in developing a portal for information sharing and collaboration.

It chose Windows SharePoint Services technology within Windows Server 2003 as the platform for its internal portal. Windows SharePoint Services is an integrated portfolio of collaboration and communication services to connect people, information, processes, and systems both within and beyond the corporate firewall.

The portal was developed by Hardmetal Knives' IT team and runs on the company's intranet. The portal caters to about 25 users comprising directors, managers, supervisors and executives. It provides information on announcements, upcoming events, discussion topics and status of on-going tasks or projects. Its also has a database of shared files and incorporates calendaring functionalities.

One advantage of Windows SharePoint Services was that it was available as a free download, allowing users to test it before deploying it, says Tan. "We tested it out and found out how it works and what it can deliver. Windows SharePoint Services more than meets our collaboration and information sharing needs," he adds.

In order to derive the full benefits of the Windows SharePoint Services collaboration platform, Hardmetal Knives saw the need to migrate back to Microsoft Office. Unlike OpenOffice, Tan confirms that Microsoft Office integrates seamlessly with Windows SharePoint Services.

He explains that using OpenOffice in conjunction with Windows Sharepoint Services would have resulted in various inefficiencies and problems.

For example, if OpenOffice files were placed within the Sharepoint Services portal, users could read the files but could not edit it. "We had to get out from the portal, go to the original source document to make changes, save it as a new file and upload it to the portal. We would lose track of who made the changes. This was a very inefficient and unproductive way of working, and it just didn't make sense to us."

"However, we can easily pull up Microsoft Office files from within the portal and make the necessary changes directly. No problems at all," Tan explains.


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Benefits

Business Value
"Unlike Microsoft Office, OpenOffice is not integrated with other collaborative platforms. And because it has to be integrated with other third party solutions, developing a collaboration portal could be more complex and costly.

"Microsoft, on the other hand, delivers an integrated approach which is of great value to us," he adds.

"We don't mind paying the cost of migrating back to Microsoft Office as we believe the business value we get from the SharePoint portal solution is well worth the investment," states Tan.

User-Friendly Collaboration Platform
Tan says that Windows SharePoint Services is a user-friendly platform and this meant that the company's IT team was able to develop the solution themselves.

"We didn't need to engage a software vendor to develop it. In fact, the bulk of the solution was developed in about a week."

"Microsoft has made available web parts which we can use to develop additional functionalities for our portal. And these web parts can be downloaded for free," he says. Tan adds that "the online documentation from Microsoft is one of the best around."

"There are lots of resources available online from Microsoft such as white papers which were a great help in resolving any issues we faced in developing our portal," he states.

Enhances Accountability
The SharePoint portal solution has brought immediate dividends in terms of promoting a greater sense of accountability among the staff.

Tan explains that key tasks within each department are listed on the portal and the management is able to effectively monitor the progress. "There is now greater transparency as staff regularly provides updates on the progress of their tasks or projects."

"The managers do not need to keep on asking them about the progress. They can just access the portal to check," Tan says. Not only has the solution help change work processes, it has also improved efficiency and productivity among the staff, he adds.

Improves Decision-making
With the portal, the senior management has also gained greater visibility into the operations of the whole company, says Tan.

"Instead of working in isolation within a silo-type environment, our managers now get a better picture of what is happening in other departments. For example, the sales manager can see issues cropping up at the production line which may have an impact on sales."

The system is also a boon to the top management, especially in helping them make better decisions. Tan explains the portal is a great help to him as he gets an in-depth view into the state of the company anytime and from anywhere. "I don't have to wait for piles of reports to be generated or to get the information during our management meetings."

"Windows Sharepoint Services together with Microsoft Office has definitely improved information flow within our company. It is definitely a collaboration solution which is very beneficial even for a small and medium-sized company like ours," he adds.

Overview
Country: Malaysia
Industry: Manufacturing



Customer Profile
Hardmetal Knives Sdn Bhd manufactures toolings for the woodworking, paper and engineering industries. Its products are exported to Japan, United States, Germany and Western Europe.

Business Situation
It was attracted to the idea of using Open Source software as it did not need to pay for user licenses. But after deploying OpenOffice, it realised that the office productivity suite had various drawbacks which affected staff productivity and efficiency.

Solution
Hardmetal Knives reverted to Microsoft Office to leverage on the Windows SharePoint Services technology within Windows Server 2003 to develop its internal portal.

Software and Services
Products

• Windows Server 2003
• Windows SharePoint Services
• Microsoft Office

Benefits

• Provides business value
• User-friendly collaboration platform
• Enhances accountability
• Improves decision-making

For More Information
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com/malaysia

For other case studies in this series, visit www.microsoft.com/malaysia/business/ casestudies

For more information about Hardmetal Knives' products and services, call +6(03) 5511 1525 or visit the Web site at: www.smktools.com.my