SharePoint Deployment Success Story
April 25, 2014
Because SharePoint is such a massive and complicated solution, it is easy to find stories of bad deployments and trouble implementations. But every now and then, a story with a happy ending is needed. IT Web Business offers us one in, “SharePoint Deployment Pays Off for Global Chrome Supplier.”
The article begins:
“Dac Systems, a Proudly South African national provider of turnkey solutions based on Microsoft products, has ensured that a leading listed supplier to the global ferrochrome market has benefited from a large-scale SharePoint deployment upgrade as an integral part of the migration to SharePoint 2013. SharePoint Deployment Planning Services (SDPS) is an important part of a range of game-changing technology Dac Systems endorses for the market.”
The article goes on to describe the process Dac Systems used to identify the needs of the company. All organizations could take a lesson from the process. Planning is key, with or without a third-party solution or consultation. Stephen E. Arnold finds the same thing in his SharePoint coverage on ArnoldIT.com. His lifetime of search experience shows through as he analyzes all angles of SharePoint issues.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 25, 2014
SharePoint May Prove Its Worth
April 8, 2014
SharePoint has long been on the defense about proving its worth, even though it is unrivaled when it comes to controlling the lion’s share of the enterprise market. A new report might make Microsoft feel a little more comfortable about its position, and CMS Wire covers the details in the article, “SharePoint: A ‘Formidable Enterprise Collaboration Platform.’”
The article begins:
“Everyone knows SharePoint has had problems. However, the Radicati Group just released a report that contains words new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella must be more than happy to hear. According to the Microsoft SharePoint Market Analysis, 2014-2018, edited by Sara Radicati, Microsoft ironed out the wrinkles in the 2013 edition and now offers a powerful enterprise collaboration platform for business users.”
The article goes on to describe a few of the shortcomings that SharePoint has yet to overcome. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and often turns his expertise to the subject of SharePoint. He delivers content through his Web service, ArnoldIT.com. He has found that there is still progress to be made, but SharePoint 2013 went a long way toward improving the user experience.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 8, 2014
SharePoint Adds PDF Converter
April 7, 2014
One of the major complaints about SharePoint is that users often have to leave the platform in order to accomplish basic tasks. SharePoint is getting closer to complete, and Microsoft is making some needed improvements. However, add-ons are also filling an important role in improving the user experience. Virtual Strategy covers one addition in their article, “SharePoint Now More Killer With PDF Document Converter; It’s No Fool’s Joke.”
The article begins:
“Today, PortalFront Tru Apps announces a new ‘Convert to PDF’ feature in SharePoint, bringing SharePoint a step closer to maturity . . . Converting documents from Word (doc, docx), Excel (xslx), PowerPoint and other formats to PDF directly in SharePoint libraries was not possible. The app also allows batch conversion and supports many other file types to PDF.”
Add-ons have been the key to SharePoint satisfaction according to many experts. Stephen E. Arnold is one of those experts, and he puts his thoughts down on the Web site, ArnoldIT.com. He covers a lot of SharePoint news and has found that user experience is highest when customization is at its best. But since many organizations cannot fully support internal customization, add-ons are key.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 7, 2014
Improvement to SharePoint Records Management
April 4, 2014
Early iterations of SharePoint records management were fraught with shortcomings. But the word has come that SharePoint 2013 offers an improvement on the failings of the past. Read more in the Search Content Management story, “SharePoint Records Management Spans New Forms of Content.”
The article begins:
“In prior releases, SharePoint records management was functional but nothing to write home about. But with SharePoint 2013, it’s time to get excited. The trends of mobile computing, social media in the enterprise, the cloud, and global search have converged and touched just about every business process that depends on IT. Records management is no exception.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and offers up his analysis and opinions on his Web site ArnoldIT.com. SharePoint gets a lot of coverage due to its prominence in the market. But, Arnold consistently finds that the huge platform of SharePoint lags behind the smaller more agile offerings on the market. Only time will tell if the improvements in mobile, social, and records management will increase the overall functionality and user experience of the product.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 4, 2014
Improving SharePoint Ease of Use
March 28, 2014
None-technical users of SharePoint will rarely say that the solution is easy to use. In fact, many will actually circumvent the system, or develop their own ways to share information just because of the perceived effort of SharePoint. But some companies are creating solutions that improve the user interface of SharePoint without asking end users to understand the underlying architecture. Read more in the CMS Wire article, “If You Dress SharePoint Differently, Is it Easier to Use? #SPC14.”
The article introduces Akumina Interchange:
“’Akumina today announced the beta release of InterChange, a persona-based authoring and website management solution for SharePoint 2013. ‘With InterChange, casual content authors no longer need to ‘learn SharePoint’ or understand the underlying information architecture of their site to create and manage content,’ Rogers told CMSWire.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime search expert and gives a lot of attention to SharePoint on his Web site, ArnoldIT.com. He has found that customization is an important factor in SharePoint adoption. It would be interesting to see if this type of add-on is just as helpful, since end users would have fewer “unfamiliar” aspects to overcome.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 28, 2014
Compliance Update to SharePoint Could Shake Partners
March 27, 2014
SharePoint Conference 2014 was full of announcements, plans, and projections. Users and managers kept an eye on the program hoping to see updates that would improve ease of use and overall efficiency. One such announcement projected an upcoming unified compliance tool. Read more in the Fierce Content Management article, “Compliance, Video Portals Could Shake SharePoint Partners.”
