What is it with Sharepoint?

So why is Sharepoint so popular? I've never sat down and really had a play with it in any kind of detail but I know it is gaining popularity very quickly and is one of those marketable skills these days. The little I have tried it all I wound up with was a blank screen and it allowed me to add documents and web-pages, nothing super special.

Also, if that is all it does, then why now? I mean PHPNuke has been around for roughly fifteen years and was never big in business/corportations before.

If you got into Sharepoint, how did you do that? What was it that brought you into it as a technology? Is it something to watch?

It is much easier in visual studio 2010, before that it is quite hard. If you want to make some serious money then demand for skilled sharepoimters is alarmingly high.

It is a mish mash of a lot of technologies, but for the most part it is a document management system, that is lazily database dependant rather than eagerly. A big government department typically has a lot of word/excell document it needs to manage, way beyond sending someone an email. In a shipping company your website may generate 100 purchasse orders as excel spreadsheets, a manager then needs to assign 10 staff to those orders, and trace when monies were agreed and so on up to an including audit trails.

There is a lot more configuration as opposed to writing code, though you do need to write very high level modules and know .NET inside out (Windows/Web/SQL). Personally, not my cup of tea, but my boss has just bought me two thick books for a prosepective customer so I have no choice in the matter.

vesuvius said:

It is much easier in visual studio 2010, before that it is quite hard. If you want to make some serious money then demand for skilled sharepoimters is alarmingly high.

 

It is a mish mash of a lot of technologies, but for the most part it is a document management system, that is lazily database dependant rather than eagerly. A big government department typically has a lot of word/excell document it needs to manage, way beyond sending someone an email. In a shipping company your website may generate 100 purchasse orders as excel spreadsheets, a manager then needs to assign 10 staff to those orders, and trace when monies were agreed and so on up to an including audit trails.

 

There is a lot more configuration as opposed to writing code, though you do need to write very high level modules and know .NET inside out (Windows/Web/SQL). Personally, not my cup of tea, but my boss has just bought me two thick books for a prosepective customer so I have no choice in the matter.

Yeah, it is really strange. I have seen many ads of SharePoint consultant on Facebook. I am like, huh, huh, huh? Isn't it just a document management software? How is that special? It is hard to understand why it is so popular these day. It actually sounds really big with all the tech buzz around it, especially so many consultants using it.

What's really so special about document management? Any good example? Thank you.

The big deal with SharePoint is multi-faceted.  First of all, you can delegate web creation + updating to non skilled users.  It's alot easier than having a full time web developer on hand just to make updates.  Second, you can use it as a Dashboard system for your business. Reporting up to date data and inventories with the proper developers customizing it.  For those of you that are students think blackboard or moodle.  Third, you can facilitate communication and task management similar to outlook + exchange with the use of globally accessible calendars and announcements that can be available to the public, while at the same time keeping surveys and task lists private.  Fourth, you can create workflows that allow businesses to have a system to process documents and information from the secretary, to the worker, to the team leader and manage communications and task completion at the same time.

Fifth, it integrates heavily into office and outlook.

In the end, it's the easiest system to create web portals for businesses.  Usually takes a couple of hours to deploy and can be easily customized to fit the business usage scenario.

For those not in business administration, SharePoint can look pretty dull on the surface until you dig into it's capabilities.

RLO said:

The big deal with SharePoint is multi-faceted.  First of all, you can delegate web creation + updating to non skilled users.  It's alot easier than having a full time web developer on hand just to make updates.  Second, you can use it as a Dashboard system for your business. Reporting up to date data and inventories with the proper developers customizing it.  For those of you that are students think blackboard or moodle.  Third, you can facilitate communication and task management similar to outlook + exchange with the use of globally accessible calendars and announcements that can be available to the public, while at the same time keeping surveys and task lists private.  Fourth, you can create workflows that allow businesses to have a system to process documents and information from the secretary, to the worker, to the team leader and manage communications and task completion at the same time.

Fifth, it integrates heavily into office and outlook.

 

In the end, it's the easiest system to create web portals for businesses.  Usually takes a couple of hours to deploy and can be easily customized to fit the business usage scenario.

 

For those not in business administration, SharePoint can look pretty dull on the surface until you dig into it's capabilities.

So do team communicate thru SharePoint from this concept? And how is that done? like Wall/Twitter/MSN/email/document?

