Protected: What SharePoint is All About
March 20, 2012
How to Improve SharePoint Information Architecture
March 20, 2012
Over at the SharePoint Pro Blog, Robert Bogue recently posted, “5 Steps to Making SharePoint Information Architecture Work for You.” Information architecture can be an extensive process, creating the structure and tools for your information such that it can be stored, retrieved, and managed in the most efficient way. In the article, Bogue covers some productive steps to take toward creating better information architecture. First on Bogue’s list is to identify attributes:
Identifying the attributes is typically a process of identifying all of the content in your organization that people want to store and find. This might include invoices, purchase orders, time sheets, et cetera. Each of these has a series of attributes such as the invoice date, customer ID, or vendor ID. These may be valuable for organizing the information for retrieval.
Identifying attribute values and creating ranges and groups are also discussed. Of course, you cannot leave out designing a powerful search and navigation experience when discussing an organization’s custom architecture.
This light read is a good introduction to Information Architecture and provides some basic ways to beef up your existing system. But to strengthen your SharePoint system while spending less time on training and configuring add-ons, consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Part of the full suite of solutions is the Fabasoft Folio Connector, which provides uniform, reliable management of your digital content. Here is a highlight:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is able to search all data sources connected to the platform simultaneously. In addition to data from, for example, Microsoft Exchange or the file system, the Fabasoft Folio Connector allows to query information objects and documents from Fabasoft Folio, too.
Learn more about connecting your enterprise-wide information assets at Mindbreeze, where they seem to have the benefits of a proper installation down pat.
Philip West, March 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Go Green with Cloud Based PLM
March 20, 2012
The green movement has now permeated into manufacturing as more and more customers are demanding green and clean manufacturing practices and willing to put their money where their mouth is. In the article, It is Easy Being Green!, on Supply & Demand Chain Executive, the role of product lifecycle management (PLM) in producing the clean and green manufacturing processes is discussed in length, along with examples of companies attempting to use PLM to bolster sales from green thinking customers.
As to how PLM can help companies receive the desired results, the article explains:
“Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) can play a vital role in driving the sustainability benchmarks in Request for Application (RFA) environments. By design, PLM provides an excellent platform to collaborate important information related to the materials used, packaging and compliance that can be integrated in product development. PLM also can be effectively used to monitor and improve the green governing factors in the product development phase, especially those that directly impact our environment.”
Many outside the PLM industry do not realize that established PLM providers have been helping businesses of all sizes streamline manufacturing thus creating clean and green practices as a by-product for years. Inforbix, a PLM solutions provider is large enough to offer clients cloud based services yet is still small enough to offer a customized solution with excellent customer service. By helping clients move to the cloud and by creating efficient product data access Inforbix users are able to find, use and share data with the minimal amount of waste possible.
Catherine Lamsfuss, March 20, 2012
Inteltrax: Top Stories, March 12 to March 16
March 19, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, how some online sources are embracing the big data revolution.
One of the hottest names in online retail in the last 12 months, is breaking analytic ground, according to “Groupon Expands into Big Data,” but is that a good idea?
Another online giant is losing a little analytic ground to its social media competitors, as we learned in “Facebook No Longer Biggest Analytic Source” .
The internet presence of nonprofits has certainly increased and analytics is helping them help more people, according to “Nonprofit Analytics Could Spell Big Business” .
Just like with any industry, the online world has taken a shine to analytics. The results, much like anywhere else tend to be positive, but also involves some shrinking. No matter who’s involved or what direction they’re headed, it’s a fascinating ride and we’ll be monitoring it every day.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
March 19, 2012
Protected: 101 Complex SharePoint Samples
March 19, 2012
Google and the Enterprise: The Point? Money
March 19, 2012
You must read “Google Enterprise chief Girouard Heads to Startup Upstart.com.” I wondered if a simple executive shuffle many months after a de facto demotion was news. Apparently the poobahs and “real” journalists find a Xoogler worthy of a headline. I have a different view about Google and the enterprise. I write about Google’s latest adventures in my Enterprise Technology Management column, published in the UK, each month.
Google pumped quite a bit of time, effort, money, and Google mouse pads into its enterprise initiative. In the salad days, Google could not learn enough about the companies dominating the enterprise search space. As I researched my Google monographs, I was picking up from interview subjects anecdotal information about the paucity of knowledge Googlers had about what enterprise procurement teams required.
In one memorable, yet still confidential interaction, Google allegedly informed a procurement manager that Google disagreed with a requirement. Now, if that were true, that is something one hears about a kindergarten teacher scolding a recalcitrant five year old. Well, that may have been a fantasy, but there were enough rumblings about a lack of customer support, a “fluid” approach to partners, and a belief that whatever Google professionals did was the “one true path.” I never confused Google and Buddha, but for some pundits, Google was going to revolutionize the enterprise. Search was just the pointy end of the spear. The problem, of course, is that organizations are not Googley. In fact, Googley-type actions make some top dogs uncomfortable.
