Ten Steps to Making SharePoint a Success

www.ironworks.com

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Ironworks Consulting , LLC | 4121 Cox Road , Suite 205 | Glen Allen , Virginia 23060 | 804 . 967 . 9200
Agenda
Agenda
•Introductions
Agenda discussion
§ •Opening
§ •Presentation
Meet Your Presenters
• Ironworks Overview
§ An Introduction to Ironworks
• User Experience Approach
§ Presentation Making SharePoint a Success in
• Content–Management
Your Solutions
Organization
§ Why Are We Here?
• Microsoft Capabilities
§ 10• Healthcare Insurance
Steps to Achieve a Successful SharePoint
Implementation
Background
§ Questions• Case Studies
•Questions
§
•

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Meet Your Presenters
•

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Meet Your Presenters
• Dave Perkinson
SharePoint Practice
•
Lead
•
§ Over 8 years of experience
in development and
implementation of web and
windows-based IT solutions
§ Background in SharePoint,
Windows Workflow, InfoPath
Forms Services, ASP.NET,
ADO.NET, XML, XSLT, AJAX,
JavaScript, and SQL
§ Bachelor of Science in
Finance from the University
of Virginia
§ Microsoft Certified
Solutions Developer (MCSD)
§ Programming from Florida
Kevin Israel
Solutions
Architect
§ 10 years of experience in
designing, building and
integrating windows and web-
based applications
§ 4 years of SharePoint
experience
§ Microsoft Most Valuable
Professional
§ Microsoft Certified
Technical Specialist – Team
Foundation Server 2005,
Microsoft Office SharePoint
Server 2007
§ Bachelors degree in
Institute of Technology 4
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An Introduction to Ironworks
•

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Who is Ironworks?

Ironworks is a project-based
•

consulting company with one

mission – never fail a client .
We measure our success by the
success of our clients.
•

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Why Ironworks?

•Ironworks is a project - based consulting company that focuses on planning ,

building , and supporting business and technology solutions .
•Our mission is simple : Never Fail a Client.
ü The “ Right Size ”
• With offices in Richmond, Raleigh, and DC, we are large enough to provide
stability and a full range of resources, yet small enough to be flexible and
responsive to your needs.
ü Experienced Resources
• Our teams include senior, experienced program managers, designers,
information architects, developers, and engineers – we don’t sell with the “A”
team, then staff the job with the “B” team.
ü Integrated Strategy , Design and Development
• This integration means that our strategies are practical, our applications
are highly usable, and our technical solutions are expandable and maintainable.
•

ü Solution and Technology Agnostic

• Our teams are tasked with creating solutions built upon client
requirements, not technology biases
§
§

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Ironworks Service Offerings

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Representative Clients

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Microsoft Partnership/Capabilities Overview

§ Microsoft / Ironworks Relationship Overview :

§ Microsoft National Systems Integrator – one of only 35 in the country
§ Microsoft “Managed” Gold Partner – one of only seven in Mid-Atlantic
region*
§ Microsoft “Go-To” partner for SharePoint
§ Microsoft “Go-To” partner for Business Intelligence
§ Microsoft “Go-To” partner for Business Process Management
• NOTE : Stringent competency and certification achievements are required
to achieve Gold-Certified status
§ Microsoft Capabilities Overview :
§ MOSS 2007 (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007), SharePoint Portal
Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services
§ Microsoft Business Intelligence (SQL Server, Analysis Services,
Reporting Services)
§ Content Management Server
§ Commerce Server
§ BizTalk Server
§ .NET Application Development
•

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Presentation
•

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Why Are We Here?

A study done by Gartner Consulting has

suggested that as many as 40 - 60 % of SharePoint
implementations fail .
• Key issues facing MOSS Adopters
§ Understanding what comes “Out-of-the-Box”
§ A custom Look and Feel does not come “Out-of-the-Box”
§ “Site Sprawl” and Governance
§ End-user adoption
§ Training Developers, Designers, Admins, and Contributors
§ Enterprise-wide solutions have Enterprise-wide consequences
§ Planning for Performance
§
§
•

§
Harnessing the powerful features built - in to
SharePoint is about more than just standing up
another portal site …

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Step 1: Confront Reality

• Confront Reality
§ Understand that SharePoint is a framework not “portal-
in-a-box”
§ Honestly assess your end-user and IT capabilities
§ A smart .NET resource is not the same as a
SharePoint expert
§ The cost of implementation is more than just the
licensing cost
§ CIO.com –
“How to Determine the True Cost of SharePoint ”
§ Software Licensing, Infrastructure, Staff,
Training,…
SharePoint is an Enterprise
§

Solution !
§
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Step 1: Confront Reality

SharePoint Success Requires

That You Find the Right Balance

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Step 2: Have a Governance Plan

• Have a Governance
Plan
Governance uses people , process , technology , and
policies to define a service, resolve ambiguity, and
mitigate conflict within an organization - Source: The Burton Group

Through 2010 , less than 35 % of sites

turning on Windows SharePoint
Services will put effective
governance techniques in place .
- Source : Gartner Consulting

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Step 2: Have a Governance Plan

§People
§ Roles and responsibilities
§
§Process
§ Documentation of the steps to be followed to
complete common tasks.
§ Change a business requirement, create a site, grant
permissions to a new user,…
§

§Technology
§ Leveraging features and tools to enforce policies
through technology
§ Security Groups, Active Directory, Workflow, Source
Control,…

§Policy
§ Documentation of principles - What site owners,
designers, developers, administrators should and
should not do

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Step 2: Have a Governance Plan

• Use Policy to Address Core SharePoint

Issues

Issues : Policies :
§ Shouldwe allow § NO! – Access should
business users to be strictly
use SharePoint limited to a core
Designer? set of trained
users.
§ Howwill we decide § Evaluate what comes
whether or not we out-of-the-box
need 3rd party web first and then
parts and add-ons? proceed with a
reputable vendor.

