Advanced SharePoint Document Management with Multi-file Documents

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Advanced SharePoint Document Management with Multi-file DocumentsImplementing advanced SharePoint document management systems with virtual and compound documents

Black Blade Associates, [email protected]+1-703-260-1111

http://www.blackbladeinc.com/

mailto:[email protected]





Eugene Rosenfeld Two-time MOSS 2007 MVP CTO, Black Blade Associates

www.BlackBladeInc.com Blogger

ThingsThatShouldbeEasy.blogspot.com [email protected]




http://thingsthatshouldbeeasy.blogspot.com/




About this presentation Session is best suited to content

managers and information architects Focusing on:

Capabilities Usage scenariosRequirements

No code or configuration Lessons learned from our

implementation





Overview Convince you that you need multi-file

document management Strategies for creating your own

implementation





Setting Expectations Advanced document management

Not everyone needs or is ready for this Investment required

3 – 12 months to implement Will require re-engineering business

processes to get full value





Primer: Collab vs. Doc ManCollaboration Document Management

Quick to start Free-flow process Little control Live in the now Goal is to

exchange information

Benefits from greater planning

Structured process Granular control Manages full document

lifecycle Goal is to produce and

manage a work product Collaboration should be part

of the document management process





What SharePoint can do now for document management





Document Consumption Multiple readers Potential multi-format documents using

document conversions Single permission set for entire

document Search





Document Authoring Single author, multiple readers Authoring with Microsoft Office Concurrency control (check in / out) Permissions Versioning Publishing Workflow





Concurrent Authoring Requires everyone to use Office 2010

for full fidelity or use less capable web app

Users can still get edit conflicts Must download full document to edit All authors have permissions to entire

document Can not use check in / check out Bottom line: collaboration or review tool





Document Management Organization (tagging, metadata,

storage) Security Records





Difficult to Implement Scenarios Authoring with partially-trusted users

Partners, customers, vendors, anyone besides you

Creating financial documentsData from financial system and human

write upEnsure human doesn’t fudge financial data

Enforcing document content complianceEnsure every employee offer has official

NDAWhich contracts have old version of dispute

resolution content?





My Assertion SharePoint DM limitations stem from

single-file documents:All content for a document is stored in a

single fileSharePoint is constrained by the limits of

each document’s file type Lessons from the web:

Separating the elements of a web page (the document) into multiple files makes for a much stronger management system





What are multi-file documents?





What is a Multi-file Document? Single logical document

Ex: a proposal, a book, a report, a presentation

Divided into partsStored as separate, but related filesEx: multiple chapters, slides, images,

spreadsheets Work with the each document part

separately or with the document as a whole

Two main types: Virtual and Compound Documents





Sample Multi-file Document

Proposals Document Library

Market Department’s Document Library

Legal Departments Document Library

Proposal About the Company

Legal Terms

About the Company

(Reference)

Legal Terms (Reference)

Proposal Lead

Engineer

Executive Summary

Technical Proposal





Are Multi-file Documents New? No, just new to SharePoint You’ve already used multi-file

documentsHTML pagesReusable Content in SharePoint publishing

pagesOneNote notebooksWord compound documentsFrameMaker documentsTeXSource code





What multi-file documents can do for you





Multi-file Document Capabilities Better authoring

Controlled concurrent authoringReusable, live contentMultiple authoring format with multiple

consumption formats Granular management

Enhanced version control / record management

Granular permissions and auditingTargeted approval workflows





New Usage Scenarios Team-based Authoring Authoring with External Users Geographically Distributed Authoring Sensitive Document Authoring Combined Automated and Human

Authoring Brand management Compliance reporting





Partial Trust Authoring




Proposal

About the Company

Legal TermsAbout the Company

(Reference)


Technical Proposal

Trusted Employee

Partially Trusted Sub-Contractor

Executive Summary





Automated Systems Authoring




Mutual Fund Prospectus

About the Fund

Legal TermsAbout the

Fund (Reference)


