Cepheo Collaborate enhances coherence at Universal Robots

We chose Cepheo Collaborate because we could see the possibilities of tying the rights in the Microsoft 365 package together, which Microsoft Teams and Microsoft SharePoint could not do at that time. Many of our standalone systems can, in principle, solve isolated tasks on their own, but Cepheo Collaborate is the glue that binds our systems together. It's an infrastructure that helps us in IT improve the user experience for our users," says Lars Filstrup, Group IT Manager at Universal Robots.

For Lars Filstrup and Universal Robots, it has been an area of focus to make the most of the features and opportunities in the existing Microsoft license instead of buying separate software licenses from different vendors that would then need to be carefully integrated.

"Let's make the most of the licenses as intensively as possible, and at the same time take advantage of the fact that users are already familiar with the tools," says Lars Filstrup, elaborating.

"The philosophy has been to do as much as possible in SharePoint and Teams, so our employees don't have to spend time learning new user interfaces."

Cepheo Collaborate was first introduced at Universal Robots to create an efficient project management tool. The Research & Development department wanted a tool where project managers could easily oversee the progress, who had contributed and the approvals in the process.

With Cepheo Collaborate, Universal Robots has a solution where they have a stage-gate model for project management, where each gate has its own locked project room group in Teams. This means that confidential material is only shared on a "need-to-know" basis, so people have access to the material they need, but no more than that.

"We wouldn't be able to manage the access rights, who has control over which documents, and who is allowed to see what without having Cepheo Collaborate," says Lars Filstrup.

Priorities have been driven by the needs of the business:

"For example, we already had a Quality Management System, and it needed an update. Here we used Cepheo to rewrite it so that we now have a better overview of where each document is in the process and which employees are responsible for them," says Lars Filstrup.

It is an important system that ensures compliance with Universal Robots' ISO certification requirements, and partial workflow automation clarifies tasks and reduces the risk of human errors in the documentation process.

Automation and overview

At Universal Robots, Cepheo Collaborate supports Contract Management with digital signatures, the company's Quality Management System and their Project Management tool. The benefit has not only been automation but also an improved overview:

"Cepheo Collaborate has saved us a lot of manual work, and with the help of dashboards, we can now track the flow of documents. We can always see who is responsible for each document, follow the version history, add special permissions and see 'who has the ball,'" says Pia Charlotte Westh, SharePoint & Microsoft 365 Specialist at Universal Robots. She adds, "With a few clicks on these dashboards, we quickly get a comprehensive overview of all the attachments or documents behind, for example, a digitally signed contract."

In many companies, employees' time is spent creating, archiving, retrieving and sharing contracts and agreements from various locations. This was also the case at Universal Robots:

"Just like many others, we had contracts and agreements scattered throughout the organization on file drives, SharePoint and email inboxes. Cepheo Collaborate's Contract Management solution with digital signature capabilities was born of a desire to consolidate all of this in one place, with our procurement and legal departments as the central players. We have gained a better overview of the agreements that are being made and have automated some of the management processes around the agreements, so we receive notifications before contracts expire or other deadlines and actions in the contract need attention," says Lars Filstrup.

Pia Charlotte Westh adds, "Cepheo Collaborate is a tool that makes it easier for us to stay ahead of contract expirations, so we can extend or make a well-considered decision not to extend the collaboration."

"Rights management in Contract Management also makes it easy to onboard new users from departments that want to use the system for their contracts, without us having to acquire separate systems for them. For example, our quality department is interested in leveraging the digital signature capabilities," says Pia Charlotte Westh.

At Universal Robots Project Management Office, where Cepheo Collaborate was first introduced for project management, a difference has also been felt:

"Thanks to Cepheo Collaborate's ability to connect our systems, they have gained a much better overview of the projects we are working on, where we are in the process, and better control of the documents that enable approval and progression in the stage-gate process," says Lars Filstrup, adding, "It would have been challenging to achieve the same work efficiency without Cepheo Collaborate. You can have as many bricks as you want, but without mortar, it's hard to build a house," says Lars Filstrup.

Maintaining control of a growing business 

According to Lars Filstrup, the three Cepheo Collaborate solutions are crucial elements in keeping the company together and have played a pivotal role in the development of Universal Robots, which was founded in 2005 and has since grown rapidly.

"When we were a start-up, we probably didn't need these solutions, but as we have grown, it has been necessary to implement them. If we can't manage our contracts, quality and projects, then we don't have control of the business," says Lars Filstrup.

"What has worked well in collaboration with Cepheo is that the solutions are not static but can evolve as requirements and needs develop. Together, we can continually adjust the solution, so we don't have to start over every time. At the same time, Cepheo Collaborate follows the technical developments at Microsoft, allowing us to take advantage of new opportunities that arise," adds Pia Charlotte Westh.

According to both Lars Filstrup and Pia Charlotte Westh, Cepheo has been adept at continually challenging them on both premises and scope when presenting needs. This has meant that the architecture and solution haven't been too rigid or limited from the start.

This collaboration means they are now exploring new areas where Cepheo Collaborate can make a difference at Universal Robots.

"Working with Cepheo, we are adjusting and preparing the existing QMS solution for future certifications, achieving the same overview and automation of processes across all certifications. It will create significant value for us," concludes Pia Charlotte Westh.