Item: MS SharePoint / SQL
Rating: 8
Author: Matt Varney

Overall Satisfaction with MS SharePoint / SQL

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We've used this as a platform for "point solutions" - where we can specifically address distinct and unrelated data needs while still having a similar underlying technical base. For instance, our communications department wanted to manage news, so we leveraged and extended the SharePoint list feature, breaking down each announcement into data elements such as title, body copy, author, and topic. That data was then used to push out an email digest of the news, as well as be published on the internal SharePoint news page. Other examples included a budget planning solution for all departments.

Pros and Cons

Pros

If you are an existing and extensive Microsoft customer, the platform will fit in your application ecosystem nicely.
For SMBs or departments within larger organizations, the solution can be created with "foundation" versions of the products, which can provide plenty of power at a reasonable (often already included) price.

Cons

If you are a LAMP stack developer or shop, there is a learning curve.
From a general usability standpoint, it can be a less than pleasant experience. The interface is blocky and the concepts are not straightforward. It feels dated.

Alternatives Considered

WordPress

At its core, MS SharePoint (with SQL) is for managing document-based content. It falls just short of being a best in class records manager (it does offer some features for this though), and it isn't the easiest to solution to make great looking modern and engaging web sites. It sits somewhere in between and can do a little bit of both out of the box, and do a lot more with some development effort. Other solutions cannot do both and do not even come close to the breadth of possibilities. Think of the MS SharePoint / SQL as a Swiss army knife of solutions. It can do a lot of things reasonably well, but if you need a really special blade for a special job, you probably should get that blade for that job. If you want an all around platform that has lots of different blades (some more helpful than others), then look at MS SharePoint / SQL.

Other Software Used

Sitecore Web Content Management, WordPress, Blackboard Collaborate

Likelihood to Recommend

The solution is a great option for SMBs to be able to securely manage content (particularly documents from the Office platform) while still being able to share them with anyone in the world. The built in solutions for approval workflows and content life cycle controls are basic and broad enough to get most organizations started.

If your organization needs to do anything beyond the included basics, or do them in different ways, customizations will be necessary, which will add to the initial expense as well as ongoing maintenance concerns.

MS SharePoint / SQL Feature Ratings

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MS SharePoint / SQL - an on-premise option for SMBs