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SharePoint Development : From the accidental SharePoint developer perspective

Jeri Sires

Michelle Guyot

Dora Martinez

Donna Payne

Presenters

• Jeri Oglesby Sires - HunterMaclean– Jeri is responsible for developing and delivering all technical training as well

as working on various projects involving firm technology and helping practice groups find ways to increase efficiency and productivity. Jeri was responsible for creating and launching HunterMaclean University, a firm mentor program and the firm Intranet, built on SharePoint technology, within the last year. Prior to her position at HunterMaclean, she worked independently as a technology trainer and consultant for 15 years.

• Michelle Guyot - PayneGroup– Michelle Guyot is the senior applications support analyst for PayneGroup's

Forms, Numbering and Outlook Send Assistants. In this capacity, she tests for compliance and integration with document management systems and other third-party solutions. Michelle works with clients to create products that meet the needs of the individual firm. She offers exceptional support and knowledge. Michelle is also PayneGroup’s ‘accidental’ SharePoint developer specialist.

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• Donna Payne - PayneGroup– Donna Payne is CEO of PayneGroup. She is the recipient of the first

ever Consultant of the Year award given by Law Technology News, and the Lex Proficio award for lifetime service advancement of legal software and publishing. She is a frequent speaker at legal and technical conferences worldwide and has spoken to Congressional committees, the Senate, and at international judicial conferences on the subject of metadata and preventing accidental disclosure. Payne is a columnist for several legal and technical publications and writes the monthly column Test Drive for Law Technology News. Donna has authored 12 books on Microsoft software.

• Dora Martinez – Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP– Dora is currently Director of Project Management Office at Sheppard

Mullin. She came to the firm as a Project Coordinator for the Knowledge Management Department. Her very first assignment, mandate really, was to replace the firm’s existing portal using SharePoint. When all was said and done, Sheppard became the first law firm to deploy a portal using SharePoint 2007 – less then two weeks after general release. Dora continues to head projects running on SharePoint, mostly workflows. She also uses it to manages all projects using collaboration sites.

Presenters

Agenda

How one becomes „accidental‟ SharePoint developer

Getting Started – The Best Approach

Firm and Management Buy-In

Define Milestones for Success

Panel Demonstrations

Best Practices for SharePoint Deployment and Development

Conclusion and Q&A

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“There are no accidents.”

Sigmund Freud

Then Again…SharePoint wasn’t Invented Yet

Getting Started

Define the problem that needs to be solved or opportunity that can be met.

– Consolidate information, normalize data. Some examples include firm directories, human resources collateral, learning management and even a firm university with e-Learning and documentation, library section with links to resources and articles, practice group information, and more.

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Do Your HomeworkCreate a team or define who will be working on the project and the scope.

– Treat this like you are starting a business and create a well thought out business plan.

– Determine who will work on the team and ensure that each person has a common goal and understands the milestones required for success.

– Decide what comes „out of the box‟ and what needs to be further developed.

– Sell to management and continue to sell. There is no such thing as a finished project when it comes to SharePoint because the content must keep current. Let’s dig into this a little more…

Demo of Published ROI Example

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Project Management

• Gather requirements for short and long term and categorize them accordingly

• Stage the rollout in phases

• Keep track of issues, requests and complaints

• Create marketing and communication plans

• Determine who will create ongoing content outside of IT!

• Identify resource such as technical, content management and practice specific in the early stages

A badly planned project will take three times longer than expected - a well-planned project only twice as long as expected.

- From Rules of Project Management

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Define Milestonesfor Success

• Set small milestones and celebrate each upon reaching them.

• Don‟t be afraid to go back to the drawing board if something isn‟t right.

• Define your performance goals in the early stages. For example: page load time 25% faster than previous version

• Know what the organization is prepared to invest and stick to it or better yet –come in slightly under budget.

HunterMacleanSharePoint Project Demo

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Problem Defined

• Current intranet was outdated, users rarely accessed it.

• There were too many places users had to look to find

the information they needed.

• Information was duplicated in many places. Which

items were current?

• Wanted to create HMU giving users one-stop access to

all training options & materials

• Demonstrate the value of SharePoint development to

management

Before SharePoint…

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Templates

Classified Ads

Firm Announcements

Firm Calendar

Areas for Practice Groups, Library, HMU,

HR, Word Processing, ProBono

Useful

Information

Fun Stuff

Rotating Image

Create “Self-Service” features

Using Microsoft provided templates

– Conference Room Scheduling

– Reserve IT Resources

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OTB SharePoint “Lists”

with simple notifications set

up to certain individuals

Moving Outside the Box (a little)

Create New Work Request

Submit Work RequestAssign Work Request

Complete Work Request

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Admin Page

All Work Requests and Evaluations

View Options –

Some link to Work

Request and

Evaluations

All Submitting

Attorneys and Summer

Associates

Number of Requests and

Evaluations for each

PayneGroupSharePoint Project Demo

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Problems Defined

• Information was replicated in multiple places (i.e.,

Outlook, Public Folders, Excel workbooks, etc.)

• Data was not always updated in every location and thus

ran the risk of being inaccurate.

• Selection options providing information were static and

needed updating in every main list

• Needs included Master Client List, Project and

Assignment Tracking, Demo and Sales Tracking,

Configurations and more.

Before SharePoint…

Main Issue: Information

is duplicated between

the two sets of lists

Annual Maintenance

Initial Attempt at SharePoint

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Problem Solved: List Replication

• Added all information needed to the

SharePoint site

• Created specific filters where needed

• Can still analyze in a spreadsheet by

exporting

• Originally all lists were

static

• If an upgrade/patch to

an application were

available 15 separate lists

needed updating – that is

for each application!

