Coloring Within The Lines

From Here to There

2012-01-24T09:48:00.000-05:00

Imagine you are headed on vacation and planning your driving route on how to get there. What is the first question to answer? The first question isn't where am I going but where am I currently. An effective SharePoint migration requires the same first question, what data do I currently have that needs to be migrated?

Planning out a SharePoint 2010 farm, site collections, user access and many other details need to be done in light of what existing data is being migrated to the new farm. In many ways, it is like the analogy of the square peg and round hole. If we design the 2010 site structure and do not take into account the existing data, it can lead to a difficult transition for both administrator and user.

As the journey to SharePoint 2010 begins for many organizations, take time to map out your 2003/2007 sites. In the process of meeting with site owners, many organizations learn that there are many undocumented sites that have been created over time.

Until we know where we are at, we cannot map out where we are going.

Lead by Example

2012-01-10T12:35:00.000-05:00

Change- books have been devoted to it, classes presented about it yet it still continues to be challenging. Many times the use of SharePoint means a change of sorts. Change of how data is accessed, where data is stored and how data is presented. From a SharePoint Consultant stand point this change is good but to many users it is different and slow to be embraced.

I wish I had a magic formula or 5 easy steps to get user adoption. That may come in time but the first step in my opinion is to lead by example.

Do you want users to utilize a new SharePoint list? You utilize it first. Do you want users to use My Site? You setup and utlize yours first. I have seen many cases where solutions are created but the SharePoint team never utilizes the solutions to address their own challenges.

If we can create a user base that asks and demands new SharePoint solutions, the adoption process is something that takes care of itself - we have other issues to address then.

I must get back to work now..... I have a My Site to setup.

Moving Day

2012-01-05T10:31:00.000-05:00

One of my current consulting projects is migrating SharePoint 2007 sites to SharePoint 2010 for a large, global company. This is a major undertaking and will require a significant amount of investment from both my customer and myself. My plan is to document our challenges and successes throughout this endeavor here.

Migrating SharePoint sites is a lot like moving houses – preparation in advance makes for a much easier move. Moving is a pain (as is migrating) but the goal is to make the pain as minimal as possible.

Recently my family and I moved across the country. When deciding what to pack, I used the one year rule. If it was something that I had not been used within the past year, then it was not being packed – rather it would be discarded or donated. In migrating SharePoint data, I have a similar approach. The client decides the threshold but typically if data has not been modified in over 2 years, it is a candidate to not be migrated.

Preparing for a migration? Evaluate the existing data first and see if needs to be migrated. Stale, unused data can be removed, making a better SharePoint experience for our customer.

Hiding Upload Button in SharePoint

2012-01-04T09:01:00.003-05:00

For many of our form libraries (in SharePoint 2007), our client wished to have the Upload button hidden. Our client has SharePoint locked down so utilizing SharePoint Designer for this was not an option. Tight restrictions like these is what led to the blog title” Coloring within the Lines”. I had to turn to jQuery in order to fulfill this request.

I came across an article here that discusses this subject and I found the following code in the comments section.

$(document).ready(function(){
$('.ms-menutoolbar td:eq(5)').hide();
$('.ms-menutoolbar td:eq(6)').hide();
});

Please note that I am not taking credit for developing this code as it came out of the comments section above but just passing along what I found to accomplish this task. I have not tested this solution in a SharePoint 2010 environment at this time.

Fax Solution

2011-01-20T10:41:00.000-05:00

The number of email fax solutions available now seems a bit overwhelming. I had the opportunity this week to review some potential solutions. My choice was myfax. This was due to not only cost but also several other requirements.

What evaluation did I use to come to my decision?
First, is cost. How much is the monthly cost going to be? My decision isn't based solely on this alone but it is a major factor.
Second, what is support like? Is support easy to reach and available 24 hours?
Third, how many pages are included? Please be sure to note the number of pages incoming and outgoing. For my client, they would be sending a large number of faxes. Some other fax solutions only allowed 30 faxes to be sent on a monthly basis and this number was too small for our needs. Many of the solutions grant a total number of pages that can be any combination of send or receive. Just be sure to evaluate this carefully and see if it fits your organizational needs. Also note the overage costs as well.

The great news is that now there are more options than ever before. There are plently of cost effecient solutions out there. Do your homework and pick the best one that works for you.

Standardization

2011-01-13T16:35:00.002-05:00

As mobile devices and mobile apps become more prevalent in today’s business, standardization is something to consider now, not later. What mobile apps will be used for what solution and what level of support can be provided? Case in point, a business that I am consulting with needs for mileage of its sales staff to submit its mileage. There are many applications out there that do this and I am working with them on selecting one solution for their entire staff. This makes support and training much easier.

On the flip side, new software is being released constantly. We want to be sure that we are utilizing the best solutions so a solution review will be needed as well.

How best to get the data to each device and organize the applications for my client is my next challenge.

I Need My Files

2010-12-23T09:57:00.001-05:00

One of the challenges I face is having access to certain files wherever I am located. There is a core group of data that I need access to on the go and the challenge of accessing this has been solved by the tool Dropbox. Dropbox has several tiers of service available: Free, Pro 50 ($9.99/month) and Pro 100 ($19.99/month). The Free services provides 2 GB of data for use and if you share the news with your friends, you can receive more free space. The installation is quite simple, just setup your account and install the client on each of your devices. Add your files to the Dropbox folder and you have access wherever you are on any device.

If you think about giving Dropbox a try, please send me an email for an invite because we will both gain some free space.

2010-06-29T15:30:00.002-05:00