tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363391282024-02-07T05:09:46.075+02:00That O365 Guru from Cape Town (#NadirKamdar)My focus on SharePoint and anything Office 365Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-7564053460595393462018-03-16T09:29:00.001+02:002018-03-16T09:43:02.206+02:00I have seen the future in IT.<span style="background-color: #dddeef; color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Due to some anomaly with the space-time continuum, I was sent to the future! I saw some key upcoming disruptions and was sent back to warn you all, so we can prepare for these disruptions now, before its too late. Oh, while I was there, I accidentally killed someone called Sarah Conner, hope that does not bite us in the @$$ later!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #dddeef; color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Everything that we find normal is GONE, and we better adapt or die! The Microsoft Tech Summit I recently attended confirmed a few big changes in the not-so-far future that we better prepare for NOW.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">1. The Intranet is no more.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcQexKNoVSTXx5QsN__Rhg-Iq1N-Hl1pTrlbxmEEsfuVffC0kIVRcqV1wW9jXo_Q5GwZf3mb4KV5QvYo_-8z2E_9g6jpEKvNDUjbKUpRx4NnPHhkYy8VeRCFpoHuYeFjDweWa/s1600/deadIntranet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="654" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcQexKNoVSTXx5QsN__Rhg-Iq1N-Hl1pTrlbxmEEsfuVffC0kIVRcqV1wW9jXo_Q5GwZf3mb4KV5QvYo_-8z2E_9g6jpEKvNDUjbKUpRx4NnPHhkYy8VeRCFpoHuYeFjDweWa/s320/deadIntranet.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Do you still use your intranet? No, like really use it? The intranet was a platform for collaboration, but these days, people use it to access their leave form, expense claim form, maybe the corporate telephone directory, see pics from the corporate function or to see the canteens menu and, well, that's about it. We don't use it for collaborating, people are now collaborating via tools like MS Teams.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">What makes tools like MS Teams good, is well, its just like SharePoint (YES! that's a good thing!). what I mean to say is that it is also a development platform. So, while its a great starting point for forming communication channels within teams, you can also add some customisation and do just about anything. You can develop some bots to automate you leave application and expense claim on a chat-based platform that feels more natural to your users. It has great integration support with a large host of applications, it even has connectors that allows applications to send notifications directly to your channel with very useful, customisable card style views.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">MS Teams now gives you whatever you wanted in the intranet in an interface that is intuitive and natural. </span></span><span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The Intranet had a good run but we have now outgrown it. It will take a while for Corporate Communication to realize this, so this change will start off slow, but once the penny drops, Intranets will be like Netscape. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">2. Azure Functions, the missing link to everything! </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #002000; font-family: "segoe ui";"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTorlhzWZpe46bhry_JcKfkbg6BUuaHCBk9Pe-aVAlHgOd7koANj8Q51luDhnO__3Lm8NDtkARY7KkVMVPFUFBIWAiK9izLJJWQ9kYiW1AzaWdMgZIBYbqdKteGwtMWbIngI11/s1600/AzureFunctionMissingLink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTorlhzWZpe46bhry_JcKfkbg6BUuaHCBk9Pe-aVAlHgOd7koANj8Q51luDhnO__3Lm8NDtkARY7KkVMVPFUFBIWAiK9izLJJWQ9kYiW1AzaWdMgZIBYbqdKteGwtMWbIngI11/s320/AzureFunctionMissingLink.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #b03200; font-family: "segoe ui";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The SharePoint Framework is Microsoft s way of allowing us to customise SharePoint, its great and its getting better everyday. But its a client side solution and there are things that we just wont be able to be via the framework alone. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">But wait, the framework can now call Azure Functions, and this baby is not as restrictive as the SharePoint Framework. Azure Functions are serverless. "functions as a service" solutions that can work in the language of your choice, you can run it via triggers or webhooks and its a great solution for complex tasks like automation, enforcing governance, site provisioning or integration that just would have been impossible, or at least, very difficult otherwise. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">So Azure Functions will soon be known as the missing link that everyone didn't know, they always wanted. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #b01100;"></span><span style="color: #007670;"></span><span style="color: #000111;"></span><span style="color: #000017;"></span><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">3. Skynet is becoming self-aware</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvQGIk8zE9FZe0gU9jJ3RbMPI1b6sNXWvk7kyvcA3oKqy5gGQPtEJGvEvfqLWEul7X2o-SsfxwullaGrgO4bG8PzWr7gbMoNXsfoTUtirX3YMqpTP6OHOsYJ2sgNdP4UsAZ2b/s1600/icon-machine-learning.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="510" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvQGIk8zE9FZe0gU9jJ3RbMPI1b6sNXWvk7kyvcA3oKqy5gGQPtEJGvEvfqLWEul7X2o-SsfxwullaGrgO4bG8PzWr7gbMoNXsfoTUtirX3YMqpTP6OHOsYJ2sgNdP4UsAZ2b/s320/icon-machine-learning.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">AI is getting good, really good, scary good! Its now easy to use and its a great value add that worth considering. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">While AI alone isn't that impressive. IoT is betting big, this means that data collection of things that was impossible to collect data on before and now coming in fast. AI is at its best when it has lots of data to work with, and Big-data is becoming even bigger-data!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">This type of data leads to advanced analytics and is a great component of block-chain applications. In fact, the environment is now perfect for decentralised applications to flourish and it wont take long for us to apply block-chain tech to applications that are now dependent on centralised organisations or teams like banks, lawyers, HR, accountants, government, etc. It could be used to enforce contracts, pay salaries, calculate BEE status, manage benefits or training. Its provides a trusted transactions that needs no central control. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">We will soon create token systems for things of value like diversity in company, water consumption, carbon footprint. Block-chain tech, together with data collected from IoT, will allocate tokens when warranted which can be used to confirm certain characteristics without the need of central organisations to confirm. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">In the not-too-far future, all information will be centralised and contextualised and personalised and available in an intuitive and natural way. We dont look for stuff anymore, we just get the right stuff, when we need it most. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #16233a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Money will lose its value as we find trad-able "value" in other things. And people will lose jobs once Blockchain's "smart contracts" take over as the preferred way to handle tasks by being transparent and reliable. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #002000; font-family: "segoe ui";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #007600; font-family: "segoe ui";">So the world is changing, if you are still doing things the way it was done 3 years ago, then you are doing things the old way and if you don't adapt now, it might be too late. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "segoe ui";"></span><span style="color: #007600;"></span><br />
<br />Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-21372603878240316872017-09-23T11:15:00.000+02:002017-09-23T20:03:48.671+02:00Get into ChatBots NOW, its what your customers want, but don't know it yet<p>OK, lets cover the basics. What are ChatBots? Its a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, typically via messenger apps or chat windows. I’m sure most of you already got that, but I wanted to make sure that we all on the same page here.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJpQ2-kteqKs5BD3PoKUr3AvLs577vRSdcG86fE7-pIBeyzEYWKmYBHmipEaozljptMyrKQtacep_9kJWt1yOWwj2Fhr-9ticeSoDBqb2SmckEMjZpPPj6wK4bOvuRlUzls8q/s1600-h/thZV44XYN7%255B2%255D"><img width="244" height="168" title="thZV44XYN7" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="thZV44XYN7" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC6wXl3R0__VKD4_9DbUL8KlarrYEK3E07hZIuRpVSB8Fnr2RyHwJiJ0DjU_TXLIhQtjBzqGwbkoqKHAapiwAVl4UUh_aKj0ZWHYMM-Gv5UAF2nqCekEB0HFr6-frAS6vFv1Dh/?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p><p>So why should we focus on ChatBots? No one is asking for them, right? Wrong. Companies are looking for ways to engage with their customers in a way that their customers are already familiar with. Customers don’t want to download an extra app for the companies they engage with so in order to engage with your customers in a manner that is convenient to them, you need to use a medium that they are already familiar with.</p><p>You may have noticed that chat tools are becoming our clients more natural and preferred way to communicate. In fact, towards the end of 2016, Facebook announced that they host over 30 000 ChatBots. These bots can check the weather, order food, organise travel and even play games. China uses WeChat and they have over 10 million ChatBot accounts and lets face it, we are getting familiar with ChatBots thanks to Siri, Google Now and Cortana.</p><p>So companies are starting to see ChatBots as the perfect medium to engage with their clients, they are also figuring out that ChatBots are well suited for routine customer queries like:</p><ul><li>Self Service</li><li>FAQ’s</li><li>Onboarding</li><li>Completing Forms</li><li>Workflow Approval</li></ul><p>So ChatBots should be considered when:</p><ul><li>Customer requests are in a specific area and the solution is well known and predictable</li><li>Guided steps and input parameters</li><li>High volume requests</li></ul><p>Just try to avoid using ChatBots in situations where your customers are already stressed.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtJ5P9g2Cv6id3EJX6phgIjID8m7-1qR6KjAyX1EF50ozSAzP-jl3OtnCIlSJj08elOFAC8g0WxrDvCpGlzupJkH3skLDGQURcJ3HI-NRx-n191nZ6cJXK2gRwbaH-aLOB10h/s1600-h/3059439-poster-1280-why-the-latest-invasion-of-chatbots-isnt-like-the-others%255B3%255D"><img width="494" height="280" title="3059439-poster-1280-why-the-latest-invasion-of-chatbots-isnt-like-the-others" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="3059439-poster-1280-why-the-latest-invasion-of-chatbots-isnt-like-the-others" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EW2Udx-6wKRt0eTe04x20gBxsTRaKlgJD_HtoQHnf1UXbAPvx0LIF5aEYQLfWwVrvnHXsnxBnKawkXeXfSysNUprlsjUX5l2H61QTxf5Nhg9req8w4H6IlGlHq2loQLEWZgi/?