Information about Search for SharePoint 2013
September 6, 2012
We have been tracking useful sources of information about search for SharePoint 2013. You will find the three minute video prepared by Search Technologies an excellent place to begin. Search Technologies points out that the Fast search technology, acquired by Microsoft in 2008, and it is at the heart of SharePoint 2013. Technologies and ideas from Bing and elsewhere have been added to the mix to provide a comprehensive set of enterprise search capabilities, with plenty of room for customization. Search for SharePoint 2013 includes a rules-based query parsing framework. Search Technologies indicates that pricing has not yet been formally announced, but it is generally assumed that this search functionality will be a standard part of SharePoint 2013. See http://www.searchtechnologies.com/sharepoint-15-search-overview.html.
Microsoft has done a great job of providing information about SharePoint 2013 search. I wanted to make sure you knew that a series of articles is pulling together much of the Microsoft information and adding some insights that could be difficult to locate.
We can point out another useful source of information in this Microsoft document.
The author is Nicki Borell. The first three parts of his coverage of SharePoint 2013 discuss:
- Office 365
- What Happens with Fast in SharePoint 2013
- Search Dictionaries, Query Builder, Query Client Type.
Two more articles will appear in the near future, and these will cover administrative changes and user interface modifications.
Our engineers at Search Technologies track SharePoint 2013 on an hourly basis. We found that the discussion of dictionaries, query builder, and query client type were useful for two reasons:
- The articles include screenshots which make it easy to get oriented in a graphical or PowerShell environment
- There is sufficient descriptive narrative to make clear the specific feature; however, for those working with certain large SharePoint environments, additional explanation might prove useful to some system administrators.
Search Technologies has the deep experience required to handle basic and advanced SharePoint configuration, customization, and integration for any size SharePoint deployment. For more information, visit http://www.searchtechnologies.com/.
Iain Fletcher, September 6, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
For SharePoint 2013 Less Might be More
September 5, 2012
As the discussion continues surrounding the new features rolled out in SharePoint 2013, an interesting conversation is taking place. Many experts believe that SharePoint is drowning its users in too many options. Chris Wright at CMS Wire continues this conversation in his article, “SharePoint 2013 Needs Less Features, Not More.”
Wright begins:
SharePoint 2013 is packed with lots of new and exciting features.
Users can experience the revamped MySites, with FaceBook style activity feeds and the ability to ‘follow’ pretty much anything. Developers have ‘apps’ to get their teeth into, allowing them to create SharePoint components in pretty much any language they wish . . . The list of new features goes on and on . . . All of these new features are very exciting, but what do end users make of it all? Will they actually notice? Will they get a better experience? I’m not so sure.
Wright states that there are lots of things that SharePoint 2013 does well, yet wading through all the unnecessary options is daunting. For small to medium size organizations, it might be worthwhile to invest in a smart third party solution. Investing in something like Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise can intuitively customize your existing enterprise infrastructure in one swift motion, avoiding costly detailed customization.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 5, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
August 13, 2012
Microsoft posted two documents which we believe merit any SharePoint licensee’s attention. The principal features of the latest SharePoint appear on the Microsoft SharePoint site.
Search will be particularly important because SharePoint 2013 will make it easier to incorporate social content and support mobile access. The new SharePoint will be available later this year or early in 2013. Getting a head start is important if you plan to upgrade.
The SharePoint Server 2013’s enterprise search model provides information we found quite useful. The diagram’s PDF is 560 Kb and available from the Microsoft download center. The PDF covers:
- Search Components, including the application components and the search databases
- Example topologies. The illustrated use case is a medium-sized search farm with 40 million items or content objects in the system
- Scaling out. The diagram includes a proposal model for a search farm which handles 100 million item or content objects.
Of particular value are the details for the hardware required to support the 100 million item farm. A series of tables covers the scaling considerations, detail about the application servers recommended, and a table layout the hardware requirements necessary to handle upticks in the volume of content to be processed.
In the general guidance section, Microsoft points out that one additional crawl database is needed per additional 20 million items. One link database is recommend per additional 60 million items. The schematic’s detail recommends that the system include redundancy.
Bottom line, there is no mistaking the Fast-like functionality described here. Search Technologies has delivered more than 30,000 consultant-days of search implementation services to Fast and SharePoint users since 2005. We believe that this new search functionality will be widely adopted over the next few years, and we look forward to helping our customers to implement it.
Iain Fletcher, August 13, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
Open Source Options for Collaboration in SharePoint
August 10, 2012
In “Open Source Tools Level SharePoint 2010 Collaboration Playing Field,” Shawn Shell discusses collaboration options in the SharePoint community.
