Using InfoPath 2010 to Develop File Planning Solutions
July 16, 2012
John Holliday breaks down the process of configuring a SharePoint 2010 records center site in his post, “Building SharePoint-Friendly File Plans using InfoPath 2010.” Holliday explains the challenge,
As an example, most records management solutions use content organizer rules to route incoming records to a particular document library or folder so they can be associated with specific information policies and retention schedules. But configuring the content organizer requires that the site columns, content types, document libraries, folders and other components are constructed beforehand. The situation is even more challenging when working with target locations external to the site collection being configured.
In the included slide presentation, the author demonstrates how to use InfoPath 2010 to simplify the records center configuration by capturing all of the required elements in one place and pushing them out accordingly given your overall information architecture strategy. The presentation covers basic file plan definitions, goals and retention considerations for file planning, and tools available to you for file planning, along with pros and cons of each. A link is also provided to download the code for the solution.
The slide show may be worth checking out if you’re looking for some basic info on file planning or if you are considering the InfoPath method. It may be worth a try to save some time.
One other way to save time is by employing a third party solution to extend your SharePoint system. To boost your ROI, consider adding Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Here is a highlight:
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. The Fabasoft Search Appliance cuts down the time-to-user dramatically.
A strong ROI is imperative for the sustainability of your enterprise search investments. Learn more about the Fabasoft Mindbreeze solution at http://www.mindbreeze.com/.
Philip West, July 16, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
How to Replace All Occurrences of SharePoint Web Part
July 13, 2012
SharePoint 2010 Web Parts are a modular unit of information that consists of a title bar, a frame, and content. They are the basic building blocks of a Web Part page. In “Replace SharePoint 2010 Web Parts by Type,” the author provides a cmdlet that allows you to replace all occurrences of one web part type with another type.
The author explains his PowerShell solution:
The Replace-SPWebPartType cmdlet accepts an URL to a web part page (or an instance of an SPFile object) and a string or Type object representing the type of web part to replace and what to replace it with; you can further restrict what web parts are updated by providing a web part title to filter on and you can pass in additional properties to set via a Hashtable object (closed web parts are ignored).
This tool may come in handy in a number of different situations, such as discovering a buggy web part. Let’s say you deploy a custom web part and remove the out of the box web part from the gallery, but then you need to replace the existing instances that are deployed on pages throughout your farm. The cmdlet and full help are provided in the article. You may want to bookmark the solution for an easy fix in those occasional Web part replacement occurrences. One way to avoid some Web part replacement needs is by employing a reliable third party solution. To maximize your SharePoint investments beyond implementation, consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Part of the full suite of solutions is the Fabasoft Folio Connector, which provides uniform, reliable management of your digital content.
With on-premise and Cloud information pairing capabilities, Mindbreeze provides a comprehensive and enterprise-grade solution that adds rich value to your business knowledge. Read more at Mindbreeze, where they seem to have the benefits of a proper installation down pat.
Philip West, July 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
The Ideal SharePoint User is You
July 12, 2012
Is everyone touched by SharePoint in their professional life, or does it just seem that way? The latest SharePoint infographic provides pretty good evidence for just that fact. If SharePoint wants to cater to their ideal user, and broaden their appeal to additional users, how do you define those user groups? Rackspace Hosting tackles the topic in, “Who Is The Ideal SharePoint User?”
The author makes the case:
Regardless of business size or industry, SharePoint’s vast tool set and custom application ecosystem is being used by both small and large industries in diverse business segments. More than 78 percent of Fortune 500 companies use SharePoint and 62 percent of workers use it everyday, according to numbers reported in our recently published SharePoint infographic. The Library of Congress, Viacom and Citibank all use SharePoint for different uses in their businesses. With such broad market penetration, SharePoint has found a way to deliver value to diverse types of organizations with highly specialized needs.
SharePoint has gained broad appeal and usage, but does it truly perform all of the specialized functions that different organizations need? Well yes, if you are willing and able to customize. For those who cannot afford a SharePoint consultant or a fulltime on-staff developer, a third party enterprise solution might be a good bet.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise can work alongside an existing SharePoint deployment, or serve as a standalone solution. More importantly, it is highly intuitive and comes with the full support of the award-winning Mindbreeze team.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 12, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SharePoint Needs to Up Mobile Game
July 11, 2012
Microsoft is on a roll with its mobile game, generating a lot of buzz about their new Surface tablet. With Microsoft 365 all systems and software are envisioned to be fully integrated, creating a fully portable and mobile experience. CMS Wire speaks to how this new direction and vision may impact devoted SharePoint users in, “SharePoint has Yammer, Now it Needs To Up Its Mobile Game.”
