Visionnaire enhanced AngloGold Ashanti's Microsoft SharePoint Portal, reducing rework and increasing operational efficiency
Client
Area
Summarized Problem
Summarized Solution
Results
The portal evolution delivered by Visionnaire enabled better organization of supplier
information, easier payment consultation, and a structured foundation for future enhancements.
Previously, part of the control was performed outside the system (spreadsheets, PDFs,
e-mails). With Visionnaire’s solution, information became centralized in Microsoft SharePoint, and AngloGold Ashanti
gained traceability and the ability to audit, consult historical data, and make decisions more easily, bringing direct gains
in governance and compliance, which are critical for a mining company.
Visionnaire also avoided platform changes, migration costs, and dependency on external
technologies, promoting low technical risk and easier maintenance by AngloGold Ashanti’s internal team. Even though
this was a project focused on incremental improvements, Visionnaire’s solution better structured the system, organized
processes, and created a technical and methodological foundation for new demands.
Technologies
Database: Microsoft SQL Server, since SharePoint is a Microsoft product.
System hosting: On-premises at AngloGold Ashanti.
Detailed Problem
The company has nearly two centuries of history in the country, being one of the oldest
mining companies still in operation. In 2004, AngloGold and Ashanti Goldfields merged, giving rise to AngloGold Ashanti, and
the combined name is still used today.
AngloGold Ashanti needed to improve a Microsoft SharePoint portal developed by another
company and used by suppliers; however, at the time, it served only for payment consultation. Since IT is not the company’s
core business, AngloGold Ashanti struggled with developers who could not meet its needs. Therefore, the idea was to evolve
the portal so that suppliers could submit invoices directly through it.
This was because the tool was considered limited, as there was no complete workflow:
the process ended at the request stage, and the rest of the control (scheduling, execution, measurement, and payment) remained
outside the system, often handled through Excel, PDF files, or parallel controls.
For example, suppliers sent invoices by e-mail, usually in PDF format, which caused
confusion and rework (since e-mails were sent with different subject lines), loose PDFs, and difficulty filtering and organizing.
As a result, the team responsible for invoice entries faced the challenges of this disorganized flow.
Therefore, AngloGold Ashanti’s need was to create a complete process, which
should include structured approval (with rules), scheduling and execution with the supplier, status updates by stage, recording
dates and evidence, issuing and controlling calculation memos, measurement reports, and payments, as well as management reports
by status and request type.
The form should control the complete cycle, with statuses such as: under approval,
scheduled, in execution, executed (with actual dates), calculation memo, measurement report, verification, payment, and finalized.
Through a new feature in the portal, it would be possible to filter a supplier, select
the invoice issuance period, enter the posting date, fill in the Purchase Order and FRS, attach the invoice PDF, and click
“Submit” so that the invoice would appear organized within the system.
It was also necessary to create reports such as: how many requests are under approval,
how many have already been approved and are awaiting scheduling, how many are in execution, and how many are pending measurement/payment
documentation.
Detailed Solution
Visionnaire adopted agile development practices with Scrum, iterative and incremental
deliveries, sprint execution, and continuous refinement of requirements. This made it possible to learn the existing source
code in the first weeks, adjust requirements as system understanding improved, and minimize the impact of changes during the
project.
In addition, Visionnaire committed to working on the existing technology, without
disruptive changes. This ensured lower technical risk, faster implementation, and easier future maintenance by the internal
team.
The project had a qualified and properly sized team, including mid-level and senior
developers, a Project Manager/Scrum Master, and professionals experienced in corporate portals, system integration, SharePoint,
and Microsoft platforms. This team enabled rapid absorption of the existing system context and high-quality delivery of the
improvements.
Visionnaire also provided a robust quality and governance process, including quality control, risk management, documentation, a formal acceptance process, and change management via RFE (Request for Enhancement). This ensured traceability of deliveries, scope control, and trust from AngloGold Ashanti throughout execution.
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