Shell has this to say:
But while there are many available tools that can expand SharePoint’s collaboration capabilities and fill the gaps in its out-of-the-box functionality, some organizations simply can’t afford them because of budget constraints. As a result, many often find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. The good news is that one of the strongest dimensions of the SharePoint universe is a surprisingly robust open source community. It comprises individuals, user organizations and even ISVs that provide tools and utilities that are reasonable alternatives to commercially licensed add-on products.
The author also comments on collaboration alternatives for employees, such as the Community Kit for SharePoint (CKS) and the Learning Management System (LMS). However, Shell also states that it is important to read the documentation of these two projects very carefully because they are handled by separate teams. The read may be worth it if you’ve been looking for possible fixes to SharePoint’s capability gaps.
Collaboration capabilities are imperative as businesses get social. To tap into the new possibilities, consider a third party solution to complete your enterprise search system. We like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Managing director Michael Hadrian explains the Mindbreeze solution:
Fabasoft Folio Cloud enables quick, secure and mobile collaboration both internally and between international companies. Business processes with customers and partners cannot be realized any quicker or more cost effectively…This enables worldwide connected collaboration and secure data exchange in protected team rooms.
For a complete search solution with the power of information pairing, check out the full suite of solutions at Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Philip West, August 10, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Microsoft and Yammer: Extending SharePoint Functionality
July 31, 2012
Yammer is what an enterprise social network tool; organizations implement it to spur collaboration between users. On the Yammer homepage we found a new application which permits Microsoft SharePoint Integration. After reading the specs, we found on the Microsoft blog about “Yammer-The Next Step for Social Networking In Schools?”
According to the post, Microsoft recently purchased Yammer. The post explains Yammer’s basic functions, the dashboard mirrors Facebook’s design with hints of Twitter. The post digs into how Yammer would be used in schools, basically the same way it would for any company: staff would use to communicate between departments, share content, etc. It can also be a boon for students too:
“We know that group work is a great way to encourage students to engage with their peers, but this isn’t easy when they all use different social networks, clouds and systems. By joining Yammer, students can create secure groups via which they can communicate their ideas, ask questions and share files, as well as allowing for their competitive side to come out through ‘Leaderboards’, which show data about who has received the most likes, replies and much.”
Students can perform group work, receive studying help, share content, and even praise each other within Yammer. While it can be a tool of food for students, it can also make cheating and plagiarism easier if not monitored. Yammer should install an app that will be able to detect plagiarism.
The surge of interest in social content is growing in government agencies, commercial organizations, and educational institutions. However, indexing and making this content
findable can be a challenging task. The tools an organization uses require tight integration with
a search system. Mindbreeze provides capabilities to make social content easily findable within a SharePoint environment. A Yammer style can enhance productivity. Mindbreeze offers a range of social and collaborative features and has the engineering expertise to resolve almost any search and retrieval issue. Check out the Mindbreeze social collaboration Web page for more information.
Whitney Grace, July 31, 2012
Sponsored by Mindbreeze
Community Comments on Need for Expanded SharePoint Blogging Features
July 18, 2012
In “Never Mind Microblogging, SharePoint Needs to Support Plain Old Blogging,” Chris Wright comments on social features in the SharePoint platform. Wright, founder of the Scribble Agency, shares his hope for the upcoming SharePoint 15 release,
With SharePoint 15 right around the corner we can only hope for some improvements from Microsoft. So what would be nice to see? Scheduling of posts would be a good start. Anyone who writes regularly will know it is often best to do it as and when ideas come to you, not necessarily when you want to publish. Scheduling would really help with this. Plus a dedicated stats component, just for blogging, would be good.
Wright also discusses Microsoft’s recent Yammer acquisition and the potential for the microblogging platform to expand SharePoint blogging features.
An out of the box design that keeps users in mind may not be SharePoint’s strongest characteristic. But it doesn’t take much to customize your farm to work for the masses. Instead of bogging down your SharePoint system with third party applications, save time and money on implementations with one lean solution. It seems the experts at Mindbreeze understand the importance of social business and continue to develop solutions to increase customer satisfaction.
Philip West, July 18, 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
Engaging SharePoint Administrators with Business Knowledge and Experience
July 4, 2012
At the SharePoint Solutions Team Blog, Ricky Spears suggests some skills that server administrators can benefit from in his post, “The Missing Pieces in Most SharePoint Server Administrators’ Skill Sets.” Spears says that in his experience, Server Administrators should have a combination of three skill sets: business knowledge and experience, SharePoint knowledge and experience from a business perspective, and how to configure and administer SharePoint. The author expands on the first skill:
SharePoint integrates with every area of a business: sharing information, creating information, collaboration, information discovery, business intelligence, business process automation, and social interaction. The more a SharePoint Admin knows about your business (both generally, the specific day-to-day operations, and short-term and long-term goals) the better prepared she will be to configure SharePoint to support the needs of your business.