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p><p>So you get it right? There's a need for ChatBots, and once your customers figure out that ChatBots are an option, there will be a huge demand for ChatBot development. So where do you, as a developer, get started with ChatBot development? </p><p>Thankfully, Microsoft has made ChatBot development easy via:</p><ul><li>Microsoft Azure – Bot Services</li><li>Cognitive Services</li><li>Louise (Microsoft’s language, understanding and intelligence service)</li></ul><p>Here are a few tools that can help you:</p><ul><li>Microsoft Bot Developer Portal (dev.botframework.com)</li><li>Bot Builder SDK (github.com/Microsoft/BotBuilder)</li><li>Bot Emulator (download.botframework.com/botconnector/emulator)</li><li>Visual Studio Bot Project Template (aka.ms/bf-bc-vstemplate)</li></ul><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQEhNQCmzKqig-o0pMpfksqueyRfC3iQitF9NzR92rsVruhjIBhRvREGUuiKBapa6AzmpK66_iTFm_V1GjKvkij_6rxu9aOSNUGL0Fbz22dM4uBJlGea8bw7A7zcBjf0h9HA_/s1600-h/chatbots%255B3%255D"><img width="453" height="303" title="chatbots" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="chatbots" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsizBWBn9cWam-RVhpECJTQKgxeUz7n9b9GSgyl5uxmDwKQ5CgCR2syN9S0qjIqH18EMgpQCll7RXlWF3lyaIx6dZawrvPleb_5feIwcSt0uTbN9DFFmx-JCPKQ3qGtLTfg3R_/?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></p><p> Before you begin, you should know that the following platforms are supported:</p><ul><li>Bing (the bot will appear in search results)</li><li>Cortana (can be deployed as self service to organisation)</li><li>Skype and Skype for Business </li><li>Web</li><li>Email</li><li>Facebook</li><li>GroupMe</li><li>Kik</li><li>Slack</li><li>Telegram</li><li>Twilio</li><li>Microsoft Teams bots support 1:1 chats (not group chats yet)</li></ul><p>You will notice that I didn't mention WhatsApp. Yes, WhatsApp does NOT allow ChatBots to use that platform. Infact, WhatsApp are actively blocking accounts once its discovered to be a ChatBot. </p><p>This is unfortunate because its the biggest and most preferred chatting tool in South Africa, and I am sure in many other parts of the world, and I dont see this changing anytime soon since FaceBook owns WhatsApp, and they are pushing for Messenger (another chat tool owned by FaceBook) to be the preferred chat tool.</p><p>If you want to build a ChatBot solution in 10 minutes with no code. Check out QnA maker, <a title="https://qnamaker.ai/" href="https://qnamaker.ai/">https://qnamaker.ai/</a>, a service provided by Microsoft that converts a FAQ page to a ChatBot service within minutes.</p>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-30087236980387486632017-09-17T15:37:00.001+02:002017-09-28T08:40:22.326+02:00SharePoint Lists Views + JS Links + Data Tables = Awesome Threesome<h2>
SharePoint Lists Views</h2>
SharePoint lists are the primary building blocks when setting up a SharePoint site. Pretty much any system is designed to takes and give information and SharePoint relies on lists to make that happen. <br />
<br />
So list are important, it stores the information you want to share, it sources workflows and forms and it defines how things relate to each other. We rely on List Views to interact with these lists which is great, but these views are created by SharePoint and gives us limited control in how we can configure the interface, which is a shame because sometimes the lists are just too important to rely of the basic configurations. <br />
Thankfully, Microsoft gave us JS links, an ability to influence the way the views are rendered via JavaScript.<br />
<br />
<h2>
JS Links</h2>
This opens a great new world of possibilities, we can now use JavaScript to read the data from the list view, check if certain conditions are met, and if these conditions are met, we can change the information that needs to be displayed. <br />
For example, if you have a SharePoint list with a column that stores a RAG indicator, i.e. Red, Amber or Green indicator, you can, via JS Links, check the indicator value and display an image with the appropriate colour instead of the boring text. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwC2e81T8xAIW6WEwCszH-qCDWn_tFV4KQOcW1GW4rg0q3wURti1uZCZnqJSeIVOykTmmcQtFhDDyBJXK2fi3oQMJyHsR1KkSrK32OePNIg1vKjpwW-I6qJFwLZt9lrR9CawZB/s1600-h/clip_image002%255B1%255D"><img alt="clip_image002" border="0" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfjgS_LBXQQohtmeBkutk8dvRDpnhQLV0EDRrRHZ5WbGXIGc_08V0Ry90HbqOGgLssBhifpWFaF2PhmiG0MuBopk0azNO7D-QAgKg1uVp0yzpms1sx2VwoWM-o-3ppBA-XfOS/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image002" width="221" /></a><br />
And that’s the big advantage of JS Links, by being able to change the design of the list view, you can provide a much better user experience. Better user experience leads to better adoption, less room for errors and ultimately, greater success.<br />
<br />
When it comes to JavaScript, there’s awesome open source libraries available (you can find them here: <a href="https://www.javascripting.com/">https://www.javascripting.com/</a>). You may know the more popular ones like jQuery, React.js and Angular.js. I want to draw your attention to a library called Data Tables, a highly customisable tool that adds advanced interaction controls to HTML tables.<br />
<h2>
Data Tables</h2>
Data Tables, <a href="https://www.datatables.net/">https://www.datatables.net/</a>, are awesome, with a single line of code, you point this JavaScript library to a HTML table and it auto-magically provides search capabilities, sorting, styling and paging, it also stores everything in memory so the paging, searching and sorting works very fast, even with large dataset.<br />
So if you are looking for alternatives to the standard List Views, then the Data Tables JavaScript library is a great option. The views provided by SharePoint are still tops and should be used most of the time, but there are scenarios where I would see Data Tables as the better alternative, these scenarios are:<br />
<ul>
<li> For consuming, not necessary creating information – the greater range of styling options available via Data Tables makes this tool a great option for presenting information</li>
<li>Enhanced User Experience – getting into the code of what is displayed gives you better control when defining the interface</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQD3XfUQJ4zlR0lGOPiU907T5vb8Bp8DJraO2pTTJK-g7h6DpgfvQdAw8T44xNnrouLxN0ZULPZ2EyUo_uXHKvoCIAGsaQM-X8j7MM-_2h35qR5x5pEuJsh5y7pMy42DyuJ9gz/s1600-h/clip_image004%255B1%255D"><img alt="clip_image004" border="0" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD08kvrLyk0lTKH6YpZLANZLmz7Lm_9aow1AZ1x9YbN0_afw3l492gOIWlVymlFQFH9XqCR3qQX8Xd_qAEwF4xLamSwk3-LjMbZCeVxIi8IJhaeh58rPxCQ8qs5CxD2xub5VQm/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image004" width="394" /></a><br />
<ul>
<li>Working with large amount of data (but not too large) – with the data stored in memory, less database calls are needed when paging, searching or sorting making it a great choice for large, but not massive lists will take a long time to load into memory so there is a threshold to consider. I am assuming that 500 items is a good number for Data Tables, but will set the scene for some threshold testing.</li>
</ul>
This alternative, where you use <strong>Data Tables</strong> to display information from a <strong>SharePoint List View</strong> via <strong>JS Links</strong> is something that I and now calling the “Awesome Threesome”. (Apologies if this is not the type of Awesome Threesome you were Googling!)<br />
<b></b><br />
<h2>
So how do we get this Awesome Threesome?</h2>
<h3>
<b>1. </b><b>Setting up the SharePoint List</b></h3>
<b></b>First, let’s setup a SharePoint list. I want to see how Data Tables work with large lists, so I Googled and found an Excel file (<a href="https://community.tableau.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadBody/1236-102-1-1149/Sample%20-%20Superstore%20Sales%20(Excel).xls">https://community.tableau.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadBody/1236-102-1-1149/Sample%20-%20Superstore%20Sales%20(Excel).xls</a>) with 21 columns and 8 400 rows of data, definitely overkill, since best practice dictates that SharePoint lists should not exceed 5 000 rows, but this will help us determine what threshold is acceptable and I want to see how Excel and SharePoint will handle this volume of data.<br />
<br />
To export this data to SharePoint, format the data as a table, select a cell in the table, select Design (if you don’t see the Design option, then you did not format the data as a Table), Select Export and then Export Table to SharePoint List (Confused? See image below).<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid1MsWpbihI3MxRsylz_6W-ZSysZeRAMtKs_vgjKKeycZ4mp_jFXgOiIRXvedsLZxFxAokSIE7mAJlrjSyJs5psLsN1VAZFsgJaom6n7cGWn4t2m4V9jmR8jY8Gx54pLzP71ti/s1600-h/clip_image006%255B2%255D"><img alt="clip_image006" border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4h-2VJaohVV6tGJiXO9Jl0ltHZaJGDh4QY5Xe4w_2hX6P7v6foXFzn683tknWV7K8FRSYe8B4Avq9i9hLXCLxmQFNMszCunbCcIY8tFf2UgEWNABmmhnwrHIqYYHYPKAtIeiU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image006" width="469" /></a><br />
Specify the SharePoint URL and List details and “Ta Daa!” the list exported to SharePoint successfully. (For this article, I used SharePoint Online via my O365 subscription and I defined a new list called “DataTableDemo”).<br />
<br />
For those interested, uploading 8 400 rows to SharePoint Online took 12 minutes to complete, that’s pretty good.<br />
Excel provided a nice progress bar for the first 75%, then it looked like it crashed with a “Not Responding” status. I ignored that message and checked the SharePoint site. I could see the new library and I could see the number of items increasing every time I refreshed the page, so it was still working. It finally stopped at 8 399 rows (I counted the header row which makes 8 400) and Excel got out of the “Not Responding” Status and in its place showed a wonderful “Export Successful” message with a link to the new list.<br />
<br />
Given the volume of data I was exporting and where I was exporting it to, the way Excel handled it was impressive. Well done Microsoft! <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8hqqJA1fLkFKBwRugUoWDXO1Y9NnJRn1ixO2-OQBXrNbIAV-jzH3ABYR8kLM7oMw18dazi3T-39pZJGAP-127RUkMTGHFqtAiynP_2h7726d8wS92ZnmiHXigVKwMgL9hgYa/s1600-h/clip_image008%255B1%255D"><img alt="clip_image008" border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZEqf7exUl-TpfnZ2NYb_JmkOcbz86xzZkVnlODTyvVL3IyAoLYVQ4v1VHtlmUczWTA-TEvZbMFOj8E1dcrybjJ93xVCqxTgQmq_xk8fl965eAAlEN3r4zEkSBLsF5lucTXoZM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image008" width="451" /></a><br />
Its good practice to create a new view rather than modifying the default “All Items” view. So I created a new, standard view called DataTableView with all the defaults selected. I will be working with this view going forward.<br />
<b></b><b></b><br />
<h3>
<b>2. </b><b>Setting up the JS Link</b></h3>
Now we need to configure the list to reference our JavaScript Code via JS Link<br />
Firstly, SharePoint needs to be configured to accept Custom Script. To do so, navigate to the SharePoint Admin Centre and set the "Custom Script" option to "Allow".<br />
