Looking for Easy Document Management? Switch to SharePoint

Each organization has to include customized document management controls as part of its key strategies. In addition to deciding how to create, review and publish documents, it also needs to decide the most appropriate way to retain or dispose these after certain period of time. Therefore, most enterprises look for innovative a document management system that allows them to store, update, share, find, archive, restore and trace all types of documents. Microsoft has released SharePoint 2013 with a set of features to help users in managing all types of documents efficiently, while complying with the relevance governance or compliance policies. If you are looking for effective and flexible tools to control a document's life cycle, it is a great idea to switch to SharePoint 2013.

What Makes SharePoint 2013 a Powerful Document Management System?

Hassle-Free Sharing of Information and Resources

Similar to other innovative document management systems, SharePoint also enable people to access the required resources and information. But it also allows users to organize documents and coordinate calendars effectively, along with creating team workspaces. At the same time, the user also has option to create blogs and wikis simply by using templates. The users on the do can further avail the offline synchronization capabilities to access the documents regardless of his current location.

Tight Control over Document Life Cycle

SharePoint Server 2013 comes with all the capabilities required to control a document’s life cycle efficiently. At the same time, it also enables users to implement the policies applicable to each document. Along with auditing the document-related actions, the system further ensures that the documents are disposed or retained in the most appropriate way. These features further make it easier for an organization to manage documents as corporate records, while adhering to both corporate guidelines and legal requirements.

Maintain Integrity of Content

The latest version of SharePoint comes with document management capabilities. Before editing a particular document, the reviewer has option to activate document checkout. Thus, he can see the revisions made to the document and restore the document to the previous version. Also, the feature can be used to set security at both document and content level. These capabilities make it easier to maintain the integrity of content store on team sites or shared with a distributed team.

Easy to Build a Collaborative Environment

The IT department of an organization can deploy a collaborative environment through Windows SharePoint Services without putting any additional time and effort. Despite being easy to manage and scale the environment is still simple and flexible. The single-server setting and flexible deployment settings further make it easier to reconfigure the document management system according to the latest governance or compliance policies. Thus, all documents can be created, reviews and shared quickly to facilitate decision making.

Effectuate Document Security Management

While allowing teammates to access the resources and information from diverse locations, each enterprise has to put some amount of effort. But the security features provided by SharePoint enable them to effectuate document security management without putting any extra effort. The system allows users to nominate individual users or group, and set permission simply with two clicks. Also, the traceable access of requests to a site makes it easier to find out who has accessed the resources or information.

Smoothly Change the Location of a Document

Often users have to move or copy documents from one library or site to another. SharePoint allows them to move or copy the document at various stages of its lifestyle without any hassle. They can simply create a custom workflow to guide the document through a business process. Once the document life cycle is activates, tasks can be further assigned to the participants according to their individual roles and responsibilities. The authors with required authoring permission can further copy a particular document, while maintaining the relationship between the source and the destination document intact.

While switching to the updated version of SharePoint, an organization is not required to discard the tools that are already being used for day-to-day operations. Some of the most popular tools and applications in Microsoft Office system like Word and Outlook can still be used seamlessly with SharePoint 2013 to optimize the control over a document's life cycle. Custom Sharepoint development teams can help build sharepoint applications for you within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide SharePoint webparts development services. If you would like to speak to one of our expert SharePoint developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

SharePoint Development Of Perception System Works Finely For Enhancing ROI

SharePoint developed by Microsoft is being regarded as one of the best software when it comes to sharing as well as transferring data. That is why, experts are of the opinion that every individual business house should vouch for development of SharePoint as that helps the software to get entirely into a working mode. This is what in turn helps the company to increase its ROI or Return on Investment.

It can well be stated here that using SharePoint as a credible platform carries with it a lot of potential in terms of increasing ROI by improving business. It is also imperative that a strategic approach needs to be planned in the most effective as well as a careful way to make sure that the plan pays off in a proper and seamless manner. At this juncture perhaps it needs to be mentioned that any false step will not only render the plan useless but will also cause the end costs to shoot up, deadlines to extend and support challenges to increase by many folds.

Let us now discuss how custom SharePoint development helps in ROI enhancement.

• While opting for the right procedure of business application implementation, there are three options available – opting for purchase point solutions, configure the purchased components or write the custom codes. Certain organizations would opt for a combination of all the three approaches. Hence, it all depends upon the respective organizations about what type of approach they will opt or the guiding principles they will maintain. To be more specific, a business organization which is using SharePoint should have the capacity to reap maximum benefit out of it while it preserves its investments.

