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
Discussion on Plans for SharePoint 2013 Migrations
August 7, 2012
In “Migrating to SharePoint 2013,” Chris Wright speculates on the new SharePoint release, potential adoption rates, Cloud versus on-premises deployments, and third party options. The author points out that those users of SharePoint Online have a relatively clear upgrade path without much to worry about. However, he adds this about on-premises users:
On-premises users of SharePoint have a much bigger decision to make, and more traditional upgrade options. Early commentators suggest that the full locally installed version of SharePoint has seen slightly less focus than the cloud version. The biggest areas of improvement are web content management, enterprise content management and search.
Wright also suggests that if all else fails, look into a third party migration tool for an easier solution. Third party tools should not be overlooked when adding value to your SharePoint system. We like the feedback we’ve seen about Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Here you can read about the mobility solutions from Mindbreeze:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile 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.
And with information pairing of your cloud and on-premise data, users can easily access important business information on the go from their smartphones and tablets. The well-established and cost-effective solution is worth a second look at http://www.mindbreeze.com/.
Philip West, August 7, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SharePoint 2013 System Requirements
August 1, 2012
Bjorn Furuknap is again hot on the trail of recent SharePoint activity. With the release of SharePoint 2013, much discussion has taken place surrounding system requirements. While Microsoft initially made a report that requirements would not change from 2010, it seems that is not entirely truthful when referring to SharePoint Server 2013.
Furuknap gives the rundown:
Short story: If you plan on doing development work on SharePoint Server 2013, you need a minimum of 24 GB of RAM. That’s assuming you are NOT going to need Visual Studio, which will only add to that number.
Wow, we were overwhelmed by this number. Most small organizations are not going to want to invest in a separate and beefed-up machine just for SharePoint Server work. In addition, customization is discouraged with SharePoint 2013, so developer work will come at more of a premium as well.
For organizations that need to overcome these challenges, we recommend a smart third party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise. Serving as a compliment to an existing infrastructure, or as a standalone solution, Mindbreeze can run on the Cloud, is highly scalable, and receives an efficiency update every quarter. See what users are saying about Fabasoft Mindbreeze, and why they were not willing to settle for SharePoint.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 1, 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
Microsoft Acquires Yammer to Develop Social Business Features for SharePoint
July 20, 2012
Byron Acohido discusses Microsoft’s recent Yammer acquisition in his USAToday.com article, “Microsoft’s Yammer Deal May Cost Too Much, Come Too Late.”
The author comments on the development:
Microsoft has been trying futilely for years to popularize social networking within SharePoint, its collaboration server that comes bundled with versions of its Office productivity suite sold to large businesses. By acquiring Yammer, the software giant is attempting to ‘fill a gap,’ says Wesley Miller, analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft. Similar to Facebook, Yammer connects users and claims more than 200,000 corporate customers, including Ford, Orbitz Worldwide and 7-Eleven.
Yammer will come onto Microsoft as a new division and David Sacks, a former PayPal exec and Yammer founder, will stay on as CEO. Social business is no doubt becoming a ubiquitous topic in the enterprise search world. To tap into new SharePoint 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, July 20, 2012
Sponsored by Polyspot
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
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
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
EU Data Laws Threaten Enterprise on the Cloud
June 21, 2012
Various cultures hold differing opinions on the nature of information and its implications on security. The United States has earned a reputation as increasingly difficult to deal with, as the quest for national security has led to regulations that create hardships for software developers and users alike. However, there is now talk about the implications of new European Union laws on Cloud platforms and enterprise software. IT World gives a full report in, “EU Data Laws are Latest Threat to Cloud.”
Kevin Fogerty, the author, introduces the issue:
European data-sovereignty laws requiring international companies to keep data on customers in the customer’s own country are not only causing headaches for database managers, they’re holding back adoption of cloud computing in many large companies according to a story in GigaOm yesterday. Corporate IT managers have been wary of European data-privacy laws since the early 2000s, when requirements designed to limit the degree to which corporations could move or exploit the personal data of customers came into vogue on the Continent.
Europe is clearly still struggling with the idea of national sovereignty versus sovereignty of the union. It is bleeding over into IT development and causing headaches. However, we are also told that the United States is driving some of these regulations and subsequent frustrations:
More recently, fears of U.S. prosecutors subpoenaing private data on European customers in European countries has accelerated the priority of data sovereignty laws as well.
So for multi-national companies who truly need an enterprise solution that will allow the transfer and access of data across country borders, what is to be done? For now, it may be that some of the legalities of the new regulations need time to be vetted and moderated. In the meantime, it would be wise for organizations to choose a smart third-party solution that can increase the efficiency of their SharePoint platform without running up against these regulations.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze is a great solution for organizations on either side of the Atlantic. For customers in the United States, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise guarantees the highest level of security. For European users, Mindbreeze was truly written with EU standards in mind; therefore insuring compliance without added stress or workload.
Daniel Fallmann addresses some of the concerns surrounding the use of the US Patriot Act to access international data:
During the development of Fabasoft Mindbreeze we focused 100% exclusively on European values – not one single bit of American software product is to be found. The US Patriot Act doesn’t apply. Not using US American manufactured software ensures that US authorities have no right to access European Cloud data.
While most users need not be concerned with the Patriot Act and its potential implications for unauthorized access of data, some European customers will rest assured knowing that Fabasoft Mindbreeze engineers products with EU standards in mind, ensuring fewer headaches.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 21, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