Also, Modern views do not support JS Links, so you need to change the list settings from Modern Experience to Classic Experience. To do so, navigate to your list, then go to List Settings > Advanced Settings and select Classic Experience in the List and Libraries Experience section.<br />
The system needs around 24 hours to fully apply all these changes. So log off and come back tomorrow to see if everything is working. This is important, I spent whole night trying to figure out why some options were not available, only to discover that I needed to wait it out. <br />
You will know that all is configured correctly when you can navigate to your List view, edit the page, edit the web part that is displaying the list, and see the JS Link textbox under the Miscellaneous section.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRbH_W8QhDLbQOxisW5EFy3S6zdQBzRA1cGobPPOGVrrNrC7e73iH5L2oerZaRb4cKSMwLqQJSpoqHF4zo4R0dP-dnL8IdoYkzUKvcxg1-yy71-sLN7FQUyAfS6PF6PPlT9IpD/s1600-h/clip_image010%255B1%255D"><img alt="clip_image010" border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizB0uEMZRaQqPJANpwkiAO2T66FG2LHX_1nDNiG-lvfkSW7d_rknStJqczg1Oqv-BjUHkZJH18VjbV5WVtzQ93vzBAm0NG7ncQyvDvKMzsCAWJb7vDEa8y5QWNNNqgqwS3pvSu/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image010" width="453" /></a><br />
Since we are here, lets add a reference to the JS file that we will use. Full paths will not work (SharePoint trims it to a relative path and does a poor job at that), so you need to reference a file in the site collection with the following syntax “~sitecollection/[Library]/[filename].js”<br />
Now, open your site via SharePoint Designer and navigate to the Site Assets folder, create a blank file with a .JS extension. <br />
I named my file DataTableJS.js. (so in the JS Link text Box, I entered ~sitecollection/SiteAssets/DataTableJS.js).<br />
Muawiyah Shannak provides a great set of JS Link samples: The articles and code can be found here, <a href="https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/Client-side-rendering-JS-2ed3538a">https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/Client-side-rendering-JS-2ed3538a</a>, and It’s an excellent resource that provides JS Link sample code from basic tasks to pretty sweet advanced stuff.<br />
I will be focusing on the code that he used to transform a SharePoint list View into an Accordion style view (Sample 6). But instead of transforming the list into an Accordion, I’m going to transform it into a Data Table. Its pretty much the same concept, and I see Muawiyah’s code helping me the same way I help my wife: He will get me 95% of the way there, with the remaining 5% I have to do on my own. (Yes, I help my wife code ;).<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>3. </b><b>Setting up the Data Tables</b></h3>
Muawiyah Shannak samples are clear and complete and I encourage you to go over there first to better understand how code via JS Link works. I won’t cover that, but I will talk about the adjustments I made to his Accordion view code (<a href="https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/Client-side-rendering-code-ccdb2a0e">https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/Client-side-rendering-code-ccdb2a0e</a>). <br />
First, here are a few things you need to do before you start writing code.<br />
1. Know that web browsers cache .js files. So when you are editing your file and you want to see the results in the browser, refreshing the browser is not good enough. You must always do a “Clear Cache” refresh by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F5 or Ctrl+Shift+R.<br />
2. The columns that you want to display MUST be selected for display in the View Settings section. If it’s not in the View, it’s not available for the Data Table to use and you will be presented with an “Undefined” error. I have selected a few columns of different types so we can see how they are handled. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzpycpkDTKg4LoSEeQ77yJNccBWNYm0EV7MAuQW22bs8G528Q_R4Qw6JHVu5j5AqzlMPJjKjlxgdT3-CtvsUN_ngQPFsCumHBnCXyWQtKLg98BS9yrR5slA9lLyC6XIVLrZqXb/s1600-h/clip_image012%255B1%255D"><img alt="clip_image012" border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Gn0gH46VC40G6k3DHblQMAw5aLERTFhPFBxCPG4N4urttrubciz-OOHrU7fNmaW1O7ptyNmc03hr0CtGS5saHvRXPmaE2XZQHDyHZlXLwsoZydrfBcWSrgEgNYJuQVcQbiQE/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image012" width="448" /></a><br />
3. In extension to point 2 above, de-select all the columns you will not use in the Data Table, otherwise you are giving SharePoint unnecessary work and if you don’t treat SharePoint well, he won’t treat you well. <br />
4. The View must have an Item Limit that is high enough to send ALL the rows you want to display in the Data Table, not just the rows you want to display on the first page. The DataTable will handle the paging for you, but it needs all the data up front to store that into memory. I set the Item Limit for my DataTableView to 500 for now and will check acceptable thresholds at a later stage, most likely in a later blog post.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6f50EtnwWtDRFZHJwoop2IGz3AlNvNmA4SEO-QxWYQC0PE3c-Tr7Ir7dsjEwFX_O0i5MDBxWT5yyKr26ww-2J1ES_DrVS-myC1QAWwlqPCHqq3MwOy90FHg4FtmXh7hjJxH0A/s1600-h/clip_image014%255B1%255D"><img alt="clip_image014" border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuv_xwar2Rby_6Yc25AseH0AKtL3OKTZ9Cf3J4itkJWicd2SIf1ugaYB3QNG-9g6-psiMp9C_fSCO1zF6vBbrlJKNFC2nweiChccQpfZ_ryWRVdXGZGsBNkNXRp5ixML70CA9c/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image014" width="454" /></a><br />
5. Know that Data Table library will only work on valid, well formatted HTML tables. These tables need a header (thead) and a single body (tbody), an optional footer (tfoot) can also be used. Here’s the outline that we need to build:<br />
<br />
<i><table id="table_id" class="display"></i><br />
<i> <thead></i><br />
<i> <tr></i><br />
<i> <th>Column 1</th></i><br />
<i> <th>Column 2</th></i><br />
<i> </tr></i><br />
<i> </thead></i><br />
<i> <tbody></i><br />
<i> <tr></i><br />
<i> <td>Row 1 Data 1</td></i><br />
<i> <td>Row 1 Data 2</td></i><br />
<i> </tr></i><br />
<i> <tr></i><br />
<i> <td>Row 2 Data 1</td></i><br />
<i> <td>Row 2 Data 2</td></i><br />
<i> </tr></i><br />
<i> </tbody></i><br />
<i></table></i><br />
<em></em><br />
So, with all the prep work done, let’s look at the code. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiE2MZdde19IRXEKfdQM9CGTtBqeMFX7a3sAydWNA3bZt077NwEOHFlw_Ut-cXj4PLt72AU76h9xswgYID5x_aN4ELhnEbvjYfbHVaJkOD0BOoCqRneG07-_TG8pC7vk2jrm2a/s1600-h/clip_image016%255B3%255D"><img alt="clip_image016" border="0" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyPAjt2GW07-0lee2_Oi9lBrE-YuTxopjyBD4vS6wMiisKEXIUTOqp_lTtXkd1K0HY4K4MRWAJHq_q9DyflcLE2rtcxWKBAOUeLfCyb8yjSmp6N9F1SYGgpgcBA8FKu70cG1Y/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image016" width="510" /></a><b></b><br />
1. This code links the Data Table JS library to the correct HTML table. The table been referenced has an id of “DataTableMain” (I defined this id in section 3 below).<br />
This is the standard code that you use when using Data Tables (as explained here: <a href="https://datatables.net/examples/basic_init/zero_configuration.html">https://datatables.net/examples/basic_init/zero_configuration.html</a>). <br />
I kept this area separate because DataTables are highly configurable and if these examples: <a href="https://datatables.net/examples/index">https://datatables.net/examples/index</a>, inspires you take your DataTable to the next level, this is where you will do it. <br />
2. This is the full line (cut off from the screenshot above): <br />
“<br />
<i>(window.jQuery || document.write('<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf8" src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf8" src="https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.16/js/jquery.dataTables.min.js"></script><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.datatables.net/1.10.16/css/jquery.dataTables.min.css"><script type="text/javascript">'+dataTableBinding+'</script>')); </i><br />
“<br />
This code references jQuery (a pre-requisite for the Data Table library), the Data Tables library, the Data Table Stylesheet and the code created in point 1 above. <br />
Note that SharePoint Online will block all http references, so if you are using a CDN reference, make sure it’s a secured https reference.<br />
3. This is the full line (cut off from the screenshot above): <br />
<i>“</i><br />
<i> dataTableContext.Templates.Header = "<table id=\"DataTableMain\" class=\"display\"><thead><tr><th>Order Priority</th><th>Order Quantity</th><th>Order Date</th><th>Customer Name</th><th>Product Name</th><th>Modified By</th><th>Action</th></tr></thead><tbody>";</i><br />
<i>”</i><br />
Here we are replacing the header and footer components with our own code.<br />
The code that we are applying is building the main shell for a valid, well-formed HTML table with an id of “DataTableMain” (so we can reference it to the Data Table library, as done in point 1 above) and a class of “display” (so we can use the default stylesheet available)<br />
4. This is where we populate the HTML table with the data available via the SharePoint View.<br />
This code is in a function that runs for each item in the View (so in this case, it will run 500 times).<br />
SharePoint may see columns names differently to how we see it, and in code, we must reference the columns the way SharePoint sees it. <br />
To see how SharePoint has named these columns “for internal use”, go to the List Settings section, select a column, as if you want to edit it, look for the “Field” parameter in the URL QueryString, and you will see the column name the way SharePoint recognises it.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9t4TuxdCap-9faAyEGwUh9ZQy7bKfVFlE_E3fOtAwnX2Vh6gcYecxZ5BBBrRUCV_ymY6BEGmZ5LGTVb-F4M3CxnPM94QYTBTHoovcmbMfspyRyOfYdI6CTrBtwV0udtbNR2H/s1600-h/clip_image018%255B1%255D"><img alt="clip_image018" border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBRgjlfMuWu7kd2J0aAcwR_cSiVh0OPKgP8SkNGA7QgGLyPHDIJFueaiVECLLdua5P-ob5nkCIFhHVJh5s_78Uifx75UmUabWo3BJ3eZHCRiMmX662KLONhb6oGTY2fsIy7k2D/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image018" width="489" /></a><br />
So in the screenshot above, the Order Priority column is recognised as “Title” within SharePoint, so that's what I looked for when I populated the dataOrderPriority variable. Do this check for all your columns, you may be surprised on how SharePoint referenced them. <br />
For the Order Date column (a date column), I provided code that shows you how to change the format of the date. The format that I used is probably the best one to use if you want to use the sorting feature for that column. <br />
I included the Modified By column, so I could provide code on how to handle a People column. I extracted the name and email address so I can create a mailto link in section 5 below.<br />
<br />
5. This is the full line (cut off from the screenshot above): <br />
<i>“</i><br />
<i> return "<tr><td>"+dataOrderPriority +"</td><td>"+dataOrderQty +"</td><td>"+dataOrderDate +"</td><td>"+dataCustomerName +"</td><td>"+dataProductName +"</td><td><a href='mailto:"+dataModifiedByEmail+"'>"+dataModifiedByName +"</a></td><td><a href='EditForm.aspx?id="+dataID +"'><image src='/SiteAssets/edit.png' alt='Edit'></a></td></tr>";</i><br />
<i>”</i><br />
The code exits the function with a table row that is appended to the HTML table that we are building.