• Again, you will find a lot of business houses which maintain a backlog of the required business applications. SharePoint has all the potentials to be used as a domain or platform for rapid delivery of majority of these applications including collation of daily sales data, tracking of health along with safety related issues, maintenance of timesheets and reporting, tracking of promotional activities, booking meeting rooms and the likes.
• Business organizations also have the privilege of enjoying a wide range of services like implementation of products, support along with maintenance, re-engineering of products, development of customized software products and so with the help of various SharePoint solutions. They do so by taking the help of companies that provide SharePoint solutions.

These companies provide high end solutions when it comes to distant learning, interactive internet as well as intranet applications along with solutions, maintenance of portals for student management (in case of educational institutions) and so on.

• With the aid of an effective SharePoint solution, it is possible to operate contents through the full life cycle of a trade. Besides, it is extremely effective when it comes to responding to various needs pertaining to the business and arrive at a wide range of customized solutions.

• Besides, SharePoint solutions are the best for gathering necessary information regarding accessing resources. It also makes file sharing mechanism better and facilitates easier as well as faster search for essential information. This is mainly because it comes up with state of the art built-in search capabilities along with a single web based environment.

Hence, whether you are running a small, medium or a large scale business organization, taking the help of SharePoint will surely make all the difference at the end of the day. In fact, it is such a scalable as well as reliable platform that it surely provides the administration a lot with the help of which it is possible to improve performance with lesser cost and increase revenue along with ROI earning.

We provide SharePoint site migration services. If you would like to speak to one of our expert SharePoint developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Movin’ On Up – A SharePoint 2013 Migration Case Study Collections

More and more companies are migrating to SharePoint 2013 to avail a set of advanced features. Microsoft has also made it easier for enterprises to migrate to the latest version of the content management system without putting any extra effort. It also offers several strategies to make it easier for companies to migrate to SharePoint 2013, including in-place upgrade, database attach, and hybrid approaches. However, many companies are still skeptical about the effectiveness of the new technology. If you are still not sure about migrating to the latest version of SharePoint, it is time to know about some of the companies who availed many benefits by migrating to the new platform.

Case Study I: Most enterprises find it a daunting challenge to access and manage content and information stores in many databases. Further, the amount of data will vary according to the size and nature of business. Similar problem was being faced by a Paris-based company managing popular civil air ports. The organization was struggling to optimize its existing content management system by aggregating and optimizing 2 TB of data stores in over 70 databases.

At the same time, the company was also looking for efficient options to make the data searchable for all its employees and clients. As the organization was already using SharePoint 2010, it decided to migrate to the latest version of the platform to avail advanced search features. The tech lead of the migration project mentioned that the migration process was fast and smooth due to the SharePoint 2013 Community Site.

Case Study II: Most companies also look for more cost-efficient ways to store, manage and access the data stored across different databases. Further, an organization uses several databases to store information based on their category. An UK based company recently evaluated the advanced content management system to consolidate its data stored on over 80 databases into a single repository.

The single repository will make the information accessible to employees, vendors and clients without increasing operational expenses. The management opts for SharePoint 2013 to consolidate data along with sharing the data collaboratively. The organization has to still invest some additional funds to migrate to SharePoint 2013. But the investment made it easier for the organizations to deploy a series of SharePoint portals to make the data accessible to all concerned parties.

Case Study III: A constant increase is noted in the number of organizations adopting Cloud computing. The innovative and new way to store, manage and access data is also popular due to its effectiveness in making the content accessible to users on the go. But most companies find it difficult to transfer the huge volume of data available for public consumption into Cloud environment.

Recently, a popular car manufacturer migrated to SharePoint 2013 to make the huge volume of information and content available in Cloud environment. In addition to making the data accessible to concerned parties, SharePoint 2013 further made it easier for the company to administer and maintain the data without deploying dedicated IT staff. Further, the migration enabled it to customize its portal by targeting all types of users without putting any extra effort and funds.

Case Study IV: The rapid expansion of a business also makes it essential for it to migrate to an advanced content management system. A large financial corporation based in Virginia realized the problem when it started providing services to clients located in other regions. As the company was formed with the intention of providing local banking services to the Virginia community, initially it did not feel the need for an advanced content management system.

