4 High-Level Planning Process SharePoint Aspects

The following are four high-level aspects to utilize as part of the planning process in SharePoint:

1) Have a detailed discovery process to find out what the end user wants

2) Have a segmentation funnel to give the end user what they want

3) Have the ability to watch traffic to see what is being utilized to allow for a better launch, grow, & scale of the created functionality

4) Have follow-up meeting to discuss any concerns to improve the process being built

SharePoint Planning Method - 5 Aspects

The following are five aspects to utilize when planning a SharePoint project:

1. Research - Why - obtain needed SharePoint research information and understand the drivers and strategic options.

2. Define - What - define the SharePoint scope and areas of the projects roadmap which includes goals and timeline.

3. Plan - How - plan how you should implement the SharePoint strategy to reach the project goals.

4. Communicate - to the stakeholders and explain what is expected and the tasks which will implemented as part of the SharePoint project roadmap.

5. Implement and follow up - use the SharePoint project roadmap as a basis for the detailed plans. Follow up on the implementation aspects as needed.

SharePoint – Taking Action Planning for an Iteration

The following are some key actions in regard to taking action when planning an iteration:

• Review activities the team is engaged in
• Brainstorm actions for improvement on activities
•  Agree on activities for action to address
• Have an action plan and share to applicable resources and team members

SharePoint – Management Planning for Review

The following are some high-level aspects to account for after a manager review of SharePoint projects:

1)      What was learned?

2)      What needs to be adjusted as far as vision, scope and team assignments?

3)      Where are the bottlenecks?

4)      What features must be re-scoped?

5)      What decisions need to be made to address issues?

SharePoint – Planning for Adjustments

As part of the SharePoint ecosystem – the following are high-level aspects to account for change:

1. Business priorities
2. Adjustments to vision
3. Changes to scope
4. Changes in resources

SharePoint Innovation & Planning

The following are key high-level items to address for innovation and planning:

1)      Innovation – where and what are the opportunities for innovation and improvements.

2)      Planning – where and what are the cadence for planning-based items

3)      Estimation – where and what are the estimates for cadence-based delivery

SharePoint Values Decisions

The following are some items to be mindful of in regard to value decision making in regard to SharePoint:

1)      Does the decision made – embrace the right mindful and framework in regard to SharePoint?

2)      When did you make the needed decision?

3)      What is the full extent of the decision that was made?

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SharePoint Strategy Items

The following are some items to consider that are strategy related in regard to SharePoint:

1)      Be sure to conduct complete research in regard to what is needed for SharePoint to do.

2)      Follow-up with the right individuals in regard to SharePoint needs.

3)      Be sure to evaluate – all ideas, plans, products and problems associated with SharePoint.

4)      Investigate a specific situation where SharePoint is needed.

5)      Be sure to control via governance how SharePoint can be utilized.

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SharePoint – What’s the Purpose Questions?

The following are some good questions to consider about the purpose of utilizing SharePoint as a solution:

1)      From a data standpoint can SharePoint handle what is being asked?

2)      Does SharePoint provide the specific functionality that is being asked?

3)      Can SharePoint be utilized to create the solution in the given timeframe deadline?

4)      Do the users know all that is needed to use a SharePoint solution?

5)      What are the ramifications of using SharePoint?

6)      If SharePoint is utilized is an owner of the solution in-place?

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SharePoint Inquiry Questions

The following are some good questions to ponder when creating a site for a user:

1)      What do you know?

2)      What do you not know?

3)      What are the objectives for the site?

4)      What is needed to reach the objectives?

5)      Does anything need to be learned to create the site?

6)      What is the best way to learn what is needed?

7)      What will the expected results be from deploying the new site?

8)      What is the best way to communicate and review the new site with the user(s)?

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SharePoint and Change – Part I

The following are some key items to consider when using SharePoint as a platform for change:

 

1)      Let proper team members know of change so that a plan for how to communicate change to organization can be created

2)      Define how SharePoint will be utilized in the organization. Will its main purpose be document management, content sites or utilization of key and core workflows

3)      Account for governance – know what users will be allowed and not allow to do. Make the governance plans readily available in a wiki or series of blog posts.

4)      Account for at least a one hour to 90 minute overview of SharePoint functionality that users will need to know (upload documents, use lists, how to search, how to use managed metadata, etc.)

5)      Develop and fine tune – processes for how best to manage work and requests in SharePoint by utilizing request forms for requirements so that an Agile model can be followed by creating from such requests the needed stories and tasks for what was being asked.

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SharePoint and a Sprint Review Agenda

When SharePoint is utilized with agile, the following are some key tips to utilize during a sprint review agenda:

1)      Welcome everyone and state that during this time slot the SharePoint increments completed will be demoed.

2)      State what SharePoint aspects will and will not be demoed. Usually it is good to have test data in the sites, libraries, lists and workflows that are part of the demo.

3)      Demo the functionality in either a test or staged production environment.

4)      Discuss the new functionality and answer questions surrounding the delivered increment.

5)      Present upcoming backlog items as far as the features and functionality surrounding SharePoint.

6)      Conclude and review what was achieved during the sprint review and make sure that the product owner will enter and adjust priorities in the backlog.

