Category Archives: Technology Planning

SharePoint for Public Websites: Top 6 Things to Consider

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In only 10 years, websites have greatly evolved from their beginnings as simple sites. ‘Gone are the days of static text, flat images, and broken links’, as Eric Riz wrote in his article “SharePoint: Should you use it for your public website?” . And as the landscape continues to change and people do more and more business over the Internet, today’s Internet visitor demands more from their website experience. They not only want a website to be informative and look good, but they also want it to provide real-time information, dynamic content, social interaction, and an immersive interface. In other words, today’s site are interactively pleasing, not just aesthetically pleasing.

So what about SharePoint 2010? Just like any technology platform, there are pros and cons and debates over whether SharePoint is always a good fit. But with its extensibility, audio and video integration, and social capabilities, it can be a very powerful and strategic option. In fact, if you have SharePoint already within your organization, another benefit you can realize is that there is little or no duplicated staff training necessary, no separate systems for Intranet vs. your external-facing website.

But before we go further, let do some foundational work. Many are unaware of SharePoint’s public website capabilities although many already use SharePoint. So, if this idea is new to you, stop over at a site called WSSDemo. This site lists many public-facing SharePoint sites, and even categorizes them by industry.

In addition, many of Microsoft’s sites are built on SharePoint and serve as good examples. (Tip for spotting SharePoint sites: When looking at the URL, if it has /Pages/ and the webpage ends in .aspx, than it’s likely a SharePoint site.)

So, is your business considering SharePoint for your public website? In this post, we will review 6 key things to consider when planning a SharePoint public website project.

1. Licensing and Support

In order to use the full SharePoint Server product for your Internet website, the server licensing will comes in 2 flavors, Standard and Enterprise. However, there’s no client access licensing. Only the “for Internet Sites” server licenses are required, but within your production environment you will need licenses for each running server instance.

Another nice thing to note is SharePoint’s support community. Beyond Microsoft and its partners, there are many third-party developers of management tools, web parts, and templates. In addition, there is a thriving SharePoint developer community on CodePlex with many downloadable open-source tools.

2. Planning

It’s essential to have a well-developed game plan for your new SharePoint site. As with any website project, you will likely also plan a website face-lift. Thus, you will want to take time to define and approve your brand strategy and the look and layout of your site. Do you plan to stay closer to the “out-of-the-box” look, or do you want to significantly customize? In SharePoint, the key to remember is the more Master Pages and Page Layouts you have, the more time is involved in design and the building of the site.

In addition, SharePoint website projects often require planning and strategy regarding development. In a well planned development process, you have separate environments for development and testing. While Microsoft licensing often allows for these additional environments, hardware resource requirement still need to be planned and allocated.

3. Staging

Publishing information on a public website should always involve a staged process, that includes SharePoint. This is an important consideration regardless of whether you’re a small business or a large organization. SharePoint includes powerful publishing features from simple approval workflows to multi-farm content deployment paths. So be sure to plan out your content approval process and then utilize SharePoint to complement, or even enforce, your plan and process.

4. Web Standards and Accessibility

These two items are important to consider for any public website and SharePoint 2010 comes a long way from it predecessors in being compliant and flexible around ASP, CSS, and JavaScript. As you plan to customize, check out the many resources online to help you better work with, for example, SharePoint’s CSS classes and IDs.

SharePoint 2010 is WCAG 1.0 and 2.0 compliant out-of-the-box and Microsoft put a lot of work into interface enhancements such as in-browser dialogs, keyboard support, and tab access. In addition, attributes such as labels, descriptions, and tooltips, are built into SharePoint. So, as you customize and brand your SharePoint site, think about accessibility standards and ensure that added content and pictures maintain the same standards.

5. Custom Development

As you plan your project, you will likely customize your site’s branding and layout and will probably look at extending functionality to include powerful e-commerce functionality such as customer order entry, order status, etc. Happily, there are some great resources to help you with SharePoint enhancements and development.

To start, check out the “Patterns & Practices SharePoint Guidance” project on CodePlex. It includes a hands-on lab and good reference material. Next, there’s a great SharePoint Dev Wiki at Nothingbutsharepoint.com. And finally, this is an area where an experienced consultant company such as Pinnacle, can be most valuable.

6. Security and User Logins

As with any website project, security is a key item to address early in your site’s architecture discussions. For most public websites, many visitors will simply browse. Thus, anonymous access is all that’s needed. However, if you are looking into an online store with checkout, a vendor or dealer portal, etc., the major benefits come from interactions after login.

SharePoint can use domain logins through your Active Directory, but most companies don’t want to be limited or exposed and choose to configure Forms Based Authentication or use a third-party authenticator such as Live ID or Facebook. SharePoint offer significantly better support of these options compared to its predecessors, so it’s important to think about which authentication method you want to use, how you want visitors to login, and how you want to manage user accounts.

Summary

Planning and strategy is key. As a platform, SharePoint has truly grown since its first release. Today’s latest SharePoint 2010 sites work well on Firefox, Safari, Chrome, iPads, and more. So while the features are there, the strategy must support your online and business goals. The result of that combination is a site your visitors can easily use and navigate to find your content.