But consistent growth made it a daunting task for the organization to choose an information system that complements its extended operations and needs. The financial organization opted for SharePoint 2013 after evaluating several technologies and solutions. The latest version of SharePoint made it easier for the company to build a social intranet solution to meet its diverse needs. Also, the SharePoint training provided to its employees ensured that its core business is carried out more efficiently.

As SharePoint 2013 can be used for a number of purposes, a business can always customize the platform according to its specific needs. Microsoft further allows enterprises to pick from a number of SharePoint site migration options according to its specific needs and budget.

We provide SharePoint development services. If you would like to speak to one of our certified SharePoint developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Why the Term Governance for SharePoint is Overhyped

A prevalent belief is that so far as SharePoint is concerned, the term governance is very much hyped and hence, we tend to talk more about the concept of governance rather that the solutions essential to do away with the problems it is entitled to deal with. Before discussing further on this matter, let us have a look at what governance means. When it comes to a non-profit organization or a business, governance implies cohesive policies, consistent management, decision-rights, processes and guidance with respect to a particular area of responsibility. The term is not related only to SharePoint, but organizations should think about it irrespective of the technology platform used. Instead of talking about the necessity for proper governance, it is more important to deal with the actual day-to-day challenges faced by the organizations while managing or organizing their information.

Solutions are more significant than the concepts

Very often, SharePoint is what we call as a grassroots implementation. Basic installation of SharePoint can be conveniently done, making the platform available to departments or teams for organization or collaboration around a particular information set. Once everybody gets started, each group tends to utilize it differently or use various methods for information organization and share. Sites often tend to grow out of control, a phenomenon referred to as “SharePoint sprawl.”

The question that arises is why a grassroots implementation should be stopped if it allows more effective collaboration. It is by no means the optimal solution to any SP implementation. But in case some groups are allowed to use it, they understand the value and render increased support to the platform. Now, the best information architecture needs to be considered depending upon the requirements of those already utilizing it. You can take into account proper site planning, user training, data security and gradually shift the current users towards a proper SharePoint development model.

The rapid changes taking place within organizations make the job of a SharePoint admin difficult, because the person always has to be proactive in order to adapt to the environmental alterations quickly. At this point, procedures and policies become essential.

Presently, organizations take the advantage of a number of tools and technologies along with file sharing sites such as SkyDrive, DropBox, Amazon or Google Drive. Herein, they come across convenient means to share documents as well as carry them wherever they go. The biggest SharePoint administration challenge is- How can you guarantee that only the appropriate people have access to it?

The meaning of governance is different to different people

One of the complications that lies with talking about governance is the fact that the concept is as such loose which implies that its meaning might vary from people to people. In case you are sitting within a room and are going around a table for getting a comprehensive overview of the challenges faced by organizations in management of their information, you will most certainly not find someone saying that they are in need of proper governance. It might mean a lot, including policies related to the creation and archiving of SharePoint sites, ways in which taxonomies are developed as well as maintained or procedures that guarantee correctness of permissions.

The truth is that it implies all of the above and more. Rather than trying to deal with the real meaning of the concept of governance for an organization, it is more important to comprehend the manner in which the organization works and then discuss the problems faced by them in dealing with SharePoint as well as information in general. It is advisable to put forward certain solutions to cope up with the problems, be it better procedures and policies or any kind of supporting technology.

We provide sharepoint site migration services. If you would like to hire sharepoint programmers from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

SharePoint 2013 and the Mobile SharePoint Explosion

When SharePoint was first launched, it did not have strong functionality backing up mobile access for its content and features. However, as this software platform gradually gained ground, organizations began to feel the need for tapping this product to operate efficiently on cellular devices. As a result, companies began to look for alternatives for enhancing as well as expanding mobile access to this platform. The outcome of these efforts is that SP 2013 comes with a range of new, enhanced mobile features to make SharePoint 2013 mobile development easier and quicker.

• The mobile browsing experience has become much better owing to the newly incorporated contemporary view which enables site rendering in HTML5 and operates with the latest mobile Safari, IE as well as Android browsers. Designed to ensure touch-screen interaction, it is optimized for activities such as accessing wikis, lists, web parts and document libraries. The classic view belonging to the older mobile browsers is still intact, delivering HTML based sites along with the option for displaying a complete desktop view of the website.
  
  
• Another new feature is the back-end cellular channels which render a SharePoint site for diverse cell phone devices automatically, enhancing the single default view for mobile devices as present in the 2010 edition which was difficult to customize. 
   
