Which SharePoint Is Right for Me?

By David Rubinstein

March 3, 2009 —

We received this letter from a reader, Patrick Prescott:

"What I am primarily writing to inquire about is less technical and more business-related, so please forgive me if I am going through the wrong channels.

I worked on SharePoint before through SharePoint Services 3.0 after a New Horizons Levels 1 & 2 seminar. I have since changed jobs working for a different company. They have [nobody] with SharePoint experience, though we do have very good IT, networking and management teams.

We primarily use Linux stuff, but they want to buy a new server and run Microsoft apps and standup SharePoint for in-network use for about 50 users. They need a way to get a handle on documents and versioning, so I feel SharePoint would be a good tool to use. They are willing to get me trained wherever I need it, but [in the meantime] I have to put together a paper listing out what we need, what it will cost and how long [it will take] to implement.

I have quite a bit already put together, but I am fuzzy on what exactly we need…I am assuming we need SharePoint Server 2007, but do we also need Designer and Services 3.0?

Any guidance or help you can provide would be great."

Patrick, I sent your letter to Errin O’Connor, who has been involved in close to 100 SharePoint implementations and deployments and who can address the issue of business need and return on investment. Errin was a keynote speaker at our January SPTechCon event, and he will present several courses at the upcoming June conference in Boston. Errin’s response:

"These are all good questions you ask, and I will try and point you in the right direction. As for the first question, I would ask, “What exactly are you trying to accomplish?"

If this is going to be a simple intranet solution where Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is not a requirement, and you really are just looking for simple document storage with version control and Microsoft Office compatibility, then I would say that you can just go with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0). A great page to go to determine your exact requirements is:

Which SharePoint technology is right for you?
{http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/FX101758691033.aspx}

With WSS 3.0, you’re going to get all the core functionality of SharePoint, and it’s a great way for you to get acclimated to this software. With 50 users, I would recommend at least two servers: a front-end Web server and a back-end SQL Server 2005, with the back-end SQL Server having plenty of storage capacity.

You do not necessarily need SharePoint Designer 2007 right off the bat as I would recommend that you get comfortable with the solution prior to making any customization. One thing I would like to stress to you is planning and enforcing SharePoint governance.

Here are a few governance tips I would recommend you keep in mind when implementing your new SharePoint environment:

The overall governance of SharePoint is a critical piece of a SharePoint deployment.
Consider not only SharePoint’s branding and look and feel, but also quotas, file type exclusions and appropriate content policies.
Develop a governance model that includes the roles of the content owners and teams.
Develop an organizational communication plan.
Create portal standards, including development and security standards.
Identify end-user support processes and tools.

Here are a few others related to site and workspace governance:

All pictures within a picture library should be periodically reviewed for content.
Document libraries and lists should contain at least a few key content types (metadata fields) to assist the organization in managing enterprise content and improving search results.
Quotas must be set within each site.
Utilize Power users or Site Content Owners within your organization on every site to ensure that content stays relevant and monitored.

I hope this helps…”

So do I. That’s why we’re here.

Related Search Term(s): SharePoint

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