§ Howshould we package § Use the .WSP standard

and deploy our every time!
custom code?

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Step 3: Get an Executive Sponsor

• Get an Executive Sponsor

§ Assist with gathering input across an organization

§ Coordinate high-level IT decisions
§ Explain the rationale for adoption within the
organization
§ Make big ticket budgetary decisions
§ Ensure accountability throughout the implementation
§
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§
Step 4: Create the Dream Team

• Create the Dream Team

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Step 4: Create the Dream Team

• Preparing Technical Resources :

§ Send key resources to “boot camp” before implementation begins
§ Setup a sandbox for work in developing a proof of concept
§ Identify an experienced partner

§
Preparing Content Contributors :
§ Arrange for a SharePoint demonstration
§ Introduce the basic concepts of taxonomy to your end users

§ Try framing the discussion within the context of Search

§
Preparing Business Users :
§ Arrange for a SharePoint demonstration
§ Demonstrate solutions to real-world problems

§ Designate a “SharePoint Evangelist” within each business unit

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Step 5: Employ Enterprise-Wide Planning

• Plan for Growth

§Infrastructure Investment
§ Check out Microsoft’s SharePoint Capacity Planning Tool
§ Your SQL Server should take priority
§

§Information Architecture
§ Navigation and site structure should support expansion
§ Think outside the box – What if there were no global
navigation?

§Content Management
§ Use SharePoint features like quotas and content
expiration policies to keep site growth in check.
§ Know your limits
§ Keep lists to under 2,000 items per container
§ Max 125 sites per site collection (2,000 sub-
sites per site)
§

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Step 5: Employ Enterprise-Wide Planning
• Design for Performance
1 ) For Database / Indexing u se Physical
Servers Over Virtual
2 ) Separate Content Databases for Large Site
Collections
3 ) Optimize Infrastructure Configuration
4 ) Implement a Warm - Up Script
5 ) Turn on IIS Compression
6 ) Implement Output Caching Policies
7 ) Configure Server Caching ( BLOB )
8 ) Load Core . js in the Background
9 ) Check your Code
1 0 ) Use Cost / Benefit Analysis in Your Design
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How) to Optimize a SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Site
for Performance : http :// msdn . microsoft . com / en - us / library / bb727371 . aspx

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Step 6: Implement Change Management

• Implement
Change
Management

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Step 7: Avoid Taxonomy Pitfalls

• Avoid Taxonomy Pitfalls

§ Avoid metadata overload

§ Get your site columns right the first time – because you can’t
go back!
§ If you have hundreds of content types something is wrong
§ Use lookups in place of choice lists

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Step 8: Search Your Way to Success

• Search Your Way

to Success
§Search is an Easy Win
§ Improving content “Findability” is often cited as a goal for
SharePoint implementations
§ Users can understand and use search without training
§ A SharePoint Search Center doesn’t require SharePoint content
§
§Other Benefits of Search
§ The Core Search Results web part can be used to efficiently
rollup cross-site content
§ SharePoint provides search query logs that can be used to mine
information

§Beyond Out - of - the - Box

§ BA-Insight and Ontolica provide excellent extensions to the core
functionality
§ An open source “faceted” search add-on is available on CodePlex
§

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Step 9: Templatize Your Solution

• Templatize Your Solution

Use Templates to Empower Users

While Still Maintaining Control
§
§
§
§Page Layouts
§ Define a standardized look and feel
§ Leverage page layout content types to allow users to edit content in
place
§ Layout changes ARE applied to pre-existing pages
§
§Site Definitions
§ Bundle desired features, layouts, workflows, site structures into a
reusable package
§ MySites require special consideration
§ Site definition changes are NOT applied to pre-existing sites

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Step 10: Plan for User Adoption

• Plan for User Adoption

Adoption Takes Careful Nurturing

§ End-user adoption starts before MOSS is
purchased
§ Include users in the requirements process
§ Identify and nurture your evangelists
§ Incentivize your desired behaviors
§ Deliver “Findability”
§
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10 Steps To Ensure SharePoint Success - Recap

1 ) Confront Reality
2 ) Create a Governance Plan
3 ) Get an Executive Sponsor
4 ) Create the Dream Team
5 ) Employ Enterprise - Wide Planning
6 ) Implement Change Management
7 ) Avoid Taxonomy Pitfalls
8 ) Search Your Way to Success
9 ) Templatize Your Solution
1 0 ) Plan for User Adoption

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 Questions
•

Dave Perkinson Kevin Israel John

Casey
SharePoint Practice Lead Solutions Architect Director
of Sales
dperkinson@ironworks.com kisrael@ironworks.com
jcasey@ironworks.com
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www.ironworks.com

Richmond Carolinas D C M ew tw rw o. i r o n w o r k s . c o m
4121 Cox Road , Suite 205 11000 Regency Parkway , Suite 404 8133 Leesburg Pike , Suite 650
Glen Allen , Virginia 23060 Cary, North Carolina 27518 Vienna , Virginia 22182
804 . 967 . 9200 919.462.2093 703 . 506 . 3964

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