Real-time workflow where workers can approve documents is also a feature.

An existing SharePoint 2003 site, Darbyshire said SEWL has "a fair bit" of existing content and with 2007 the key thing is workflow, but some of the new features like Excel Web access, integration with forms, and "nice new things" like wikis and blogs make it easier to collaborate.

"Sharepoint puts the onus on users to manage their own content," he said. "The ability to empower the users to create their own content and collaborate and share that information across the business is the big benefit. In the past users had to go through bottlenecks to publish information."

SEWL's key performance indicators also needed improving as the generation of KPIs was "serial in nature", time consuming, largely manual, and not easily accessible to the whole organization.

"Excel spreadsheets would have to be manually updated now they are all captured in the portal," Darbyshire said. "We have a great looking KPI Web site that all staff can see and the information is accurate and timely."