Case: Bitrix24 Implementation project for a construction company

Bitrix24 implementation projects for enterprises and big companies can be divided into two large categories according to the purpose of the implementation:

1. implementation for the sales department or sales growth;

2. implementation of an employee management system.

The goal of the project also determines the set of priority tasks.

INTERVOLGA has strong industry expertise, working with the largest companies in the European construction sector. We implement Bitrix24 both as a sales tool and as an HR management system.

(check our Bitrix24 implementation as a HR tool for a pharmaceutical company)

Today, we’ll be sharing a vivid example of a project from the second category - as a employee management system  in the Construction Company, "VELESSTROY".

If you're new to Bitrix24, you'll find our Complete guide to Bitrix24 implementation useful.

About our client

VELESSTROY is a well known construction company. They are one of the leaders in the construction of oil, gas and electric power plants, industrial and civil construction, EPC contracts, and design. 

The company has more than 25,000 employees.

Bitrix24 Integration with Active Directory and 1C-ZUP Employee Management System

*1C -ZUP is a Salary and employee management system from Bitrix Inc. It supports all the main processes of employee management, as well as the processes of employee records, payroll accounting, labour costs planning, calculating personal income tax and insurance premiums.

It also supports electronic employment records, reports and certificates of employees required by government agencies and social funds.

Many Bitrix24 developers and integrators prefer not to take on projects with non-standard integrations because there are many risks involved - the labour intensity is usually difficult to predict, there could be conflicts with other systems.

But, We have a different opinion - We prefer to carry out these integrations at the beginning of our implementation project because it immediately opens up the client's IT landscape, and we get a good idea of the composition and quality of the data that needs to be migrated.
Carrying out these integrations first also reduces the risk of a situation where the client is unable to integrate Bitrix24 with their internal IT systems after spending precious resources on design and implementation.

Additionally, a complex integration is a good test of competence for your developer.
If the developer vehemently insists on putting off complex integrations for the end, chances are that they simply does not have the resources for such a task.

In our Bitrix24 implementation for Velesstroy,  our first priority was Bitrix24 integration with Active Directory and their 1C-ZUP employee management system. One part that was challenging was that user logins were stored in Active Directory.

Active Directory was also responsible for NTLM authorization. Aside from these two, every other data was stored in 1C-ZUP:

1. The structure of the company;

2. Employee information;

3. other additional information.

An additional complication that we encountered was that in 1C, employee data was stored in several different organizations (these were separate divisions). The standard data exchange module in Bitrix24 did not support such data migration.

We set up a standard Bitrix24 integration with Active Directory and enabled NTLM authentication, and set up integration with 1C-ZUP concurrently. To ensure correct data migration, we made some customizations to the 1C module.

We made the following changes to the 1C(ERP)  integration module. 

We added the possibility to

1.  migrate organizations (users from several divisions);

2. restrict the transfer of some fields;

3. transfer company name and information about the division;

4. migrate special fields according to employees;

5. migrate employee positions and directory roles;

1. corrected the company structure formation process and the process of choosing department heads (In the standard data exchange process, data is downloaded from the wrong directories);

2. corrected the login transfer process ( The standard exchange transferred wrong logins, and because of this, authorization via AD did not work);

3. added a "Career history" migration directory and then customized Bitrix24 to store and display this data.

We have continued to refine the integrations at the request of our customer's HR department.

Bitrix24 design customization

The most common opinion about such Bitrix24 customization is -  Don’t do it!. We follow this rule for implementation projects for small and medium-sized companies, where Bitrix24 is used primarily as a working tool (communication, tasks, calendar, etc.).

But when implemented in large companies, Bitrix24 is a lot more than just that. It becomes a translator of the principles and mission of the client's brand to its employees. The HR component is very strong here.

You just can't do without your corporate identity. 

We have two approaches to Bitrix24 design customization:

1. We develop the new design. One advantage is that our designers know exactly what elements to change and how to change them. It's like a good design project for a house - not only beautiful but also technologically advanced, without unnecessary overhead costs.

2. The customer develops the new design themselves. This has its own advantage - the designer is well versed in the client's corporate style, knows what the employees would and wouldn’t connect to.

We are comfortable with both methods, whatever is preferable to our clients.

For Velesstroy, the custom design was developed by an old partner of the customer. We provided consultation on technical issues - what can be changed, layout features, and so on.

The result was excellent - All details of our client’s corporate image were taken into consideration. We were able to implement the custom design without wasting time and money.

Here, we need to share more details about how we pulled off a design customization, because Bitrix24 wasn’t made for such deep design changes. 

In other words, if you plan to use your own design templates, you automatically forgo the possibility to update your CRM portal. We understand the senselessness of this limitation and bypassed it when implementing the design layout.

How we Bypass Bitrix24 design customization restriction

We override Bitrix CSS and JS while leaving the page structure intact. This means that our client's Bitrix24 portal would still receive updates and, as a rule, the layout does not suffer. If elements that are already existing in other parts of the portal are added, for example, a new button or an employee card display, etc., these elements will automatically be represented in our implemented style. The only exception is when Bitrix itself introduces new elements. In this situation, some work would be needed to apply our styles. 

We also want to clarify our approach to the design development and implementation methodology.

Bitrix24 is a very functional tool - tasks, notifications, CRM, calendars, business processes/ workflows, conference rooms, static pages, etc. 

There are tons of pages and sections, it is impossible to redesign (and especially to layout and implement the layout) all the pages at once.

