I’m speaking at the European SharePoint Conference 2013 and I’m delighted to be a part of this fantastic gathering of the SharePoint Community, Feb 4-7 2013, in Copenhagen, Denmark. I will also be conducted a session on “Ten Steps to Creating a SharePoint Support Model” aimed at Business Decision Makers and End Users.
Ten Steps to Creating a SharePoint Support Model
There is nothing like a smoothly running SharePoint support environment – but is that possible? In creating a great support SharePoint environment helps foster great user adoption and great SharePoint champions. This presentation attempts to show a strategic approach where the questions to be answered on how to build a true support model for SharePoint be based on ‘What has to happen, why and where’?, and attempts to describe a basic support model of ten key steps; from knowing what resources make up your SharePoint environment to keeping in contact with customers
I am speaking alongside renowned experts on SharePoint as well as sharing the stage with some of Microsoft’s product team from Redmond covering Search, Apps, Social, Cloud, Project, Migration & Upgrade, Governance and much more.
With over 110 SharePoint sessions, keynotes, hands on labs, SharePoint Shootouts, ask the experts, community lounge, tutorials, Europe’s largest SharePoint focused expo, SharePints, parties, meetings, networking events, competitions and more…. this is a MUST attend event for all SharePoint enthusiasts! Check out the full Conference Programme to see all sessions and topics that are being covered by myself and many others.
Prices start as low as €995! There is also special group discounts for bookings of 3 or more people. Book Now and I’ll see you in Copenhagen this February.
In Chapter 4 of my forthcoming book SharePoint 2013 User Adoption Planning and Governance, there is a section titled ‘Collaborative Ownership’; it is my take on the creation of simple rules to manage a SharePoint solution (note – an implementation of a SharePoint environment could be defined as a solution)…
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Excerp: “For those entrenched in trying to get information workers to buy into using SharePoint, SharePoint User Adoption seems to be a black art. In a way, it is because the kind of enticements and methods you use will be relative to the product that is being supplied. In reality, complexity of User Adoption is based on the breadth of the SharePoint solution being implemented.
This article shows the different types of people there are in terms of the User Adoption (which has a lifecycle), and attempts to identify the related high priority areas where you should focus your communication and training programmes. Note. The kind of users involved are ‘generic’; and therefore you should use this as a model for any SharePoint solution – irrespective of version. The key areas of SharePoint I will focus on relate to Information Architecture, Term Store, Search and User Profiles and in SharePoint 2013”.
The article I wrote for MSDN newsletter is located here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukmsdn/archive/2012/11/13/sharepoint-user-adoption-key-things-to-mention-for-sharepoint-2013.aspx
One of the key methods of gaining User Adoption of SharePoint is ensuring and pushing the integration it has with Microsoft Office to information workers. After all, information workers generally use Outlook as their ‘mother-ship’. Getting those users to switch immediately to SharePoint or, asking them to visit a document library in a SharePoint site which they will need to access could take time, especially since it means opening a browser, navigating to the site, covering their beloved Outlook client in the process.
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Another quick “How To” from Geoff!
I needed to quickly find a way to enable multiple file upload (not Drag / Drop); because I was demonstrating the capabilities of a SharePoint site to clients, and was doing this on a VM with Office 2013 on the same box as the server – so I needed a lot of files! When using SharePoint 2013 and Office 2013 on a Windows 2012 sandbox, you may find that using Windows Explorer View, or using Drag Drop to add multiple files to a document library will not work. You will find strange messages appearing asking you to add the site to Trusted Sites in IE (when it is already displayed in the list), and you may also find that when searching for information on how to resolve this that people will say “Hey installing the WebClient / Restarting the WebClient works”.
Well in the past it has worked – however, specific information concerning how to deploy the service is not altogether available for Server 2012 – there are some minor differences. And, in Windows Server 2012 the Web Client is not installed by default. This means deploying the Desktop Experience feature to the server.
This article describes how to install the Web Client Service in Windows Server 2012 which will resolve how to have the Windows Explorer View operational in SharePoint Sites on the Server.
