Collaborative SharePoint Team Site
Bespoke SharePoint Team Site
Introduction
Hurricane Energy is a UK-based oil exploration and production company operating primarily within the UK Continental Shelf. With a geographically dispersed workforce and a growing need to support remote collaboration, the organisation required a modern SharePoint-based intranet solution that could centralise communication, improve access to internal documentation, and provide a more intuitive digital workspace for employees.
Dolphin IT Solutions was engaged to design and deliver a bespoke SharePoint Online intranet aligned with Hurricane Energy’s branding, usability requirements, and evolving digital workplace needs.
Challenges
Hurricane Energy’s existing approach to internal collaboration relied heavily on file server storage and limited intranet functionality, which created challenges as remote working increased.
Key challenges included:
- Reliance on an internal file server for document storage, limiting accessibility for remote users
- Need for a simple, branded SharePoint Team Site to support remote collaboration
- Requirement to centralise and modernise internal document management
- Lack of structured internal communication tools within the existing intranet
- Need for a customised news and information experience beyond standard SharePoint capabilities
- Requirement for an engaging HR knowledge area to communicate employee benefits and internal guidance
The organisation required a modern SharePoint solution that would improve accessibility, streamline communication, and provide a more engaging user experience.
Our Solution
Dolphin IT Solutions designed and implemented a structured SharePoint Online intranet platform tailored to Hurricane Energy’s organisational structure and branding requirements.
The solution was built around departmental site collections, connected through SharePoint Hub functionality, enabling a consistent and scalable intranet experience across the organisation.
Each site collection was designed with a custom theme aligned to Hurricane Energy’s branding, ensuring visual consistency and ease of navigation across all departments.
Intranet Architecture and Collaboration Structure
The intranet was structured using multiple SharePoint site collections, each aligned to a specific department within the business.
These were unified using SharePoint Hub Sites, enabling:
- Seamless navigation between departmental sites
- Centralised search and content discovery
- Consistent branding and user experience across the intranet
- Improved collaboration between teams working remotely
This structure ensured that each department retained flexibility while benefiting from a connected organisational intranet.
Document Management Modernisation
A key objective of the project was to migrate internal documents from an on-premises file server into SharePoint Online.
This migration enabled:
- Secure, cloud-based access to internal documentation
- Improved collaboration for remote and offshore users
- Centralised document governance within SharePoint libraries
- Enhanced accessibility and searchability of key business files
The transition significantly improved document availability and reduced reliance on internal infrastructure.
Intranet Homepage and Custom News Experience
The intranet homepage was designed to act as the central communication hub for the organisation.
It included a combination of standard SharePoint web parts and custom-developed components to enhance functionality.
Key features included:
- A custom news feed web part built using SharePoint Framework (SPFx), designed to roll up press releases from Hurricane Energy’s external website
- A standard SharePoint News web part displaying internal company announcements and updates
- A unified landing page combining internal and external communications in a single view
This dual-layered news approach ensured employees remained informed of both internal developments and external corporate communications.
HR Portal and Custom Wiki Functionality
A key requirement was the creation of an engaging HR portal to showcase employee benefits and internal guidance materials.
As traditional Wiki functionality is no longer a native feature in modern SharePoint, Dolphin IT Solutions designed a custom approach using structured content pages.
Each employee benefit was created as an individual SharePoint page, tagged with custom metadata within the Pages library to distinguish HR-specific content from standard pages.
A bespoke SPFx web part was then developed to dynamically roll up and display these pages as interactive links, allowing users to browse HR content in a structured and intuitive way.
This approach effectively recreated and enhanced wiki-style functionality within the modern SharePoint framework.
Training and User Enablement
To support adoption of the new platform, Dolphin IT Solutions produced a series of concise how-to training videos for staff.
These short videos covered key SharePoint functionality, including:
- Navigating and using the new intranet
- Accessing and managing documents
- Using Microsoft Search effectively
- Understanding core SharePoint features relevant to daily tasks
This ensured users were able to quickly adapt to the new system and make full use of its capabilities.
Ongoing Support and Enhancement
Following the initial deployment, Dolphin IT Solutions continued to provide ongoing support to Hurricane Energy, assisting with platform enhancements, feature extensions, and user support as the intranet evolved alongside business needs.
This ensured the solution remained aligned with organisational requirements and continued to deliver value over time.
Results
The delivered SharePoint intranet provided Hurricane Energy with a modern, scalable, and user-friendly digital workplace solution.
Key outcomes included:
- Migration from file server storage to SharePoint Online
- Improved remote access to documents and internal resources
- A structured, branded intranet aligned with organisational identity
- Enhanced internal and external communication through custom news integration
- Improved HR engagement through a custom-built benefits portal
- Seamless navigation across departments using Hub Site architecture
- Increased user adoption through simplified design and training support
The result was a modern intranet platform that improved collaboration, strengthened communication, and enabled a more connected and accessible digital workplace for Hurricane Energy employees.
