Do we need share point

Editor's Notes

• #3: Andrew Woodwardandrew@21apps.com@AndrewWoody
• #10: Think about the 1st time you decided to or were asked to use SharePoint.
• #12: Depending on who you talk to they will likely give you a different perspective on things. It is important to understand the biases that people have and how to look for a Shared Understanding to help align to business goals.
• #13: What do they focus on?Microsoft is your friend – MSDN and Technet have a wealth of experienceMicrosoft Partners understand you and what you wantFocused on the technical deliveryServersVirtualisationBackup/RestoreService PacksStorageWhat things should they considerWhat are the business drivers behind the deploymentWhat service are they offering (IT Assurance)AvailabilityStorageService ApplicationsWhat is the impact of all this End User EmpowermentCan you handle it?What about the cloud
• #14: What do they focus on?Can SharePoint do this? Comparison to best of breed EDRMS solutionsTend to be traditionalistsThink very much that everything is a recordWhat things should they considerHow mature the organisation isCan they deal with FULL blown EDRMSWhat are the real business prioritiesPerhaps its commercially acceptable to be non compliant and just pay the fines!What about when we don’t create a word documentI.e. Meeting workspace – What does this meanWhat about all the information NOT in documentsDiscussions, Social Networks, Instant MessagingNot everyone will use email as primary communication
• #15: What do they focus on?You mean search will aggregate ALL of this information!Can we Audit everythingIt can’t be open by defaultWhat things should they considerThe rich security model in SharePointBenefit of having documents in libraries rather than emailed around
• #16: They come from different places?IT / Technology backgroundRecords Management / Information / LibrarianNeither – Finance / LegalWhat do they focus on?TechnologyI want it to look like this!Will it work with my iPad?I’m using Yammer so should you……LibrarianEverything as a documentFile PlanLimited view on what ECM means – often missing the social or business driversNeitherMay be best placed to learn what it means to be a CIO today and tomorrowNeeds to research all aspects of information from documents to social from people to processWhat things should they considerSetting the vision for the organisationEnsure clear and shared understanding across all stakeholdersDriving and supporting cultural changeIntroducing the ideals of an Information ProfessionalUnderstand whats important to business and whats just done because that’s how it’s always been done
• #17: What do they focus on?Collaboration featuresSharePoint gives them the powerInnovationWhat things should they considerGovernance – don’t just do anythingOther usersOnce they get it, they may over customise
• #18: Depending on who you talk to they will likely give you a different perspective on things. It is important to understand the biases that people have and how to look for a Shared Understanding to help align to business goals.
• #19: ReasonTechnical upgrade driven by ITCurrent version out of supportTechnology out of date – just updatingIt’s just not stable anymoreWhat things should they considerThe problems with the way the SharePoint was used beforeThe difference in the architecture in 2010 – especially if going from 2003Migration – may need 3rd party toolsCustomisations – did they use SharePoint DesignerThe cultural changesHave they seen the ribbon yet?Compatibility with the deployed Office editionIncrease in feature and servicesWhat the business benefit will be and are they engaged?
• #20: ReasonSupport remote and mobile workerCurrent version out of supportTechnology out of date – just updatingIt’s just not stable anymoreWhat things should they considerNeed to educate the users – way of workingYou can use mapped drives to SharePoint (webfolders) – but this has challengesBusiness Developed AppsOften buried in applications like Execl VBA that depend on common file sharesIncreased storageCosts of storage – need faster disks for SQL, searching and indexing take up more space than contentVersions are NOT deltas – it’s twice as big
• #21: ReasonAnother new toy to play withA way to keep our skilled up to dateLook at all the hardware SharePoint needs – more toys What things should they considerSharePoint Celery….
• #22: ReasonStrict policy on mailbox sizes, looking to move files out of exchangeWhat things should they considerUsing links and SharePoint is a GOOD ideaConsider 3rd party tools to helpYou still need to store the documentUltimately it’s on a disk somewhere as 1s and 0sVersioning in SharePoint can grow storageConsider upgrading Exchange as well – people expect large mailboxes (gmail, hotmailetc)
• #23: ReasonPressure from the businessPossible risk of business going it aloneUsed to be server under a deskOffice365 easy to set upWhat things should they considerGetting business buy in – just standing up tech may not helpOffice365 may be a good strategic optionUnderstand what it is and what it isn’tConsider internal cloud like service offering
• #24: ReasonTo take control of the business developed applicationsProviding some innovation and supportNot just saying noWhat things should they considerNeed good governance and guidance around the use of the platformWhat does SharePoint Designer or InfoPath really mean to you
• #26: ReasonOften driven from CxO level wanting new cool stuffCan be driven by more dynamic areas of the business like Comms teamsWhat things should they considerThe depth of social features in SharePoint 2010 3rd party solutions often considered / implementedUsing SharePoint has great value addShared term storeSearch built inPure breed social platforms can be more feature rich in specific areas
• #27: ReasonNeed to drive innovationIt’s a hot topic and we need to embrace itWhat things should they considerNothing in SharePoint does badges out of the boxConsider 3rd party or manual setupWhat are the real business driversCan you measure them
• #28: ReasonChallenges with multiple users updatingHard to find stuffIt’s just a dumping groundWe have too many copies of the same thingWhat things should they considerBusiness is keen to change – but don’t try to boil the oceanLook at the core collaboration features around documentsVersioning is a great feature hereBe careful on storageUnderstand your NEW information architecture first – don’t just drag and drop your file sharesAvoiding folder and using metadata will be the hardest challenge