The article states:
Last week’s announcement of the new Surface tablet range is bang on theme. Whilst observers quibble about price points and the merits of a built in kickstand, there is no doubting that Microsoft thinks many of us will spend our future computing time prodding at a screen of some sort . . . So what about the next version of SharePoint? So can we expect a friendly touch enabled version of SharePoint? A ‘SharePoint: Metro’ to impress all those execs running meetings with their shiny new Surface tablets? The evidence suggest not.
So if SharePoint is not yet living up to the rest of the Microsoft mobile offerings, what is an organization to do? We suggest looking into the fully mobile capabilities of a trusted third party enterprise solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile offers full functionality and navigation, losing nothing over the traditional desktop-centered enterprise approach. Working alongside an existing SharePoint deployment, or as a standalone product, we recommend Fabasoft Mindbreeze for a number of reasons, but specifically for its superior mobile functionality.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 11, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Good Help is Hard to Find
July 10, 2012
SharePoint consultants – every organization implementing SharePoint thinks that they need one, yet complaints abound regarding their effectiveness. The Meetdux.com blog addresses the topic in the post, “Will the Real SharePoint Consultant Please Stand Up?”
The author shares his personal perspective, as someone who also practices as a SharePoint consultant:
My clients have a common complaint when I come in and help them with their existing SharePoint implementation, ‘The so called SharePoint consultant who helped us roll out SharePoint was no help at all!’ You may ask what seems to be the problem, well, some people who call themselves SharePoint consultants are nothing more than a technical person having some Windows administration background who can easily install, configure and deploy SharePoint in a technical environment.
So what are organizations to do? You need the expertise without the hassle, or the large bill. We would suggest looking into a smart third-party enterprise search vendor like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise can work alongside your existing SharePoint installation, or serve as a standalone enterprise infrastructure. Either way, your organization gets the expertise and support of the Mindbreeze team, which cuts out the private consulting fee, and results in an infinitely better user experience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 10, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Cloud Based Angle for Clinical Trial Text Mining
July 10, 2012
Reuters recently posted a news release on its Web site entitled “Linguamatics Launches Cloud-based Clinical Trials Text Mining Solution.”
According to the release, Linguamatics, a provider of cutting edge enterprise text mining software, is now providing access to clinical trials via their I2E text mining platform available on the Cloud. This solution has proven to be a valuable tool when mining clinical trials data for decision support in biomedical research, clinical trials study design, site selection and competitive intelligence. Users are able to extract valuable insights and monitor the progress of potential new medicines.
When discussing how I2E works, the article states:
“According to David Milward, CTO, Linguamatics, the company intends to further extend its hosted content sources to full-text patent applications and grants, and exploit links across the data sets. ‘Access to ClinicalTrials.gov is a strong addition to our existing content options. As well as each data source being valuable in itself, I2E provides the ability to link across diverse sources using natural language processing to recognize relevant concepts and relationships however they are expressed’.”
The medical field is certainly an industry where text mining solutions like 12E are bound to make a huge difference in new cutting edge research by allowing them to access information that was not previously available.
Jasmine Ashton, July 10, 2012
Sponsored by Ikanow
Inteltrax: Top Stories, July 2 to July 6
July 9, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, some of the more interesting niches in the industry.
America’s passtime takes front and center stage in our story, “Baseball and Analytics Hit a Home Run,” which showcases the data explosion in the sport.
Wall Street, too, is a big center of analytic thought and our story, “Analytic Financial Trends” unlocks some of the big moves happening.
Finally, Washington has long been a supporter of big data and our story, “Data Mining to Play Role in 2012 Election” shows that Obama, Romney and other offices are using this technology to their advantage.
