Overall Satisfaction with MS SharePoint
SharePoint is used as a document management portal, as an intranet and extranet platform, as a collaboration platform across the organisation and inside divisions. We use workflows built in SharePoint and we use SharePoint developer for implementing workflows. The problems it addresses are announcements, phone book, master database for bidding and contract management, BDM management platform, extranet site for collaboration with partners outside our company and for document management within divisions.
- Very robust, never crashes
- With minimum investment apart from licensing it can address most business processes
- Good search capabilities (SharePoint 2010)
- Same ergonomics as late office editions
- Referential integrity between lists
- Better no programming application development capabilities
- Simple solution to keep big data outside the database
- Divisions document generation much better coordinated
- It serves us as a CRM without the need to buy one
- Very well adopted so the demands ever increase
- Need to have outside consultant
None. We considered K2 however, too expensive so far. We selected SharePoint because it came years ago with a subscription and we needed a collaboration platform to begin with.
SharePoint Feature Ratings
Using MS SharePoint
300 - working as engineers, designers in civil engineering industry
2 - Microsoft background. Out of the box support is not demanding but developing its capabilities, which are vast, requires engagement of the professional. Experience withVisual Studio, html, css, javascript is mandatory to develop custom capabilities. Good SharePoint environment also requires well versed engineer with "under the bonnet" capabilities of debugging SharePoint problems.
- Extranet collaboration with partners outside our company
- CRM platform, tracking of project pipelines
- Project collaboration
- To facilitate basic CRM functionality
- Bid tracking
- Receivables management
- Connecting with Oracle Database
- Process management
- Approval processes
Evaluating MS SharePoint and Competitors
Yes - SharePoint partly replaced both ViewWise, a document management software and Metastorm e-work, a process management tool.
It was a change in company management and IT management that spurred the change of platform, and since we were under a Microsoft subscription at the time, SharePoint was an obvious choice. Through the word of mouth, the number of users eventually spread through the years.
It was a change in company management and IT management that spurred the change of platform, and since we were under a Microsoft subscription at the time, SharePoint was an obvious choice. Through the word of mouth, the number of users eventually spread through the years.
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Vendor Reputation
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
It was under an enterprise subscription model, plus we are a Microsoft experienced company. So seemingly, at no extra cost we could implement a platform we could use for a number of different purposes. Many out of the box features can be used very efficiently and with some imagination you could achieve many business goals.
The total cost of ownership (TCO) was not considered at the time. SharePoint is not for companies short on budget. That is a very important fact. However, if you don't lack financial backing, with some extra cash invested in add-ons, you can build very nice applications without the need to hire many Microsoft professionals. We mostly outsource in depth Microsoft knowledge.
MS SharePoint Implementation
- Implemented in-house
- Professional services company
A Microsoft professional performed the implementation. In my opinion, it pays back to really engage a SharePoint professional for implementation, because it is vital to set up things right. It is very painful and time consuming to change setup settings later especially if users start filling up content. Also, it is important to get good tips on resolving issues, technology shortcomings and in essence get a good pitch in order to solve business requirements. SharePoint has a large number of templates and if you are not dedicated just to SharePoint, you are never going to test them all. So a good tip on best practice approaches pays back very soon!
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled - Again, hire a sharepoint professional with a number of sharepoint projects behind him. Since sharepoint will most probably handle many business processes and large quantities of documents, downtime should be minimal and functionality setup as quickly as possible. It is impossible to pilot all new features, lessons learned on other peoples cases hurts the least. So hire a professional to setup your sharepoint.
- Switching authentication from regular to claims based in 2010
- Finding new versions of third party add ons, since sites would break if add ons were not updated
- Takes a while for users to get accustomed to new ergonomics
MS SharePoint Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
None | None |
No - we never actually used microsoft support
Never used it.
Using MS SharePoint
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Setup of security
- Integrating with active directory
- Integration with other microsoft products
- New Microsoft Project is awesome! It's built upon the SharePoint platform
- House cleaning the platform. It requires period maintenance to operate efficiently
- Some list functionality is lacking for example cascade lookup
- Security is at the item level, not column level
Yes - not sure, we don't use it much since it's an intranet platform. We don't host our external web on SharePoint.