Case Study | Colligo Workgroup Edition for Lotus Notes

The Challenge

• Expensive and heavy field servers and wires were required to network audit teams at client locations;
• Excessive time expended setting up temporary networks at each client location;
• Poor reliability and physically limited range of field network;
• Complex IT issues too challenging to be easily solved by auditors in the field; and
• Exchanging of data difficult as file sharing had limitations and users had to manage many versions of common documents to stay up to date with the engagement progress

New Solution Needs to:

• Seamlessly integrate with Lotus Notes;
• Securely enable the sharing of sensitive information among the audit team;
• Minimize the training requirements normally associated with implementing a new solution; and
• Rapidly install and deploy.

Results:

• Dramatic improvement in efficiency by using Colligo Workgroup Edition’s ad-hoc wireless networking software – saving each auditor three hours per week per person;
• Rapid user adoption of the software;
• Enhanced security as the networking software maintains security over the files and the network;
• Increased data sharing as the boundaries to performing Notes replication and file sharing are removed; and
• Enhanced communication as teams are enabled to collaborate over the private wireless network – even where team members are deployed throughout an office.

Talbot, Korvola & Warwick’s Audit Teams Leave the Field Servers Behind
Talbot, Korvola & Warwick LLP is an Oregon-based partnership offering accounting, consulting and tax services to its clients. TKW provides its clients with traditional accounting and tax services, as well as financial and management planning, and improvements in operational efficiencies through various other consulting services. TKW is a member of RSM International, an international relationship with nearly 600 offices worldwide, and a member of the McGladrey Network, a national affiliation of over 70 independent CPA firms supplemented by the offices of McGladrey & Pullen, LLP.

Ad Hoc Networking Software Replaces Field Servers
TKW’s audit teams generate 40-50 MB of data at each audit using a Lotus Notes-based engagement software package as their primary software tool. To accommodate Lotus Notes information sharing requirements, they would carry field servers and cables with them to set up their temporary network as well as USB sticks to help backup data between team members. This technology restricted maximum efficiency of the audit teams.

“Our auditors wanted a more timely way to replicate Notes files and they found the interchange of data difficult as file sharing had limitations,” comments Tim Gillette, Partner. “Further, the users also had to manage several versions to keep up to date, hampering their own progress and leaving them open to mistakes as duplicate copies of old work existed on USB drives and laptops.”

The Challenge
A typical TKW audit involves a team of five: partner, senior manager or manager, senior and two staff. Senior auditors spend from 10-75% of their time out of the office and the junior auditors spend some months entirely out of the office. Each audit takes two to three weeks, meaning TKW teams are constantly setting up temporary networks at client offices. They need these temporary networks as the firm has moved to a paperless audit process, using Lotus Notes as their data repository and tool for managing the audit and exchanging data between team members.

In the past, TKW auditors would carry field servers (computer notebooks) and cables with them in order to set up a wired network at the client site. Expending valuable time and resources to set up, the audit teams also found this technology unreliable. As a back-up, they would also take USB hard drives with them in case the field server connection did not work. Repairing field servers or connectivity issues would have to be solved by IT support at a later date.

To increase productivity, the auditors needed a simple method to create a secure and reliable network to help them work together.

“We needed a networking product that maintained security over files and the network as well as allowed our auditors more flexibility in performing Notes replication and file sharing,” comments Gillette.

The Colligo Solution
In their search for a new networking product, TKW found Colligo Workgroup Edition software. In Colligo, TKW had a solution that would increase the teams’ efficiencies while reducing the creation of duplicate data, and also met the fundamental requirements of being secure and easy to use. The software helps solve mobile workgroup inefficiencies by enabling team members to connect laptops and Tablet PCs via ad hoc (server-free) peer-to-peer 802.11 wireless or wired networks, and then share data using the applications they use every day. For TKW, this meant enabling Lotus Notes replication without having to involve a Domino server. The software further supports additional collaborative functionality such as data sharing via simple ‘ drag-anddrop’ files transfer, electronic communication via instant messaging or whiteboarding, and the sharing of external resources such as team printers or a broadband Internet connection.

“From an IT perspective, security and integration with our current software were top concerns that Colligo needed to meet,” says Hannah Schmidt, Lotus Notes Coordinator and Field Auditor. “At the same time, our auditors are reluctant to adopt any new technologies unless they are easy to install and easy to use. Amazingly, Colligo has met and exceeded the expectations of both our IT department and our auditors.”

In September 2004, TKW installed Colligo Workgroup Edition with the Lotus Notes
replication module on all their audit professionals’ notebook computers. With this
software addition, the firm replaced their field servers and USB drives with a secure and private 802.11 wireless network among their team members at the clients’ offices.“Colligo allowed us to simplify Notes replication as well as share files, an Internet connection and a printer. You could say that Colligo has saved us a lot of backache,” continues Schmidt.

Through a process of “Discover, Connect and Interact”, Colligo Workgroup Edition uses patent-pending techniques to allow users to create instant wireless networks without the need for a server. The software automatically discovers other Colligo users on the local network (wired or wireless) and exchanges presence and awareness information with them. Upon this network, Colligo enables a series of collaborative functions. With the addition of the Lotus Notes replication module, Colligo also facilitates the direct peer-topeer replication of Lotus Notes databases – without utilizing a Domino server. “Often our teams sit together in a boardroom, but on occasion a client will place us in separate locations across their office. In the past, that incapacitated our network and
created lots of extra work for our audit team,” says Schmidt. “With Colligo, our team members can sit at opposite ends of the office and replicate their Notes databases. With Colligo enabling chatting and instant messaging, team members can also communicate and solve problems without having to physically find one another.”

ROI

TKW realized immediate savings in time by switching to Colligo Workgroup Edition. The software is saving the firm an average of three hours a week per person. Further, the software:

1. Is easy to install and use, requiring minimal training;
2. Seamlessly supports popular audit software, such as Lotus Notes;
3. Reduces the time previously spent trying to establish hub and cable networks
   and swap files at the client site;
4. Allows remote teams to be connected with team members in the office by sharing the Internet connection among the group; and
5. Enables the audit teams to be more flexible on where they are located at a client site (the strength of the wireless signal reaches colleagues in different rooms) and reduces the requirements for face-to-face meetings (chat and instant message tools allow for instant electronic communication).

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