Summary
The Dawn Group is one of Scotland's largest and oldest construction companies and it operates across many different sectors of its industry. Aware of the massive changes that are taking place in business methods through information technology and the Internet, Dawn recognises the need to adopt the most up-to-date systems in order to continue to grow and improve profitability.

They realised that simply building databases was not going to maximise their potential. The content of the databases had to be put to work, to be transformed into business-building knowledge. A strategic research study convinced the company of the importance of creating new ways of handling and using information.

With new, but already proven, technologies, ECC will tackle this task by creating 'TeamSpace', a knowledge-sharing portal that will be accessed by staff, customers and suppliers, with each contributing to and benefiting from a system which will grow more powerful with use. This will reduce costs, improve efficiency, foster an appropriate change in business culture and increase profit.

The board of Dawn have no doubt that commitment to and investment in the new e-economy will improve the company's competitiveness and give greater long-term security.

The Company
One of Scotland's largest privately owned companies, the Dawn Group operates in the construction, property development, housing and contract joinery sectors. While companies within the Group are autonomous, providing a high-quality service in their own particular discipline, they also work in conjunction with each other, combining their expertise to provide clients with a fully integrated service.

The Group's portfolio includes projects from all over Scotland across a wide spectrum of market sectors. The client base ranges from multinational companies and national retailers to local manufacturing and service industries.

The Business Need and Potential
The construction industry is experiencing many challenges, not least of which is how to reduce costs, get closer to the customer and improve the management of contractors and others. From its foundation Dawn has been dedicated to the provision of high-quality products and the company recognised that to sustain and improve this a change in its culture was required. A wealth of information was available within the company but was simply not being used. Processes and communication needed reconfiguration, with training for staff in new working methods, if Dawn was to realise its business goals.

Using its Business Transformation Process, ECC undertook a three-month study of Dawn's information systems. This concluded that the strategy of adopting a centralised knowledge portal, which could be accessible in a secure way by staff, clients and service providers, would help Dawn improve its profitability by reducing duplication and non-contributory effort, increasing tendering win-rate and raising its profile and reputation. This would lead to many new business openings and opportunities.

The Solution
The Dawn TeamSpace project began at the start of its 2001 financial year. It will involve an 18-month transformation which will harmonise business processes and technology. The result will be a centralised, e-enabled information portal which integrates internal and external information, business processes and personnel into a single knowledge-sharing environment.

Equally importantly, TeamSpace will be a decision support system acting as an electronic administrator, looking for inefficiency, reducing human error and proactively making business knowledge available to the right people, at – or ahead of – the right time, and in the right place. TeamSpace will measure success through pre-defined parameters, advise on trends and create more profitable projects. The CEO knows that converting raw information into useful knowledge will foster a better working environment and improve customer and supplier relationships – important ingredients for success in the growing e-economy.

The Technology
TeamSpace is implemented in three phases:

Phase 1 – Consolidation, business process improvement and stabilisation

This is a four- to five-month phase. The process of getting the right information to the right people starts with improvement in current IT systems, provision of a business-relevant communications infrastructure and the sensitive introduction of a culture change programme. Laying this solid foundation for TeamSpace is essential to success.

Phase 2 – Initial functional valued features

Also lasting four to five months, this phase involves the introduction of many new services in manageable formats including e-tendering, e-project services, knowledge repository, integrated legacy information filtering and improved sales force automation.

Phase 3 – Operational TeamSpace environment

This phase lasts six to eight months and concludes the development and application implementation to create a fully operational knowledge portal with e-facilities, business intelligence and communication control services. The technology will include database, middleware, communications and portal technologies based on XML standards using Java and object-orientated programming.

The Value and Benefit
The targets are straightforward: