Maximizing Value and Getting the
Most out of SharePoint
Scott Jamison
Chief Architect & CEO, Jornata LLC
About Scott Jamison
• Chief Architect at Jornata, a fullservice software consulting form
• Former Director at Microsoft
• Microsoft Certified Master (MCM)
• SharePoint MVP
• Author:
– Essential SharePoint 2007
– Essential SharePoint 2010
– Five whitepapers on SharePoint 2010
• scott.jamison@jornata.com
• @sjam
Assumptions
• You know what SharePoint is
• You want to know how to deploy it
*effectively*
• I’m going to talk fast…keep up! 
Getting the Most Out of SharePoint
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Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
Getting the Most Out of SharePoint
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Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
• Many customers
implement SharePoint by
dropping it into a team
environment with…
– Little to no configuration
– Little to no end-user guidance
– Wishing the users “best of luck”
• Use? Mostly for file
sharing
• Problem? Slower, more
expensive version of your
company file server!
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Investing the time and effort?
• Cost of servers
• Cost of storage
• Cost of customization
THEN:
You owe it to yourself to invest in governance, a
good information architecture and training
FACT:
Customers who use SharePoint
to its full potential are much
happier customers!
The SharePoint Customer Journey
Initial Deployment
Broad Adoption
Business Solutions
Deploy collaboration sites
that connect teams, improve
access to information and
increase productivity
Deliver advanced workloads
that broaden adoption, drive
compliance and reduce the
cost of maintain multiple
systems
Build tailored business
solutions that provide insights,
improve decisions and increase
organizational agility
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Getting the Most Out of SharePoint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
Governance: What’s all the HYPE?
What is governance, exactly?
You know it when you see it.
Without it, you get…SharePoint
Governance Simplified…The Analogy
• GOAL: You want to create an easy way for
people to get around
• SO YOU: Create a project called “Highway
System”
• You invest heavily in infrastructure (fuelefficient cars, excellent roadways, gas stations,
etc.)
BUT…you neglect to
invest in the “rules of
the road”
–Drive on the right
–Stop at intersections
Without them, there’s
chaos!
SharePoint Governance
• So…in short:
– It’s really just guidance
(and rules) that you give
to users
– Must be coupled with
training and
consequences
“Governance without
enforcement is merely
suggestion.”
Q: Who is your traffic
cop?
Getting the Most Out of SharePoint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
Adoption Does Not 'Just Happen'
Reach critical mass to stay in the game
VHS and Betamax: adoption x time
Tipping point
Crossing the Chasm
critical mass
critical mess
It’s about the Content
• SharePoint itself isn’t going to do anything for you
without good content.
• Designate content owners!
• Keep it FRESH
Content Governance Example
Content Site or Page
Content Manager
Update/Review Frequency
Doug S.
Daily
News Home Page
—Press Releases
Phil T.
Scott G.
Weekly
When new releases are generated
—Announcements
Scott G.
When new announcements are made
—Industry News
Community Home Page
(none)
Self-authored through RSS feeds
Mary P.
Weekly
—Events
Dave F.
When events are added/removed as
needed
—Media
Susanne V.
When company event or other event
takes place with media documentation
—Executive Blog
Homer S.
Teams
(none)
—Team Sites
Mark B.
Search (specifically keywords, acronyms and best
bets)
John S.
Semi-annually reviewed, and as new
keywords, acronyms are added
Audiences
Mark B.
As user roles change or new users are
created/old users removed
Intranet Home Page (web parts, lists)
Weekly, one per executive member
Search and creation functionality — no
content
Semi-annually
Getting the Most Out of SharePoint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
Common Search Complaints
Really…there’s one:
“I can’t find what I’m looking for!”
Search: Before/After
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•
•
•
•
two docs…but they don't look like the right ones
no definition…what does it mean?
no best bet for top link
no people who can help me
no way to provide feedback on bad results
Make Search Work
• You can get search to work!
– INVEST IN IT
– Help users help themselves
• Example: Title property, content tagging
– Manage search keywords, definitions, best bets
– Add acronyms, industry terms
– Even if you don’t enable MySites, add user profiles
– Add surveys for user feedback
– Monitor search queries via reporting
Search: Before/After
• Two docs that look correct
• Handy definition
• Best bet for top link that
can help me
• Person(s) who can help me
• A way to provide feedback
on bad results
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Getting the Most Out of SharePoint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
Provide a Social Identity
• Why? Enables Users to:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Gather insight
Provide social feedback in the form of ratings, comments, and tags
Find an ‘expert’
Provide an accurate organization chart
Target information
Sync to Outlook via the social connector
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About “My Sites”
• User Profiles = White Pages/Expert Search
• MySites = “Personal” Site Collections
• You don’t need to deploy personal sites if you
want profiles!
Getting the Most Out of SharePoint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
ADOPTION CURVE: EXAMPLE
Getting the Most Out of SharePoint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
Give SharePoint Ongoing love
• Common mistake:
–
–
–
–
Invest a lot in the infrastructure
Invest a lot in customization
Maybe even invest in governance & training
BUT…
• Fail to invest in ongoing “love” to keep things happy
• YOU MUST give SharePoint care and feeding over time
• Plan to have an expert assess SharePoint and give it a tune-up
every six months or so
It’s like your car manual…
Frequency
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Quarterly
Semi-Annually
Recommended Actions

Review and update homepage content, checking to see any ‘daily’ reminders or announcements are up to
date and content remains fresh.

Update purchasing guidelines with any changes for the day.

Remind an executive team member (or each executive team member) to post a new blog post about the
company, community, industry, or other pertinent topic.

Update processes docs (or as changes occur).

Review and update events and calendar entries for the month (these should also be added or removed as
new events and calendar dates are scheduled/cancelled).

Review and update any marketing materials to ensure team members are always using the current
branding and other formats for any template materials.
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Review and update versions of all forms to ensure proper documents are being used by the team.
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Update any seasonal promotions
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Review user audience groups, ensure users are in the right audiences, and modify outdated audiences
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Evaluate cumulative Windows/SharePoint updates; reboot server machine regardless, each quarter
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Annually
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Twice per year the content owner of the Team Sites should review what sites haven’t been used in the last
6 months and have little or no page views. They should then contact the site creator or owner of these
sites and recommend removing them, keeping team sites relevant and useful.
The employee handbook and other HR resources (forms, reference docs, vacation policies, etc.) should be
reviewed and updated as needed by the HR content owner.
Review search keywords, term store, and acronyms, removing any duplicated content, adding new
keywords and terms, and updating any new acronyms as needed.
The governance board should review the governance document, updating with any changes that may have
taken place in SharePoint policies and processes.
Summary: Getting the Most out of SharePoint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Go All-In or Don’t Bother
Invest in Governance
Remember: It’s About the Content
Get Search Right
Give Everyone a Profile Page
Plan for End-User Adoption
Give SharePoint Ongoing Love
Have a great day!
Thank you!
•
•
•
•
Follow me @sjam
Scott.jamison@jornata.com
www.scottjamison.com
www.jornata.com
• Follow me on Twitter for your
chance to win a book!
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@SJAM