Thanks Be For A Guide to SharePoint Server 2010 Search

November 24, 2011

To understand SharePoint’s FAST Search Server, it’s smart to work your way up by first understanding SharePoint Server 2010 Search. “Configuring Enterprise Search in SharePoint 2010” is a useful guide that covers search features and has lots of screen shots. A handy flow chart visualizes the following:

“SharePoint 2010 search architecture is made up of the Crawler, Indexing Engine, Query Engine and the User Interface and Query Object Model.  We now have greater flexibility and expandability with our search design in 2010 and can setup not only multiple Query Servers but can now scale out our Index server and add multiple instances.”

Savvy businesses know the benefits of collaborative content management with integrated search – add access to the constantly growing information in the Cloud, and company knowledge gets a big boost. For those needing a deeper solution that has the ability to answer enterprise search needs in the cloud, you may want to explore Mindbreeze.

Their information pairing technology results in a complete overview of a company’s knowledge, merging enterprise information with Cloud information.

Sara Wood, November 24, 2011

Sponsored by Pandia.com

Protected: Mobile Devices and SharePoint Have Opposing Views

November 23, 2011

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Plan for Content Management Growth: Tools and Considerations

November 23, 2011

With SharePoint 2010 and its widespread deployment, many are beginning to take stock of the lack of growth planning when it comes to content management systems. With the overwhelming growth of electronic content in just the last few years, preparations must be made for the future.  No one can truly predict information volume in coming years, but some steps should be taken.  Don Jones explores the theme in, “Set early plans to manage growth of your SharePoint 2010 deployment.”

The three main areas Jones focuses on are: security, managing SQL server, and keeping track of SharePoint.

“It’s key to think hard about how the group will manage SharePoint and what policies will be adopted to control — but not necessarily limit — its growth. With the right plan in place, organizations get a better return on their investments and ultimately prevent SharePoint from creeping out of control.”

We think that careful planning is important in any software implementation.  Even still, maybe SharePoint isn’t the most flexible solution for long-term needs.  A content management solution suite like Fabasoft Mindbreeze can meet all of your current needs with plenty of room for expansion and potential future surprises.  Utilization of the Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance ensures that all of Jones’ main points above are heeded.

“The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance is the optimal basis for highly efficient enterprise-wide search and easy configuration.  To utilize the full potential of a software solution it is essential that hard- and software are fully aligned. Even more, the required time for deployment to the user is critical for gaining the highest ROI. The Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance components have been optimally synchronized in numerous tests.”

So while planning is essential, and should be regarded with any content management implementation, some solutions are more naturally suited to future growth.  Mindbreeze and its agile solutions are worth consideration.

Emily Rae Aldridge, November 23, 2011

Sponsored by: Pandia.com

Overcoming SharePoint Infrastructure Woes

November 22, 2011

The IT blogosphere has no lack of discussion of SharePoint and its implementation.  What is SharePoint and how is it best used?  One thing is certain – SharePoint is no out-of-the-box solution.  Without careful planning, implementation, and customization, a company will fail to reap any benefit from SharePoint, and may even suffer confusion and frustration in the process.  Symon Garfield defines SharePoint as an infrastructure, expounding on its strengths and weaknesses in, “The Art of SharePoint Success: Strategy – What Is SharePoint?”

“The benefits are derived from the services that are implemented on the infrastructure rather than from the infrastructure itself and so it is with SharePoint. This is one contributing factor to the difficulties that many organizations face in creating a business case for SharePoint . . . Often the first SharePoint project in an organization has to bear the costs of implementing the infrastructure, even though the benefits are spread across the multiple solutions it enables.”

This initial report does not sound promising.  With the furious and indiscriminate adoption of SharePoint since its 2010 update, one has to wonder if most people are making the most of their enterprise search infrastructure.  Probably not.  So what is to be done?  How do we optimize the “benefits derived from the services that are implemented on the infrastructure?”

One solution that we have found is Fabasoft Mindbreeze, a substantive suite of information management solutions.  Where SharePoint offers only an empty infrastructure, Mindbreeze provides meaning and context.

“Highly efficient enterprise search and specific connectors link together data sources in companies and organizations. They integrate the knowledge of different sections of a company into a uniform, linked whole.  Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise finds every scrap of information within a very short time, whether document, contract, note, e-mail or calendar entry, in intranet or internet, person- or text-related. The software solution finds all required information, regardless of source, for its users.”

Enterprise search, when done well, is an essential business tool for managing the information storage and retrieval needs of the modern day.  But finding a solution that makes sense, and produces benefits without the hassle of tricky implementation, is paramount.  We think Mindbreeze is worth a second look.

