SharePoint implementation

I recently advised a global consumer goods firm about how to integrate their various Social Software implementations and where to place SharePoint in that mix. This was that rare company who had not yet implemented SharePoint hardly at all, beyond a few WSS pilots. In other words, that mythical "greenfield" environment that consultants can dream about, but rarely exist in real life. The firm is considering expanding their investment, including licensing MOSS. We discussed how they have a tremendous opportunity to do SharePoint "right" from the beginning, and avoid some common critical mistakes.

There are few organizations that haven't considered — and implemented — SharePoint  in some manner. But as much as it has been implemented, it's still a confusing and often frustrating platform to work with.Delivering just the kind of help these confused folk need, CMS Watch offers their latest research on SharePoint. The SharePoint Report 2009 helps organizations better understand where and how this platform might best fit in their organization. Here's what you can expect.

When we first looked at the new MetaVis Technologies tools for SharePoint, we knew there would be a lot of interest from enterprise struggling to manage and control their SharePoint implementations.These tools which include taxonomy support and metadata management for SharePoint — both MOSS and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 — are any SharePoint architect's dream, helping with the creation, deployment and management of SharePoint sites.Today they are generally available to the public and CMSWire caught up with Steve Pogrebivsky, MetaVis CEO and Co-Founder, to check on how the products are being received.

Last week I attended a conference keynote session where Microsoft's Tricia Bush (Group Product Manager, SharePoint) asserted that SharePoint was helping to provide Web governance with its workflow services. Now, I've seen a lot of SharePoint implementations and I think and dream about Web Governance constantly, so I found this comment disturbing. Software vendors say interesting things about their products all the time.  But because of the viral-like quality of SharePoint implementations, I thought it was worth stating clearly that SharePoint does not provide Web Governance.

Microsoft recently released an MSDN article written by Trent Swanson and Bhushan Nene from Microsoft, along with independent SharePoint MVP Scot Hiler. The article demonstrates how to implement an external content repository as a document library-like construct within SharePoint. The authors also released the underlying code, which you can download into your own MOSS environment.

We know it's true that Microsoft leads the way on office productivity with MS Office and Outlook/Exchange. But we also know that Lotus Notes still has a solid market share for e-mail as well. And it wouldn't be a stretch to believe that even organizations with Lotus Notes also have at least one SharePoint implementation. All good news for Mainsoft as they release the latest version of their SharePoint Integrator for Lotus Notes.

We still talk about SharePoint like it was just released yesterday. Its popularity and growth is phenomenal. Which leads many to question how well the platform is governed from both a business and IT perspective. Governance is the key for a successful SharePoint implementation today and we have an interview with a consulting firm specializing in SharePoint to tell us why. We were recently passed an interview between Errin O’Connor, Founder & CEO from EPC Group, a firm that specializes in SharePoint development, and Bill Brikiatis, Director of Corporate Marketing at eCopy.

Slowly but surely more details are emerging from a variety of different types of implementations using Microsoft's new SharePoint, "MOSS 2007." I hope you can join us in Washington, DC this June for a couple of very useful MOSS sessions based on practical field experience. First, noted SharePoint guru Shawn Shell will deliver a 3-hour pre-conference tutorial, Taking advantage of the "new" SharePoint. Then, during the conference itself, two other MOSS experts (Randy Woods and Russ Stalters) will join Shawn to tell you, Everything you wanted to know about MOSS 2007 (but were afraid to ask). Hope to see you there.

The Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) implementation divided the basic portal view into two main tabs: Active Patients and Inactive Patients. These two tabs are further divided into four sections: Demographics, Test Results, Progress Notes, and Consults. Documents were captured and migrated intothe portal in two phases: active patient charts followed by inactive patient charts. The inactive charts must be kept until each patient turns 28 years old. UV&S receives ad hoc requests from the Clinic to make a wide variety of new documents instantly active on the portal. The announcements section ofWSS is used to notify Clinic users when these documents are active on the portal site. The overall look and feel of the portal was customized to match the public facing web site of the Clinic.The first attempt at using document capture and content management technology for patient records was undertaken by the Clinic, using desktop scanners and a new EMR (Electronic Medical Records) system