The Finnish Forest Industries Federation is revamping its network services with the aim of boosting the efficiency of its lobbying activities. The first modernised services have been opened and the totality will be upgraded by the end of this month. The Federation’s network services have the aim of increasing the effectiveness of lobbying and boosting the efficiency of resource use as well as providing an active aid for key target groups.

“Initiation of a wide-ranging modernisation of our online services was the logical next step in the organisation’s strategic realignment. We need fast and effective tools for influencing society,” Finnish Forest Industries Federation President and CEO Anne Brunila said. “Modernising all online services in one go required extensive efforts, but we were able to clear all obstacles as planned, thanks to the support and expertise of our fine cooperation partners.” The Federation’s new online services will be published in two stages. The first wave of services went into trial use last summer, when the Knowledge bank service for decision-makers, the latest news service for the media, the first member services, general information sections as well as the topical Energy pages went online. The next phase will see the Statistics Service, Event Service and the Sustainable Forestry section in the end of this month. ‘Aiming for a user-oriented totality’ The Federation’s public Internet site, the interest groups’ pages and the internal intranet have been built as a single totality using the same technological platform. User identification is utilised to manage the totality. The online-service development project was launched in spring 2006 when the service strategy was defined. The strategy took tangible shape as a concept plan as well as a set of technical specifications, on the basis of which realisation of the new services was launched in autumn 2006. The chosen technological solution is Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. A uniform technological platform, its compatibility with the other technology environments being used, the development potential of the solution and the overall cost level were important factors in the selection. The main responsible cooperation partner in this project is BearingPoint Finland Oy, while Sininen Meteoriitti Oy is responsible for its technical implementation and Ego Oy for the conceptualization.