Summary
Sonepar, an independent, family-owned distributor of electrical products, solutions and related services, maintains SharePoint pages for its Legal, Risk and Compliance teams. Over time, each section had developed its own layout and style, and with a new Compliance Manual about to be released, the aim was to rebuild the homepage and introduce standardised landing and content page templates so that this compliance structure would be easy to find and consume. Colleagues now find one coherent space across Legal, Compliance, Risk, Insurance and Security, built entirely on SharePoint’s out-of-the-box functionality, so the Sonepar team can maintain it themselves and extend the same approach across future sites.
The challenge
The General Counsel Office at Sonepar Corporate Services holds guidance that colleagues rely on across Legal, Compliance, Risk, Insurance and Security, from data protection and insurance cover to named points of contact and supporting documentation. The quality of that content was never in question. The opportunity lay in presenting it through a shared visual and structural language, so that readers could move between teams’ pages and find what they needed without re-learning the layout each time.
The timing gave the work a clear purpose. The Compliance Manual’s release was to be marked by an International Anti-Corruption Day event, and Sonepar wished colleagues to arrive at a space that reflected the importance of the subject matter. With that in mind a quick turn around was needed, therefore Sonepar and Content Formula collaborated together to turn around redesign within approximately 2 weeks.
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The approach
Why design the templates before touching the pages?
With a fixed launch date, the sequencing of the work was as important as the work itself. We began with a current state review with the Sonepar team, examining the pages as they stood in order to agree where greater consistency would deliver the most benefit to readers.
Our UX team then prepared a light-touch design concept covering the homepage, landing pages and content pages which was reviewed in detail with the Sonepar team. Agreeing the concept design at this early point gave every later decision a clear reference, and allowed the build to proceed with confidence.
Delivery followed a deliberate order: the homepage first, then the landing pages, then the content pages with each being reviewed as it was completed. All configuration used SharePoint’s out-of-the-box web parts, so the finished pages could be maintained through normal editing by the page owners moving forward.
What was delivered
A rebuilt homepage. The homepage establishes the character of the entire space, and it follows the agreed design concept throughout. Its background image reflects the cover of the Compliance Manual, and the Compliance Manual page carries the same image, giving colleagues an immediate and reassuring sense of continuity as they navigate between the two.
A standardised landing page template and content page template. Applied across the Legal, Compliance, Risk, Insurance and Security sections, the template provides every area with the same structure, consistently capitalised headings and larger, more prominent quick links. A colleague who understands one section can therefore navigate the others without further guidance. The same principles were applied to the existing pages beneath each section.
Structured quick links with new iconography. Quick links are often a reader’s first port of call, so they were given a consistent structure and a refreshed icon set helping to improve visibility and clarity.
A standard banner with colour variants. A single banner design now spans the landing and content pages. Colour variants allow each section to retain its own identity while remaining clearly part of one family.
A rebuilt infographic. A key infographic was rebuilt in the new style so that visual content aligns with the pages around it.
Multilingual capability. The Compliance Manual page is structured to support multiple language versions, and currently presents the manual in English and French. Section links at the top of the page take readers directly to the version they need and as further languages are introduced, the Sonepar team can add them independently by duplicating a section and adding the relevant links.
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“I wanted to extend my heartfelt thanks for the excellent work you delivered on this sharp deadline project. It was an absolute pleasure collaborating with you, and the team is incredibly happy with the output! Your dedication and professionalism did not go unnoticed. I genuinely hope we have the opportunity to work together again in the future.”
Why it mattered
Colleagues who now visit the Legal, Risk and Compliance space encounter a single, cohesive site. Sections that previously had to be learned individually follow a shared pattern, and the Compliance Manual sits within an environment that matches its significance. Everything was in place for the launch, which was the central aim of the project.
The benefit extends beyond launch. The templates, banners and quick link style are now in Sonepar’s hands, ready for any new page or language version, and they rely on SharePoint features the team already knows. Consistency can be sustained by the Sonepar team independently.
To see further examples of our intranet work, visit our examples gallery.