• #29: ReasonImpossible to find anythingBusiness frustrated by the amount of time spent looking for or reproducing thingsOften working on the wrong version or old copiesUnable to discover new information and people having impact on businessWhat things should they considerSimple search is complexUnderestimate what is needed to create and maintain a good search experienceUnderstand your information architecture and types of contentDedicate time and resource to search and findabilityIt’s not all about documents consider people, services, self help Not all information is indexable – use signpostingMake search one of the most important featuresConsider the effort you traditional placed on Intranets – what if you did the same for search, what results might you expectThink like a user who needs to find an answer – what questions are they asking
• #30: ReasonSharePoint moves the bar towards the business and away from ITChance to do more self serviceNo more waiting for IT departmentWhat things should they considerWith power comes responsibility – good governanceBuild community to encourage good practiceUnderstand the impact of releasing tools like SharePoint designer will haveNot everything should be built by the business – have a path to delivery teams
• #31: ReasonMore work is collaborative across organisations and we need to shareEmail doesn’t work Need to set up quicklyIf it takes IT weeks to sort will find an alternativeWhat things should they considerSecurity and authenticationHybrid solution using Office365 for extranet – it’s ready to goCulture of open dialogBenefits to wider business – you can’t employ everyoneBuild in the capability from day one
• #32: ReasonBusiness process automationWorkflowStatus reports and roll up informationRemindersSpecific processes around documents – signatures, approval What things should they considerDon’t get too complex to quickly – sometimes a simple status field will workConsider 3rd party products to improve workflow managementSharePoint Designer is powerful but has challenges in the software development stackDon’t try to boil the ocean – keep things simpleAny development – consider upgrades and maintenance
• #33: ReasonNeed better insightsInformation traditionally locked up in silosNeed accurate and timely informationEveryone should have access to support better decision makingWhat things should they considerWhich version of SharePoint – Enterprise Edition is where this livesConsider costs of trying to get standard to do what you need – you may want to consider enterprise editionPut effort into getting the right information availableBuild the data warehouseUser SQL reporting servicesDon’t forget Excel client – not everything has to be presented in a web page
• #34: ReasonWe have to Legal / RegulatoryAccreditation standards and approved processesSharePoint should make compliance easierScenarios Records Management needsQuality standard and processSOXFreedom of Information requestsWhat things should they considerWhere are the specific pain pointsSeek out reference sites/case studies that have used SharePoint for the same compliance needsDon’t over complicate things – don’t try to deliver the Ultimate solution on day one, think tactically AND strategicallyAlso the world will be different in 2 years time – make sure you are agile enoughBake in the need to change continuallyNot everything has to be done technically – people are good at processes and can adaptSharePoint does provide a lot of great features and functionality to support compliance – don’t assume you have to partner it up with another ‘more mature’ technologyDon’t get caught in view of Records Management as it used to be the world is changing fast
• #35: ReasonWe do projects and want to handle them betterThe big Project management tools sets are over complicatedNeed to keep project management in the place where everyone works – not in a silod systemWhat things should they considerUnderstand the project approachProvide common templates to ensure Ease of useConsistencySharePoint out of the box provides features for Project Management LiteOption to look at Project Server to extend functionality if needed
• #36: ReasonWe use SharePoint internally and it has Web Content Management features so we should use themWe need to have a good web presence and control publishingWe already have the licenseMicrosoft recommend it – it’s their replacement for CMS all that time ago…What things should they considerTreat as a dedicated projectGet a partner on board who can demonstrate successful web sites based on SharePointDon’t assume it’s the same as a collaboration siteYou will need to put effort into getting this rightIt is an enterprise focused solution – don’t assume it’s gonna be like your wordpress blog
• #37: ReasonWe need to collaborate externallyWe need a better way to share informationWe need information to be available everywhere What things should they considerOffice365 – seriously it makes this easyGo hybrid with on premise/off premiseUnderstand what you want to Share and howMake sure security are involved3rd party solutions are available – but do you really need them, people get SharePoint – it’s a web site so it worksConsider authentication approach – claims is the way forwardLook at publishing via Forefront – it understand SharePoint
• #38: ReasonEveryone else is deploying SharePoint so we should or we’ll be left behindWhat things should they considerIts not a valid reason Invest some time in understanding Why Make it work for you
• #39: ReasonEveryone else is deploying SharePoint so we should or we’ll be left behindWhat things should they considerIts not a valid reason Invest some time in understanding Why Make it work for you
• #45: Falklands Island Oil (FIO) were a specialist exploration company concentrating in the Antarctic with a vision for being environmentally neutral .  They found several 30Million barrel + fields during their exploration of that area and this allowed them to purchase Zenith Energy.  Zenith, the 6th largest oil company in the world, had the complete services ranging from exploration, tankering and customer products (Up-stream and Downstream) with operations and offices in Russia, Yellow Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Arctic, Africa and Middle East. The reason for the hostile takeover was that they had exaggerated their finds and upon independent assessment which adjusted the finds downwards the share price had fallen dramatically.  The rebranding of FIO and Zenith occurred when FIO called in Zebra Consulting (the same company which had the Ice Station incident in the early 1970’s) as they were getting different find values on the same exploration data. FIO and Zebra merged forming Fizz Energy retaining the second z as Zenith as part of the original good will agreement. 
• #46: Zenith already have Documentum
• #47: Retained seconds Z as part of original Zenith deal
• #50: 3 types of CIO
• #51: Where should the focus be – can we put the things we discuss in the Mission Critical – Core quadrant?
• #58: ReasonEveryone else is deploying SharePoint so we should or we’ll be left behindWhat things should they considerIts not a valid reason Invest some time in understanding Why Make it work for you