SharePoint: The Good, The Bad,
and The Ugly
SharePoint as a Content
Management Platform for the
Uninitiated
12/1/2009
Marcel Meth
1
Agenda
•
•
•
•
•
What is SharePoint
Preliminaries
SharePoint By Example
Beyond the Example
Take Aways
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What is SharePoint?
•
“SharePoint is an enterprise information portal, from Microsoft, that can be configured to run Intranet, Extranet and Internet sites. Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server 2007 allows people, teams and expertise to connect and collaborate. A SharePoint enterprise portal is composed of both
SharePoint Portal and Windows SharePoint Services, with SharePoint being built upon WSS. WSS is typically used by small teams, projects and
companies. SharePoint Server is designed for individuals, teams and projects within a medium to large company wide enterprise portal”
• When I hear people answer the question, this is what I hear:
“It is both a floor wax and a dessert topping!” Here, I'll spray some on your mop, and some on your butterscotch pudding.
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To me, SharePoint is:
• The ability for end users to manage content in
a variety of forms online without necessarily
having to enlist IT to do so.
• My working definition:
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Document
Management
Enterprise
Content
Management
Records
Management
Web Content
Management
Marcel Meth
SharePoint
4
SharePoint by Example
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Preliminaries: SharePoint Timeline
Painful upgrade
SPS 2001
Confusing
Offering
SPS 2003
• Doc Mgmt
• Portal
• Basic search
• Personalization
• Forms
• Webparts
• Web Content
Mgmt
WSS,
MOSS,
Search
2007
Good
Bad
Ugly
Quick to stand up a site.
Need clients to be MS
friendly & carefully setup
UI is clunky, not pretty, &
everything looks like
SharePoint.
Works well for
closed/controlled
communities
Too many SKUs
Navigation
Lists – End users can
create pseudo databases
Lists are limited
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MS Documentation is
poor.
Upgrade is
supposed to be
better
• SPS 2003 +
• BI & Connect to
data
• Search ++
• Excel Services
• Extranets
• Records
Management
2010
• Firefox & Safari
• Ajax
• Connect to data ++
• Internet
Repositioning
User management /
creation
List interfaces are ugly
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Preliminaries: Who’s involved?
• Anonymous viewer
• Contribute content
• Participate in business
processes
Non Technical User
(Browser Only)
SharePoint Analyst
• Gather User Requirements
• Customize Sites and Libraries
• Customize Look & Feel / Branding
• Build custom solutions
”Technically Savvy User”
(Browser & SharePoint Designer)
Developer
(Browser, SharePoint
Designer, & Visual Studio)
• Hardcore .NET Developer: Builds code that
must be installed through the back end
interfaces.
• Build repeatable solutions
Administrator
(Browser, Server
Consoles, Desktops)
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• System, Network, Desktop, Security, and Database
Administration
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams)
• Request – “Build an interactive web site for the
Newton Eco Teams Project.” Newton has ~80,000 residents
• No real requirements up front: Site evolved in a
series of iterations.
• Mission:
Eco-Teams, groups of 5-8 people from different households, meet
three or four times to work through a fun, easy-to-use workbook
called The Low Carbon Diet, which shows, step-by-step, how to
dramatically reduce CO2 output in just a month's time. You learn to:
•Calculate your CO2 footprint with an easy-to-use online
carbon calculator.
•Create cool household systems that save the earth while
saving you money.
•Take on cool lifestyle practices to reduce CO2 emissions.
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 2
• What you should know
– This site is hosted by apps4rent on a WSS server.
– Cost is low ($9 / month, unlimited users,
performance is good)
– Numerous occasions I would
have liked to use MOSS.
– No access to back end
• No developers
• Very little ability to administrate
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 3
• What an anonymous user sees
User Clicks
here to sign in
– Brochure ware
Clicking on
“form a team”
initiates a
human
workflow
process
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 4
User Clicks
here to sign in
• SharePoint Analyst
– User can contribute
content.
• In WSS vs MOSS
– WSS has no
publishing model.
– MOSS does have an
approval workflow
& publishing model.
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 5
• Adding an account (Ugly!)
– This is usually done by using Active Directory in a closed community.
– For our example, apps4rent uses custom forms based authentication.
SharePoint Anlyst
Anonymous user
requests access
• Creates an
account
• Sends back email
Anonymous user
logs in, they are
now an
authenticated user.
There are third party products that can improve
user account handling and password reset. But
you need the Administrator to install them.
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 6
• SharePoint Analyst
– User can connect web parts so that they pass data to each other.
Text box passes term to filter
contacts.
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 6
• SharePoint Analyst
creates a list.
• Non Technical User
can now enter data in
a form that is associated
with the list.
Good
Bad
Forms come for free as part of
a list
Forms are not very friendly
Lists provide a good repository
for data. (Pseudo Database)
List functionality is limited
Ugly
Difficult to get a User Interface
that makes sense .
SharePoint 2010 has improved
lists significantly
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 7
• Comparing Excel with a SharePoint list
–
–
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Excel provides a much richer user experience with immediate graphical
feedback and totals.
SharePoint lists are able to prefill somewhat intelligently.
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 8
• SharePoint can retrieve
data that is embedded in Excel
• Why not store each household's data in their own personal Excel file?.
– This would be a good solution if you could control the end user desktops. In enterprise
settings you can do this.
X
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 9
• If we wanted to create a repeatable solution
for each town in Massachusetts, then we
would definitely need a developer.