<br />
In the code, you will see that I am adding link that will allow the user to edit the list item. I added this because the standard way to edit a list item, i.e. via the Ribbon Bar, stopped working when we replaced the header and item portion of the display template with our own code. <br />
SharePoint no longer knows when an item is selected, so it won’t enable the edit button in the ribbon. I’m sure we can write code via JavaScript that will “educate” SharePoint on what is selected, but I haven’t figured out how SharePoint is doing this, and since the edit button that I am providing is an acceptable workaround (it even has a cool icon image that I stored in the Site Asset library), I lost the motivation to study the default code. But if anyone knows how to do this, please mention in the comments.<br />
And that’s it, the animation below shows the result. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIpjK5j_xdtMBhZmXNClCjdn-ueJzU6e6yBwtgtlICcBfeB3Vw_fBIWEqmX-topuyVP0wAhQJsHloLqaNxmBmxxMS3ZfbFxoNpr_zcz_XTbDUalydpAIvLxrKmfMU1WVIIjmIr/s1600-h/clip_image019%255B2%255D"><img alt="clip_image019" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVlWBy34i_P3EsRJ-zAWIPuxkO-WHCJibOVy_nVsB06XoJfWe-qU6ZKrdxJTCT3J_sH7C8HoWtyVjzjoSFXoIfg0SXI1YptC91RNcK3quISqt5ZYiM60SUmRc32SJVepChR1AB/?imgmax=800" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="clip_image019" width="503" /></a><br />
I think that this is a pretty powerful alternative that gives me great control on what I want my end users to see and how I want them to see it. The interaction with the Data Table with 500 items is very fast (so I can see that it can handle a lot more) <br />
With only 40 odd lines of code, I believe that this option is a true winner that I am sure that you will see and start using this as well. Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-7184166986083734602017-09-08T16:39:00.000+02:002017-09-13T13:43:16.298+02:00Transposing a single column of data in Excel with a set number of columns<div class="MsoNormal">
I was faced with an interesting challenge, I was tasked to
provide a list of all the sites available via our O365 subscription, but I was
not given sufficient access rights to navigate to the administration portal to
pull this list.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<br>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, this is the only view I had available to me: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7eizn9R-op7DadfwiKaoxQtNX2XehBrbm1IPKAZ12Q_AY-doumzCnsfXacx0uq9074bc64PesMdq3SnSQ4CcGO9WwOjrYLRwT2QOuL49qqmuse7j0kyjOl0lkvbgK9DI_9MqZ/s1600/image1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="1466" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7eizn9R-op7DadfwiKaoxQtNX2XehBrbm1IPKAZ12Q_AY-doumzCnsfXacx0uq9074bc64PesMdq3SnSQ4CcGO9WwOjrYLRwT2QOuL49qqmuse7j0kyjOl0lkvbgK9DI_9MqZ/s400/image1.png" width="400"></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Selecting,
copying and pasting the content into Excel seems like the obvious next step,
but alas, I was faced with one column of data with all the information that appeared in my view, i.e. the site
title, the news title, the news synopsis the author and the modified date. All
I want was the site title. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWqgJHeSQ4AR2pYrJRWAM0DpfuBjnulbhnKmjy7PO1mITNfDZDCNTxdcyt3f6skysEIodBfCLyIDSL4vB0NVdj_k92xjeZfuosC-VA6651hLi2G6miIszYf1v8yADolto7g55/s1600/CopyAndPaste.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWqgJHeSQ4AR2pYrJRWAM0DpfuBjnulbhnKmjy7PO1mITNfDZDCNTxdcyt3f6skysEIodBfCLyIDSL4vB0NVdj_k92xjeZfuosC-VA6651hLi2G6miIszYf1v8yADolto7g55/s400/CopyAndPaste.gif" width="400"></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After cleaning up the Excel a bit, I noticed that the
information that I wanted appeared in every 4<sup>th</sup> row. Meaning that if I could somehow transpose
this single column of data into a grid with 4 columns, I will easily get the
information I want. Unfortunately, this type of transpose function does not
exist in Excel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a little googling and tweaking I finally derived a
formula that will transpose the data for me.
The formula is: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>=INDEX($B$3:$B$50;ROWS(D$3:D3)*4-4+COLUMNS($D3:D3))<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where <b>B3</b> is the 1<sup>st</sup>
cell in the column of data that you want to transpose and <b>B50</b> is the last cell. <b>D3</b> is the first cell of your transposed
data and the number <b>4</b> is the number
of columns you want in the transposed grid. Adjust the formula to match your data and you
are ready to transpose.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Copy the formula to cell D3, Drag the formula across 4 cells
and then down until there’s no more data to transpose. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB0blPLv3MMTAzZx7hN8epA0479j207U7s3zPwLJsMdcrWadgW8AGBtdwD3wZCrmQaD4OP8wreylxIBMoQRbB9F5mCRFMh3Ivg2U-AjLhJyvcieD4OAepNOxpteG05cJdBAS_u/s1600/CopyAndPaste4.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB0blPLv3MMTAzZx7hN8epA0479j207U7s3zPwLJsMdcrWadgW8AGBtdwD3wZCrmQaD4OP8wreylxIBMoQRbB9F5mCRFMh3Ivg2U-AjLhJyvcieD4OAepNOxpteG05cJdBAS_u/s400/CopyAndPaste4.gif" width="400"></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that’s it, copy the row that you need and take a break,
you may have saved yourself hours. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br></span></div>
Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-20005197470049291222017-09-08T15:07:00.000+02:002017-09-08T20:11:15.768+02:00 Office 365 is changing the rules for Intranets<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Sitka Text", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19px; padding-top: 0px;">
Before Office 365 (O365), when we were asked to build an intranet, we built a SharePoint solution with an inviting home page and some sub sites that promotes team collaboration. Maybe we added in a few interactive features and "Ta-daaa", your intranet was done.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Sitka Text", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 0px;">
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Now, its the game is different, and many of the players don't even realise this. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Sitka Text", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 0px;">
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />An intranet that is using Office 365 is more than just a pre-defined set of pages that has a starting point and set navigation plan that should be used by all. Its use is now dictated by the users, and if done right, no 2 users will experience their Intranet in the same way. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Sitka Text", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 0px;">
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We all know that O365 has this new, beautiful SharePoint Communications sites, for example, this site can help promote Corporate-Level communication and is typically seen as an ideal Home Page to an intranet, but why force that as the Home Page to everyone? Everyone is different, with different objectives when using the Intranet, why not make the users chose a homepage that best suite their interest?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Sitka Text", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 0px;">
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />If they plan to use the intranet to access there web tools quickly, then they could use the O365 Home Page which provides quick access to all their Office tools. Alternatively, they could use Delve, a O365 tool that provides great insight on what relevant people are doing. Maybe the SharePoint Site Selection page should is a preferred starting point, so they can easily view the sites of the projects that they are currently working on. The rule of having a central home page is gone, and we need to focus on an approach that is more user-centric.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Sitka Text", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 0px;">
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />This change in the Intranet rules does not apply to the home page alone. Why force everyone to use Team Sites to collaborate? The end users now have a great selection of tools available to them. Tools like Groups, Teams and Yammer are all available via O365 to promote collaboration through discussions but each tool appeals to different audiences (i.e. some users prefer to engage via email, others via chat) so the one size fits all approach is now the wrong way to handle this. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Sitka Text", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 0px;">
Also, previously, if we wanted our Intranet to stream video content from a secure environment, we needed to invest in a dedicated Video Streaming Server, NOW with O365's video service, its easier that ever to load video content. meaning that users are now using their cell phone, record a quick video that promotes some news or corporate interest and quickly sharing it to all via the Intranet. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Sitka Text", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19px; padding-top: 0px;">
Now, thanks to O365 and other cloud services, an intranet is more than just a website, just like a car is more than just an engine, the rules of this game is changing, its less rigid and more user-focused. People are only figuring this out now (if at all), so stop building intranets the way you did 5 years ago, and figure out how the new playing field is removing the restrictions we had before and change your approach before its too late. </div>
Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-26907189647127360962012-09-08T16:37:00.003+02:002012-09-08T16:49:40.017+02:00SharePoint Saturday Cape Town PresentationThank you all who attended my session, as promised, please find my presentation slides below.<br />
<br />
For those who missed it, my talk was on SharePoint and Maturity, I talked about the importance of the maturity assessment, and what maturity assessments models are available. <br />
<br />
This presentation is focused around SharePoint, but I am sure the information here can assist you with other types of maturity assessments.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/14214684?hostedIn=slideshare&page=upload" width="476"></iframe><br />
<br />
(You can download it here : <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/nadirkamdar/oh-grow-up-a-look-at-share-point-and-maturity-2012-final">http://www.slideshare.net/nadirkamdar/oh-grow-up-a-look-at-share-point-and-maturity-2012-final</a>)Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-84171258653463555782012-07-22T13:36:00.000+02:002012-08-26T08:32:14.613+02:00SharePoint 15, the BETA review<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember the excitement when SharePoint 2010 came out, us developers and architects saw this as the solution that will resolve ALL the flaws found in SharePoint 2007. The SharePoint 2010 demos were, well, to narrow it down to one word, seductive! We were convinced that this would be the best product to sell, deploy, use and support. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But SharePoint 2010 is not perfect. Sure, it kicks 2007’s butt! But some of the issues identified from SharePoint 2007’s time was carried over to SharePoint 2010 and some new issues were “invented” when added functionality and complexity was added.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SharePoint 2010’s approach in providing us with a web solution is already dated by about 5 years. Remember that SharePoint may have been available to the public in 2010, but the magicians in Microsoft started designing, planning and building the solution from 2008 at the latest. That’s when Silverlight still had a future, Social Networking has no place in the business world and the explosion of mobile and tablet devise has not even started, in fact, the iPad wasn’t even invented then!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therefore, times have changed, and so should your web-based solution. Based on online videos and demonstrations performed by my team, I’m going to provide a beta review on certain areas of SharePoint 15, these areas has been identified as potential problem areas in SharePoint 2010. So I am very interested to see how well they were tackled in the new SharePoint.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t want to rush through each area – so I will publish this post while its incomplete and place the titles of the areas I plan to review, and will update the post when I have done the analysis – add comments if you want me to add more areas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>General Appearance and Usability<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SharePoint 2010 looks great when compared to SharePoint 2007. But its “busy” when compared to todays standards, when we deploy solutions to our clients, our most successful deployments involves simplifying the interface so its easier to understand and use. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s back this up with an example. Below is an image of a team site created in SharePoint 2010.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZU1o2k-1tzySntvBDouvwMXceFb3cZqulYdfSzlcL2SPiYvN0uhoU13e6qgHQRtaA85u1PI6TPIbCXZlgXWl3k-IKlqUaxyglaz1ZRIrND6370ASltVi_Z0Rxm8ypb0aE4b-P/s1600/image006-735790.