- Log into your Windows Server 2012 sandbox. Install the Web Client Service. Start the Server Manager, and select Role Based or feature based installation, then click NEXT.
- On the Add Roles and Features Wizard, select ‘Select a server from the server pool’, highlight the relevant server, then click NEXT.
- On the Select Features dialog, click FEATURES from the left hand menu. Scroll the features list till you see User Interfaces and Infrastructure, then check the Desktop Experience option.
- When you select Desktop Experience you will be asked also to confirm the installation of the Ink and Handwriting Services option. Include the management tools. Click Add Features at the foot of the dialog.
- This then confirms the components required to install the Desktop Experience. Click install to proceed.
- You will be asked whether you want an auto restart. Note that when deploying the Desktop Experience a reboot is required. You can either elect to go manual, or automatic. In this example, the server is a sandbox, with no current users so I elected automatic reboot as fine by me by clicking YES.
- The installation proceeds of the Desktop Experience. Process takes around 10 minutes to complete. When it is completed, click CLOSE at the foot of the dialog.
- Note that Machine will restart during the installation process. At the end, check Services and ensure the WebClient service is deployed and started.
Once done, go back into the Team Site and try using Windows Explorer View
Yippee ! All works – hope this helps you out if you run into the same problem…
![How to Synchronize a SharePoint 2010 Task List with Microsoft Outlook]()
Microsoft Outlook provides a Task management feature so that users can create and manage personal tasks. These tasks can be assigned to one or more people, and can be linked into their personal Calendars in Outlook. Whilst the same functionality exists in SharePoint, the integration of Tasks in SharePoint with Outlook leads to some compelling benefits.
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When getting an organization to make an investment into using SharePoint (irrespective of premise i.e. on-off, or SharePoint version), a SharePoint Feasibility Study should be carried out for them. A Feasibility Study identifies the following:
- What are the current information and management challenges? What needs to be put right?
- What are the alternatives (including ways to achieve those objectives), including costs and benefits of each?
- What is the recommended solution, which not only gives reasons for choosing the option but also discusses its feasibility? (how difficult will it be to carry out?, and will the recommended solution meet all the requirements).
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Using SharePoint, organizations should be leveraging every asset which makes them more productive out of the platform, and as effectively as they can. This means investing time and resources to make sure users are fully utilizing the functions made available to them; especially the capabilities that can help them more productive and meets their objectives.
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User Adoption of SharePoint is based on meeting the goals and requirements of the business sponsor. To do that, there is an importance in ensuring that the correct features are applied to the relevant solutions to meet their goals. Platform Governance is key; since there would need to be knowledge of the relevant features and an understanding therefore in how they would be implemented, supported, maintained in an evolving SharePoint landscape. This is particularly important in deciding on the migration path of SharePoint 2010 to 2013, since quite a few features have been enhanced.
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One of the most difficult migration paths for SharePoint is from version 2007 to 2010. Not so much due to the technical requirements concerning things like content database shift, Web Application shift, Site Collection review, Third Party review. But more on the actual sequence of events, which if not worked out completely could leave people attempting to go this in a pickle! To help, I’ve provided a map which I have used with several customers which allows me to produce key documentation and at the same time keep them involved in the process.
To assist the map, there are two project plans attached in 2007 / 2010 / 2013 formats, which allows you to set time-frames against each of the sections.
Note that these are generic. You must use your own judgement concerning things like Third party products (and what you wish to do with them), what must happen to content on the document lifecycle trail (i.e. old sites, archived content), and what must happen to any control processes surrounding things like security (who should have access to the new world).
This is particularly related to testing, and again, you should adopt a generic approach first then tailour it to your own requirements. Read through my Verification and Validation article to give you ideas of what should be in your testing plans (which will encompass technical and non-technical concerns).
The outline below is in collapsed state. Click the + icons to expand each section, and – icons to compress. if the view of the map outline is too small, you can view the full screen by
going here
