One place to start the day, for a workforce that is almost never at a desk

The problem with a maze

The Outdoors Group works across multiple outdoor sites. On any given day most of their staff are nowhere near a desk, and the work in front of them is practical: a session to run, a group to look after, a gate to fix, a check to complete.

Around that work sat the admin. Policies in one place, procedures in another, checks on paper or in a spreadsheet, requests in an email chain, training records somewhere else again. None of it was unreasonable on its own. Together it meant a two minute task could take twenty, and that a manager often found out something had been missed only after it mattered.

What they needed was not a conventional intranet. An intranet is somewhere you go to look things up, and people tend to go only when they have run out of other options. They needed somewhere work could actually move forward.

Built around the moment the work happens

Canopy is a bespoke operational hub, and is completely The Outdoors Group’s own. It is designed for the phone in someone’s pocket first, because that is the device that is genuinely present when a fault needs reporting or a check is due.

A colleague opens it and sees what needs their attention. From there they can report an issue, complete a compliance check, acknowledge an updated policy or log a piece of professional development without leaving the platform. The point is not that those things are available online. It is that they are easy enough to do in the moment, rather than being deferred to a desk the person may not sit at for another three days.

Team spaces hold the guidance that goes with each role, from onboarding through to operational procedure, so the version people find is the current one. A shared wall gives updates, local news and recognition somewhere visible to live. This is a crucial cultural element to bring together colleagues who work in this unique way.

What it gives managers

The value for a manager is earlier sight of things. Instead of chasing by email, or assembling a spreadsheet to work out where a piece of work has got to, a team view shows what is outstanding and where support would help.

The aim is to make compliance something visible as it happens, rather than something reconstructed in the fortnight before an inspection. This is not about watching people. It is about noticing a small delay while it is still small.

Designed to grow with them

Basecamp was built as a foundation rather than a finished product. Its structure, language and workflows can change as the organisation changes, which matters a great deal for an organisation part way through a growth plan. An off the shelf platform would have asked the teams to adapt to the software instead, and in a year they would have been working around it.