Timken Company Case Studt
“The knowledge that the Microsoft Services team brought to the table, plus their willingness to work with us, was all very critical to the success of the project.”
Gordon East, IT Manager, Timken
Business Needs
Timken, a 109-year-old company, is a longtime leader in the production of antifriction bearings and specialty steel. The company began as a carriage maker before the advent of the mass production of automobiles and now has offices in 27 countries and 25,000 employees. Timken competes in a global marketplace that requires companies to adapt to ever-changing financial conditions.
Executives at Timken were anxious to rebuild the company’s entire portal to improve the efficiency of diverse, global content management. The strategic goals included relaunching its customer-facing Web site and creating an enterprisewide horizontal portal featuring a collaborative, real-time environment for its global workforce. They selected Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 as the company’s portal solution and SAP as its enterprise resource planning solution.
But, the Timken in-house IT staff needed help. Since Office SharePoint Server 2007 was new to the market and to Timken, the IT team lacked architecture knowledge and the development skills necessary to implement Office SharePoint Server 2007, especially given the scope and complexity of the company’s unique deployment challenges. Although the IT staff was skilled at Web development, it had little knowledge of the Microsoft .NET Framework and how to implement Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Solution
For Timken, the tactical goal of the project was to make Office SharePoint Server 2007 the solution for its Internet-facing Web site first. Following this initiative, Timken would replace its intranet with Office SharePoint 2007 and provide a way for light ERP users to interact with the company’s SAP platform by developing Office Business Applications (OBAs) for the new portal. Timken chose the Enterprise
Gordon East, IT Manager, Timken
Business Needs
Timken, a 109-year-old company, is a longtime leader in the production of antifriction bearings and specialty steel. The company began as a carriage maker before the advent of the mass production of automobiles and now has offices in 27 countries and 25,000 employees. Timken competes in a global marketplace that requires companies to adapt to ever-changing financial conditions.
Executives at Timken were anxious to rebuild the company’s entire portal to improve the efficiency of diverse, global content management. The strategic goals included relaunching its customer-facing Web site and creating an enterprisewide horizontal portal featuring a collaborative, real-time environment for its global workforce. They selected Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 as the company’s portal solution and SAP as its enterprise resource planning solution.
But, the Timken in-house IT staff needed help. Since Office SharePoint Server 2007 was new to the market and to Timken, the IT team lacked architecture knowledge and the development skills necessary to implement Office SharePoint Server 2007, especially given the scope and complexity of the company’s unique deployment challenges. Although the IT staff was skilled at Web development, it had little knowledge of the Microsoft .NET Framework and how to implement Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Solution
For Timken, the tactical goal of the project was to make Office SharePoint Server 2007 the solution for its Internet-facing Web site first. Following this initiative, Timken would replace its intranet with Office SharePoint 2007 and provide a way for light ERP users to interact with the company’s SAP platform by developing Office Business Applications (OBAs) for the new portal. Timken chose the Enterprise