Thinking of migrating to SharePoint?

If you are thinking of migrating to SharePoint environment, it is time to ponder over its features and the new advanced capabilities it offers. If you are using some other platform and want to migrate to SharePoint platform, what new features and services you will get? Or are you already using a SharePoint version and want to upgrade to the next version? There are lot of points which should be considered while taking the plunge: such as “Would it be helpful our business or is it just cool to migrate”?  Here we will discuss the new capabilities of SharePoint 2013 and how it becomes the right pick and the favourite platform for users.

As a matter of fact, SharePoint has seen a widespread adoption. Around 78% of Fortune 500 companies are using SharePoint 2013 across the globe. Microsoft has made lot of changes in its SharePoint versions in order to make its complex structure easier and user friendly, like by introducing some new cutting edge features for web content management, workflow, search, and big data, it has won the confidence of the users and they simply love it!

The SharePoint migration has been of two kinds, firstly, the companies which were using other platforms like Lotus, Oracle. etc. are now migrating to SharePoint platform. Secondly, the companies which were using older versions of SharePoint are now upgrading to SharePoint 2013. The reason being it’s new and advanced features some of which are listed below:

• Advanced Apps 
• New improved workflows with an add-on feature called as ‘Workflow Manager’.
• Yammer Integration
• Big Data support
• Web Content Management
• Improved Design Capabilities
• Improved Publishing Capabilities via Cross-Site Publishing

SharePoint : The Multipurpose Tool

SharePoint provides a multitude of features which are helpful for developers as well as for users. SharePoint provides a set of services for collaboration and foundation for building Web-based applications.

Creating an app for SharePoint is now easier with SharePoint 2013 as it is a strong development platform for building solutions and apps to address different requirements and needs. Using the tools which SharePoint provides, one can instantly create apps and publish them in a corporate catalog or in the Office Store.

Apps for SharePoint enable users to get new capabilities. They are versatile, reusable, and scalable. Developers can design their apps as widgets, extend the SharePoint interface, and provide a great experience to users.

MSDN provides plenty of information on SharePoint application development as how to start building your first application and how to consume the different capabilities of the platform.

SharePoint is composed of multi-purpose set of web technologies that are useful for many organizations. Microsoft recently released Windows SharePoint Services which is a free add-on for Windows Server 2003. Organizations and business units of any size and structure can use SharePoint services to increase the efficiency of business processes and improve team productivity. With tools for collaboration that help people stay connected across organizational and geographic boundaries, Windows SharePoint Services give people access to information they need.

Built on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services also provide a foundation platform for building Web-based business applications that are flexible and can be customized to meet the changing and growing needs of your business.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 introduces some useful new capabilities and features. The following new capabilities and features are particularly relevant to building custom applications.

• Libraries and Lists- SharePoint Services 3.0 introduces a number of new library and list types, which can be used as the basis for SharePoint applications and you can store a lot of data and files in these lists and libraries.
• Content Types- A content type is a reusable collection of settings that is used for content management. It enables to reuse the metadata and behaviours of a document or item type.
• Site Columns- Site columns provide a central, reusable model for column definition or template which are helpful for users to pick for multiple lists across multiple SharePoint sites.
• Workflow- SharePoint workflow is defined as the automated movement of documents or items through a series of actions or tasks for a successful completion of a business processes within an organization.
• Feature Framework- Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 contains a new structure called a “feature” which reduces the complexity involved in making site customizations, leaving out the requirement to copy large chunks of code to make simple changes in the site.
• Event Enhancement- This is used for core events like changes, additions and removal of lists items or list columns. It is also used for deletion of sites and site collections.
• Mobile Device Access - SharePoint Services 3.0 provides new capabilities to the users to browse SharePoint site on their mobile devices easily.

The new features and enhancements in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provide an array of opportunities for the developers. It provides enterprise-scale capabilities to meet business requirements such as content management, site plan or site collections and streamlining business processes. Using Windows SharePoint Services organizations can enable their users to create, manage, and easily build their own SharePoint sites.

Why Public Sector Organization need SharePoint Consulting

Today public sector organizations are focusing on how to reduce operational costs and streamline their workflows to achieve optimum productivity. Public sector organizations and agencies in critical sectors such as law services, taxes and finance etc. have to deal with massive amount of paperwork and paper records every day.  To secure the important data contained in these paper records is capital intensive and requires efforts like managing, tracking and disseminating. These organizations in public sector face numerous constraints to meet their requirements effectively.

SharePoint public sector solutions have given the users to organize important information, an easy access to that information, manage documents, and enable efficient collaboration, all in a familiar and Microsoft Office-integrated environment. With the digitizing of the paper records, public sector organizations and agencies can now meet the challenges and requirements they have been facing, reduce the costs and improve their productivity significantly.  

