Sharepoint platform

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.

Bamboo Solutions provides a number of web parts and applications for the SharePoint platform. One that is particularly interesting is their MashPoint solution - a free version of the MOSS Business Data Catalog. Now that solution proves even more enticing as Bamboo announces a Mashpoint API which serves to offer a REST-based interface to not only MashPoint, but to SharePoint itself.

SharePoint 2007 customers are increasingly turning to Microsoft partners to provide capabilities where the platform either lacks or underperforms, according to research undertaken by CMS Watch, a vendor-independent analyst firm that evaluates content technologies. "After initially marketing SharePoint as a virtually omnipotent platform, Redmond is now emphasizing partner-oriented solutions," notes CMS Watch founder Tony Byrne. "On the whole, that's a good thing, but customers need to prepare themselves to deal with multiple vendors and solutions as part of their SharePoint architecture."

SharePoint has been on my mind a lot recently, not least because we have been undertaking more research on the product and its usage in an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) context. I've also had the unusual opportunity to speak to integrators, resellers and buyers on three continents over the past couple of weeks. The questions I asked may not have been scientific, or statistically meaningful, but they have at least been consistent. For example when I talked to buyers I asked:

CM Group, a provider of e-learning software and services, has recently announced a new component to Luminosity Content Server that will allow for integration into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. This integration will give enterprises more personalized options for educating employees with virtual learning material.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 today manages documents and supports collaboration at many Microsoft-focused organizations. End users can upload, download and share documents, calendars, blogs and messages, and information can be quickly disseminated to those who need it. The Windows Workflow Foundation developed by Microsoft offers powerful tools that enable SharePoint site administrators to create workflows to speed-up business processes. As new documents arrive at the SharePoint server, workflow processes initiate automatically to notify appropriate workflow participants by e-mail or their personal task lists.

At the Digital Management Solutions trade show Atalasoft, Inc., the leading provider of document imaging tools for Microsoft .NET developers, announced the launch of Vizit SP, a solution for document viewing and imaging in Microsoft SharePoint 2007(R). "Microsoft SharePoint offers an affordable and customizable content management platform that is already in use by over 100 million users," said William Bither, President & CEO of Atalasoft, Inc. "The problem is that SharePoint does not offer necessary capabilities compared to traditional ECM systems. However, when combined with Vizit SP, these capabilities become available allowing small to mid-sized organizations and enterprise departments to benefit from a simple and low cost Enterprise Content Management solution."

MicroLink Autonomy Integration Suite for SharePoint Allows Clients to Utilize Autonomy IDOL 7 and SharePoint in a Unified Platform MicroLink, LLC, the 2007 Autonomy Global Partner of the Year and 2007 Microsoft Federal Partner of the Year, announced the release of MicroLink Autonomy Integration Suite (AIS) for SharePoint 2003/2007, which consists of six web parts that integrate Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) server with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). This integration allows SharePoint users to leverage Autonomy's information discovery capability and automated features in a unified platform.

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.

SharePoint is ideal for anyone who wants to operate their business more efficiently – from small groups to cross-functional teams to entire organizations. Those who might benefit most from SharePoint's collaborative environment include individuals, teams and projects within medium to large companies.

New Account Opening powered by SmartDesk enables financial services companies to use Microsoft's SharePoint platform to transform their new account processing operation into a highly efficient transaction. It starts by turning paper into digital information.