What happened?
Based on my research, which I shifted to the back burner, I learned:
- Google was unable to put on an IBM type suit. The Googley stuff opened doors, but the old Wendy’s hamburger ad sums up what happened after the mouse pads and sparkle pins were distributed: “Where’s the beef?”
- The products and services were not industrial strength and ready for prime time. The notion of an endless beta and taxi meter pricing, no matter how “interesting”, communicated a lack of commitment.
- The enterprise market likes the idea of paying money to be able to talk to a person who in most cases semi-cares about a problem. AT&T makes tons of dough making clients pay four times an engineer’s salary to get a human on the phone any time. Google delegated support down to partners. Won’t work. A Fortune 100 company wants to call Google, not send an email.
- Pricing. If you are not sure what the ballpark cost for indexing 100 million documents using a search appliance, ensuring 24×7 uptime, and backing up—navigate to www.gsaadvantage.com and look up the price of a Google Search Appliance. Now figure out how much it will cost to process an additional one million documents. How’s that price grab you?
When Larry Page assumed control of the company, I wrote about the wizards who were reporting directly to him. The head of the enterprise unit was not one of those folks. My conclusion: game over.
Like AOL, the notion of having a Google person on staff is darned appealing to some, but as the AOL experience makes clear, a Xoogler is not a sure fire money maker.
Here’s the quote I jotted down from the GigaOM story:
Still, market share and revenue may never have been Google’s goal. By offering a lower-cost option to the Office/Exchange tandem, Google forced the market leader to respond, and that may have been the point all along.
Baloney. Google expected to have big outfits roll over and wag their tail. The US government did not roll over. Most big IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle customers did not roll over. More important, the new wave of enterprise service and solutions providers did not roll over. Why? A lack of focus and a dependence on online advertising, legal hassles, privacy chatter, and a failure to deliver competitive products and services made the enterprise initiative a tough sell. Betas may be great for market tests. For the enterprise, a beta may be a hindrance.
Stephen E Arnold, March 19, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Combine the Cloud and On-Premise Capabilities in SharePoint
March 19, 2012
Over at the SharePoint Pro Blog, Chris McNulty recently posted, “The SharePoint Decision: Do We Choose Cloud or On-Premises?” In the article, the author looks at SharePoint Online versus on-premises SharePoint. SharePoint Online lacks a few features found in an on-premises farm, but SharePoint Online opens new doors that are appealing. McNulty offers a list of questions to ask yourself with respective scores for each answer that may help you decide between the two SharePoint options.
McNulty has this to say:
It’s also important to remember that a cloud vision is almost always a future-looking strategy. Since the cloud is uniformly available, it’s easier to deliver content to users with less respect for their immediate location or device (PCs, tablets, smartphones). Similarly, although Office 365 and SharePoint Online lack features relative to on-premises SharePoint, this isn’t expected to be a permanent situation. If we project forward through the next release of SharePoint, we can forecast a time when the on-premises and cloud versions of SharePoint provide nearly identical functions.
The guidance questions cover a variety of topics, such as the extent of your SharePoint IT team, geographic limitations, and budget outlooks. These questions may be helpful to help you evaluate your system, but we like a simpler solution. Consider a third party solution that combines the best of both worlds. A solution worth a close look is Fabasoft Mindbreeze. One of the key components in their full suite of solutions is the information pairing technology:
Our information pairing technology makes you unbeatable. Information pairing brings enterprise information and information in the Cloud together. This gives you an overall image of a company’s knowledge. This is the basis for your competitive advantage. In this way you can act quickly, reliably, dynamically and profitably in all business matters. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise and the Cloud fit perfectly together. The Cloud makes you and your business mobile – Mindbreeze makes itself at home in the Cloud.
Read more about the integrated solution that requires no installation at Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Philip West, March 19, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
PLM Conference Scheduled for the Retail Industry
March 19, 2012
The manufacturing industry is no longer alone. The apparel industry has taken notice of all the advantages that product lifecycle management (PLM) provides. In fact, the industry is hosting their second annual conference as reported in the article, “TXT Announce the 2012 TXT Retail Thinking Event”, on Which PLM, that focuses on Integral Retail Planning and PLM.
With the success of the first conference, TXT e-solutions in collaboration with Microsoft and Kurt Salmon, “with an even richer agenda, more testimonials, debates, deep insights into best practices, solutions and technology for Integrated Retail Planning and PLM.” Guest speakers include “TXT’s customers Desigual, Guess, Louis Vuitton Malletier, Marc Jacobs and Verywear.”