Developer partners have long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with SharePoint when it comes to add-ons for the enterprise, but the article says that might be about to change:
“But compliance and video updates unveiled at last week’s SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas, could unnerve some of the partners on which Microsoft relies. During the event Microsoft teased its forthcoming Unified Compliance Center, which builds upon compliance tools found in Exchange and allows them to be leveraged seamlessly across all tools in Office 365. The tool will allow for multifactor authentication to facilitate not just eDiscovery but true auditing and compliance enforcement.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and gives a lot of attention to SharePoint on his Web site, ArnoldIT.com. He often finds that customization and critical add-ons are key to a successful SharePoint deployment, so this announcement will really up that capability for most users.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 27, 2014
Webinar to Improve SharePoint Document Viewing
March 26, 2014
Webinars are a classic professional development option, but can be especially helpful when needing to brush up on the details and ins and outs of SharePoint. CMS Wire offers a good selection and they will be offering a helpful one today. Read more on their event calendar, “(Webinar) Make SharePoint Document Viewing Easier with HTML 5.”
The overview of the program says:
“By integrating an HTML5 document viewer with SharePoint 2013, you enable your users to easily display almost any document file type right from a SharePoint list, through a consistent, easy-to-use interface with search, annotation, redaction, and DRM tools. Your users don’t need any special software on their devices—all they need is an HTML5 browser, even on mobile—and their documents show up fast, through any connection type.”
This type of upgrade to the document viewer could be really essential in improving user experience for your users. Saving users clicks and helping them stay within SharePoint to open documents means saving them time and improving user satisfaction. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime follower of search and reports many of his observations on ArnoldIT.com. He finds that a successful SharePoint deployment is one that is efficient and customized, so taking the time to learn and implement tricks like these really do make all the difference.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 26, 2014
Crafting a Customized Search Application to SharePoint
March 25, 2014
A lot of organizations will hire an outside company to customize and implement their SharePoint infrastructure. Others are big enough to have staff onsite devoted to building and maintaining SharePoint. However, either way there are many individuals who have a vested interest in creating customized SharePoint components. Search Content Management covers one “how-to” in their article, “Building a SharePoint 2013 Search-Based Application.”
The article describes its objective:
“While this article doesn’t have the space to cover all aspects of how to build a Microsoft SharePoint 2013 search-based application, we will provide an overview. The key components are list and library structures to store content; metadata and metadata sources, including the Managed Metadata Service; search to crawl the content; user interface elements to surface the content and display templates to render the content with the required formatting.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime follower of all things search, including SharePoint, on his Web site ArnoldIT.com. He focuses on the reality of the situation – how users can get the most out of search solutions. For SharePoint, he often finds that customization is key; so building unique components like this could be the difference between a frustrating deployment and a well-used and well-loved solution.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 25, 2014
Improving SharePoint Search Efficiency
March 17, 2014
For many users, search is pretty much the main point of SharePoint, yet many complain of the inefficiency and inaccuracy of the search function. Search Windows Server addresses the issue in a great article that highlights search features from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2013. Read the details in “Five Ways to Make SharePoint Search More Efficient.”
The article begins:
“Admins and end users alike find that using the search feature in SharePoint is helpful, but it can be frustrating . . . We compiled the five best tips to help SharePoint users work through common questions and situations with SharePoint search. Covering multiple versions of SharePoint, these tips highlight how to make searching in SharePoint more efficient, how to improve search functionality and more.”
Stephen E. Arnold has an interest in search; in fact he has made a career of it. His Web site, ArnoldIT.com, highlights the latest in search – the good and the bad. SharePoint gets a lot of coverage.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 17, 2014
Exchange and SharePoint Server Releases Set for 2015
March 11, 2014
Under Microsoft’s new accelerated release cycle, many were speculating that the next Exchange and SharePoint Server release might occur during 2014. However, Microsoft announced that the newest version of those products would not be made available until sometime next year, 2015. Redmond Magazine gives the details in their story, “Next Exchange and SharePoint Server Products Arriving in 2015.”
The article begins:
“Microsoft won’t ship new releases of Exchange Server or SharePoint Server until sometime next year, the company indicated today. The news comes from Jeff Teper, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of the Office Service and Servers group, in an announcement. Microsoft’s current server releases are Exchange Server 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013. Both of those servers received Service Pack 1 updates last week, so IT pros may be relieved to hear that Microsoft won’t release new products till next year.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search, and the mastermind behind ArnoldIT.com. He gives SharePoint a good bit of attention, so stay tuned to learn more about how SharePoint managers are adjusting to Service Pack 1. It may provide some foreshadowing for what users can expect in the 2015 release.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 11, 2014
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