The following items can be used in regards
to issues with SharePoint for what I call the wheeling & dealing:
1)Think on how one can better a site via content,
graphics, features and functionality
2)Ask for clarification – if content and layout
being asked for doesn’t make sense
3)It is recommended to create a wiki of governance
items that contains polices in regard to sites, permissions, naming
conventions, requests for new functionality amongst other items. The wiki can
then be referred to as the golden rule when issues/clarification is needed
4)Ask users when you meet or talk with them “Am I
making sense?”
5)Say something once – in regard to pushing back
when items out of scope are asked – then move on – don’t have negative behavior
The following are the 10 top items to consider in regard to
SharePoint end user training:
1)Create short quick guides (4-12 pages) of
applicable features (uploading files, views, using calendars etc.)
2)Create short videos on key aspects and make sure
the videos are organized by topic area. Make them available via easy to find
subject titles
3)Create a blog and then post key items which the
system can do – have good clear categories available so users can find information
quickly
4)Create guides 20-50 pages for those whom will be
acting as site owner/content owners
5)Run lunch and learn live and remote based
sessions – keeping subject matter one hour in duration
6)Offer – live training one hour to 90 minutes in
duration which encompass showing users needed functionality
7)Create a custom self-help by overriding the ?
with one’s own content (could be a custom wiki/blog)
8)Create live classes and offer a curriculum
teaching basic users (covers navigation, terminology, simple basic items in
regard to what SharePoint can do, etc.)
9)Create live classes and offer a curriculum for
content owners (covers editing/adding pages, creating lists and views, etc.)
10)Create live classes and a curriculum for site
owners (covers editing/adding pages, creating sites, handling permissions and
site features which can be enabled, etc.)
In my travels – around the world of purchasing SharePoint –
I’ve had a variety of experiences. Typically – my experience has been I’m sent
a very complicated spreadsheet from a re-seller or directly from Microsoft. I’m
then based on the numbers in the spreadsheet – trying to negotiate the best
price per seat as well as per server license. Since a large majority of my
experience is based with on premise I’m keen to the fact that every user that
attaches or will possibly attach to SharePoint needs a license.
Now, if I’m running a standard edition only – typically this
is easier because all the users will need a license. Now, if I’m running an enterprise
edition – it’s a bit more complicated because not only do all users need a
standard license but they will also need an enterprise user license as well.
This in my view is a complicated aspect that many don’t realize.
I will say however that the model has gotten easier as
Microsoft now provides an enterprise framework, however even though this
appears to be marketed for the cloud based organization, it can be utilized for
on premise and cloud. Example if one purchases 100 user licenses under what is
known as an E3 (Enterprise 3) license those licenses can be utilized for either
on premise or in the cloud. This makes getting users the needed tools quicker
and easier.
In regard to cloud, those who rely on a capital vs. expense
budget are in luck. Under newly established accounting principles cloud based
can be capitalized if one can make changes to the software/system and also if
the service can be controlled from an on premise point. Therefore, if one is in
an hybrid situation where SharePoint is installed on premise and OneDrive for
Business is in the cloud – the case can be made that the cloud standard are met
and can capitalize expenditures instead of using an expense.
Historically, a vast majority of the SharePoint work I’ve
done is expense (training, user licenses, service agreements and support and enhancements)
while I’ve capitalized the following -> server licenses, virtual machine
licenses, virtual machine racks, and software licenses.
Every organization may think differently on this front but
in my view it’s an important one to think about to account for as it’s not
always about what SharePoint can do, but how to get it!
Lately – the subject matter of SharePoint and disaster recovery
has been an interesting one which I’ve had several discussions about in my
various SharePoint travels. This is indeed a serious subject that many times is
not thought out, nor planned – nor even tested or accounted for. However – in my
view the opinion should be that as much time is spent in setting up and
architecting a SharePoint site, this same amount of time – should be spent in
thinking about a disaster recovery strategy.
I see two views on this matter – the first is what I will
call the “poor version” of disaster recovery and this involves essentially
backing up and then shipping offsite the SharePoint databases each night. This
plan also would include shipping off the snapshots of the virtual machines as
well – so that a server and database set can be restored if necessary.
The second view and more expensive model involves taking a
back-up each night of the whole entire farm and then having that farms copy of
assets go to a local storage hub as well as offsite. In this model when I’m
talking farm – I mean the whole farm – virtual machines, databases, configurations,
site collections, sites, document libraries and lists, etc. In this model if
someone deletes a whole site – it could be recovered in full – regardless of
the size of the site. Also if someone deletes a library or list it can be
recovered. Additionally a policy under this model could be put in place to have
the data be stored for 90 to 120 days – which would be double the standard 30
day – end user recycle bin and then 30 day administrator recycle bin – that is
currently available.
Thus, this is a broad topic but my goal is short posts to
get you thinking!
