Modern SharePoint Online Intranet
SharePoint Online Web Part Development
Introduction
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company with co-headquarters in London and Rotterdam. With a portfolio of more than 400 brands available in over 190 countries, Unilever is one of the world’s most recognisable consumer goods organisations, operating across food, beverages, home care, beauty, and personal care markets.
Supporting such a large and globally connected workforce requires digital platforms that encourage collaboration, simplify access to information, and align closely with corporate branding and business processes.
Following the successful delivery of a SharePoint project in 2020, Dolphin IT Solutions was engaged again in partnership with MK Brand to further enhance Unilever’s Home Care SharePoint environment through a complete site rebuild and the development of bespoke business functionality.
Challenges
Unilever’s Home Care SharePoint site required redevelopment to align with a new design concept produced by MK Brand while simultaneously expanding the platform’s functionality.
The project extended beyond visual redesign alone.
Alongside rebuilding the site experience, Unilever required two additional systems to be developed directly within the existing SharePoint environment:
- A searchable knowledge-sharing Wiki
- An e-learning and training checklist system
The new Home Care site needed to deliver a stronger user experience while remaining aligned with Unilever’s established branding standards and Microsoft SharePoint architecture.
However, several technical challenges emerged during planning.
One requirement involved implementing a customised colour palette to match the organisation’s branding. The required colours were not available within SharePoint’s standard out-of-the-box themes, requiring a bespoke solution.
At the same time, the new Wiki and training platform needed to integrate naturally into SharePoint while providing an intuitive and scalable user experience for both employees and administrators.
The challenge was therefore to create a modern and highly customised SharePoint experience without compromising usability, governance, or maintainability.
Our Solution
Working collaboratively with MK Brand and Unilever stakeholders, Dolphin IT Solutions rebuilt the Home Care SharePoint site using a combination of SharePoint customisation and bespoke development.
The project focused on delivering both a redesigned intranet experience and new functionality tailored to the organisation’s operational requirements.
Custom SharePoint Branding and Theme Development
One of the first challenges involved implementing Unilever’s required visual identity within SharePoint.
Because the desired colour scheme could not be achieved using SharePoint’s standard theme options, Dolphin IT Solutions developed a custom theme palette using PowerShell.
PowerShell enabled the creation and deployment of a bespoke SharePoint colour configuration that accurately matched Unilever’s brand requirements.
This approach ensured the rebuilt site aligned fully with the approved design while maintaining consistency across the wider SharePoint environment.
The result was a more distinctive and brand-aligned user experience that reflected Unilever’s visual identity rather than relying on generic SharePoint styling.
SPFx Wiki Development
To support knowledge sharing and improve access to information across the Home Care division, Dolphin IT Solutions developed a bespoke Wiki solution.
The Wiki was created using SPFx (SharePoint Framework), allowing the functionality and appearance to be tailored precisely to the designs provided by MK Brand.
Rather than relying on standard SharePoint pages alone, the custom SPFx web part delivered a more engaging and structured knowledge platform.
Key functionality included:
- Dedicated Wiki page templates
- Integrated search functionality
- Branded search results experience
- Image rendering within search results
- Quick access to full Wiki content
The search experience was designed to improve discoverability and encourage user engagement.
When employees searched for information, the system returned relevant Wiki pages while displaying the first paragraph as a preview alongside any associated imagery. Users could then quickly navigate to the full article for more detailed information.
This created an intuitive knowledge-sharing environment that helped staff better understand the brands, products, and content associated with the Home Care division.
SharePoint E-Learning and Training Management System
The second major component of the project involved developing a bespoke e-learning checklist and training management system within SharePoint.
Dolphin IT Solutions designed and developed two dedicated SharePoint web parts to support this functionality.
The first was an employee-facing learning web part designed to provide a clear and user-friendly training experience.
Employees could view:
- Assigned training modules
- Links to course platforms and resources
- Outstanding training requirements
- Completed learning records
Because training was delivered across multiple external learning platforms, the web part acted as a centralised training dashboard, directing users to the relevant course while maintaining visibility of overall progress.
Once employees marked a module as completed, the item was automatically removed from their active training list and recorded within a completed modules section.
This provided a cleaner and more intuitive learning experience while helping staff track progress more easily.
Administration and Manager Reporting
Alongside the employee interface, Dolphin IT Solutions developed a dedicated administration solution.
This was delivered as a SharePoint App Part, allowing authorised users to manage training content through a controlled administrative experience.
Access to this area was governed using Azure Active Directory permissions, ensuring only designated users could administer the system.
Through the administration interface, authorised users could:
- Create and manage training modules
- Assign learning content to employees
- Monitor training completion status
- Review staff progress and participation
- Maintain learning programme information
To further support management oversight, reporting functionality was incorporated directly into the system.
Managers could generate downloadable Word-based progress reports, providing quick visibility into individual employee completion and training status without requiring manual data collection.
SharePoint Data Architecture
All Wiki and e-learning data was hosted directly within SharePoint using SharePoint Lists.
This approach delivered several benefits:
- Centralised information management
- Simplified administration
- Native SharePoint security and permissions
- Reduced infrastructure complexity
- Scalable and maintainable data storage
By leveraging SharePoint’s native list functionality alongside custom SPFx development, Dolphin IT Solutions delivered a highly customised solution while retaining the governance and manageability of the Microsoft ecosystem.
Results
The completed project successfully transformed Unilever’s Home Care SharePoint environment into a more engaging, branded, and functional digital workspace.
The rebuilt SharePoint site aligned fully with the design vision produced by MK Brand while introducing bespoke functionality that extended beyond standard SharePoint capabilities.
The SPFx Wiki provided a powerful knowledge-sharing platform, improving information discovery and employee engagement, while the custom e-learning system created a centralised and manageable training experience for both employees and managers.
By combining SharePoint customisation, PowerShell branding, SPFx development, and Azure Active Directory security, Dolphin IT Solutions delivered a scalable and highly tailored SharePoint solution that strengthened collaboration, learning, and knowledge management across the Home Care division.