“During the Event, guest speakers, along with Kurt Salmon, Microsoft and TXT experts will discuss the value that Integrated Planning and PLM best practice processes, solutions and technologies can bring to multi-channel retailing, while special emphasis will be placed on the practical actions that need to be taken to move to the next level of maturity.”
Retail PLM is certainly growing and tech companies are taking notice as well. Companies like Inforbix, are crossing that manufacturing line and assisting numerous industries with their product data. Inforbix has developed a new approach to find, reuse and share product data and we expect that the apparel industry to utilize this new technology.
Jennifer Wensink, March 19, 2012
Wild and Crazy Analysis: The New March Madness
March 18, 2012
You must read each and every word of the article “Is Google Facing the Beginning of the End?” Now that you have read the write up, answer these questions. Take your time. You won’t get a grade, but you will have an opportunity to figure out whether you are more like the former Forrester “expert” or more like the addled goose in rural Kentucky.
Question 1: Is Google simplifying?
My view is that Google is more complex than ever. Want to set up a Google Custom Search Engine? You will need more skill that it takes to fire up the word processor and write a Forrester- or Gartner-type generalization.
Question 2: Is IBM focused?
My view is that any company which buys overlapping and duplicative products and bets its future on selling expertise to help companies make those products work may not fly here in Harrod’s Creek. IBM is a consulting firm but it has quite a few other activities and many activities means a lack of focus. How does one explain Lucene based Watson and the purchase of i2 Group? A lack of focus is my answer.
Question 3: Is it a surprise that Microsoft faces challenges?
I believe that the larger an outfit becomes the larger the challenges. And if there are not enough external challenges, the insiders will whip some up. My view is that a large corporation is a fiesta of challenges.
Question 4: Is Netscape a factor in anyone’s life today?
Wow, I did not expect Netscape as a case example from an azure chip consultant. My view is that Netscape had its moment in the sun and management muffed the bunny. Sure, Microsoft played a part, but there is no pass for lousy management.
Question 5: Did Sun forget what it was or was Sun an example of transcendentally bad management?
Sun was the engine of the Internet and then it wasn’t. Oracle’s acquisition of Sun may drag Oracle under water. Once again, my answer is management. Period.
Question 6: Do we need to be reminded that Yahoo is the poster child for Silicon Valley’s decline? At Yahoo, different management teams tried to make decisions which would move the company forward. What happened was a weird environment in which silos crowded out the corn fields. Yahoo makes clear that when there is money, an Internet centric company will try many things and avoid the big things. I submit that Yahoo embodies the “Yahoo principle.” I wish Laurence Peters were alive.
Question 7: Is Google edging toward evil?
My answer is that Google is doing what publicly traded companies do. Management is the issue. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, the US government, and any other exogenous entity and action are not the problem. After 13 years, Google will be Google.
Question 8: is Facebook error prone?
My answer is that Facebook manifests the same type of errors one associates with a company run by a founder who is essentially technical and not too keen on the MBA type of life experience. More excitement will be forthcoming from Facebook. The train is in motion and the tracks are not true.
Question 9: Is there a 1-2-3 recipe for killing a company?
My answer: There are 50 ways to leave a lover and just one way to kill a company: no money. Without dough, no go. You can put lipstick on a pig, but if you have money, it will be called art. If you are broke, you are a can or two short of a six pack.
Did your answers match mine?
Stephen E Arnold, March 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Walmart Transparent Dream for PLM Applicable to All
March 16, 2012
Typically, engineers and IT managers located deep in the bowels of manufacturing plants are the only ones interested in the ins and outs of product lifecycle management (PLM). Walmart wanted to thrust PLM into the hands of buyers with a program that turns the usually dense practice of PLM into a transparent method of determining a product’s value. In the article, VIEWPOINT: Has Walmart lost sight of its green vision?, on Just-Style, Walmart’s dedication to ‘going green’ through focusing on PLM is challenged by their lack of evidence as proof.
The author explains Walmart’s noble yet inconceivably difficult aspiration:
“Suppliers would be required to calculate the full environmental costs of making their products and the ultimate vision was to see clothing labels that would not only display size, price and care instructions but also information like how much cotton was used and how many product miles were consumed to get an item such as a T-shirt into the store.”
Walmart is unique in its desire to push PLM into the forefront of the marketplace but the idea of breaking down the barriers separating PLM experts back in the IT department from the rest of the team is on the money. For PLM to truly be successful there must be accountability. To have accountability there must be a broad understanding across departments of large companies. One of the many benefits of hiring a smaller-sized PLM provider is the intimate relationship that develops between the provider and customer. As part of the package employee training and customer support is the cornerstone. As usual Walmart’s idea is great and smart businesses will pick up where they have left off and make PLM more transparent in their own companies.
Catherine Lamsfuss, March 16, 2012
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