Business Productivity on iOS and Android Devices with SharePoint

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Recently, I’ve noticed that many of my conversations with organizations regarding SharePoint included a growing amount of time around remote and mobile access. Why? You probably already know the answer; users are relying more and more on their mobile devices. Continue reading →

Look for .whatever coming Your Way Soon

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Today in Singapore ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) voted to approve the creation of custom Top Level Domains (TLDs), current examples of TLDs are .com, .net, and .org. Now if you have the resources, time and infustructure you’ll be able to bid on TLDs starting starting January 12, 2012. Bidding will start at $185,000 and there will be a renewal fee of $25,000/year, but starting a year from now you’ll be able to surf to websites like http://office.microsoft, or http://diet.coke. Today’s vote has fundementally changed how you and I experience the internet. 

“ICANN has opened the Internet’s addressing system to the limitless possibilities of the human imagination,” said Rod Beckstrom, president and CEO of ICANN. “No one can predict where this historic decision will take us.”

If your interested in purchasing a custom TLD bidding starts on January 12, 2012 and ends on April 12, 2012 and you’ll start seeing the new websites cropping within a year. 

Maximizing Your Investment for Manufacturers

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Are you in Manufacturing and trying to figure out how to increase customer service, minimize inventory investment and operate efficiently?  Join us for a free lunch on Tuesday, February 1 from 11am-1pm at our office in Mishawaka.  We’ll provide an overview of standard manufacturing concepts and terminology and how you can maximize your software investment – no matter what software you use.

We’ll discuss the concepts of forecasting, master production scheduling, materials and capacity requirements planning and how these relate to ERP for manufacturing.  This presentation is not a demonstration of ERP software functionality but rather an overview of standard manufacturing concepts and terminology and how you can maximize your ERP investment.

Jon P. Elliott CPIM from Microsoft will be presenting.  Jon has 15 years of experience working with manufacturing software.  He has implemented and optimized software solutions in the automotive, healthcare logistics and discrete manufacturing industries.  He is APICS certified CPIM.

We’ll highlight the things you want to be sure you’re on top of such as:

  • Forecasting
  • Master production scheduling
  • Materials and capacity requirements planning
  • And how these relate to your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) investment. 

This event is free and lunch is included.  Click here to learn more or register.

Dynamics CRM 2011 – Microsoft Puts on Their Game Face

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On Monday, January 17th, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the global availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online with the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 offering. It is now available in 40 markets and 41 languages.  The on-premises version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will be globally available next, slated for a February 28, 2011 launch.

The Dynamics CRM Online announcement also included two very tempting promotions for those who have considered Dynamics CRM in the past, but never jumped. Microsoft is offering:

  1. Customers who sign up before June 30, 2011 get more than 30% off the monthly price, $34 per user, for the first year. On demand CRM from competitors often runs in the $125 to $150 per user per month price range.
  2. A rebate of up to $200 per user for companies that migrate away from Salesforce.com or Oracle.

Positioning to Rise Above the Rest

Microsoft’s Bill Patterson, the Director of Product Management for Dynamics CRM, noted that one area of Dynamics CRM 2011 that will stand out from Salesforce.com is improved reporting.  He said “Salesforce.com customers will be blown away by the real-time data, not static representations.” And that “We’re also excited about improvements in business intelligence through ad-hoc reporting in Office and Excel, and the new connection abilities for sorting, mining, and analyzing.”

The new Dynamics CRM 2011 release includes enhanced integration with Windows Azure and SharePoint 2010, which offers more tightly integrated document management capabilities within CRM processes.  Microsoft has also expanded and continued to evolve their xRM solution design capabilities. This is a key area where Microsoft can attract Salesforce.com customers who need uniquely designed and customized solutions. xRM offers a platform to design whole new workflow processes well beyond the out-of-the-box offerings, developed without the need for expensive custom coding.

A Peak at What’s New in Dynamics CRM 2011

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is a major release for the Dynamics CRM line with many new features, enhancements, and benefits. Here is brief look at a few of the biggest improvements.

The Ribbon

One of the first things you’ll notice and one biggest user changes is Office 2010 style is the ribbon interface. It’s clean, well-organized, completely integrated into the Outlook 2010 ribbon for those using the Outlook client. This will allows users of Dynamics CRM to navigate using a familiar experience. And just like the Office 2010 suite of products, the new tab interface includes additional tabs that appear after clicking on related items.

Roles and Security

Another important set of new feature are role-tailored security and functionality, and the addition of field level security. While already a part of other products such as Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, these key management features are now incorporated into Dynamics CRM 2011. Role tailoring removes the features and functions that users don’t need or use and cleans up their CRM workspaces. The result is that users quickly and easily find the information they need. Field level security allows for truly flexible security that can match any customer’s needs.

Real-Time Reports and Dashboards

Although Dynamics CRM 4 supported some dashboard capabilities, they were limited. Often, our customers required custom dashboards to meet their requirements. However, in Dynamics CRM 2011 Microsoft created a dashboard designer so customers can directly integrate real-time dashboards into their views or even their data entry forms using simple drag ‘n drop!