Spears’s emphasis on business knowledge may be because many organizations overlook these important skills. Spears suggests that Server Administrators should shadow employees and spend more time with managers to get a complete picture of the company goals.
The light read provides some basic ways to beef up your existing structure. To also strengthen your SharePoint system, consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Part of the full suite of solutions is the information pairing feature. Here is a highlight:
Our information pairing technology makes you unbeatable. Information pairing unites enterprise information and Cloud information. This results in a complete overview of a company’s knowledge – the basis for your competitive advantage – allowing you to act quickly, reliably, dynamically and profitably in all business matters.
Give your employees and Server Administrators quick and efficient access to business information so users can find, share, and reuse valuable knowledge. Read more at Mindbreeze, where they seem to have the benefits of a proper installation down pat.
Philip West, July 4, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Assumed Pain of SharePoint and Proposed Solutions
June 15, 2012
There seems to be a disconnect between what employees say they need from their enterprise storage and search system, and what SharePoint delivers. However, SharePoint has become an assumed presence, regardless of the pain of configuration and upkeep. “Is SharePoint a Pain Point? Maybe It’s Time to Ditch It.” gets right to the point.
The disconnect is explained:
According to a number of studies, the No. 1 justification for spending money on a corporate intranet is to reduce the time and effort on enterprise search. With that being said, I personally haven’t met an employee at a company that feels their SharePoint system meets their needs. There is clearly a disconnect between theory and practice in the IT world.
So what are the major complaints about SharePoint? SharePoint is slow to deploy, difficult to configure, and users do not like it. Interestingly, it is estimated that SharePoint is not as cheap as it’s often said to be. For every $1 spent to license SharePoint, an additional $6 is spent to make it work.
Approximately 80 per cent of large organizations have a SharePoint system and while it can do a lot for you, it asks a lot in return. This system, designed to let people within a company collaborate and share information, requires heavy customization, has poor social computing capabilities and is not based on intuitive navigation whatsoever, making it difficult for most people to use.
So what’s the solution? We recommend using a smart third party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze to bridge the gap between what enterprise search should do and what SharePoint can do. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise can stand along or work alongside an existing SharePoint infrastructure. The addition of Connectors ensures that the Fabasoft Mindbreeze platform works seamlessly across all manner of software.
See what the Federal Ministry of Justice Agency in Austria had to say about Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise:
Mag. Jürgen Atzlsdorfer: ‘In introducing ELAK light we have made it possible to manage and store data, some of which are highly sensitive, in a secure and traceable way. Using Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise as an integrated search solution simplifies our information search. This speeds up case processing, which in turn saves time and money.’
SharePoint has its shortcomings, so for those who need to rescue an existing infrastructure, look into Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 15, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Prepare in Advance for SharePoint 15
May 18, 2012
Much like the discussion that flowed before the release of SharePoint 2010, the same voices are now chattering about the impending release of SharePoint 15, likely launched in the first quarter of 2013. Many experts are already weighing in on how to best prepare your enterprise for the move. David Roe of CMS Wire talks with Chris McNulty of Quest Software in, “SharePoint 15: 8 Things to Help You Prepare.”
Everything, McNulty said, is about planning; you can’t just jump into SharePoint 15. But you couldn’t just jump into SharePoint 2010, or 2007 or 2003, for that matter. So just like the last time, Quest is advising companies to plan any future deployments, even if many companies appear to have had their head in the sand when that lesson was being given out the first time.
Chris McNulty goes on to suggest eight major categories of preparation: optimized environment, consolidate content, data externalization, governance plan, enterprise content management, be social, custom coding, and cloud strategy. While each of those categories comprises a good bit of advice, we think that they could extend to any number of enterprise offerings, and many organizations are looking beyond SharePoint.
Consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze. This smart third-party enterprise solution can stand alone or work alongside an existing SharePoint infrastructure. Furthermore, Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers Connectors that work to seamlessly integrate all electronic data.
As the optimum search and information access solution, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise facilitates the comprehensive incorporation of all electronic data repositories. Data sources and storage systems are connected to Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise via Fabasoft Mindbreeze Connectors. The standard product scope includes Connectors for the most common data sources. Additional Connectors are available to purchase as required.
While many will still consider SharePoint as the flagship of the enterprise market, many organizations are eager for more agile, intuitive solutions that update more frequently than the typical three-year Microsoft cycle. These organizations would do well to consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze and their suite of solutions.
Emily Rae Aldridge, May 18, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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