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SharePoint in Real Life

SharePoint in Real Life. Two recent case studies at Opus. Two Case Studies. www.opuscorp.com External/ Customer-facing site. “O · net” Intranet/Portal. Case 1: External Site. Background Our approach Why SharePoint? Technical overview Lessons learned. Background: Pain Points.

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SharePoint in Real Life

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  1. SharePoint in Real Life • Two recent case studies at Opus

  2. Two Case Studies www.opuscorp.comExternal/Customer-facing site • “O·net”Intranet/Portal

  3. Case 1: External Site • Background • Our approach • Why SharePoint? • Technical overview • Lessons learned

  4. Background: Pain Points • Time-consuming/expensive to maintain • Poor reliability • Few options for integration

  5. Background: Site Components • Structured/dynamic content (Job Postings, Projects, Press Releases, News Letters, Testimonials, Bios, etc…) • Static content (Company History, Mission Statement, Descriptions of Services, etc…) • Canadian site(www.oredevelopment.com) • Project search • Site search • Flash content

  6. Core Requirements • Maintain same design (“pixel perfect”) • Reliable • Use internal IT resources sparingly • “Good” ROI • Easy maintenance • Complete by end of year (6 Months) • Friendly to search optimization

  7. Other “Nice to Haves” • Delegation of content management • Full control over design • Integration options (for other Opus systems)

  8. Our Approach • Gather full requirements • RFPs/vendor selection (Inetium) • Site design • Implementation • Content manager training • Main site launch • ORE site development • ORE site launch

  9. Why SharePoint? • Built-in content management capabilities • Web content management (critical) • Document management (to a lesser extent) • Publishing model • Schedule date to release • Version control • Approval workflow • Templates • Multiple page layouts (article with image on left etc.) • Custom (policies and procedures) • Design Flexibility

  10. Content Architecture: Design Process Existing Site List of Site Entities • Relationships • Who Publishes • When/How Often Published Taxonomy

  11. Content Architecture • Structured site to be free of extraneous managed code • Designed to accommodate modular security needs, with a central approval process • Leveraged OOB navigation for top and left navs • All data maintained in lists, including a couple thousand images • Data – joins and filtering of lists revealed interesting quirks in SPD • Leveraged Reusable content

  12. Site Infrastructure *Internet “www.opuscorp.com” www.opuscorp.com ISA Server (Rev-Proxy/Firewall) *DMZ “exweb” Content Switch(s) (Cisco CSS 11501) Database Cluster (SQL 2005) *Internal Front-End Web Servers (MOSS 2007)

  13. Lessons Learned • Look for ways to use re-use content (lists, master pages, and page layouts seem to be the key) • XSLT is an essential skill for highly-customized SharePoint sites • The learning curve for customizing SharePoint is high, but the reward is a site tailored to your needs. • The Reusable Content list is a great little tool • Because of schedule constraints, using external consulting services (Inetium) was important.

  14. Q&A

  15. Case 2: Onet Redesign • Background • Our approach • Why SharePoint? • Implementation details • Lessons learned

  16. Onet Redesign • Background • Designed exclusively by IT • “Org Chart” taxonomy • Extensive/complicated menu system Slow to load/as many as three levels to navigate • Search - Google Search Appliance • Platform: FrontPage (static content)/.Net (custom web apps) • No “portal” tools (collaboration, personalization, etc) Onet – The Ugly Years

  17. Onet Redesign • Pain Points: • Outdated design • Difficult to find “stuff” • Difficult for content publishers to update • Difficult for IT to support content publishers Onet – The Ugly Years

  18. Our Approach • Assemble a committee(from a variety of disciplines and levels) • Establish high-level scope • Gather feedback/research • (from the committee, content publishers, and employees) • Analyze feedback/research • Establish/communicate full scope • Implementation • Deployment

  19. Why SharePoint? • Ease of publishing for content owners • Item-level Security, Web Parts • Standard Portal Features • Personalization, Alerts, RSS, etc.. • Built-in content management capabilities • Custom lists and views (lots) • Version control • Approval workflow • Web content management (just a little) • Document management (surprisingly little at first, but more and more) • Familiar platform (existing staff) • Design flexibility

  20. The Theory Good Design Intuitive Navigation Useful Search/ Site Tools An Easier-to-Use Site?

  21. Gather Feedback!

  22. Design Options

  23. Navigation/Taxonomy Options • Option 1 – No Change • Option 1 • My Life • My Job • My Company • Option 2 (Variation of Current Scheme) • Departments • Application • Forms • Employee Center • Project Delivery

  24. Taxonomy: Our Approach • Company-wide survey (ONET Top 5) • Department/steering committee surveys • Focus groups (card-sorting sessions) • Consulting services (Inetium) • Industry best research and best practices (Nielsen Group, Human Factors Int’l)

  25. (Almost) Final Taxonomy

  26. Implementation • Design Implementation • Master pages(for SharePoint & ASP.Net custom apps) • Layout pages • Custom site definition • Custom controls • Location-aware tab-strip • Custom breadcrumb • “My Links” • Convert content sites (Both SharePoint and FrontPage sites) • Develop New Areas • Main Areas (forms center, landing pages) • “My Location” sites • Utility areas (Help, Site Map) • Home Page

  27. The Final Result…

  28. Site Infrastructure http://onet/ Content Switch(s) (Cisco CSS 11501) /sites/* /applications/* Database Cluster (SQL 2005) Front-End Web Servers (MOSS 2007) Custom App Servers (C#/.Net) Search Server (Google Search Appliance) *Internal

  29. Growth Rate Go-Live Project Kick-Off Number of Sites

  30. Favorite Features • Audience targeting • Article publishing system • Forms/surveys • Custom lists • Business Data Catalog (BDC)

  31. Not-So-Favorite Features • Deployment process • Backup/restore • Site definitions are permanent(cannot be changed after site creation) • Hardware requirements(makes development difficult) • SharePoint designer bugs!

  32. Other Fun Stuff • Several My Location sites have launched location-specific suggestion box lists, local announcements, and local calendars • Departments have gone above and beyond by helping employees in new ways. (eg. Tax department posts personal tax tips) • RSS feeds are becoming more popular • A number of custom lists are being developed to replace previously manual processes

  33. The future of Onet • Opus Project Library (done!) • Lease Library (in progress) • Project Delivery (‘08) • Records Management/Document Retention? • FolderNav vs. SharePoint document libraries

  34. Another Perspective on Systems Integration

  35. The future of Onet Project Delivery Lease Library Records Management/Document Retention

  36. Q&A

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