Corona initiated the process for the club and association 4.0–The Kreisjugendring Neumarkt, a youth social work association and an umbrella organization for numerous clubs and associations, has taken the future-oriented step into the Cloud. That’s what future is about!
Press Release
A project that makes you feel good because it’s a way of offering immediate help in these times of crisis. In a very short period, our consulting team transferred the association’s complete management and communication structure into the Microsoft 365 Suite. The reason for taking this step was the COVID-19 pandemic, which overnight made it necessary to provide employees with the possibility to work remotely from a home office.
The core of the solution is the M365 Collaboration functions and Microsoft Teams. In addition to that, considering the high levels of maintenance and safety support required by the local server environment, it was replaced by the OneDrive-Cloud Storage and Share Point–the web-based business collaboration area for companies–included in the package. Starting immediately, the responsibility for all safety aspects will now rest on the Microsoft data center.
Markus Ott, general director of the Neumarkt Youth Social Work Association, is convinced that switching to a cloud-based solution was the right decision. “Being in the Cloud gives us the tremendous advantage of having the data in one central spot, accessible to anyone at any point. This ensures that everyone is always working with the most current data or document versions, and no one must wait for someone else to send anything. We’re hoping to gain more transparency and control, faster cooperation, and the possibility to work from home.”
To ensure that the employees make the most of every possibility the new software offers, we trained several Power Users and installed the necessary apps for them.
Large membership numbers require digital management
The municipality has around 100,000 adolescents plus 24 affiliated youth organizations and associations. The Kreisjugendring Neumarkt (KJR) is a heavy weight among those who represent the interests of children and adolescents in Bavaria. The work of organizing the cooperation between all employees and volunteers, as well as the management of memberships, event calendars, facility assignment, or fee payments, is proportionately complex.
Switching from Microsoft Office 2010 to Microsoft 365 had long been an item on the agenda, but the contact limitation imposed due to COVID-19 accelerated the update. We took care of the migration of all data stored on local computers and servers, the digitalization and processing of the association’s internal data, as well as all related IT environment changes.
We established a completely new hierarchical model within the system. Different user authorizations now allow individual members to receive certain rights. We also ensured that the new system meets German data safety guidelines. Along with the technical aspects, common processes and roles were defined to make the maximal efficient work possible.
The result is the optimization of working and management processes for every employee and person involved, as well as faster and easier communication. We’re already planning KJR Neumarkt’s next Microsoft project–on the base already established, we should now automate recurring processes using Microsoft Power Automate. We’re looking forward to continuing the work!