Historical Returns

Analyst

Data Warehouse

Investment Objectives





New SharePoint Applications New usage scenarios enable new apps Proposal Builder Project Management Digital Asset Management Financial Reporting Book Authoring Brief Builder PDF Publisher





Strategies for creating a multi-file document capability on SharePoint





An Ideal ImplementationOk multi-file documents

Ideal multi-file documents

Require you to use special file formats. I.e.: Web pages require .HTML FrameMaker requires .MIF

Require custom authoring apps or add-ins Special web app Office add-ins HTML editor FrameMaker

Uses your existing file formats – no changes Word - .DOC, .DOCX PowerPoint - .PPT, .PPTX

Use existing authoring apps – no add-ins MS Office OpenOffice WordPerfect

Author as multi-file, distribute as single-file





General Approach Completely server-side approach Use native document formats No custom apps or Office add-ins

needed End result had to be a single file per

document format Low operational and maintenance costs No data loss





Components Document content data Document processing engine Process management User interface





Document Content Data Options

Store in SharePoint using foldersStore in SharePoint using document setsStore in SharePoint using metadataStore in custom data store

Final answerStore in SharePoint using metadataHeavy use of content types





Document Sets as DocumentsDocument Sets Multi-file Document

Based on folder paradigm

Can’t control order Flat list Requires SharePoint

Server 2010 Final product is a

collection of documents

Based on document paradigm

Full ordering support Full hierarchy support Nice to have WSS /

Server and 3.0 / 4.0 support

Final product is a single document





Document Processing Engine Options

List item event receiverWorkflowTimer jobWindows serviceStand-alone processing engine service

Final answerStand-alone processing engine service,

loosely coupled to SharePoint using WCF services





Process Management Options

Document queue on processing engine service

Document queue on SharePoint farm Final answer

Document queue on both the SharePoint farm and the processing engine service





User Interface Options

Web partsApplication pagesUI on processing engine service with WSRP

producer support Final answer

List viewsApplication pagesUI on processing engine service but no

WSRP





Minimizing impact of SharePoint platform changes





Platform Change Types Patch and service pack deployment .Net Framework changes Foundation / SharePoint server Windows Server updates SharePoint upgrade / migration Moving off of SharePoint





Deploy less code to SharePoint! How

SOA Why SOA?

Service boundaries isolate most code from SharePoint platform – you want this!

Less code deployed to SharePoint is less code that is affected by SharePoint platform changes





What Code Goes Where?Processing Length

Short Medium Long

SharePoint Require

d

Yes

1. Web part or synchronous event receiver.

2. Asynchronous event receiver.

3. Workflow, timer job, service application in SharePoint farm.

No 4. SOAP or WCF service on separate hardware from SharePoint farm.

5. Workflow, console app, or service on separate hardware from SharePoint farm.

6. Workflow, console app, or service on separate hardware from SharePoint farm.





Original Application Architecture

Redundant Failover HTTP

Load Balancers

Multi-file Document Management

Load Balanced SharePoint Web

Servers

SQL Server Database Back

End

SharePoint Users

SharePoint Index and

Application Servers

Merger Engine

Event Receiver

Document Assembler

Document Uploader

Management Pages

Content Types

List Definitions





SOA Application Architecture

Redundant Failover HTTP

Load Balancers

Load Balanced SharePoint Web

Servers

SQL Server Database Back

End

SharePoint Users

SharePoint Index and

Application Servers

Document Processing Service

Event Receiver

Management Pages

Content Types

List Definitions

Service Interface

Merger Engine

Document Assembler

Document Uploader

15% 85%





Closing





Summary You need multi-file document

management, just like multi-file web content management

Devote 3-12 months to build the capability

Design with operations in mind – think SOA

Remember: Document management means full life-cycle, not just authoring

Need to re-engineer document management processes to leverage new capabilities





Questions?




Technology

Advanced SharePoint Document Management with Multi-file Documents