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5767955688292537554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZU1o2k-1tzySntvBDouvwMXceFb3cZqulYdfSzlcL2SPiYvN0uhoU13e6qgHQRtaA85u1PI6TPIbCXZlgXWl3k-IKlqUaxyglaz1ZRIrND6370ASltVi_Z0Rxm8ypb0aE4b-P/s320/image006-735790.jpg" /></a><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first thing I see is many things many of my users will not necessary use:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">That large image that means nothing to anyone</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">The “Welcome” message Place Holder.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">The “Like” and “Tags and Notes” button</span></li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These components are not needed for the team site, yet they are there by default. This clutters the site too much and it confuses the end users. These components are usually removed or ignored.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I won’t start with the navigation right now, (saving that for a later section of this blog). I will add that the “Getting Started” section is a great idea to assist users in getting started with this site, but it’s not intuitive or user friendly and is typically ignored or removed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let us check out the SharePoint 15 team site. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWe2f1K1Hh7Jw-vuc6FDbu738hXdpEjstDpjJ85GlQhCdyZqXdbSNyZ_Ftadv7I2ul3AqVfg13KFb2zqN_fqXvaUNdcj5E2WWbjqJYpdGydAcb1qlCkGeuIW448nKnMoVTGtCs/s1600/SP2013TeamSite+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWe2f1K1Hh7Jw-vuc6FDbu738hXdpEjstDpjJ85GlQhCdyZqXdbSNyZ_Ftadv7I2ul3AqVfg13KFb2zqN_fqXvaUNdcj5E2WWbjqJYpdGydAcb1qlCkGeuIW448nKnMoVTGtCs/s320/SP2013TeamSite+(3).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Video walkthrough of SharePoint 15 is available here : <a href="http://www.sharepoint-videos.com/walkthrough-of-sharepoint-2013-team-site/">http://www.sharepoint-videos.com/walkthrough-of-sharepoint-2013-team-site/</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am seeing less clutter, useless images and text are removed, important “Getting Started” links has a greater prominence and is more inviting, thanks to Metro Style navigation. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a much more inviting, intuitive and user-friendly interface. It even supports drag and drop and a new feature that hides the navigation so the focus is on the content only. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I see good use of “Share” and “Follow”, which is more professional than “I Like it”, and has a more subtle presence that in the previous version. I don’t know right now, but I hope those buttons can be easily removed if requested by my client.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They seem to have tackled all the issues I have identified in SharePoint 2010. 5 out of 5 for this section!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EDvhFjDxJolhVcW7wEEN8ecJuWPHLtvasGKIN5pOnUAs3SXpWUDj3fBWsK2s47BiDCOK9VUkufF3CSWjXFA2p7Cxw3iqPGrpHtcz7Kd_BhWTM2YiopfhobDqPU2-_ojLxPxb/s1600/image005-739405.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5767955707431438994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EDvhFjDxJolhVcW7wEEN8ecJuWPHLtvasGKIN5pOnUAs3SXpWUDj3fBWsK2s47BiDCOK9VUkufF3CSWjXFA2p7Cxw3iqPGrpHtcz7Kd_BhWTM2YiopfhobDqPU2-_ojLxPxb/s320/image005-739405.png" /></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Changing he Look and
Feel<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>[SECTION UPDATED on 29th July 2012] </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every single SharePoint project I worked on has one
consistent requirement, that’s to make the SharePoint site not look like a
SharePoint site.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Creating a site that is inviting and represents the
corporate brand is important, buts its not an easy thing to do, since you need
tools like SharePoint Designer to do a decent job. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Microsoft’s best practice approach involves limiting your
design to themes, and unfortunately, that approach was very limiting, and more
often than not, the designers are forced to open up designer and tinker with
the master pages to get that better design.
This approach is a workaround that bypasses all the limitations of
themes and gives you amazing looking sites but it also affects the stability of
the solution. Nevertheless, a visually
appealing and inviting site that represents the corporate brand is important –
so this has to be done.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I am looking for in SharePoint 2013, is an easier way
to change the appearance, with fewer limitations and no risk of destabilising
the environment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did SharePoint 2013 deliver?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, this, <a href="http://www.sharepoint-videos.com/changing-the-look-and-feel-of-sharepoint-2013-team-site/">http://www.sharepoint-videos.com/changing-the-look-and-feel-of-sharepoint-2013-team-site/</a>,
impressive video shows how easy it is to
change the style of the site. You don’t
need SharePoint Designer, it has great preview facilities, you seem to have a
greater range of templates to get started and also a good range of options when
modifying the styles. Seems like they
did an excellent job in improving the ability to change the appearance of
SharePoint.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking at SharePoint related press releases from Microsoft
(<a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blog/Pages/BlogPost.aspx?pID=1012">http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blog/Pages/BlogPost.aspx?pID=1012</a>
– near the end of the article). It is
clear that Microsoft is recommending us to stick to the tools mentioned above
to modify the look. Anything done beyond
these tools (like tinkering with the site templates in SharePoint Designer) will
affect the complexity, performance, upgradability and stability of the solution. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So its still (and now officially) NOT a good idea to move
beyond the tools provided to change the look, but is the tools provided enough?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SharePoint is cleaner, simpler and faster by default, so
there are fewer reasons to move beyond the tools provided. But the visual element sells the products and
gives the client that warm fuzzy feeling when its done with flare, so in order
to impress, I see the developers forced to push the limitations and bend the
rules to make that client say “WOW”!
Sadly, at the cost of performance and stability. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would have preferred Microsoft to not prohibit us from
going beyond the tools, but rather supporting it with guidelines, templates and
additional, more advanced tools made for skilled designers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh87cm4Pk-iGnyrASPoTbHV0MHwEtLxuxYV6rpoml0hoNd-GE-ko8qY_bmIbPQs3xX88qI7s6ReiachfHYoc6y8wqIJ1rGxY7AnXbJJoxWjg_9i7cpz93e_Q35SPxT1HF4GiuJf/s1600/3outof5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh87cm4Pk-iGnyrASPoTbHV0MHwEtLxuxYV6rpoml0hoNd-GE-ko8qY_bmIbPQs3xX88qI7s6ReiachfHYoc6y8wqIJ1rGxY7AnXbJJoxWjg_9i7cpz93e_Q35SPxT1HF4GiuJf/s320/3outof5.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Navigation<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
[Section Updated on 3 August 2012]<br />
<br />
<br />
The navigation provided by SharePoint has always led to difficult conversations with the client.<br />
<br />
Navigation menus is important, it needs to have a logical structure that allows the user to navigate to their desired area, and what SharePoint lacks was the flexibility to adjust the menus to fit the structure the end users will find logical.<br />
<br />
One problem was SharePoint was adding their own headings like “sites” and “libraries” to the current navigation; these are SharePoint terms that are not familiar to the end users, thus confusing them. Users also expect different types of navigation like fly out menus or tree views, these options were not available in SharePoint (well, the tree view is, but it’s not user friendly, flexible or attractive at all, so as far as I am concerned, it’s an unusable feature). <br />
<br />
Other points worth mentioning was friendly URL’s were not used (making it more difficult for search engines to pick up) and navigation did not go past two level unless you edited the code in SharePoint Designer.<br />
<br />
So, what I am looking for is greater flexibility in controlling the Navigation in SharePoint 2013. Did they deliver?<br />
<br />
This post, <a href="https://www.nothingbutsharepoint.com/sites/eusp/Pages/SharePoint-2013-Navigation-using-Managed-Metadata-Term-Store.aspx">https://www.nothingbutsharepoint.com/sites/eusp/Pages/SharePoint-2013-Navigation-using-Managed-Metadata-Term-Store.aspx</a>, covers SharePoint 2013 and navigation pretty well. I see that term sets are now been used to source the menus.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zelgYA-NlYOjRAmMciqVQ0mM4A7h38q0SM109kJbtTBGqXRAwbhVt0rEc7eDYhxG4jv5kt_RkuHkWAuvEiSkNVDwjQrzH6iovPxFdsy_Nx7_TnW96oqZj1Hr9uxsCAUZg1WB/s1600/pic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zelgYA-NlYOjRAmMciqVQ0mM4A7h38q0SM109kJbtTBGqXRAwbhVt0rEc7eDYhxG4jv5kt_RkuHkWAuvEiSkNVDwjQrzH6iovPxFdsy_Nx7_TnW96oqZj1Hr9uxsCAUZg1WB/s320/pic.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
That’s great, in the past when SharePoint navigation sources were not sufficient, we had to create site map files, which gave us the results we needed but really made the support and maintenance of the solution more complex. <br />
<br />
So the flexibility of controlling the menus content has improved, friendly URL’s are now available and term sets allow for multiple levels of navigation, and also I see that the confusing terms like “sites” and “Libraries” are no longer there by default. This is fantastic.<br />
<br />
The only thing I have not found was the ability to change the menu type to a tree view or fly out menu out of the box, but I am not too worried about that, that’s an easy fix with a little coding and 3rd party products, it was the menu source that gave me the biggest problems.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2bFf6ofLfakuQJ8rP_iPYLv6p6GLvRTEIgO2ywcuu_7iofZ5-gXcGTc31bFV7T9EoCnGuEcujKllIk6Ofrl76JTAMqyh2N8vtEq8MaB4ztChlULE51g3Xbb4F4KqtNxgYjPEd/s1600/4outof5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="69" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2bFf6ofLfakuQJ8rP_iPYLv6p6GLvRTEIgO2ywcuu_7iofZ5-gXcGTc31bFV7T9EoCnGuEcujKllIk6Ofrl76JTAMqyh2N8vtEq8MaB4ztChlULE51g3Xbb4F4KqtNxgYjPEd/s320/4outof5.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Mobile Access<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
[Section Updated on 12 August 2012]<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The one big thing that SharePoint 2010 lacked was good
mobile support. Sure SharePoint works on
a tablet, but not 100% (and for some features, like BI reports, not at all),
and today, you expect 100%. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'm not expecting much when it comes to mobile, all I am asking for is good HTML5 and CSS3 support. With
that in place, I’m expecting a good future proof environment (well, until the next SharePoint release at least) what will work on
all devices worth mentioning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Looks like SharePoint delivers, the screenshots
below shows good support for HTML5 with the classic options for devices that do
not support HTML5 and of course the standard full screen option.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.technet.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC597479.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://i.technet.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC597479.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
SharePoint 2013 exceeds my expectation by providing push notification
support. That’s when a mobile device
registers with SharePoint and then receives notifications via Microsoft Push
notification services and other similar services, very nice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My expectations are exceeded even further with location-aware
services, where the SharePoint content can be more location aware and can use
services like Bing Maps to display information relative to your location.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, SharePoint 2013 has improved the ability for apps to
interact with the content in SharePoint, allowing for a greater range of mobile
apps to be created. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So, I am seeing a lot of new features made specifically for mobile devices, and I also see exciting times for developers who now have more options available when it comes to mobile development, its really hard to find any fault here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EDvhFjDxJolhVcW7wEEN8ecJuWPHLtvasGKIN5pOnUAs3SXpWUDj3fBWsK2s47BiDCOK9VUkufF3CSWjXFA2p7Cxw3iqPGrpHtcz7Kd_BhWTM2YiopfhobDqPU2-_ojLxPxb/s1600/image005-739405.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="67" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EDvhFjDxJolhVcW7wEEN8ecJuWPHLtvasGKIN5pOnUAs3SXpWUDj3fBWsK2s47BiDCOK9VUkufF3CSWjXFA2p7Cxw3iqPGrpHtcz7Kd_BhWTM2YiopfhobDqPU2-_ojLxPxb/s320/image005-739405.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Custom Development<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
[Section Updated on 26 August 2012]