• Now use Lookups which

link back to the

application giving even

more information.

Problem Solved: List Replication

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Problem Solved: Task Lists

• Had to know who the

Project Manager was for

each client

• Added a project list for

each developer

• Difficult to forecast

schedule without knowing

what project was currently

active

Problem Solved: Finding

Information Quickly

• Able to find information – period!

• Navigation no longer cumbersome

• Access to information from anywhere in SharePoint

• All information is linked – nothing is static

Global Navigation

links are available

on all pagesOnly on

first page

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Problem Solved: Tool for

Support

• Support needed a

way to share

knowledge

• Information needed

to be quickly

accessible

• Enough details

required in order to

guide helpdesk to a

solution

End Result

• Information is consolidated in one location.

• Have created a knowledge base or solutions library for all of our products.

• All client information is stored within SharePoint

• SharePoint is used for assigning and tracking projects as first line project management

• Every person within Payne is now SharePoint savvy

• It’s an ongoing learning process and there is always something that needs to be added or tweaked.

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Live DemoSolution Example

SharePoint comes to Sheppard

• Replacing existing portal – 1st SP project @ firm

• Key requirements for new portal

– Performance! – improved startup and navigation

– Ability to search across entire portal content

– Improved performance for DMS searches, including ability to do full-text searches

– Bring relevancy to search results

– Don‟t take away current functionality!

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How did we do?

– Startup and navigation improvements of over 100%

– Searching content across portal and external sources improved over 100%

– Results sorted by relevancy & Best Bets

– Content refresh decentralized – each PG/Dept handles updates of their portal pages

– Acceptance by end users was overwhelmingly positive!

New Portal Home Page

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And then what happened?

– The more they get, the more they want – and that‟s a good thing – we get frequent requests for new items

– Which means we continue to look for ways to take advantage of SharePoint‟s capabilities

– Examples• Built a workflow for new attorney provisioning

• Manage technology projects using SP collaboration sites

• Use custom lists to aggregate information from different sources

• Currently building more workflows, including new business intake

– Sample SharePoint pages

Project Collaboration Sites

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•Requesting a new

project

Must use proper SP

Request Form

Must have a sponsor,

approver, and budget pre-

approval!

In Summary

• SharePoint is flexible– All pages can have a standard look or…

– Each page can be unique

• SharePoint is easy to manage– You can easily train your end users to be publishers

• SharePoint can‟t do everything– Lots of out of the box functionality but most of it is

limited

• Get to know those limits– Buy pre-built web parts or get external resources

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BEST PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS

Make SharePoint Integral Part of Business

• Ensure that everyone is comfortable with the technology.

• Make it fun to use – not just for extracting business list and information but for fun things like corporate events, weather, time zones, photos, partner blogs, help desk tips – even lunch celebratory notes.

If it feels like

fun – they

will

contribute

and be

drawn to the

site.

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You Only Get 1 Chance to Make a Good 1st

Impression• Often programmers don‟t

think “pretty” so consider collaborating with a graphics person to give the project a better look.

• Set up an informal focus group to get feedback and listen to them! DON‟T TAKE IT PERSONALLY.

• Branding is important

OTB, Web Parts and Development Options

• Don‟t underestimate what you can do out of the box with SharePoint. It‟s a pretty robust application and fairly intuitive.

• You don‟t necessary have to go straight to the hard core development route right away. You could instead use readily available web parts or custom lists and views to possibly accomplish what you need.

• Payne used Microsoft Consulting services and a well known author who gave us a jump start on some advanced functionality so reach for your favorite consultant but have them teach you instead of do it all themselves.

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One More Thing On Web Parts

• Make sure you test the following scenarios even if custom developed.

– Performance

– What happens when the web part is used more than once on the same page

– When many users are accessing the web part simultaneously – especially in large enterprise firms

– Recommend:

• http://www.sharepoint-tips.com/

• MSDN: Using Disposable Windows SharePoint Services Objects http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa973248.aspx -

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Disaster and Contingency

• We‟ve learned from Katrina and 911

• Backup and restore your SharePoint data as you would with any other important information. Store offsite and have contingency plans.

• Treat SharePoint data as confidential

Know What’s Coming• Attend SharePoint Conferences – even virtually

• Shadow MVPs (or become one)

• Get on the betas - Watch the 2010 Videos

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/Pages/IT-Pro-video.aspx

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Resources

• SharePoint ROI Example - Culmsee Cio 248 How To Roi – Presentation.

• http://www.slideshare.net/paulculmsee/culmsee-cio-248-how-to-roi?type=presentation

• SharePoint Best Practices – As Outlined by Microsoft IT -http://itfootprint.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/sharepoint-best-practices-as-outlined-by-microsoft-it/

Resources

• Twitter – Many SharePoint groups on Twitter including @SharePoint @sharepointbuzz @joeloleson (aka SharePoint Joel) @SharePointMVPs and more.

• SharePoint Best Practices – As Outlined by Microsoft IT -http://itfootprint.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/sharepoint-best-practices-as-outlined-by-microsoft-it/

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Resources

• Window’s SharePoint Services 3.0 Inside Out, by Errin O'Connor (Microsoft Press). ISBN-13: 978-0735623231.

• Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 Step by Step by Penelope Coventry (Microsoft Press)

ISBN-13: 978-0735625334.

Resources

• Other Recommendations from the panel…

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Thank You!