Therefore, we recommend carrying out a Bitrix24 customization project in this order:

1. Design and develop the design of the main page and the general template;

2. Design standard CRM elements (buttons, links, headers, forms, etc.);

3. Put the redesigned main page and general template into commercial operation;

4. Categorize all other pages according to their priority (high, medium, low priority)

5. Design and implement the pages according to their order of priority

This approach allows you to quickly roll out changes and, if necessary, adjust the design based on the results of the first implementations. Another advantage is that you can work simultaneously on a couple of things. For example, while Putting already redesigned pages on production, you can design other pages and elements. 

A single window of Company Services

It is important for employees to be able to access all company services in one location, especially in large companies and enterprises. Employees should be able to apply for a vacation, prepare a workstation for a new employee, report a bug or a piece of faulty work equipment (printer, computer, etc).

There are dozens of such scenarios and services, and it is not always obvious for employees where to access them, or how to track their statuses. We understand this problem and developed a “Single Window of services module”

In a few words, this is the equivalent of a government services portal, but within a private company.

You can:

1. Find  and view all available services;

2. Book a service;

3. Understand which department is responsible for the execution of a service, view the contacts of this department;

4. Understand the requirements to book a service(documents or input data);

5. See a list of your sent applications;

6. See a list of services you are responsible for - if you are the executor of any service, the task will be shown in a separate list;

7. The secretary can book a service for another employee or supervisor.

The module is being used by Velesstroy and several other clients.

Business processes and workflows

We developed the following processes:

1. Application for the development of a guidance document;

2. A service for conducting due diligence on contractors within the internal systems of the client;

3. Certificate issuance;

4. Application for a guest pass.

Let's look at each one in a little more detail.

"Application for the development of a guidance document" Workflow

This workflow allows employees to create an application for the development of internal regulations. When an employee starts the workflow, a custom launch form is generated, with some pre-filled fields.

After creation, the application goes through the approval route. If the application is approved by the direct head of the department in which the workflow initiator works, a responsible person is appointed for the development of the regulations.

Next, a task is created in the Bitrix24 group. 

Kanban stages and application development status are linked. When you change the stage of a task in the kanban of the group, the status of the request is updated. Thanks to this, the workflow initiator can monitor the progress of their application online.

After the requested regulation has been developed, it is automatically registered in the corresponding register of internal documents.

Workflow for conducting due diligence on contractors

Before concluding a contract and commencing work with a new counter-party, the Procurement Control Department of the company must carry out due diligence on it.

If the contractor passes successfully, their information is added to the 1C database. Only after this, can the company commence dealings with them.

Before sending a contractor for verification, you need to check the existence of this organization in the 1C database.

We created a new page for due diligence in Bitrix24.

After verification, you can start the workflow.

Certificate Issuance

To request a certificate, an employee only needs to start a workflow. Select the type of certificate required and the preferable method of obtaining it. All the data about the employee will be filled in automatically, thanks to the “smart” form for initiating workflows.

Even after an employee is dismissed, he can contact the hotline operator by phone, who will send him a link to the required order form which he requested for while he was still working in the company. 

After filling in all the required fields and sending the application, the person responsible for issuing this type of certificate, will prepare the necessary document and send it to the requester.

To facilitate filling out and minimize errors when filling out the Delivery address field, we integrated Bitrix24 with "Dadata" service. Dadata allows you fill in fields with the Delivery address quickly and without errors.

The workflow initiator receives SMS notifications and email updates about status changes.

If there is no need to receive a paper copy of the certificate, then the generated certificate will be sent to the employee's e-mail.

Application for a Guest pass

If an employee is expecting a visitor on the company premises, they can request a pass for their visitor by simply launching the "application for a one-time guest pass" workflow in the Bitrix24 CRM.

To initiate the workflow, the employee has to fill in the guest's full name, date of the visit, and the entrance gate the visitor will use.

On the date of the visit, a list of visitors for the day is generated at the security guard's workstation (checkpoint).

When the visitor arrives at the checkpoint, the security guard gives him a pass. The pass number is entered into the system, and the initiator of the workflow receives a notification in Bitrix24 that their visitor has arrived.

Bitrix24 support and training

We understand that Bitrix24 implementation for big companies comprises not only of the development work but also of these accompanying services:

1. Developing clear documentation;

2. User training;

3. Updating the CRM and server software;

4. User support;

5. Constant development and consultations.

We are ready to completely take over the maintenance of Bitrix24 and provide support. 

For our Bitrix24 project for VELESSTROY, we provide all these services.

We especially want to note the documentation - When we complete development and handover to our clients for testing, we also provide documentation and instructions. This allows you to correctly support the system internally if the customer plans to perform further maintenance independently.

Another important task for the success of a Bitrix24 implementation and customization project is training users on how to use the new features in the CRM. We offer this service in several formats:

1. Video instructions.

2. Text instructions with screenshots. These can be added to the company knowledge base.

3. Online webinars with recordings and subsequent video transfer to the client. Such webinars are conducted by our employees with many years experience in teaching and Bitrix24 implementation.

Why choose INTERVOLGA for your Bitrix24 project?

We combine deep industry expertise and client, and community-recognized expertise in Bitrix24.

1. We are among the 15 companies in the world recommended by Bitrix Inc. for large enterprise projects.

2. We have all the competencies for Bitrix24, this is confirmed by Bitrix Inc.

3. We possess the skills needed for non-standard integrations, both from the side of Bitrix24 and other management or ERP systems.

4. A large workforce dedicated to Bitrix24 implementation and development. 

5. We have 10 years of experience in Bitrix technologies and 19 years experience in the IT industry.

6. We specialize in complex Bitrix24 customizations.

7. Our employees develop Bitrix training courses for other developers, and they are published on official Bitrix24 training websites.

8. We know how to customize Bitrix24 and ensure you still receive updates.
   
   

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