Anyway, sounds like you need a large enough company to use this.

magicalclick said:

RLO said:

*snip*

So do team communicate thru SharePoint from this concept? And how is that done? like Wall/Twitter/MSN/email/document?

 

Anyway, sounds like you need a large enough company to use this.

some folks use sharepoint as a perosnal web site or blog....

some small business use sharepoint to work with partner companies.

sharepoint can talk to exchange for group data.

it can also run a disscussion board for a small group.

and addins can make it do all kinds of stuff...

TFS uses sharepoint to show reports and tasks for projects...

it's like Nuke for IIS in many ways.

magicalclick said:

RLO said:

*snip*

So do team communicate thru SharePoint from this concept? And how is that done? like Wall/Twitter/MSN/email/document?

 

Anyway, sounds like you need a large enough company to use this.

I'm about to get started with getting Sharepoint to work for our 7 employee company (MAPS FTW!). Initial plans are to use it as a document repository. It'll be nice to have the CRM integration that is coming with 2010. We'll be able to access all documents related to specific CRM entities right from CRM. Hopefully we can make use of some of the other features as we get time.

magicalclick said:

RLO said:

*snip*

So do team communicate thru SharePoint from this concept? And how is that done? like Wall/Twitter/MSN/email/document?

 

Anyway, sounds like you need a large enough company to use this.

It's can be similar to Facebooks wall, but with alot more detail and information.

Here's an example of a site built on Sharepoint.  And here are some more examples.

SharePoint's main function is to create a dashboard like interface for end-users which is determined by their accounts, administrators, implementers, and developers.

It's Business Intelligence and more.  This was like skydrive before skydrive, and facebook wall before facebook.  Only it's oriented for business.  There have even been attempts to create Learning Content Management systems using SharePoint as a platform.

Here's the real bit with SharePoint, if you have an organization that needs secure file sharing, document management,discussions, task management, calendaring, office, and office communicator integration all in a web portal, it's a heck of a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper to roll out SharePoint than to hire a web developer to roll it out from scratch.  After deployment, if you need something like an online data report showing up in a graph, it's easier to snag a developer to build a component that can be used throughout the business than to have them focus on the website itself.

Kettch, are you going with a full MOSS or a SharePoint foundation roll out?

RLO said:

magicalclick said:

*snip*

It's can be similar to Facebooks wall, but with alot more detail and information.

Here's an example of a site built on Sharepoint.  And here are some more examples.

 

SharePoint's main function is to create a dashboard like interface for end-users which is determined by their accounts, administrators, implementers, and developers.

 

It's Business Intelligence and more.  This was like skydrive before skydrive, and facebook wall before facebook.  Only it's oriented for business.  There have even been attempts to create Learning Content Management systems using SharePoint as a platform.

 

Here's the real bit with SharePoint, if you have an organization that needs secure file sharing, document management,discussions, task management, calendaring, office, and office communicator integration all in a web portal, it's a heck of a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper to roll out SharePoint than to hire a web developer to roll it out from scratch.  After deployment, if you need something like an online data report showing up in a graph, it's easier to snag a developer to build a component that can be used throughout the business than to have them focus on the website itself.

 

Kettch, are you going with a full MOSS or a SharePoint foundation roll out?

There are two main features related to organization: document libraries and custom lists. Document libraries are html views over webdav stores and provide custom attributes/tagging and versioning control at pretty much no cost.

Custom lists are actually pretty cool. I've wrote a fully featured bug tracking system using a custom list and a bunch of queries

RLO said:

magicalclick said:

*snip*

It's can be similar to Facebooks wall, but with alot more detail and information.

Here's an example of a site built on Sharepoint.  And here are some more examples.

 

SharePoint's main function is to create a dashboard like interface for end-users which is determined by their accounts, administrators, implementers, and developers.

 

It's Business Intelligence and more.  This was like skydrive before skydrive, and facebook wall before facebook.  Only it's oriented for business.  There have even been attempts to create Learning Content Management systems using SharePoint as a platform.

 

Here's the real bit with SharePoint, if you have an organization that needs secure file sharing, document management,discussions, task management, calendaring, office, and office communicator integration all in a web portal, it's a heck of a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper to roll out SharePoint than to hire a web developer to roll it out from scratch.  After deployment, if you need something like an online data report showing up in a graph, it's easier to snag a developer to build a component that can be used throughout the business than to have them focus on the website itself.