Reports have been enhanced to include many more out-of-the-box pre-built reports, report templates, and views. Users familiar with Microsoft Dynamics GP’s SmartLists will enjoy the same type of quick access to data. Dynamics CRM 2011 also includes real-time export to Excel, the ability to add and even delete data from Excel, pre-built PivotTable export.

The Future Look Bright

With the backing of a focused promotional campaign, strong set of new features and enhancements, and with a fresh new well designed interface, Dynamics CRM 2011 could significantly improve customer’s view of Microsoft’s CRM offering. User feedback was a key to Microsoft’s development of Dynamics CRM 2011. Many of the version 4 annoyances expressed to us have been eliminated in this new version with enhancements such as tabbed-navigation, call center-styled workflow wizards, and calendars.

Microsoft’s hybrid of both on-premise and on-demand offerings also looks like a competitive middle ground to fit a wide range of customers, including those who aren’t as sold on the Salesforce.com cloud computing model.  Time will be the true measure of this product’s success. But in the here and now, Microsoft can boast having a solution that competes well with and is positioned to beat the competition’s offerings from price to product.

Eight IT Disasters that Mean Real Money

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I’ll never forget my first true IT disaster.  The IT department had just finished migrating an entire department onto a new computer system.  Everything had gone extremely well, and I was congratulating the team when I received a call the staff could not access the new program.  The IT department soon informed me the new storage system had failed and we would be down for several hours while they restored the data from backup.  

The real problem started when the IT Director came to my office and said one of the few things you never want to hear from the technology department, “The last backup we can find is…”, proceeding to explain the only available backup was the manual backup taken when the system was first installed; the backup system had not been updated to include the database for the new application and all of the newly entered data had been lost. Five thousand dollars, two weeks, and four temporary workers later, the data was re-entered and the system was up and running again.

Unplanned equipment failures and failed backups no longer top the list of risks associated with technology, nor are the risks isolated to job related technologies.

The wide-spread use of technology in all sectors of our lives increasingly adds personal and business issues to the list of things you never want to hear from IT.

#8.  “Do you have a copy of your password…”  – ever wondered what you would do if you could not remember that Internet password and security question?  My sister found out – she had to register for a new email account, delaying her online certification program required for her teaching position.

#7:  “The system was not protected by a….” – lightning and down power lines can render systems unusable unless protected by a working UPS.

#6:  “Your warranty expired last….” – one of the best protections against unexpected costs associated with hardware failures is an up to date warranty.

#5:  “The AV system stopped updating last…” – email and the Internet are now the most used distribution methods for viruses and malware. Installed and up-to-date Anti-Virus and Malware solutions are the best protection against these threats.

#4:  “When was the last time you backed up…” or “The last backup we can find is…” – tape backup is becoming increasingly impractical as the amount of data stored increases and disk-to-disk solutions with offline Internet copies are becoming more affordable. But remember, it isn’t the backup that is important, it is the restore.

#3:  “How many times have you used that password….” – Internet banking, online payments, eBay, Amazon, Facebook, email. Shared passwords across systems increase the risk, and cost, that may be incurred if your password is stolen.

#2:  “PII data is missing….” – Personally Identifiable Information: credit card data, social security numbers, medical records, and address lists are only a few of the types of data that can be lost through that laptop or backup tape left in the car for a few minutes. The U.S. Department of Veteran’s affairs spent a reported $160.5 million monitoring credit for 17.5 million veterans after a laptop was stolen from a single employee.

#1:  ” Hackers got in through…” – ever wonder what hacking can cost? T.J. Maxx spent an estimated $20 million dollars investigating, notifying customers, and hiring lawyers when 45 million customer records were lost to a hacker attack starting from an unprotected wireless network.

What is Cloud Computing?

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Traditionally, businesses purchase hardware & software to have them available physically onsite, with all software running on company-owned machines.  In the ‘traditional’ model of business, where most business was done ‘onsite,’ this worked fine.  Now, with companies becoming more mobile, and with more employees and executives working out of the office, organizations are reaching toward new technologies to adapt to the more mobile environment.  This is where cloud computing steps in.

So, what is Cloud Computing anyway?  Cloud Computing is where both hardware & software runs on the Internet.

You may not know it, but you could very well already be using Cloud Computing.  What are some ways you could already be using the cloud?

  • Online email (Microsoft Live Mail, Microsoft Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc.)
  • Online documents (Microsoft Live Office, Google Docs)

What Cloud Computing brings to the table:

  • Scalability.  Your organization has the ability to expand and contract based on changing needs.
  • Cost Effective.  Only pay on the services and utilities that you use.  And remember… the services can expand and contract where needed.  When you use less, you pay less.
  • Automatic Backups.  When your information is hosted in the cloud, it is the job of the technology company to back up that information.  You do not have to worry about disaster recovery.  Your plan is already in place.
  • Location is no longer specific.  With key applications and data located in the cloud, you are no longer tied to the office.  Information is available from anywhere that you have a connection to the Internet.