Analytics is invading our world, often in the most unexpected places. This is just a small sampling of the deep research we provide every day.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
July 9, 2012
Considering Mobile Access Options for SharePoint
July 9, 2012
At the MSDN.com Blog, Kiril Matev looks at mobile SharePoint in his article, “Extending SharePoint to the Mobile Arena.” Matev has this to say on mobile usage,
Many companies already rely on SharePoint to encourage users to share information and enhance collaboration. It also helps to integrate structured and unstructured data stores that often build up across an organisation. Due to the central role that SharePoint plays in enterprise IT infrastructure, mobile productivity can only be enhanced in companies that use SharePoint if users are able to access SharePoint resources reliably and intuitively on their mobile devices.
He goes on to discuss:
. . . company data available on all mobile devices. Regardless of whether you have a BlackBerry®, iPhone®, Windows Phone or Android™ Smartphone or a tablet such as the Apple iPad, Samsung Chromebook/GalaxyTab or Blackberry Playbook. You can act independently SharePlus as one option, but points out that not all companies may find it as the best way to extend SharePoint to mobile. Mobile usage continues to grow.
It seems that the experts at Fabasoft Mindbreeze understand the importance of mobile access:
Smartphones and tablets are constant companions, indispensable in the business world. Information needs to be able to be exchanged at all times and wherever you are. Easily. Quickly. Securely.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile makes and freely – yet always securely. Irrespective of what format the data is in.
Read more about the full suite of solutions at http://www.mindbreeze.com/.
Phillip West, July 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Considerations for an Existing Farm with SharePoint 2013 on the Horizon
July 6, 2012
In “SharePoint 2013 Upgrade or Not: 5 Strategies to Help You Decide,” Bjorn Furuknap gives some tips on preparing for the next version of SharePoint. The author first suggests fixing any of your existing problems now because they will remain largely the same from version to version.
But if you don’t have any major problems, Furuknap offers this:
SharePoint will be here next year, and the year after. And yes, there will be a SharePoint 2016, which will be so much better, and you should probably wait for that to arrive because it’s going to truly outshine SharePoint 2013. If, right now, you don’t have a problem that SharePoint can help you solve, then most likely, you won’t get those problems in November either. In other words, Microsoft releasing a new version will not give you new problems.
The author also suggests that if you have the extra money, consider upgrading now, but if you have many custom apps, consider waiting as they may not jive with SharePoint 2013. Furuknap brings some good points to the discussion by pointing out the decision should be unique to your situation. Asking the right questions will help ensure that your project resources are spent on the key aspects rather than unnecessary functionalities that will only complicate the system.
A third party solution, like Fabasoft Mindbreeze, can also help you connect the dots in your SharePoint system. The Fabasoft Folio Connector integrates all your business information from the intranet, Cloud, internet, and knowledge portals in the corporate-wide search, while maintaining your strict access rights. With Mindbreeze, users can easily search and reuse information from documents, contacts, projects, Wiki articles, conference agendas, and more.
Phillip West, July 6, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Guide to Conditional Content on Mobile Devices in SharePoint
July 5, 2012
Waldek Mastykarz is a software developer and SharePoint Server MVP. In his post, “Conditional Content on Mobile Devices the Easy Way in SharePoint 2010,” Mastykarz looks at some issues with displaying content in SharePoint on mobile devices. The author explains the issue,
Although mobile devices lower the bar for accessing information on the Internet they have their restrictions, such as screen size or bandwidth. In order to deliver optimal experience to your visitors you not only have to consider laying out all the different elements on the page, given the limited screen size, but also have to think about the amount of information you want to serve to your users to ensure that your website will load fast.
Mastykarz adds that responsive Web design allows you to ensure that your Web site is easy to use and content displays well in the limited screen space. He also provides guides and code snippets for enacting conditional content on mobile.
It seems that the experts at Fabasoft Mindbreeze understand the value of powerful search and mobile access to add more efficiency for SharePoint.
. . . makes company knowledge available on all mobile devices. You can act freely, independently and yet always securely. Irrespective of what format the data is in. Full functionality: Search results are displayed homogenously to the web client with regards to clear design and intuitive navigation.
With the full functionality of Fabasoft Mindbreeze for Enterprise and united on-premise and Cloud data, users will be able to act quickly in business matters with smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Read more about the full suite of solutions at http://www.mindbreeze.com/.
Phillip West, July 5, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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