SharePoint offers ample solutions and applications but organizations sometimes are unable to make the most of its features and capabilities. For that purpose SharePoint consulting becomes indispensable. The SharePoint consultants assist their clients in leveraging their SharePoint investments and enable them to use SharePoint effectively as a tool. 

SharePoint helps Public sector organizations to save money in following ways:

• Reduces support and IT costs by getting all your enterprise solutions under a single product license.
• Reduce development costs, by using comprehensive out-of-the-box components.
• Provides a single, easy-to-use interface for end users and for IT administration and governance.
• Improves employee productivity, by implementing collaboration tools.
• Enhances the effectiveness of customer service and sales teams by providing a quick access to information.

Why do businesses require SharePoint consulting?

As we know SharePoint comes with a broad platform including a slew of features and sometimes it becomes difficult for the organization to fully optimize its vast capabilities. There is no doubt in the fact that SharePoint has a complex structure and users sometimes find it difficult to leverage it for their business processes.

Every organization has unique business requirements at different stages of SharePoint applications. There are various SharePoint service offerings like Consulting, Implementation, Applications and Solutions set which provide organizations opportunities to leverage management strategies and cost effective business tools. And for a smooth running of business, it is important that users should have a better understanding of all the various functions of SharePoint.

This is where SharePoint consulting becomes necessary. It is always recommended to hire SharePoint consulting services so that SharePoint consultants can study and understand your business requirements and find out what actually is needed for your organization and provide a best solution. The most important reason to hire SharePoint consulting firms is mainly because of their cost effectiveness. Hence with the help of SharePoint consulting services, your requirements are met and your business value and profit gets increased at very low cost.

SharePoint consulting services also provide high security for your business information. It is very difficult to protect the information from online hackers but a consultant can secure your data with various security options available. They also explain you how to secure the data and actions to be performed to protect the data and help you in choosing a safe external hosting service. Thus consultants make the work easier and reduce the unwanted expenditure of an organization.

Managing Public Sector Records with SharePoint

Public sector organizations and departments have to deal with massive paper work and records every day which contain important and crucial information. Handling and keeping the confidential information stored in these records intact and secure is the main priority and a major concern for these departments. Sometimes it is difficult to deal with enormous paper records at one time- managing, tracking, storing and disseminating them on urgent basis.

Earlier Public Sector organizations and agencies used to face many challenges like losing or misplacing of the important data in paper records, which used to hamper the productivity and faster delivery of services. But the deployment of SharePoint has made the life of Public Sector employees easier especially in the departments like justice, human services, tax and revenue where there is the maximum demand of effective records capture and management solutions.

SharePoint Public Sector solutions enable organizations in the public sector to make content management easy for all employees and compliance across all documents. This leads to better, faster, and more secure processes that can be managed through a familiar environment, integrated into business collaboration infrastructure, and improve services more effectively. Also, it reduces the cost of storing the valuable paper records and improves the productivity of the departments by giving them effective content and records management capabilities.

By leveraging SharePoint 2010 solutions, these departments can now scan, capture and index information directly to a SharePoint library, where it can be securely managed, searched and retrieved. Thousands of organizations in Public Sector are turning to SharePoint to manage paper work more effectively, lowering costs, streamlining business processes, improving customer services and reducing compliance risks.

SharePoint: An Effective Project Management Tool

If you are a software development project manager, it is important for you to address the technical aspects of managing projects. SharePoint project management gives you an ease to manage large multi team or complex projects effectively. Using SharePoint for Project Management, you'll not only understand how to apply common and practical project management concepts in SharePoint, but also learn how to build a Project Management Information System (PMIS), which can be customized to the requirements of your project. This enhances an effective communication and collaboration among team members.

The key objectives that SharePoint meets are:

• Centralize Project Information – project contacts, calendars, task lists, resource lists, documents, templates, forms and checklists.
• Facilitate Team Communication and Collaboration – including scheduling meetings, project announcements, jointly developing proposals and requirements. 
• Streamline Project Reporting – by simplifying project tracking and status reporting.

Professional SharePoint consulting and training become vital when organizations deal with complex SharePoint projects consisting of large teams in order to ensure that  the participants understand the concepts and best practices of project management methodology, and learn how to put them into practice. The SharePoint consultants and trainers have a better understanding of risks and challenges involved with your projects and provide professional project management solutions and practices for the development and optimization of business processes.

SharePoint is a great platform on which project management infrastructure can be built successfully. It provides a wide range of tools for the optimization of internal and external cooperation. These properties make SharePoint an optimal solution for the improvement of project management and make business processes simple and transparent.