Grønt Punkt Norge creates added value with a future-oriented and efficient workspace

All businesses that produce or import goods with more than 1,000 kg of packaging per year are required to finance the collection, sorting, material recycling and other treatment of used packaging by being a member of an approved recycling company. Grønt Punkt Norge (Norway) has 5,750 members, all of whom fulfill their legally mandated producer responsibility for the collection and recycling of packaging. Additionally, Grønt Punkt Norge offers its members advice on packaging development and is happy to share their expertise.

As a member of Grønt Punkt Norge, there are different types of memberships depending on the amount of packaging placed on the market and whether one is a packaging manufacturer or importer. Common to the members, with a few exceptions, is that they must report the amount of packaging placed on the Norwegian market at specified intervals. This forms the basis for the issuance of invoices.

Grønt Punkt Norge recognized the necessity to renew their entire IT platform to provide their members with a modern, future-oriented and efficient workspace to fulfill their membership obligations. This digitalisation aims to create added value for the members, which will enhance Grønt Punkt Norge’s reputation and strengthen their role as a significant societal player contributing to increased recycling. The strategy was to procure and implement the best standard cloud-based solution on the market, while redesigning the business’ processes to minimize deviations and streamline workflow. Grønt Punkt Norge and Evidi will establish a new digital platform for core member activities using Power Pages (a low-code SaaS solution) and Dynamics 365. Dynamics 365 will also deliver solutions for customer service, sales and marketing.

Joining us on this journey is Oseberg, which will handle invoicing and accounting with Dynamics 365 Business Central. Allowing external users into Dynamics is neither necessary, desirable, nor interesting. Therefore, the natural choice was Power Pages for the members' workspace, which seamlessly and securely displays Dynamics data in an interface, enabling members to execute expected transactions with up-to-date and relevant information from Dynamics. In the same place, members can submit inquiries to Grønt Punkt Norge. These inquiries are accessible to members, allowing them to communicate with Grønt Punkt Norge via the portal and subsequently close the inquiry. An important element of being a member of Grønt Punkt Norge is the ability to download their membership certificate, a feature also the supported by the portal. Azure B2C is used for user administration of the members’ portal.

Using on Dataverse and Dynamics 365 as the foundation, Evidi has developed a membership module that maintains basic information about businesses and contacts. Additionally, tables have been created to store information about contracts, products and product prices. These are used in conjunction with standard Dynamics 365 tables to complete the process of contract creation and reporting.

A contract type has different properties that control intervals for automation and the generation of reporting basis for members. Power Automate is used to generate reporting basis for each member, according to their agreement and defined intervals. Power Automate also ensures that the reporting manager at each member organization receives a notification that new reporting is due. The member receives a direct link to the report in their notification, allowing them to quickly get to the correct place for reporting. If there are previous reports for the member, the report is pre-filled with data from the last submission. Submissions via the Power Pages site write directly back to orders in Dynamics, which are then transferred to Dynamics 365 Business Central via standard integration. Power BI is used gather and expose data from multiple sources in reports on forms in the membership module, as standalone reports, dashboards, and externally to members on the portal.

To ensure success in an IT project, it is crucial that all users are engaged throughout the entire journey. Grønt Punkt Norge and Evidi have jointly developed a comprehensive user adoption strategy that addresses both external and internal users. The development of the strategy started early to begin the maturation process for all users. Various measures were employed, including interviews, newsletters, pilot users, classroom training, webinars and tutorials to ensure thorough and effective implementation. The success of the project is a result of a joint effort to involve and prepare all users.