Modernising MASP: A Case Study
How eManaged Helps the Mallee Accommodation & Support Program Accomplish Their Mission
Meet MASP:
First established in 1994, the Mallee Accommodation & Support Program was formed to help fulfill a variety of community needs in the region it is named for, providing food, housing, family services, and a variety of other critical programs to its clients. With a primary location in Mildura and a few satellite offices, in addition to other properties they manage for some of their younger clientele, MASP has a team of about 130, all or most of whom need technology in order to do their part… not to mention the fact that this technology needs to meet reporting and auditing standards by various state bodies.
The On-Premise Server Was Holding MASP Back
By nature of its services, MASP’s team members regularly have to go out in the field, which the on-premise system couldn’t support very well. In addition, scalability and collaboration were also points of contention as issues had come up where they were concerned, too. Looking to the future, this project would serve as the first step to move the community support organisation to a fully serverless setup, which would greatly simplify their largely mobile tasks.
eManaged Needed to Account for a Few Challenges During the Process
One of the primary challenges to the migration was simply the scale of MASP’s file structure, which featured many ins and outs, with layers of permissions that all needed to be preserved as it was introduced to its new, cloud-based home in SharePoint Online. Complicating matters further, scalability and future improvements also needed to be considered.
This would take some level of collaboration between eManaged and MASP.
These Challenges Were Swiftly Overcome and Resolved
To ensure that the final outcome would serve MASP’s needs, eManaged frequently turned to them for input while reviewing how their data was structured and how permissions were broken down. This informed how they proceeded as new data buckets were created and the migration was completed. Different teams remained organised and MASP experienced minimal disruption to distract them from their processes. All in all, the migration was a team effort, with everyone playing a role in the ultimate success of the project overall.
The Nature of MASP’s Work Makes Reliable IT Crucial
As Charmaine Calis, MASP’s Director of Corporate Services, puts it, the entire staff uses technology extensively—both in the office and out in the field as they visit their clientele—making it a really important part of their day-to-day work.
“The best thing that eManaged does provide is the speediness and responsiveness of their service. They understand that when there is a matter that is urgent, they are able to assist straight away, which alleviates stress and allows staff to go on with their jobs.”
— Ben Wilkinson, Business Systems Coordinator for
MASP
Fortunately, MASP has worked with eManaged for many years, and so when the time came, they knew they could trust the managed service provider to help them move from an on-premise server to the cloud.
MASP Quickly Saw the Benefits of the Project
With their tools made far more accessible once the migration was finished, the program has noted that its employees have been far more engaged and collaborative than they were previously—despite some concerns due to the changes the staff would need to navigate. As it happened, this was a non-issue, and the benefits far outweighed the minimal challenges.
A few notable statistics can be gleaned from MASP’s use of Microsoft Teams: not only have Teams-based chats increased by 100%, active channel users have increased by 300% and Teams apps are used seven times as often as they used to be.
Naturally, the benefits aren’t restricted to just Microsoft Teams, either. MASP has also seen a sixfold increase in the usage of company OneDrive accounts, and Microsoft Edge is used 300% more as well.
MASP’s Business Systems Coordinator Ben Wilkinson specifically cites the simplified mobility and collaboration that the team can—and does—take advantage of, and Director of Corporate Services Charmaine Calis appreciates that the company’s information is both more secure while also easier for team members to access.
“We really enjoy collaborating and working with eManaged. They make it really easy for us to see how we can improve the way that we do our work, so it’s been a really great partnership.”
— Charmaine Calis – Director of Corporate Services, MASP
When All is Said and Done, MASP Finds Value in the Partnership
The migration project aside, eManaged has shown its worth to MASP in various other ways. Ben Wilkinson appreciates the fact that he and the rest of the team can lean on eManaged for their significant expertise and that he can trust that everything done is done with the greatest consideration into cybersecurity.
As for Director Calis, she enjoys that with eManaged taking care of MASP’s technology, everyone is able to concentrate more fully on their everyday roles and responsibilities. She also appreciates that MASP now has a roadmap to follow with eManaged’s support, much like MASP helps support their beneficiaries, making everyone’s lives easier.
Both agree that any organisation in need of support should reach out to eManaged, so if you’d like to take their advice, please don’t hesitate! Reach out at 1300 363 308 today.