…
Eco Team site for
Boston
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Eco Team site for
Everette
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SharePoint by Example (Eco Teams) 8
• Dashboards in SharePoint
– WSS enables a summary view
– MOSS enables charts &
– MOSS can connect to
data on other data providers.
Bad
Concept of showing
aggregate data is great.
Aggregate views are
not very rich
SharePoint 2010 promises
to fix a lot of issues.
Lots of bugs with Office
files and SharePoint
Work around:
1. Proficient jQuery guru
2. CorasWorks
3. Bamboo web parts
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(Hoping they get this right in
2010)
Ugly
If you use the SharePoint
charting and data
connectors, then the
solution requires MOSS
enterprise, which is very
expensive
Marcel Meth
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Gasoli
ne
Garba
ge
lbs of CO2
Good
CO2 Used
Electri
c
Natur
al
Gas
Oil
Year
Water
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SharePoint Beyond the Example
• Excel Services
– Can serve as a reporting tool.
– Upload spreadsheet to
SharePoint. Users do not
need Excel on their desktop.
– Not a replacement for data
collection (forms)
Good
Concept is great!
Bad
Excel Services is V1,
and still limited
Ugly
Very limited user
input capability.
Allows workbook to
connect to data from
server.
SharePoint 2010
promises to fix a lot of
issues.
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SharePoint Beyond the Example 2
• “Social” SharePoint
– My Sites
– Blogs
– Wikis
Good
Concepts are good.
SharePoint 2010 promises
to fix a lot of issues.
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Bad
In 2007, these were all
V1, and it shows
– Discussions
– Surveys
– User Profiles
Ugly
They are not very rich
and the UI is not
intuitive.
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SharePoint: Beyond the Example 3
• Data Gathering and Business Process Workflows
– Requires careful planning and
customization to setup.
Tech
Savvy
User
• Info Path
• SharePoint Designer Workflows
• Visual Studio
Developer
Good
Bad
Ugly
One can build a powerful
automated workflow that can
capture data from humans
Users need to have the
InfoPath client installed.
(Windows friendly client
machines)
Alternative: Use the
forms server. This is
expensive and requires a
developer or
Administrator to deploy
the forms.
Really sophisticated
workflows requires the use
of Visual Studio, thus a
developer needs to be
engaged.
Alternative: *Use the third
party tools from:
• Nintex
•K2
A SharePoint Analyst can
accomplish a great deal.
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*http://www.sharepointks.com/post/K2-or-Nintex-Which-is-better.aspx
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SharePoint: Beyond the Example 4
• Web Content Management & Deployment
– This is a V1 feature set (Comes from the old Microsoft CMS
product)
– MOSS Enterprise
– Requires Back end administrative privileges to deploy
content.
Good
Bad
Good strategy
Buggy
2010 has a great deal of
improvements.
Need to involve
administrator.
Need MOSS
Publishing functionality
is confusing and
requires users who are
savvy.
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Marcel Meth
Ugly
SharePoint User
Interface is not elegant
enough for a customer
facing site. Thus one
must spend quite a bit of
time and energy to get a
functional and
aesthetically pleasing
branded site.
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SharePoint: Beyond the Example 5
• Search
– One of Microsoft's biggest competitors is Google
– Google sells an appliance for enterprise search.
– Microsoft has a spectrum of search solutions that are coupled
with different versions of SharePoint.
– What you should know about enterprise search:
•
•
•
•
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People are often disappointed by enterprise search
Getting Enterprise search to work well is resource intensive
You can purchase starter dictionaries
You probably want someone who specializes in search.
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SharePoint: Beyond the Example 6
• Records Management
A record is a document or other electronic or physical entity in an organization that
serves as evidence of an activity or transaction performed by the organization and
that requires retention for some time period. Records management is the process
by which an organization:
Good
Bad
Good
strategy
Difficult to
debug.
2010 should
be better
Need to involve
administrator.
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 Determines what types of information should be considered records.
 Determines how active documents that will become records should be handled while
they are in use, and determines how they should be collected once they are declared to
be records.
 Determines in what manner and for how long each record type should be retained to
meet legal, business, or regulatory requirements.
 Researches and implements technological solutions and business processes to help
ensure that the organization complies with its records management obligations in a costeffective and non-intrusive way.
 Performs records-related tasks such as disposing of expired records, or locating and
protecting records related to external events such as lawsuits.
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Take-Aways
1.
SharePoint consists of a broad portfolio of tools that allows you to
quickly standup solutions in a browser.
SharePoint works best with a controlled “Microsoft Friendly”
desktop environment.
SharePoint users:
2.
3.
•
•
•
•
4.
5.
Non Technical
Analyst
Programmer
Administrator
SharePoint sites require effort to make them look good.
Authentication needs to be carefully planned
•
6.
SharePoint Authentication designed to be used with Active Directory.
UI is clunky, but SP 2010 shows a lot of promise.
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Take-Aways continued
7. Third party eco system can be helpful, need an
administrator to install
•
•
•
CorasWorks – Charting & Data Connectivity
Nintex & K2 – Workflow
Bamboo Solutions – Variety of Webparts
8. “Social” SharePoint – Not really for external use.
9. Don’t be fooled by Search, it is hard to implement
well.
10. Records Management and Web Content Management
will probably be robust in 2010.
11. “Repeatable” implementations often need a
developer to be involved.
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Marcel Meth
Questions
marcelmeth@mathft.com
www.mathft.com
The Mathft Technology Group - specializing in
SharePoint configuration and customization for real
world businesses
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