being a good sharepoint parent
TRANSCRIPT
Being a GoodSharePoint Parent
How limits, focus, and the right people can ease SharePoint
growing pains
Matt Linxwiler• Manager, Intranet Technology at
ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
• 18+ years in web development
• 4 years with SharePoint
St. Jude Children’s Research HospitalFounded by entertainer Danny Thomas
No child should die in the dawn of life
What makes St. Jude unique?
St. Jude combines pioneering research and exceptional care.
What makes St. Jude unique?
One child saved at St. Jude means thousands more saved worldwide.
What makes St. Jude unique?
No family ever pays St. Jude for anything.
ALSAC• The fundraising and awareness
organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Provides 75% of the hospital’s fundingoHospital’s daily operating costs are $1.8
million
• In FY12, ALSAC raised $814 million
ALSAC’s SharePoint Environment• SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Edition
o Project Server 2010
o Several third-party add-ons
• 75-80 Site Collections• Site owners for each
• 3 dedicated SharePoint staff
Why SharePoint?• 1200+ employees
o Memphis Headquarters (~700 staff)o 30+ field offices across the U.S.
• We needed a way too Share documentso Collaborate on projectso Build online forms quickly
• Already invested in Microsoft technologyo Windows, Office, SQL Server, etc.o Had already been installed as a rogue
environment
ALSAC Best Practices
What is this quote from?
I wear the chain I forged in life! I made it link by link and yard by yard! I gartered it on of my own
free will and by my own free will, I wore it!
– Jacob Marley’s Guide to SharePoint Administration
Site Owner Capabilities• ALSAC site owners are responsible for
oCreating libraries, lists, and calendarsoManaging contento Access to contento First-level support for their users
• None of our site owners are Site Collection Administrators
• Many are not even default Site Owners
Site Owner CapabilitiesWe create a custom permission level and remove the following permissions:
o Manage Permissionso Create Subsiteso Manage Websites
o Apply Themes and Borderso Apply StyleSheetso Create Groups
The reduced permission level allows us too Maintain look and feelo Contain sprawlo Keep permissions from getting out of hand
Clean Up After Yourself• Whenever possible, clean things up
oDelete unused/test sites, libraries, listso Especially before migrating or moving file
shares• Digital clutter comes at a price
o Additional storageoWasted migration effortoWasted time determining if you still need to
keep something
Clean Up After YourselfFor sites with messy permissions
oCreate a new site with default permissionsoCopy content from old siteo Let users who need access request it again
No Code• We wanted to avoid the complexity that custom
coding adds to support and future upgrades
• Configuration vs Customization
• SharePoint does a lot out of the boxo Some people jump straight to Visual Studio without
understanding what SharePoint can do natively.
No Code• Alternatives
oUse “page hacks” using a web part and JavaScript (such as JQuery)
o Third-party tools are available for many common issues
• Requires you to view work through a SharePoint lens
Train People• Don’t assume SharePoint is easy
• Lack of training can lead too An unruly farmoUnderused featureso Low adoption
• The goal is to empower users so that they can “do for themselves” without creating a mess
Hire People• SharePoint’s #1 system
requirement is peopleoRight numberoRight roles (administrator,
analyst, architect, developer)• SharePoint ownership is
not “other duties as assigned”
(duh!)
And Have Fun!
My Favorite Business Requirement Ever
Me: “Is this always the case?”
Answer: “It is,(from the Legal dept)
except when it isn’t.”
Keep It Simple• Don’t give users more than they can
handle• Let users graduate to more advanced
solutions• You can always enhance the solution later
Deliver Small• Don’t try to boil the ocean
oWhat is the smallest, functional thing you can deliver?
oWhat is the smallest audience you can start with?
• Give your users something useful and let them tell you what else they need
• You can always enhance the solution later
Consider This• If you can deliver 80% of what your users
want in a much shorter timeframe, is that good enough?
• In many cases the answer is “Yes”, and…
• …they’ll never ask for any additional enhancements.
