Affirma Consulting

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is primarily in the forest industry. We have a division that exports timber to overseas markets, and we grow trees in Washington, Oregon, and New Zealand. We are based in Seattle, Wash.

What are your role and responsibilities?

I’m an IT [information technology] product manager. I also provide support, database and SharePoint administration, and help with upgrading and maintaining various other applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Affirma Consulting?

We wanted to put in a new intranet, using SharePoint 2013.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Affirma designed and developed the site. Once it was up, they also provided training.

What was your process for selecting Affirma Consulting with which to work?

We initially identified three potential vendors. We have a team here that interviewed and evaluated all three and had each demonstrate its products and services. The team selected Affirma Consulting at the end of this process.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

The cost of their work was $85,000.

When was the work completed?

Our work with Affirma is ongoing, and our plan is to roll out the intranet system in mid-January.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track the success of the project?

We don't really have metrics but we’ve gotten good feedback from a number of people offline.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Yes. I would say I’m satisfied. Affirma delivered on time, and their designs were good. Our team likes them, and they put together a good intranet for us.

Is there anything unique or special about Affirma Consulting that really makes them stand out compared to other firms?

They have customer relations people who communicated with us regularly. They were always interested in how we were doing, in what was going right and wrong, in what Affirma could do to improve the project. I really enjoyed and appreciated that communication, which is something that I don’t always see from other vendors.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

We did have a bit of a problem in the beginning. Because our team did not like the original design, we began to run out of the money budgeted for the project. It took a while for us to figure out what the best design would be for us, and then we were able to go back to Affirma with a better idea of what we needed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

[We are an aviation manufacturing firm that produces a communication system.]

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the IT [information technology] manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Affirma Consulting?

I reached out to them for help upgrading our SharePoint site after a bad experience with our previous partner.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

The initial project was SharePoint development and when that was finished another department contracted them to do a subsequent development project.

What was your process for selecting Affirma Consulting with which to work?

After we parted ways with the previous partner, I started calling other firms in the greater Seattle area that are known for SharePoint development and deployment. I talked to two or three other vendors and Affirma is the one that fit the best.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

The cost of each of the projects is between $50,000 and $75,000.

When was the work completed?

The SharePoint site was launched in the middle of 2014, but their work is ongoing with another department.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

Our employees are very happy with the new system and seem to be more productive.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Yes. Totally satisfied. They are a good partner for us. We had a very positive experience.

Is there anything unique or special about Affirma Consulting that really makes them stand out compared to other online marketing companies?

Many firms are focused on large clients so they don’t scale very well to a smaller project. Affirma scales really well and they were able to be cost conscience to fit our budget. I discovered they have a lot more capabilities than working with SharePoint. They are a more complete IT consulting service than I originally thought. The infrastructure they put around the project is impressive.
Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

Not really.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a Native American gaming organization. We have three properties: Two casinos and a bingo facility. We have about 50 different departments within the company.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the IT [information ethnology] director. I manage all the audio/visual infrastructure for the operation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Affirma Consulting?

We specifically have them working on our SharePoint site. We also needed intercommunication between departments. Half of our staff is on the floor helping customers and we needed a place for them to find information about what was going on in the company.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They helped us with the layout and organization of the site. We told them what we wanted on the site and they took all of that and laid it out the best way. It’s a nice design. They’ve handled training and all the technical stuff behind the scenes too. Half of our departments have pages built and running, and we know the process for adding pages now. They did a lot of that for us.

What was your process for selecting Affirma Consulting with which to work?

Affirma was recommended to us by another firm when we were originally looking for someone to help with our site. Because of price, they didn’t win the engagement at that point. When the first and second companies didn’t work out for us, we started interviewing other vendors. They happened to win the contract. They did a review of our SharePoint site and then offered assistance to rebuild it.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It’s taken 12 weeks of their time. 

When was the work completed?

The work was probably completed in November of 2014. We are hoping to launch late January. They continue to support us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

We have gotten positive feedback about our site. 

Are you satisfied with their performance?

We are very happy with the success or our SharePoint system. It was done very quickly. They designed the site in a way that we can manage it very simply. They took the strengths of SharePoint and our information and were able to build us a site that we can use for the next ten years. We’re extremely satisfied after two other failed attempts. They had people who were experts at what they did. It was more expensive, but it has been well worth the money.

Is there anything unique or special about Affirma Consulting that really makes them stand out compared to other online marketing companies?

On this project, the project management and the design team were extraordinary. They understood what we were trying to do and they used the strengths of SharePoint to be able to fulfill our needs. I’ve heard that SharePoint is a big money pit and it never gets fully launched, but Affirma walked us right through that process. They also advised us when to wait to launch certain things that would take more time. 

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

Not on this project.