Case Study
Industry
Construction
Location
Germany
Size
250 employees
“harmon.ie helps us organize our files and easily save them to Microsoft Teams whether we’re in the field or at our desks.”
Thomas Zimmermann
Head of the Department of Project Management and Authorized Signatory, assmann gruppe
About assmann gruppe
Founded in 1959, assmann gruppe is an architectural planning and construction company, headquartered in Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
The firm’s architecture, engineering and finance teams deliver integrated solutions for a wide range of construction projects with complex technical and engineering requirements. Services include project development, project management, facility management, BIM and customized architectural concepts.
The Challenges
Every construction project undertaken by assmann gruppe generated a multitude of files, from intricate blueprints to crucial project documents. Managing these files across various iterations while maintaining version control was a challenge, leading to potential errors and delays. Furthermore, seamless synchronization between Microsoft Teams and Outlook was imperative, as project-related communication was extensive, and the company sought a unified solution for managing correspondence, documents, and emails.
assmann gruppe communicates extensively with clients via Outlook, and shares information and files with external partners. Project and site managers wanted a better solution to manage their inboxes and ensure that project-related emails are saved to Microsoft Teams/SharePoint. By moving project-related emails into Microsoft Teams, users could scroll through the channel to see recent email activity and then select relevant emails based on their metadata. This was a top priority for the company.
The Solution
With a harmon.ie integration, assmann gruppe was able to tackle these challenges. Assigning metadata to email attachments when sharing from Outlook to Teams was key to improving file consistency. harmon.ie supports the automatic population of key metadata values for each email copied or moved to Teams. Today, everyone can easily find and use the same file, rather than having multiple versions stored in different locations.
assmann gruppe uses a harmon.ie feature that automates uploading emails to M365. By creating a harmon.ie Favorite for each project’s email channel and connecting it to a local Outlook folder, colleagues can quickly drag and drop emails to the right Outlook folder. harmon.ie then moves the email to the corresponding location in Microsoft Teams, enabling fast organization and collaboration right from the inbox.
"Colleagues can quickly discover and collaborate on essential materials for client engagements, regardless of file size, which can be quite large for blueprints and technical specifications.”
Thomas Zimmermann, Head of the Department of Project Management and Authorized Signatory, assmann gruppe.
For employees attending off-site meetings or construction sites, harmon.ie delivers an asynchronous solution, moving emails to their intended location on Microsoft Teams when a colleague comes back online. With simple drop folders, harmon.ie supports the same workflow for users, regardless of their location and internet access.
harmon.ie also solved the headache of adjusting and saving metadata for large files, which takes longer to process. A PowerShell script automatically populates metadata in these cases, saving time for users and making it easier to organize files and locate them in the future.
With thousands of documents and emails on Teams, assmann gruppe also needed a quick way to find specific files. Now they use the harmon.ie sidebar to search, filter by metadata, and then open the file, streamlining all this activity within Outlook.
The Results
By reducing friction and making it easier to save emails to SharePoint, assmann gruppe has seen increased compliance across the company, significantly improving file management. With the combined features of PowerShell, harmon.ie and Teams, the company can ensure that the right metadata is captured automatically, and users can locate the precise information they need quickly and easily. This sets the stage for improved team collaboration and information management governance.
The Future
assmann gruppe is a harmon.ie design partner, helping shape the latest version of harmon.ie that will support Microsoft’s upcoming new Outlook release. As harmon.ie expands to mobile devices, the companies continue to collaborate and innovate together on assmann gruppe's ongoing needs (such as opening PDFs on tablets at active construction sites).
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