<br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have mixed feelings on this one, custom development is very important when deploying SharePoint solutions, but I always tried to sell it as a last resort and then place a lot of control measures to the custom approach to help maintain an acceptable degree of stability on the environment.<br />
<br />
In short, I don’t like custom development, it seems to eventually be the root cause to more problems, it dangerously creates a SharePoint environment that does not behave like a SharePoint environment that leads to unpredictable results in scenarios that you may have missed during testing. <br />
<br />
What I am looking for when reviewing this component is a set of tools and processes that will give my developers a better “guarantee” that the custom component …<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>can be easily created<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Will work as intended<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Can be easily deployed<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Will not affect the stability of the environment<br />
<br />
Also, right now, when we create a functionality or feature, be it custom or OOB, we have to deploy it to the Testing server and, once approved, deploy it to the Production server. To do this in a way that that agrees with company policies – we build installation scripts and installation manuals, this document and script creates all the necessary sites and sub sites, the content types, term sets, workflows, configurations, workflows. <br />
<br />
It also applies all the necessary configurations. Building this script and manual is takes a lot of time, it’s difficult to build, needs to be frequently tested and it’s difficult to troubleshoot and update, and we do this because there isn’t a good installation package type feature available from SharePoint that can package ALL the necessary components for easy deployment to different environments.<br />
<br />
It looks like SharePoint 2013 did not focus on this much needed feature, instead, they focused on Apps and the Apps market so new features and updates are more centrally available and controlled. But these apps has limitations where they can only use client side code and the SharePoint components like content types and term sets that may be needed to make the app work well, will need to be manually created and configured, something that should have been avoided with an installation package. <br />
<br />
I can see they are discouraging custom development, and while I know the apps will be a hit. The limitations will be frustrating and more importantly, I wish Microsoft provided a way to more easily package and deploy solutions WITH all its necessary counterparts.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh87cm4Pk-iGnyrASPoTbHV0MHwEtLxuxYV6rpoml0hoNd-GE-ko8qY_bmIbPQs3xX88qI7s6ReiachfHYoc6y8wqIJ1rGxY7AnXbJJoxWjg_9i7cpz93e_Q35SPxT1HF4GiuJf/s1600/3outof5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh87cm4Pk-iGnyrASPoTbHV0MHwEtLxuxYV6rpoml0hoNd-GE-ko8qY_bmIbPQs3xX88qI7s6ReiachfHYoc6y8wqIJ1rGxY7AnXbJJoxWjg_9i7cpz93e_Q35SPxT1HF4GiuJf/s320/3outof5.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Conclusion<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
SharePoint 2013 has met my expectation in many ways, managed to find ways to exceed my expectations and in a few yet critical situations, it failed to meet my expectations. This is a BETA review on a BETA product, so things may change once I get to know the product better or get involved in some early training and official demonstrations. Do you think I missed the mark? Let me know</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-28694707523514331902012-06-04T12:50:00.000+02:002012-06-04T16:35:10.708+02:00Paperless Trail - Going green with SharePoint<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoNormal">
A paperless office is a work environment in which the use of paper is eliminated or (more realistically) greatly reduced.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaS_eknLNP8aZ-SKJm1C_iUDFDyXTcmQIAoVL2xbVo-MrDdrvqm1eKGY2il2sdedQivelqzgqITVYpW6ql2DTNTzwqxe-e0MGT0lRKZHU2W7uYbk2B7S4DahqwCDYzEnJkmjxU/s1600/image001-733202.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="308" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5750130706685183506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaS_eknLNP8aZ-SKJm1C_iUDFDyXTcmQIAoVL2xbVo-MrDdrvqm1eKGY2il2sdedQivelqzgqITVYpW6ql2DTNTzwqxe-e0MGT0lRKZHU2W7uYbk2B7S4DahqwCDYzEnJkmjxU/s320/image001-733202.jpg" width="320" /></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
You achieve this by converting your documents and other papers into digital form. By “going paperless” you can …<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Save money (paper, printers, inks and toners)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Boost productivity</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Save space</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Make documentation and information sharing and searching easier</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Keep personal information more secure</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">And, of course, help the environment.</span></li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0iy0QKm_u0yaB0AputcLXgyTO4fruc0ikGaVZKvIiU7933d69vOvtN2UzvI3TEETd36aNpb6KsNg6YUdCCxA1o6bn2ipj8QXyTIQgZebAidEuXGY2v9nDnJqAVNdNvFjz2__E/s1600/image002-734481.png"><img alt="" border="0" height="121" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5750130708856612002" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0iy0QKm_u0yaB0AputcLXgyTO4fruc0ikGaVZKvIiU7933d69vOvtN2UzvI3TEETd36aNpb6KsNg6YUdCCxA1o6bn2ipj8QXyTIQgZebAidEuXGY2v9nDnJqAVNdNvFjz2__E/s400/image002-734481.png" width="400" /></a><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are now more environmentally aware, we see the production of paper as a significant contributor to deforestation and climate change. We have added measures like recycling and tree-free paper to help reduce the environmental impact, but online document management systems like SharePoint is seen as the strongest contributor in reducing the need for paper.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A solution like SharePoint provides a paperless alternative to …<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Business cards, Index cards and </span>Rolodex</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Typed/written letters and faxes</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Diaries and schedules</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Training material</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Reference books</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">LOB documentation for sharing and collaboration</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Record keeping</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Paper-based processes</span></li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Providing an alternative to paper-based processes that rely on forms, applications and surveys provides a solution to the biggest hurdle in having a paperless office.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, our behaviour is changing. Thanks to the popularity of digital mobile devices like e-books, tablets and smart phones, we are finding it more acceptable to read documents and other information over these mediums – this means that the advantage that paper use to have about being mobile is now phasing away so this paperless office concept is truly possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So how do we use SharePoint to achieve a paperless office?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back scanning (with 3<sup>rd</sup> party solutions like <a href="http://www.kofax.com/">http://www.kofax.com/</a>) and migrating all your existing records and LOB content into one SharePoint environment is a great first step. Right away you will see the cost saving of phasing out all your existing paper – also when you consolidate all your document storage environments to one digital environment, there are added benefits in having one central point for the users to find and store information, that’s one learning curve and one infrastructure to support and maintain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next, you want to convert your manual paper-based processes to more automated SharePoint workflows. The biggest obstacle many organisations face when phasing out paper based processes is the fact that documents needs to be signed to acknowledge acceptance or approval. Tools like InfoPath that integrates well with SharePoint, provides digital signature capabilities with additional security features like making the signature become invalid if the information on the form has changed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once the workflows are in place, your business will produce less paper, and the processes would have better control and faster turnaround time. So that’s a saving on cost and time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I mentioned earlier how the main advantage of paper, i.e. the mobility of paper, is slowly phasing away due to electronic mobile devices. SharePoint is a web based solution, making it easily accessible to these mobile devices – also, doe to the popularity of this product, there are plenty of apps available for iOS and Android, while the Windows 7 devices come with strong integration features by default.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only real unavoidable use of paper would be around compliancy around the external companies you will need to interact with, companies and government organisations that follow paper-based processes that needs to be followed for compliancy reasons – maybe in time, when the paperless approach is more mainstream – this can be avoided.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-24966074743563614552012-04-21T14:54:00.000+02:002012-04-22T18:23:16.531+02:00The problem with small companies<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Up until the start of this year, I have been working for small consultancy companies. While I have always enjoyed the flexibility of this environment, I have never really had strong exposure to large organisations until now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The company I work for has been acquired by a much larger organisation, meaning that I am now part of a big company. It’s been three months since the acquisition, and while the transition is still taking place, I am already noticing a shift in my thinking. I would like to share this with you, and maybe add on to this post as more differences are identified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before I continue, I just need to add that the points below are not necessary points from the company I work in. I have been in this industry for a long time, and have built relationships with all kinds of people in different positions and companies (including my competitors) and have managed to pick up some consistencies and facts worth mentioning. Some of these points are negative, which is why I believe people are afraid to talk about it, but I also believe that these points are too important to keep to myself. I hope you enjoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz2HKEJR-9vtXZUZeCRQjCljRuB7TNNbVOVLqcb9jd022qYAJTUHunl615Ufp8SUqNPjJH2sBaGrYIaXfNo0H41WELbqHlqTOzUqQpVqHdihdc0NDr-537E164KC9OE4gNpvqg/s1600/image001-787694.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5733833259100523458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz2HKEJR-9vtXZUZeCRQjCljRuB7TNNbVOVLqcb9jd022qYAJTUHunl615Ufp8SUqNPjJH2sBaGrYIaXfNo0H41WELbqHlqTOzUqQpVqHdihdc0NDr-537E164KC9OE4gNpvqg/s320/image001-787694.jpg" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Small companies NEED work to pay salaries<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a small company, your biggest expense is salary. If you don’t get enough work, you don’t have a good enough cash flow to pay salaries and other debts. So, as a small company, your number one objective is to get that sale, no matter what!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“No matter what” may be a bit strong, but there is a lot of pressure to get that sale, and as a small consultancy company that specialise in Microsoft Web Solutions, you will know that competition is tight, and to make things worse, its tight against other small companies who also NEEDS the sale to improve their cash flow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what does this mean? Small companies in a highly competitive market tend to over promise, and cut down prices to secure that deal. After all, a little revenue that can make you break even, is better than no revenue, right? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a larger company, the cash flow is not a problem. Salaries are paid by HR and no matter how much sales you get, you can rest assured that the salaries will get paid. This does not mean that we can rest on the sales component and do less work. No, while we still have the responsibility to be profitable, and to meet certain sales targets, the cash flow component is not 100% dependant on the sales we get. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is great, better cash flow provides more options. More cash can be dedicated to infrastructure, training, staff morale and a few other perks that was not available as a small company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Large companies are more focused<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you are responsible for a division of a small company, you are in charge of every single thing related to that division. You are fully involved in the hiring, the training, the social events and not forgetting the actual service delivery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you are part of a large company, many of these tasks are “outsourced” to other divisions of the organisation that specialise in these things. Things like social events are no longer your problem, your involvements in the hiring are training are also drastically reduced, allowing you focus on the things that are important – your service delivery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And even on the service delivery side, you can focus on a specific service (like only SharePoint projects) while another division can focus on other services (like ASP.NET projects). This focus provides huge advantages on the delivery quality side because your focus and training and strategising is focused and on a specific service, which is a huge adjustment when compared to small companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Small companies try to have as little staff as possible that can do as much as possible, or alternatively, they get a lot of junior staff that they task with more senior work (preferably mentored by a senior), either way, the objective is to keep their biggest cost down, the salaries.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now in order to keep salaries down, and yet be able to deliver on whatever sales has over promised, small companies need staff that have a variety of skills, they don’t have to specialise in anything just be able to know a variety of things well enough to come off as a Subject Matter Expert and be able to Google the rest. This sounds cruel, and may be a bit exaggerated, but sadly, not by much.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Small companies are more flexible<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being part of a large company, I must say that the processes for action and decision making are stricter and even a little longer. There is a lot more paperwork that one has to go through to achieve the results. It makes sense when you consider that there are more people involved, meaning that more can go wrong if we are working in a more chaotic state. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a smaller company, you can get away with it because you usually have full control of the situation. This lack of processes allows you to deliver faster but it also means that more can go wrong. In the Microsoft Service Delivery space, clients are placing a high priority on speed so the smaller companies will have a big advantage here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This “advantage” leads to another point. Smaller companies are willing to accept higher levels of risk. The faster delivery comes at a cost, and that cost is increased risk because processes are not strictly followed. When you are part of a larger company, especially a listed company, you have a greater responsibility to deliver well, after all, somebody’s retirement fund may be indirectly dependant on your performance, and because of that, a more risk averse approach is necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Large companies has more available for less<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a small company, I have an internal design team that I use primarily for website designs, then team is skilled in designing marketing material like posters and banners, but whenever I get that type of work, I have to outsource the printing component to a printing company who charge normal market rates. The same goes for software licencing and acquiring hardware. While these services greatly complement my service delivery I just don’t have any skills, experience or equipment to deliver on this (and I don’t plan to build on this, because the demand isn’t there) forcing me to find alternative companies to assist me, who will offer there service at full price. Over time, you can build a relationship with these 3<sup>rd</sup> parties and get the price reduced, but you get the point I am trying to make. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a large company, these complementary services are more easily accessible (chances are, there is another division in the company that provides that service) and the cost is less because these divisions has built great relationships with their supplier and the work is not outsourced to a 3<sup>rd</sup> parties. This allows the large companies to deliver more with less dependency on others and less cash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This advantage goes beyond service delivery. Benefits such as medical aid, RAF, etc. are now available at better rates. As a large company, you have more buying power with these insurance and medical aid companies and can form better relationships when compared to smaller companies resulting in better rates and cover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right now, I am very positive on what large companies can offer. I say this from a point of view of a client looking for a service from a outsourced company or as a skilled individual seeking employment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They seem to tackle most of the disadvantages that exists in smaller company’s very well, especially the cash flow problem. While the cost of this is stricter processes and longer turnaround time, this does create a more governed or less risky environment. I also like the fact that the service delivery is more focused, thus resulting is higher quality output. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UPDATE : The feedback I am getting on this post indicate that many think that I am wrong in my findings (something about be identifying common problems and not necessary the difference between small and large companies), this may be true, since I have only been part of the large organisation for about 3 months now and may be jumping to conclusions here. So please think of this as my initial findings, and if my point of view changes, I will update this post - Thanks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-85933998641923176462012-03-10T18:39:00.000+02:002012-03-10T18:39:23.017+02:00How to write good technical documents<div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Developers love to code and hate to write documents, but documents are important in IT.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">We need documents to define how the solution will be built so that coders who enter the scene later in the project can easily catch up. We need operational and training manuals so the people who are looking after the solution are aided in doing it right, we also need numerous project management related documents but today, I want to focus on those documents that are more technical in nature, and somehow ends up on the coders lap, who usually has no idea how to handle this responsibility.<o:p></o:p></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPJBoYh4lthDAJgrDZucOFp0WlKXT4yb18uRQVKMpYl-sFM_h0_C1w-HzxsOAZ29Uj71wPzN-mreqrLluR2m5pJDBHS9XiFU0Ltr8vQrtNLo1rc4wza5X1qzmTS3Ctr_YcZgO/s1600/image001-788164.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718308241588512914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPJBoYh4lthDAJgrDZucOFp0WlKXT4yb18uRQVKMpYl-sFM_h0_C1w-HzxsOAZ29Uj71wPzN-mreqrLluR2m5pJDBHS9XiFU0Ltr8vQrtNLo1rc4wza5X1qzmTS3Ctr_YcZgO/s320/image001-788164.jpg" /></a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Firstly, let’s start off by saying that document writing is a skill; it’s a valuable skill that coders should embrace rather than avoid. It may take you away from your comfort zone, but building this skill alone will helps you advance your career to the next level. So give this responsibility proper attention and you will see the rewards.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But how does one write good technical documents? Project managers tend to give this responsibility to coders without guiding them. It’s a common mistake, and I hope this post will provide the guidance you need.<o:p></o:p></div><h1>Get a template<o:p></o:p></h1><div class="MsoNormal">The first thing you should do when given this task, is ask for a template or a similar document from a previous project. If your company has a good capability maturity, then these templates should be easily available. If you work in a company that is less mature (or a nastier way to put it, “more chaotic”) and you will need to build the document from scratch. Its more work, but don’t freak out, the main purpose of the template is to provide a tried and tested format, that’s it, you should not see a document from a previous document as an opportunity to copy and paste 70% of the work, that’s messing up the quality of the document and you are robbing yourself from the opportunity to build up on your document writing skills.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So yes, you need to have a format of the document. If the document is well formatted, it will be well organised so it’s easy to read and easy to understand. If your company does not have templates for you, there are plenty of templates on the internet; many of them are free so you may want to go there for a little help in getting started. Look at multiple documents, and come up with an outline that works for you.<o:p></o:p></div><h1>Know your audience<o:p></o:p></h1><div class="MsoNormal">As a coder, it is natural for you to use IT jargon in your everyday language, you talk to other coders in that language, and they understand you and respond appropriately. When you approach a non-coder and communicate with them, you make that extra effort to use words that “normal” people use so they can understand and respond appropriately. Writing a document works on the same principle. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So if you are writing a technical document that will assist other coders in installing that brilliant add-on you created, you can keep the IT jargon. But if you are building a document for managers or end users, then cut down on the jargon, use simple English and add think about adding a few more pictures like screenshots or wireframes, they love that.<o:p></o:p></div><h1>Why is this document important?<o:p></o:p></h1><div class="MsoNormal">Ask yourself what value you are adding, by creating this document. What’s the purpose of this document? Once you have an answer to this question, you can draw of a draft and then ask yourself if this document is achieving its intended purpose. If it is, you on the right track.<o:p></o:p></div><h1>Gathering Information<o:p></o:p></h1><div class="MsoNormal">Make sure you have collected all the information and facts needed for the document, use the template to assist you in what type of information you need.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Gathering information may involve digging in the code built by you or other people, but don’t forget to ask other people for information as well, it may be quicker that figuring it out on your own. Even communication is a skill, it’s a skill that many coders avoid, and this is a good opportunity for you to step away from your comfort zone and work on those skills.<o:p></o:p></div><h1>First Draft <o:p></o:p></h1><div class="MsoNormal">With the information above, you should be able to draw up your first draft. The first draft is really filling out each section of the template with the facts and information it needs. After that is done, you can focus on the writing.<o:p></o:p></div><h1>And now the writing, finally<o:p></o:p></h1><div class="MsoNormal">The first draft does not consider writing style and formatting, at that phase, it’s all about the facts. Now you need to up the quality with proper formatting. here are some points to help you:</div><ul><li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Don’t try to be too fancy with the language. Keep it simple, clear and unambiguous so there is little room for confusion and misunderstanding.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Be consistent. If you are using the words “Power User” to describe a particular role, don’t change it to “Business Administrator” later in the document.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Use bullet points and images where ever possible. it’s easier to read, and important information isn’t lost in the paragraphs.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Avoid contradicting yourself.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Keep the document honest with truthful facts, even if it’s bad news.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Use numbering system so your document can be easily referenced later.</span></li>
