Collaboration - Dr Peter Gee, Overseas Development Institute
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ODI has been using Microsoft SharePoint for collaboration and document management for five years. While SharePoint has provided benefits like integration with Office and a large support community, implementation has not been without challenges. Change management was difficult, as not all staff understood or bought into SharePoint. Lessons learned include having a clear plan for what to achieve, and being wary of pre-packaged solutions. ODI is looking forward to an upcoming migration to SharePoint 2010 to gain easier page editing and improved support for remote workers.
Collaboration - Dr Peter Gee, Overseas Development Institute
- 1. Collaboration – ODI’s experience with SharePointPeter Gee, Head of IT and FacilitiesWhere IT's @! April 2011
- 2. SharePoint Collaboration using Microsoft SharePoint promises shared information heaven, but what's the reality?SharePoint has been a remarkably successful product for Microsoft, with huge take-up worldwide.All organisations in our sector can benefit from more effective collaboration, and SharePoint offers this at a fraction of the cost of specialist document management and collaboration solutions. SharePoint has almost become an IT revivalist movement with its own evangelists2
- 3. “SharePoint is a platform that can make a real difference in organisations. The various capabilities, when implemented correctly, fundamentally change the way people work. This itself raises a number of challenges, but over and above that, it’s the ability to make a tangible difference in the lives of the employees, the real end-users, that fuels my passion for SharePoint” Francois Pienaar
- 4. ODI and SharePoint Quite a challenge then.ODI has been working with SharePoint now for five yearsWe have achieved a great deal with it, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing and sadly it is not universally popular!But first, some background about ODI4
- 5. ODI is an independent think tank on humanitarian and international developmentcelebrating its 50th anniversaryIt is a charity, but not a membership organisationHas expanded to current staff of 150, plus research associates, contractors, consultants and interns.Apart from a Programme Partnership Agreement with DFID, the majority of funding is project-related, from a range of institutional funders.
- 6. ODI’s IT experienceODI began to computerise in the mid 1980sA far-sighted librarian predicted that eventually we would have one computer per desk (at the time we had 2 or 3 users sharing)By the 1990s we had achieved that targetBut perhaps partly because IT growth was incremental, there were few fundamental changes to working practices – the PC replaced the typewriter.In 1996 PCs first networked – new possibilities for collaboration with email for everyone and ODI’s first intranet6
- 7. The costs of lack of system integrationBy 2003, after around 15 years of computerisation, and seven years since ODI’s computers were first networked, our information systems were failing to foster collaboration.Information was saved in often confusingly named files, buried in deep folder structures. Searching for relevant documents require an insight into the mind of the author or editor!This lack of co-ordination and system integration was resulting in major inefficiencies.7
- 8. ODI moves into knowledge managementODI’s response was to explore ‘knowledge management’KM project with two staff supported by the government funded KTP scheme.Resulted in a plan for a new intranet linked to a revamped website, for which we tendered in 2004.SharePoint figured in a couple of proposals to replace our old high maintenance intranet. The one we selected first of all combined SharePoint with MS CMS Server – there was some doubt about whether SP could produce pretty enough pages!8
- 9. Adopting SharePoint• Eventually we decided to ditch MS CMS Server because SharePoint offered most of what we needed and the implementation of CMS would have been very clunky• But by this time the requirements had changed and we delayed implementation for almost another year until 2006. Plans reworked with considerable input from Christian Aid’s experience.• Change in philosophy and approach from gradual and partial to a total SharePoint solution with phased implementation9
- 10. Beginning with SharePointODInet: Top level portal– using SP Portal 2003 –with staff list; ‘ins and outs’; how tos, support – HR, finance, communications; search feature for ODInet, archived files and website.WSS sites for research groups, their subteams and their projects: summary financial information, lists, calendars and document libraries – with al their contentExternal access through https SSL encrypted access to the whole system.Multiple web applications with one content database, but by this time the practical experience of other earlier SP adopters suggested that this might be unwise – so we adopted a belt and braces approach with separate sites and URLs for each group.10
- 11. Portal level pages will replace the old intranet as the place to find key (up to date) information form across the organisation, including the latest news, policies, procedures, and events. Team (WSS) Sites will provide effective document management and collaboration functionality at the project, programme and group level way beyond what is possible with shared drives. 11From the introduction to our 2006 user’s manual:Welcome to ODINet…… ODINet is the first step in a radical new approach to organising and sharing information and knowledge around ODI. ODINet will replace the flat page html intranet and the messy shared drives with a customised version of SharePoint: an application that has become the fastest growing information management technology for UK-based organisations.
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- 15. Migration and trainingComprehensive migration programme, group by group, over 9 months. Network file shares splitOlder content archived on read-only indexed shareRecent content sorted by project for upload. Meta-tagging 50,000 documents not practicable so folders copied across in bulk in explorer view, after cleaning and tidying, and deduplication15
- 17. Development 2007-2010Initial consolidationColligo offline solutionExtensive planning for upgrade to WSS3/MOSS2007Trials and tribulations with the technology of the upgrade – tested in a virtual environmentSuccessful switch to 2007 version in summer 2008.Summer 2010 – restructuring to reflect organisational change from group to programme 17
- 20. Outlook vs SharePoint• Users like Outlook and their email•moving them away from collaboration by email attachment has been a major challenge•email links rather than attachments can be a problem for offline usersColligo works up to a pointOutlook document library integration helps but only really works in one direction in SP2007.20
- 22. SharePoint is much more than an IT solution – but you do need to get the IT right.
- 23. Key lessonsWith SharePoint or any collaboration tool it is crucial to have a plan about what you want to achieve; don’t just drift in.But beware of pre-packaged plans ‘imposed’ upon you –this was a problem with our first ventures into SharePoint. Unashamedly, ODI introduced SharePoint as part of a campaign to change attitudes and styles of working, to ‘nudge’ people in a collaborative direction.But change management for academics and think tank researchers is a bit like herding cats…23
- 24. SharePoint’s challenges open-source advocates don’t like it it is too clunky – parts of it seemed unfinished; difficult to code a glorified file management system not supportive of web 2.0 / social networking. takes too long to set up - difficult to back up and restore very difficult to move document librariessometimes generates odd error messages24
- 25. SharePoint’s benefitsIt’s Microsoft – it integrates very well with MS OfficeWith MS’s charity pricing SP is very affordable for the not for profit sector. Almost any organization can get into SharePoint.There is a huge support community – off and online;SharePoint User network, the DIG SharePoint group amongst development NGOs.Many Microsoft business partners deploying SP solutions – developers like ICS.Vendors offering customised web parts eg Bamboo and Kwizcom25
- 26. Can a top-down solution work? We had support from senior management and champions at various levels, but this wasn’t enough to win over many of our colleagues. Not all our staff understood what SharePoint was about and some who did would not buy into it.Perhaps some insights from social networking can help us….But it is taken for granted..Key lessons26
- 27. Looking forward to SharePoint 201027 ODI plans to move to SharePoint 2010 this autumn.
- 28. we’re looking forward to:
- 29. Much easier page editing
- 30. Offline and remote worker supportODI is the UK’s leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. We aim to inspire and inform policy and practice to reduce poverty by locking together high-quality applied research and practical policy advice.The views presented here are those of the speaker, and do not necessarily represent the views of ODI and our partners.111 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7JDT: +44 207 9220 300www.odi.org.ukp.gee@odi.org.uk