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Paradigm Shift & SharePoint

In regard to SharePoint a paradigm shift is present as a lot of the time newer processes are needed for the system to be successful. Thus, adopting these traits will be good to possibly utilize:

Have a plan – in this regard, it’s having a scope for the SharePoint launch – this should include not only a schedule for launch but a launch for each teams/departments new sites/subsites. When launched proper training of basic functionality (uploading, alerts and views) should be given.

Value Driven – sell the platform via town-hall meetings, videos, e-mail blasts and proper on-line documentation. SharePoint empowers users which can’t be un-sprung if users don’t know how to utilize the system or know what it can do.

 

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SharePoint & Agile Scrum

Overall – SharePoint and agile scrum are a good fit for many reasons – the common aspects of Epic -> Feature -> Story and Task are given an overview below of how they fit together in a SharePoint project.

Epics - SharePoint agile scrum allows teams to formulate epics (which would encompass a major release) – overall, epics maybe good for a new installation, upgrade, or cumulative patch of SharePoint.

Features – in SharePoint agile scrum, a feature (working functionality usually part of an epic) may consist of creating a custom web part or creating a new workflow for a change control process (these can be the features that are part of your new install).

Stories – these are the aspects that need created/built which will allow users to accomplish what they need to do in the said system. Stories are usually written in the context of:

As a <   >, I need  <   >, so that I get <  >. Where the text between the < > would be filled in by the users or an analyst working with a user.

A SharePoint example of a story would be:

As an end user, I need a button which when checked populates a list so that I get changes from the change control system from the day before.

Tasks – as part of a story – tasks will be needed so that the aspects that make up the stories asked are created and built.

SharePoint example:

                Custom list is created with proper fields

External content type is created for change control status field

Form is designed with button lookup to change control system

Thus – core agile scrum methods can indeed work well for SharePoint and tweaked and defined based on one’s business needs.

 

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Three B’s of SharePoint

Overall in SharePoint the three B’s are important concepts to know in regard to the framework options of SharePoint:

Business Connectivity Services (BCS) – Enables users to read and write data from external systems – through web services, databases and .Net assemblies.

Business Data Catalog – Provides connectivity to back-end business systems and data sources.

Business Data Connectivity (BDC) – provides business connectivity using a declarative model to external systems so that external data can be exposed in SharePoint.

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Design a SharePoint Taxonomy

One of the most important aspects of SharePoint is having a good taxonomy -> because how users find information as well as where new sites and subsites are built depends on taxonomy.

Typically, I recommend that a taxonomy be filled in as such – so that end-users can start to see how the information, libraries and meta-data in their site will be created:

The one item – I’ve been utilizing for many years is the use of a private site which basically is a team site with unique permissions only to those users whom are granted permission to that said site.

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SharePoint Search Planning

SharePoint Search Planning

The following are some core search planning items to consider and plan for:

·         Where is the information located to be crawled (file share, SharePoint, other location)?

·         What content sources need to be set-up?

·         If full or incremental crawls are utilized what are the schedules?

·         Will continuous crawl be utilized?

·         What words will be utilized in a best bet

·         Who will monitor search to ensure that crawls are running successfully?

·         When and where will reports on search usage be run and placed?

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SharePoint Planning Personalization’s

SharePoint Planning Personalization’s

The following are useful when planning personalization’s:

·         Decide what Active Directory attributes should be utilized and imported for profiles

·         Decide what profile attributes to display on user’s profile

·         Decide and implement on a profile import schedule

·         Decide what audiences to create

·         Decide when audiences should compile (after the profile import)

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SharePoint Governing Information Architecture

SharePoint Governing Information Architecture:

Governing the information architecture is a key to the successful use of SharePoint Server and requires the participation of business managers, content managers, information workers, site designers, and IT professionals.

Defining information-governance plans requires an understanding of the site topology, the purpose of each offering (example Intranet, Extranet, OneDrive etc.), and preferably a knowledge of future planned offerings, such as business intelligence.

Information policies need to be defined for each site within the SharePoint deployment. A policy needs to be defined per topic area for each site offering.

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SharePoint Governance Policies - Taxonomy

Each type of site can and should have its own set of policies:

Common sites that fit this realm are:

·         Mysites

·         Teamsites

·         Project Sites

·         Blogs

·         Wikis

Information Governance Policies

·         Users want and need to find information fast

·         They want the applicable content and data via a useful navigation taxonomy

·         Use of metadata can make it easy to search for and compare related items of information

Site Structure

·         Think how users need to work

·         What do they need to find first and fast

Examples ->

Human Resource information

General Search

People Search

Organization Chart

Organization Knowledge Base

Organization News

Information Technology Help (Guides and Videos)

Private / Team Collaboration / Ad-Hoc Collaboration

·         Sites are for departmental and/or divisional teams such as Finance, IT, HR etc.

·         They are permissioned as such so only the proper individuals have access

Project Collaboration

·         Sites are used mainly by PMO to manage Projects during the project lifespan

·         Temporary content

·         Controlled and moderately governed

 

Client Team Sites (Restricted)

These sites are used to store documentation related to clients with a site for each client

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