A Unified Microsoft 365 Platform — Plus a Modern Website with Online Booking
Verdas approached this as two parallel workstreams: an internal modernisation project centred on Microsoft 365, and an external-facing patient experience project built around a new website and appointment booking application. Both workstreams were designed together from the outset to ensure the staff tooling and the patient platform were properly integrated — appointments booked online flowing directly into the practice's shared calendar system.
Full audit of all four sites — cataloguing server hardware, email configurations, file storage volumes, shared drives, and user accounts. Stakeholder workshops conducted with practice managers, GPs, and reception staff. Current pain points documented and prioritised. Microsoft 365 tenant architecture, SharePoint information structure, Teams channel model, and website wireframes all signed off before any build work began.
Single Microsoft 365 tenant provisioned for all four sites. Azure Active Directory configured with per-site and per-role security groups. Exchange Online deployed with a unified domain, replacing the four disconnected email systems. Microsoft Teams set up with dedicated channels per surgery location, clinical teams, and management — giving staff a single, compliant communication platform. SharePoint Online sites built for each location and shared practice-wide document libraries created.
A fully redesigned public-facing website built and deployed — mobile-first, accessible to WCAG 2.1 AA standards, with clear navigation to each surgery location, GP profiles, opening hours, and patient information pages. An integrated appointment booking application developed and embedded into the site, allowing patients to self-serve 24/7. Booking slots synchronise directly with the practice's Microsoft 365 shared calendar, giving reception staff real-time visibility of online appointments alongside phone bookings.
All mailboxes migrated from legacy on-premise Exchange and hosted mail providers to Exchange Online using the Microsoft Migration Tool. Shared drives from all four servers migrated to SharePoint Online with folder structures rationalised and consistent metadata applied. Integrity verification performed on all migrated data. Legacy servers decommissioned site by site on a rolling basis as each location confirmed successful cutover.
Role-based training delivered to all 65+ staff across the four sites — GPs, nurses, reception, and management. Training covered Microsoft Teams, SharePoint navigation, Outlook on Exchange Online, and the new shared calendar. Booking system handed over to practice managers with full administration documentation. All on-premise servers decommissioned and securely disposed of. One week of hypercare support provided post-go-live.
Three Interconnected Products in Eight Weeks
From Fragmented Systems to a Unified Modern Practice
| Capability | Before Verdas | After Verdas |
|---|---|---|
| Four separate email systems — no shared directory | Single Exchange Online tenant — unified @practice address for all staff | |
| File Access | Site-specific servers — no cross-location file access | SharePoint Online — any file, any site, any device |
| Internal Communication | Personal WhatsApp groups and phone calls | Microsoft Teams — compliant, auditable, and structured |
| Patient Booking | Phone-only — causing daily reception bottlenecks | 24/7 online booking integrated with shared calendar |
| Website | Outdated, unmaintained, no patient self-service | Modern, mobile-first, WCAG accessible, CMS-managed |
| Calendar & Scheduling | Manual spreadsheets per site — no shared visibility | Shared M365 calendar across all sites — online and phone bookings unified |
| GDPR Compliance | Uncontrolled access to patient data with no audit trail | Role-based permissions, sensitivity labels, and full audit logging |
| Remote Working | No remote access to files or systems without physical presence | Full secure access from any device, anywhere, with MFA |
A Practice Running on Modern Infrastructure — and Patients Who Can Actually Book Online
Eight weeks after kick-off, all four surgery servers were switched off permanently. Staff across every location were working from a single unified platform — sharing files, communicating through Teams, and managing appointments through a shared calendar. Within the first month of the new booking system going live, over 60% of appointment requests were coming in online rather than by phone, dramatically reducing the call volume hitting reception each morning.
"We went from four separate systems that didn't talk to each other, a website that hadn't been touched in years, and a reception desk fielding 200 calls before 9am — to a single platform where everything works together. The booking system alone has transformed the mornings. Verdas understood what a GP practice actually needs and delivered it without disrupting a single day of patient care."
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