Emily Rae Aldridge, November 22, 2011

Protected: CRM Integration Finally Arrives for SharePoint

November 22, 2011

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Protected: The Best SharePoint Denali-SQL 2012 Enhancements for Disaster Recovery

November 18, 2011

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Mindbreeze Can Stand with World’s Finest CRM

November 18, 2011

Denis Pombriant tips his hat to the ever-popular singing competition and reports on trends in CRM in, “CRM Idol: An insider’s look at the judging process.”  CRM Idol was put together by Paul Greenberg and intended to bring attention to the growing field as well as reward those who are excelling in the world of CRM.

Pombriant reports on what he learned about CRM through his analysis of the competition:

“Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the competition for me was just being exposed to CRM from around the world. We often think in terms of English-language applications and perhaps assume that all the good software emanates from the U.S. That’s just not true.”

We agree that some of the best solutions are non-US based.  One agile solution that we like is Fabasoft Mindbreeze.  Based in Austria, it exhibits the worldly sensibility mentioned above.  However, Mindbreeze and its semantic capabilities can adjust to any number of contexts.  Furthermore, Mindbreeze is a suite of solutions, offering an answer to all of your needs: mobile, email, and enterprise.  Mindbreeze goes beyond a CRM solution, but rather proposes an integrated and holistic application for an entity’s information organization and retrieval needs.

As more independent software vendors (ISVs) hit the market in response to the swelling tide of electronic information, solutions need to be smart and lean in order to be functional.  Too much training time or too steep a learning curve, and usability is lost.  With Fabasoft Mindbreeze, you get a solution that works without a lot of up-front expense in implementation and training.  Take a second look and see if Fabasoft Mindbreeze is the solution for you.

*Disclaimer – Mindbreeze is currently upgrading their website.  Links will be checked and if problems arise they will be updated.  Thanks for your patience.

Emily Rae Aldridge, November 18, 2011

How to Personalize Your SharePoint Lists

November 18, 2011

Lately, we’ve been bringing SharePoint articles that focus on a list of some sort. Now we bring you an article that is centered on “Setting Query String Values on SharePoint Forms Using XSLT and Javascript” from the Sieena blog. In layman’s terms, it gives tips on working with list within SharePoint. How great is that?!

“In some cases, you may want to show your SharePoint list forms (new, edit, display, etc) in a specific layout or showing/hiding values to your will, this is something you cannot do using out of the box SharePoint list forms. But there’s a way to do this, and even take query string values as parameters: using javascript and XSLT data views on your forms.”

It gets even better! The process to personalize your SharePoint is outlined in a list. So it’s a useful article about manipulating javascript and XLST data on lists with a list of steps. In the manner of lists, it’s pretty straight-forward with small steps you need to follow with the new code at the end. If you want to personalize your SharePoint Search as well, Search Technologies‘ engineers can tailor almost any aspect of SharePoint and tune SharePoint search so it delivers a solid return on investment.

Iain Fletcher, November 18, 2011

 

Mindbreeze Picks Up Where SharePoint Leaves Off

November 17, 2011

SharePoint 2010 is a widely implemented application, but not one that solves every solution.  The issue is explored further in, “SharePoint 2010 collaboration ISVs focus on workflow, analytics.”  The author, Jonathan Gourlay, reports that users are increasingly relying on a number of independent software vendors to plug the holes in the service that SharePoint provides.

Mark Gilbert, lead analyst for Gartner Research had this to say:

“’Just because SharePoint is a lot of stuff, it doesn’t mean it’s all good stuff, but a lot of it is,’ said Gilbert, who estimates he’s spoken to 3,000 companies about SharePoint. He compares the platform to a Swiss Army Knife that allows the user to add tools. ‘To make [SharePoint] a real enterprise-class tool, you typically have to pay a lot of attention to the care and feeding of it and you have to add a lot of third-party tools.’”

Here’s the main question: if SharePoint is being advertised as enterprise-class, why do so many users need ISVs to bring it up to that level?  The article goes on to argue that the opportunity for vendors to build upon the SharePoint platform is huge.

We argue that one smart and agile solution could single-handedly solve an organization’s enterprise and SharePoint woes.  Fabasoft Mindbreeze is getting good feedback regarding its suite of solutions.

“Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise understands you, or to be more precise, understands what the most important information is for you at any precise moment in time. It is the center of excellence for your knowledge and simultaneously your personal assistant for all questions. The information pairing technology brings enterprise and Cloud data together.”

So while experts in the field are saying that system administrators have to hunt and search for several ISVs to supplement their SharePoint implementation, Mindbreeze might save a lot of time and energy with its single easy-to-use solution.  It’s definitely worth a second look.

*Disclaimer – Mindbreeze is currently upgrading their website.  Links will be checked and if problems arise they will be updated.  Thanks for your patience.

Emily Rae Aldridge, November 17, 2011

Protected: Overcome Taxonomy Writer’s Block in SharePoint 2010

November 17, 2011

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