Leveraging SharePoint SPFx: Parks Canada Case Study

Parks Canada’s Transition to SharePoint Customization Framework

Canada‘s national parks, national marine conservation areas, and national historic sites are the ultimate awe-inspiring experience. Around 37 national parks and 10 national park reserves represent 31 of Canada’s 39 terrestrial natural regions and protect approximately 336,343 square kilometers of Canada’s lands. It includes mountains, plains, boreal forests, tundra, lakes, glaciers, etc. Parks Canada is responsible for protecting and managing these areas so that visitors can understand, appreciate, and enjoy them in a way that does not compromise their ecological integrity. 

Why Parks Canada Needed Our SharePoint Customization Solutions? 

Protecting, managing, and caring for the natural habitat and visitors requires a vast network of suppliers, partners, and clients, operating a substantial volume of contracts across various departments.  

Parks Canada works in a partnership model with different contractors for various purposes. The contract lifecycle requires legal knowledge and a diligent eye to accurately lead the contract management process. 

Challenges Faced in Maintaining Manual Contracts  

Continuous cost reduction pressure was a challenge. Apart from that, there is a constant need for improved performance, facilitating the need for an effective and automated contract management system. Their existing contract initiation process was manual, resulting in inefficiencies, delays, and a lack of visibility into contract requests. They were thus looking for a solution that could seamlessly integrate with their existing SharePoint-based document management system.  

Their end goal was to save time and money while reducing errors.

Facilitating Contract Management with SharePoint Customization Framework 

Parks Canada’s requirement prompted a custom-built solution capable of meeting their requirements. Upon analysis, our team at Evolvous leveraged the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) for a custom-built Contract Request Form for their Contract Management System. The idea was to create a SharePoint web part that would serve as the user interface for requesting contracts.  

Alignment of their needs with the SharePoint Framework 

The design of the form consisted of contract type, contract details, parties concerned, contract value, and required approval personnel. A SharePoint workflow was developed to automate the contract request process by routing the requests to the appropriate stakeholders for their review and approval, ensuring transparency and accountability. We arranged a change management strategy for smooth user adoption to facilitate the transition from the old manual process to the new one. 

Impact of Our SharePoint Customization Framework Solutions 

After implementing the new Contract Request Form, overall efficiency, whether legal or logistical, increased. Manual errors were reduced, resulting in better operational and financial performance.  It also helped reduce the financial risk for Parks Canada.  

All agreements and metadata were stored on SharePoint, which acted as the centralized repository. Automated and standardized processes for data collection through forms reduced the overall workload and created enough room for stakeholders to focus on more important activities.  

Key Performance Metrics Improvement

6000 +

Project Impacted

122 +

Users Benefitted

$39.5M

Estimated Revenue Generation