CIO SharePoint questions – Part 2

This post is a continuation to the series I started HERE.

Question: Top three challenges with implementing SP?

1. Not trying to implement all of the features in SharePoint at one time. Chose just a few of the feature to implement first. Once you have succeeded with this – move to the next.

2. Not taking the time to figure out an appropriate “governance plan” for SharePoint. Governance is the Who, What, Where, Why, and When of SharePoint. (who can do what where and when….) This will help you keep control of the SharePoint implementation. Know that this should not be a draconian set of rules but a set of guidelines that match back to existing corporate “electronic asset usage” HR docs. Don’t re-invent the wheel.

3. Realize that not everything about deploying SharePoint for an enterprise is technical. Most of the work is “business’ related and up to the techies to implement. Don’t let the SharePoint Admins drive the boat here – SharePoint is a business tool that is being implemented to solve a business problem. Don’t discount their input – but don’t let them drive the ship here.

Question: Is it more than just an archive?

This question makes the supposition that SharePoint is an archive. I would propose that SharePoint makes a poor archive as all content is SharePoint is stored in SQL which is an expensive (comparatively) storage location. I think that SharePoint is excellent for active content but there are better locations for archived content. (The archived content should still be available via search inside of SharePoint.)

Question: Getting ready for a sharepoint deployment from a people perspective – specifically retooling IT skills

1. IT Pro: These folks handle the System Administration of SharePoint. Their skill sets include: Windows Server, Active Directory, SQL, IIS, and SharePoint.
2. .NET Developers: These guys will handle programming additional functionality into SharePoint for any specific functionality that your company requires.
3. Designers: These folks are going to make SharePoint look how you want it to look. SharePoint is very flexible in this regard – but make sure you have people who have worked with SharePoint before.
4. SharePoint Power Users – these folks know how to take the core functionality of SharePoint and build “out of the box” business solutions on the platform. These solutions generally require no 3^rd party tools for .NET development. These are the folks you want to cultivate within your company. They will become very popular very quick. They are also the group that will need to understand the governance that’s in place so that you don’t end up with the ‘wild west’ in your SharePoint deployment.

Question: Have you seen sharepoint used for external customer colloboration (similar to a “jive” type platform)?

SharePoint can be easily adapted to this use case. These “extended” sites can even have unique authentication providers so that you don’t mix your external resources with your internal directory

Question: Utilization of blog/discusion treads pros / cons.

SharePoint’s implementation of Blogs and discussion boards are competent but not comparable to WordPress or TypePad. If your need is for a single solution for blogs then I would recommend WordPress. But if you need to have your blogging platform plugged into your corporate Active Directory, internal systems, and enterprise search – then go with SharePoint.

Question: Backup & recovery.

The native backup and recovery in SharePoint is not great. I always refer to 3^rd party software for an effective solution for this. My favorite application for Backup is from AvePoint (www.avepoint.com).

If the conversation is about “availability” – then we are talking about a redundant server farm to respond in the event the primary farm fails. In this case – consider either DoubleTake or NeverFail.

More to come in the next post…

Part 1
Part 3