The Heat in SharePoint Semantics: January 20 – January 27
January 31, 2012
As always, SharePoint Semantics has delivered many posts that are vitally important to both SharePoint end users and search enthusiasts alike.
The first post that I would like to share with you is entitled “SharePoint Joel Lists Seven Actions to Take Before Calling Microsoft Support.” This post shares helpful hints on how to solve your SharePoint issues on your own before having to involve Microsoft.
Writer Ken Toth summarizes the key points:
“The seven things you should do are: 1. Review the Service Pack and Cumulative Update Level 2. Reboot / Recycle 3. Eliminate Third-Party Add-ons as the Issue 4. Engineers Escalate / Partner / Awareness (maybe you could solve the problem in-house if you asked engineering) 5. Isolate the Issue 6. Code Issue 7. Reach Out to the Community (Twitter and/or Newsgroups).”
Many organizations use wikis to gather and share ideas on SharePoint quickly and efficiently. The post “Build the Best Microsoft SharePoint Wiki You Can Build” shares virtues and tips on how to make a SharePoint wiki work effectively for your business.
Toth states:
“To be useful, the wiki must be easy to navigate and provide all of the resources the SharePoint end user needs linked into the wiki Home page. In this way the wiki can be a one-stop shop for information about every task team members need to accomplish. Contributions are limited in order to make sure the information is accurate.”
Another noteworthy post from this week is “Excellent Resources on End User Issues for Those New to SharePoint” which points beginners with no previous experience with SharePoint to small to medium-sized implementations to resources that can be of help.
After sharing the three helpful resources for SharPoint end users, Toth notes:
“The three resources above can be quite useful for beginning users of SharePoint in smaller deployments, but if you have frustrated end users in an enterprise deployment, look to Smartlogic. The Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform provides a comprehensive solution to frustrating out of the box SharePoint search and navigation.”
As always, while these articles provide helpful tips for users to efficiently overcome the lack of out-of-the box help that SharePoint provides, It is important that users recognize the web application platform’s limitations and utilize other products like Smartlogic’s Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform. Smartlogic fills in the gaps by using semantic technology to deliver information quickly and in context.
Jasmine Ashton, January 31, 2012
What’s Hot: Sharepoint Semantics Dec 30 – Jan 6
January 10, 2012
This week, SharePoint Semantics provided followers with several informative articles to help end users navigate through the mine field that is often associated with the SharePoint experience.
According to the post, “New Book Explains the Benefits of Silverlight for Microsoft SharePoint 2010,” a recently released book gives an extensive overview of how to package an application created with Silverlight, a browser plug in technology similar to Adobe Flash, so that it works well in SharePoint.
Writer Ken Toth states:
“The authors have also included new ideas that were not documented anywhere, such as an easier way of packaging Silverlight applications for deployment on SharePoint. The book’s audience is developers familiar with the .NET framework and has tutorials on the basics of both Silverlight and SharePoint development.”
Another post worth noting from this past week, shares seven recent webinars for free consumption. According to “Free Webinar Recordings of Notes Migrator SharePoint Partner Training Series” there are links to the audio and slides from Walch’s seven-week Partner Training webcasts on migrating Lotus Notes to SharePoint.
Toth aptly notes:
“Large migration projects can be tricky, and finding content once you have migrated to SharePoint can be even trickier. To solve both these issues, look to the Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform from Smartlogic as your migration tool to speed up SharePoint commissioning and add comprehensive taxonomy support.”
Recently, discussions regarding SharePoint governance have come into play as well as a certain graphic. The post “Pie Graphic from Microsoft – Should it be Used to Explain SharePoint?” shares one unique perspective on this issue.
Toth says:
“A survey follows the article polling users if they are using the SharePoint 2010 pie in presentations. Right now, most use the graphic judiciously depending on the audience. A graphic is a good approach to explaining the breadth and depth of the SharePoint platform, but as the author points out, there really isn’t another comparable compelling graphic out there besides the pie.”
In order to fully discuss and understand SharePoint effectively, it is important that end users utilize a variety of different resources. For those who don’t want to take the time and energy to follow these diverse points of view, and would rather easily boost the search and find experience, turn to Smartlogic and the Semaphore Content Intelligence Platform.
Jasmine Ashton, January 10, 2012
Ektron Brings Enterprise Search to SharePoint
December 23, 2011
SharePoint is a content management platform that markets itself as a product that anyone can use but, in reality, can be quite tricky without help from a third party solution. The Sacramento Bee reported on a new way to harness the power of existing information through enterprise search in “Ektron Announces Expanded Support for FAST Search for Microsoft SharePoint 2010.”
According to the article, Ektron, a privately held Web content management software company based in Nashua, New Hampshire, announced this week expanded support for FAST Search for Microsoft SharePoint.
We learned:
FAST Search for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is an enterprise search platform that delivers relevant, accurate and timely answers that help organizations use information for a competitive advantage. It helps people search intelligently, which reduces costs and risks with flexible, closed-loop enterprise search and security features. FAST Search for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 also helps harness the power of existing information assets and IT investments through flexible, standards-based enterprise integration.