• With the 2013 version, SharePoint sites come with the capability of pushing notifications towards mobile devices, making users alert regarding the changes, such as modification or addition of content.
  
  
• With SharePoint 2013, we have a couple of new native mobile applications. One is the SharePoint Newsfeed application which enables users to get access to the documents and people they are following. This feature is available for Windows Phone and iOS as well as Windows 8. The second is the SkyDrive Pro app which empowers users to access the file sharing along with cloud storage service on iOS as well as Windows 8.

Some of the other mobile features new to 2013 edition of this software platform include the ability of incorporating geolocation tags within a list, the capability of viewing specific categories of business intelligence content as well as enhanced viewing of PowerPoint, Excel and Word documents with Office Web Apps.

Using Cellular Devices for SharePoint Online Sites

Your site can be accessed with a Windows phone once the web browser of the phone is opened and the URL or Uniform Resource Locator of the SharePoint site is typed. In case you are making use of a non-Windows phone, the URL can be entered within the browser or to get an optimized mobile view, /?Mobile=1 can be just appended to the URL.

Using Windows Phone 7 for accessing SharePoint Online site

A site can be opened on a Windows Phone 7 in almost the similar manner as it is opened from a PC, simply by entering the URL in the browser. Whatever is seen on the phone is not the cellular version but the site's actual view. The site can be operated in the same manner as it is done from the PC. Most of the tasks such as creation and editing of items within a list, changing the site theme, uploading documents, creation and edition of site pages, along with addition of images, hyperlinks or web parts can be conveniently carried out. 

 

Utilizing non-Windows phone for SharePoint Online site

When the mobile version of a site is opened, only some of the elements seen in a desktop version are visible, such as search feature, libraries, lists and so on. While you are making use of the cellular version of SharePoint, you can easily perform the tasks of viewing items in libraries and lists or operating Open Office documents from the website.

We provide SharePoint application development services. If you would like to talk to one of our certified sharepoint programmers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Things to keep in mind while migrating from ColdFusion to Microsoft SharePoint

Being a ColdFusion developer, chances of not knowing much about SharePoint certainly stands high. Therefore, before you take the plunge to migrate from ColdFusion to Microsoft SharePoint, you must consider developing some basic knowledge of working amid the particular environment.

What is SharePoint?

Well, in simple terms, it is referred to an application of content management system that allows an access of data stored in MSSQL database. The incorporated search services of SharePoint keep it apart from just file storage in common folders and add the context of team collaboration and data file management that are usually generated by the Microsoft Office Suite.

So, what are the aspects that you must primarily keep in mind to ensure a successful migration of ColdFusion to SharePoint? Well, here is a look at the aspects that prominently focuses on the task of understanding the content management system application:

Exploring the site hierarchy of SharePoint and roles that are permission based

The application usually exists in the form of a structured site grouping referred to as site collection. In this respect, it is to be made clear that site permissions are usually linked to the Active Directory login of a user. All permissions to site collection typically begin at the top level and spread downwards to the created sites thereby, acceding to the permission of the parent level.

Here is a quick look at some of the principle permission levels related to sharepoint application development :

• Read – users can only have a view of the data along with the sites
• Contribute – Users can view, add, delete, and update the data along with the sites
• Design – Users can views, update, delete, add, approve, and customize the data as well as the sites
• Complete control – Users can exert complete control over the data alongside the sites.

Knowing Lists of SharePoint: Views and Items

The SharePoint List is often recognized as the foundation of a site related to the application. In simple terms, a List is nothing, but similar to a database table. The content management system application comes with a several template concerning a List i.e. task list, contacts, calendar, etc. Each of these features their own default columns; however, the application can be customized catering to the exact needs as well as interests. For instance, you can always go ahead and add a column to the particular list like customer ID, document library, etc. You can also consider the idea of creating custom lists featuring no pre-incorporated or defined columns and save them as templates, if you wish.

Usually, the List consists of four default pages that are generated following the creation: a look

• NewForm.aspx – allows the users to add items maintaining a pre-generated approach to the list.
• DispForm.aspx – allows the users to review an item in read-only form
• Edit Form.aspx – allows the users to undertake editing of a integrated item with proper permissions
• AllItems.aspx – allows a display of all list items maintaining a view that is non-filtered

Adding to all these is the final feature of the List that is Stored Views. This actually refers to filtered displays of Items present in the list catering to the chosen criteria of a user.