 

Kettch, are you going with a full MOSS or a SharePoint foundation roll out?

Most sharepoint designs seem outdated or messy. You'd think it could look quite clean and functional. It just seems messy and not slick.

intelman said:

RLO said:

*snip*

Most sharepoint designs seem outdated or messy. You'd think it could look quite clean and functional. It just seems messy and not slick.

Keep in mind, that's what comes out of the box with SharePoint services 2.0/MOSS 2007.  I haven't dug into 2010 yet, so I can't comment on the styles of the updated SharePoint Foundation/MOSS 2010.

SharePoint Sites are pretty customizable if you have a good web dev adjusting them.  This is no Zen Garden, but here's a theme that can be used with SPS.  Why do you think there is such a demand for SharePoint developers?  Looks + Functionality extended is in demand right now.  Although most businesses that deploy SPS are looking for a cheap and functional site that they can control or be trained to control first and foremost.

If you think SharePoint looks bad, think about what most college's Blackboard(LCM) sites look like.

Paolo, I agree that's the beauty of the platform.

RLO said:

intelman said:

*snip*

Keep in mind, that's what comes out of the box with SharePoint services 2.0/MOSS 2007.  I haven't dug into 2010 yet, so I can't comment on the styles of the updated SharePoint Foundation/MOSS 2010.

 

SharePoint Sites are pretty customizable if you have a good web dev adjusting them.  This is no Zen Garden, but here's a theme that can be used with SPS.  Why do you think there is such a demand for SharePoint developers?  Looks + Functionality extended is in demand right now.  Although most businesses that deploy SPS are looking for a cheap and functional site that they can control or be trained to control first and foremost.

 

If you think SharePoint looks bad, think about what most college's Blackboard(LCM) sites look like.

 

 

Paolo, I agree that's the beauty of the platform.

Yeah, most college websites are pretty crappy.Sharepoitn just ahs the look of a Microsoft product. It is functional, but it is kinda messy.

I think Google and Facebook have the right idea in UI though. Simple but graphical at the same time. Also quite funcitonal.

Example

They are clickable and have nice sublte effects.

I can just imagine how sweet a Sharepoint site could look. Perhaps I will mess around with Sharepoint 2010 once it is up on MSDN. Who knows maybe I'll go nuts and actually purchase a copy to use for my own personal crap.

The reason Sharepoint is so popular basically boils down to ease of installation and loss aversion. It starts off as a project by someone in IT looking for a way to take collaboration beyond email. A few clicks later and you have all this framework stuff, that will let you do all kinds of things, is basically handed to you.

Just a little more work has to be done to setup the users, permissions, logos, and convincing other nerd coworkers to modify the wiki and post a blog. A few weeks later you are able to put up a crappy dashboard and someone from management sees it and gets excited.

A year has gone by and you have been promoted to a new position, sharepoint admin. You spend most of your time trying to get backup to work, fiddling with the search indexer, or nagging people to update their blogs and wiki pages. The dashboard still uses fake data, but management hasn't figured it out yet.

Now that so much time has been invested, (and remember, time is directly equatable to money), there is no way this sharepoint thing should be shut down. See sunk costs.

intelman said:

RLO said:

*snip*

Yeah, most college websites are pretty crappy.Sharepoitn just ahs the look of a Microsoft product. It is functional, but it is kinda messy.

 

I think Google and Facebook have the right idea in UI though. Simple but graphical at the same time. Also quite funcitonal.

 

Example

 

 

They are clickable and have nice sublte effects.

 

I can just imagine how sweet a Sharepoint site could look. Perhaps I will mess around with Sharepoint 2010 once it is up on MSDN. Who knows maybe I'll go nuts and actually purchase a copy to use for my own personal crap.

Office Sharepoint Server is available today via MSDN and Technet.  Although, for experimental work, I would suggest SharePoint foundation to start.  It's the same thing but on a reduced scale.

Here's the SDK.  In fact the beta of 2010 looks like this. 

Josh, I take it that is the voice of experience you have there?

my sharepoint has become self-aware and responding to blog postings.

sammm said:

my sharepoint has become self-aware and responding to blog postings.

Trapperkeeper 2000

Sharepoint is so popular, because women finally have an IT product where they can put their endless lists in,..