While it is great to hear that Ektron is creating software to make SharePoint more user-friendly, we’re surprised that Ektron does not hook into more third party solutions. Our suggestion is that Ektron licensees take a close look at the Mindbreeze search and content processing solution. Our investigations suggest that users will benefit significantly.
Stephen E Arnold, December 23, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Use SurfRay to Process Excel Import
December 19, 2011
“Import Excel data to SharePoint List is a handy SharePoint 2007 addin that allows users to import the data stored in Excel spreadsheets into SharePoint.
“SharePoint lets a user create custom list from a spreadsheet, but lacks the ability to import data to an existing SP list. This feature, developed in C# .Net and easy to install, will do just that.”
Trade Tips and Prices at the SharePoint StackExchange
December 16, 2011
“We accept questions about the SharePoint platform. This is defined as the functionality within:· the SharePoint server range of products (i.e. SharePoint Foundation and Server, Windows SharePoint Services, SharePoint Portal Server)· SharePoint Designer· InfoPath where it integrates with SharePointWe also accept questions about community-owned, open source products based on the platform. We don’t accept questions about commercial products that integrate with, run on top of, or extend the platform. Questions can come from a variety of different roles… developers, admins and end-users are all welcome to ask questions here!”
SharePoint Forces Organizational Culture Shock
December 15, 2011
- “Structural Change. This type of change looks at the organization as a set of functional parts that need to be restructured. The parts are re-configured (re-organized) to achieve greater overall performance. Mergers and acquisitions are two examples of structural change.
- Cost Cutting. This type of change focuses on the elimination of nonessential activities or on other methods of squeezing costs out of operations.
- Process Change. This type of change focuses on altering how tasks and activities are accomplished. Examples include re-engineering processes or implementing a new decision-making framework. The introduction of new software products onto the desktop clearly falls into this type of change.
- Cultural Change. This type of change focuses on the human side of the organization, such as a company’s general approach to doing business or the relationship between its management and employees. Cultural change nearly always involves relational change. Since relationships are built on personal interaction, how people communicate and interact with each other helps build the culture. Introducing SharePoint Products and Technologies into your environment introduces culture changes because SharePoint Products and Technologies introduce new communication paths and new ways of relating to co-workers, partners, vendors, and customers.”
Grasp Your SharePoint Workflows and Evaluate Productivity
December 14, 2011
“Typically, the third party ISVs don’t replicate what SharePoint does, they extend it. So you can identify the “boundaries” of out-of-box functionality by seeing what the ISVs do!”
The Contested Fact: Sharepoint Has Social Media Potential
December 13, 2011
“They’ve [Microsoft] built a decent platform for lightweight file-oriented collaboration …but SharePoint only provides two of the 10 or 11 key applications enterprises are looking for in a social platform.”
Take a Gander at PowerShell to Generate a SharePoint Architecture Diagram
December 12, 2011
“Having a well-planned Information Architecture is critical for the success of a SharePoint implementation. Sometimes, as we all know, our environments get away from us and site owners start running frantic – sites are created without our knowledge or placed where they shouldn’t. You have had enough and it’s time for reorganization (and perhaps a new security model) – but how do you know what you have now in order to thoroughly plan things out?”
Obviousness Redux: Google Is the New Microsoft
December 11, 2011
I think our beloved publisher (Stephen E Arnold) discussed the Microsoftization of Google in his 2004 or 2005 monograph, The Google Legacy. But, in today’s world, reinventing the past is perfectly okay. Recycling information is what we do. We do it in this blog. “Steve Jobs Was Right: Google IS Turning Into Microsoft,” declares Business Insider. Writer Matt Rosoff recalls a conversation last spring between Google’s Larry Page and Apple’s beloved Steve Jobs. We learned from the write up:
“Jobs later recounted the conversation to his biographer Walter Isaacson. ’Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up. It’s now all over the map. What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest because they’re dragging you down. They’re turning you into Microsoft.’
We agree with Jobs: three or more tries to get a product right; then, if there’s no traction, kill the project. Page has indeed culled a number of underperforming assets; he also deserves props for improving employee retention.
However, Rosoff provides a list of ways in which Google still mirrors Microsoft. For example, both Google Search and Windows are “800-pound gorillas,” dominating their markets as well as providing most of their companies’ profits. There are other direct product comparisons: Google+ to Bing; Google Music to Zune; and Android to Xbox to name a few. See the piece for how these pairs relate, and for more similarities.
The trend is not necessarily bad. Rosoff points out that, though Microsoft isn’t on top the way it once was, it’s still a solid and highly profitable company. Google could do worse than to emulate Microsoft. Old news is new news. Oh, and the obvious is as it was seven years ago—obvious. How about this observation? Google+ (Google Plus) is the new search and it doesn’t work for me as well as the “old” Google. News? Probably to Google which is really an online ad agency in the me too business.
Cynthia Murrell, December 11, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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