SharePoint Pages and Web Parts

When it comes to displaying a web page in SharePoint, it is to be noted that a usual page is likely to consist of pre-defined aspects and Web Part Zones that allows an addition of a Web Part. What is a Web Part? Well, a code snippet that exhibits the contained data of SharePoint in a specific layout. For instance, you can have a calendar Web Part that specifically exhibits Items from a Calendar List of the content management system application, offering you the options of exhibiting contents as a list of events or in the form of calendars offering monthly, weekly, and daily views. Building a page featuring multiple Web Parts allow you to put forward a design enabling a view in the form of dashboard quite quickly.

Once, you get all the necessary permissions within the environment of SharePoint, you can easily go ahead and experiment with the migration. Being a ColdFusion developer, you now have the choice of creating ColdFusion applications within SharePoint in a way like never before.

We provide sharepoint bespoke development services. If you would like to know what makes us expert sharepoint developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

3 Major deployment challenges in SharePoint

In the recent times, there has been a tremendous rise in the Enterprise adoption of SharePoint. A survey conducted by Global 360, an organization dealing in document management, has found out that among the 886 respondents, 90% make use of SharePoint, wherein, SharePoint 2010 is being used by 8%. Strikingly, 67% of the SharePoint users extend it across the enterprise, implying that SharePoint is not limited to the IT department but can render support to the other departments too. Study also reveals that SharePoint webparts development is on the rise.

The survey also brings to light the manner in which SharePoint is used by organizations. It mainly gets started in the form of a content repository and then transforms into a more dynamic component. It is seen that 67% of SharePoint users have extended it for document workflow management while 66% have used SharePoint for web content and portal management. Again, 56% of the respondents have leveraged SharePoint for rendering support to business processes. 27% of the organizations which were surveyed are of the opinion that more than fifty percent of the documents that are stored within SharePoint are utilized for supporting vital aspects of business.

In spite of the widespread adoption of SharePoint coupled with enhancements in workflow, search and social networking within the platform, there are certain deployment challenges, as the survey highlights. Let us discuss three of the major challenges here.

User-experience is not so out-of-the-box

Out of the survey respondents only 17.6% are of the opinion that SharePoint renders an exceptional out-of-the-box user experience while at the same time sufficiently catering to their requirements. On the other hand, 78% respondents have described SharePoint as more or less adequate to inadequate, stating that the platform calls for additional in-house development and design.

The biggest challenge in case of implementing SharePoint, as opined by 21% of the respondents, is the absence of conveniently usable, intuitive interface suitable for business users. Undoubtedly, an insufficient user interface generally points at trouble. As stated by the Global 360 report, general user experiences frequently give rise to slow user acceptance, lesser productivity by users looking for workarounds to applications which fail to cater to their needs and soaring costs to customize and rollback applications.

Creating business applications takes effort and time

So far as SharePoint is concerned, there have been advances in the domains of offline access, social media, ERP integration and better CRM. However, going by the Global 360 report, there is still a huge difference between the delivered output and what is possible to be achieved.

Out of the 60% of survey respondents who have found SharePoint user experience insufficient, 47% are into creation of custom applications across the SharePoint environment. This involves lots of time. 30% of the respondents stated that the foremost challenge in SharePoint implementation is the time and effort involved in development of the business applications.

As per the report, a number of organizations who intend to reduce time, expertise and resources required for integration of custom apps within SharePoint are going for third-party applications in order to add content management, business intelligent and process management features to SharePoint.

Getting IT as well as business users over the same page

Outside of work, employees are exposed to increasingly interactive Web apps like the different apps of Google and Facebook. This has led to increased expectation with respect to the enterprise applications. Owing to this, IT is required to involve users within SharePoint deployment planning, as the Global 360 report states.

This may not be always convenient, as there is every possibility of disconnect between the business and IT users of an enterprise. However, user feedback obtained early will in due course speed adoption as well as cut the costs of deploying SharePoint, as stated by the Global 360 report. It notes that while customizing, purchasing or planning SharePoint business applications, there should be a concerted effort by the IT organizations to connect with the business users who have been targeted with respect to the application.

The survey majorly based in North America and Europe brings out the manner in which SharePoint users have adopted the platform as well as the deployment challenges that they regularly face. If these challenges are overcome, SharePoint will become a more efficient platform for businesses.

We provide sharepoint bespoke development services. If you would like to know what makes us expert sharepoint developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.