</ul><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Well, I hope that helps. If you have any more helpful points, please add it to the comments. And to those coders writing a document – Good Luck and embrace this opportunity.<o:p></o:p></div></div>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-6335503112055659022012-02-19T19:21:00.001+02:002012-02-19T19:21:48.910+02:00What Are SharePoint Architects?<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">When we look at the minimum resources needed for a SharePoint environment, we think SharePoint administrator and maybe the “can-do-it-all” SharePoint Developer.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Don’t get me wrong, these resources are great and are vital for the stability and growth of the SharePoint environment, but they are essentially the workers, or the term I like using, the brick layers (don’t take it as an offensive term, that’s not my intention), they have a strong focus on the technical component of the SharePoint environment, and although they can achieve greatness on their own, they can achieve so much more if they had guidance from someone with a broad understanding of SharePoint (not necessary focused on the technical side) with the ability to map a business problem to the SharePoint technology, that can engage with the business user and plan an approach that will achieve the greatness that SharePoint can provide. They are the SharePoint Architect.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmMXPPcA6k-zwdB4Jz_IZfKOsa4p3NKJv19WAeM-YvQSnnkG9qHZy_kLLZgTqNjU65y1G-vN-vC-MwSkbixi7n_fkV6aQs9LZv50k_14rulcYyLKFNBRdrqdq2IPUOL4WHiv7S/s1600/architect.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmMXPPcA6k-zwdB4Jz_IZfKOsa4p3NKJv19WAeM-YvQSnnkG9qHZy_kLLZgTqNjU65y1G-vN-vC-MwSkbixi7n_fkV6aQs9LZv50k_14rulcYyLKFNBRdrqdq2IPUOL4WHiv7S/s320/architect.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The reason why I am focusing on this role right now, is the fact that this role is truly misunderstood (This role is typically given to the SharePoint Developer), and regarded as not important in SharePoint deployments. It’s also a rare skillset, there isn’t decent SharePoint Architect training out there, well, nothing officially from Microsoft from what I can see.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcEh03fc-I9RVNmxXYQ8mDvEkQ7jHjHt__ATO8KNzqFsib7WxSI0lxuuV4hn3LMwsjNSfBIM42gjRiKwTDhVbdtq8VQKxSgT4tZj45Eo_9HT7sbzBILLxhxxClahoGfVPTxNm0/s1600/1890.strip.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcEh03fc-I9RVNmxXYQ8mDvEkQ7jHjHt__ATO8KNzqFsib7WxSI0lxuuV4hn3LMwsjNSfBIM42gjRiKwTDhVbdtq8VQKxSgT4tZj45Eo_9HT7sbzBILLxhxxClahoGfVPTxNm0/s400/1890.strip.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I also looked around on who is providing this skillset, and noticed a disturbing commonality. People that play the role of SharePoint Architect are not dedicated to this role, I met a few SharePoint Consultant companies, and noticed that there “SharePoint Architects” are also the “Accounts Manager”. This means they are from sales with the primary objective to sell SharePoint (i.e. bias towards using SharePoint) but they call themselves Architects. The problem with this is that Architects needs to match the business problem to the SharePoint technology and if the technology does not match the problem, i.e. too much customisation is required to achieve the desired result, then the Architect needs to say no and recommend an alternate/non-SharePoint approach. Can the people from Sales do that? I don’t think so.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, what makes a good SharePoint Architect? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Architect has …</div><div class="MsoNormal">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A broad understanding of SharePoint, the Architect understands the building blocks of SharePoint (IIS, ASP.NET, Virtual Directories, AD)</div><div class="MsoNormal">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A good understanding of what functionality SharePoint can provide, the types of configurations that’s available, the limitations of the functionality, and what can be achieved via OOTB (Out of the Box) or Customisation.</div><div class="MsoNormal">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sufficient knowledge in capacity planning and performance monitoring</div><div class="MsoNormal">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A good understanding of SharePoint advanced features, like Business Intelligence, FAST and what SharePoint license is required to use these features.</div><div class="MsoNormal">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Knowledge on how to integrate with other systems</div><div class="MsoNormal">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Good communication and documentation skills</div><div class="MsoNormal">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Best Practice approaches in defining a strategy for SharePoint and other common tasks like Migration</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Architect is heavily involved during the planning phase of your SharePoint deployment, the Architect’s skillset is more focused on achieving the business objective, by using best practice approaches and building proper plans that are achievable by the SharePoint administrator or SharePoint Developer. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Without them, you essentially have brick-layers and plumbers, eager to build, without anyone drawing up and approving the plan. This will eventually lead to an unstable environment, with no capacity planning, and solutions that built solutions that do not resolve the business problem.</div><div><br />
</div>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-44034469765560445732012-01-01T12:31:00.000+02:002012-01-01T12:31:44.665+02:00SharePoint in the year 2011While a new version of SharePoint did not come out in the year 2011, it does not mean that nothing happened in that year. This post will highlight the key achievements of SharePoint in the year 2011 and also my predictions in the year 2012.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3X-hAh2LeXafj8k5t0j65qxHUmrRXrbyNKG86Dz076tYKVKu6OwPkUb1Uwklg9levZKxp-9GOX7yoSBf8UbeCxCRf9OPtqOb4J2RWrKZMUMntwGFMP3NYVQDoiDLDx5IznAG7/s1600/2011-2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3X-hAh2LeXafj8k5t0j65qxHUmrRXrbyNKG86Dz076tYKVKu6OwPkUb1Uwklg9levZKxp-9GOX7yoSBf8UbeCxCRf9OPtqOb4J2RWrKZMUMntwGFMP3NYVQDoiDLDx5IznAG7/s320/2011-2012.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<b>The phase out of SharePoint 2007</b>: SharePoint 2010 was introduced in the 2nd half of 2010. The year 2011, started the phase out of SharePoint 2007 and the phase in of SharePoint 2010 – this is evident when you look for SharePoint training currently available. At the start of 2011, Good (or any) SharePoint 2010 training was few and expensive, and now, at the end of 2011, SharePoint 2007 training has been completely phased out.<br />
<br />
<b>Using SharePoint better</b>: People loved SharePoint 2007, but they were not using it correctly, which introduced many pitfalls, as mentioned in my blog post written exactly one year ago (<a href="http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/12/common-pitfalls-in-sharepoint-projects.html">http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/12/common-pitfalls-in-sharepoint-projects.html</a>) . The year 2011 shows that we are starting to use SharePoint better, we know the potential risks and pitfalls are have taken the additional steps to mitigate it. This is evident as more emphasis/training/articles is now placed on planning and governance.<br />
<br />
<b>Improved stability, performance and security</b>: The latest Service Pack for SharePoint 2010 was released in November 2011. The service pack included the following improvements:<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Improved support for Internet Explorer 9.<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Recycle bin: Lets you restore a site collection or a web that was deleted.<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Remote Backup Systems (RBS) and shallow copy can decrease downtime and increase efficiency by moving pointers to databases instead of moving databases.<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>You can see which folders are taking up valuable space with the improved Storage Management feature in site settings.<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2012.<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A more robust Search Host Distribution service that improves error recovery and performance during the search crawl.<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Adds backup and restore functionality to recover deleted site collections and webs.<br />
<br />
<b>Microsoft Launches Office 365 and places SharePoint in the Cloud</b>: In June 2011, Microsoft officially launched Office 365. This includes the launch on the cloud based version of SharePoint 2010 (called SharePoint Online). This positions SharePoint as an essential productivity and collaboration tool, placed in the Cloud making that is affordable and appealing to any businesses.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7SGp9pA9cAY" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<b>SharePoint matures with BI and Visio 2010</b>: While BI functionality was available on SharePoint 2007, great improvements were introduced in SharePoint 2010 with the much needed integration into Visio 2010, but we only understood the power of these advancements in 2011, when Microsoft introduced BI and Visio specific Demo VM and videos. Theses Demo VM’s can be sound here : <a href="http://mssalesdemos.com/">http://mssalesdemos.com/</a> . <br />
<br />
<b>SharePoint designs are better</b>: A very common request when deploying SharePoint solutions is to make SharePoint not look like SharePoint, achieving this compromised the functionality, and I complained about this in my earlier blog posts ( <a href="http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/07/please-dont-pimp-your-sharepoint-site.html">http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/07/please-dont-pimp-your-sharepoint-site.html</a> ). Today, I’m not complaining. As a balance can be reached where there site is fully functional with a strong look. This balance is achieved after a years’ worth of lessons learnt and new design related articles and guides. A good showcase on what can be achieved can be found here: <a href="http://www.topsharepoint.com/">http://www.topsharepoint.com/</a><br />
<br />
<b>So what’s in store for SharePoint in the year 2012?</b><br />
<br />
Well, Office 365 will receive better adoption, and the shift to the Cloud will be more prominent. <br />
<br />
The new SQL Server will launch, resulting in better BI functionality, which will directly affect SharePoint. Maybe improved speed and better functionality in features like Reporting Services and Power Pivot. <br />
<br />
Better support for mobile devices: I don’t believe they got this quite right as yet, as seen in the video below (its good, but not perfect), and mobile support is just too big to ignore. <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xbihonrRcwE" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
What I am expecting is a service pack that provides site templates that makes better use of HTML 5 and CSS 3 or at least templates that make better use of W3C compliant code and JavaScript so it works well on these devices.<br />
<br />
The end of SharePoint 2007, If you or your corporation are using SharePoint 2007, it will most likely reach its end of live in 2012, which means upgrade/migrate or use what people will soon call the “Old SharePoint”. Due to the reduction (or complete removal) of SharePoint 2007 training, there will soon be no resources available to support the environment. No support means no growth and if your technology cannot grow, its becomes a liability.<br />
<br />
While 2011 was about strong awareness on how we are destroying the world, 2012 is about us doing something about it. 2012 will see SharePoint as a strong paperless option for collaboration and productivity. <br />
<br />
So that’s my take on SharePoint in the last year with a few predictions in the year to come. Tell me what you think?Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-72886709760638550672011-11-28T12:14:00.000+02:002011-11-28T12:14:48.600+02:00The importance of de-stressingLike many hard working individuals (I want to say workaholics, but I think that’s too strong a word), I have designed my entire lifestyle around doing my job as best as I can. <br />
<br />
To start off with, I make sure I get plenty of sleep so I so I am fully charged to handle the 8-10 hours of taxing activities. I follow news and subscribe to feeds that relates to my work, and catch up whenever I have some free time. I don’t smoke, don’t drink alcohol, don’t do drugs and limit my coffee consumption to social outings. I even try to stay active and eat healthy since it affects my health and eventually the way I work (but admittedly, I easily compromise those tasks when more after hour work is required or the tasks I handled for that day was more draining than usual).<br />
<br />
While I think it’s important to give your job high importance, I also understand that life is about balance. So while your job may expose you to stress, it is important to counter that with some de-stressing tasks.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmXAHmRDjbm4uyPf02Hbs1h7TldDqzu2GMPDoo7KlwBJXBW6vwjvQAStUUY5rYFVK3pGKePyHSX-gAbavMLO6KaaUOPj23Bzu3BIxRIoNJkcPbXMSMQHhcdBGoiBWsDZSLATR/s1600/stressed-out.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmXAHmRDjbm4uyPf02Hbs1h7TldDqzu2GMPDoo7KlwBJXBW6vwjvQAStUUY5rYFVK3pGKePyHSX-gAbavMLO6KaaUOPj23Bzu3BIxRIoNJkcPbXMSMQHhcdBGoiBWsDZSLATR/s320/stressed-out.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Without de-stressing, your job WILL cause the following:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Loss of enthusiasm</li>
<li>Loss of motivation</li>
<li>Symptoms of depression (sadness, low self-esteem, isolation, tiredness)</li>
<li>Over sensitive</li>
<li>Over anxious</li>
<li>Short tempered</li>
<li>Overeating or loss of appetite</li>
<li>Disturbed sleep</li>
<li>Feeling overwhelmed</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
My de-stressing techniques are the following. They are simple, yet effective.<br />
<br />
<b>Talk to a friend</b>.<br />
I follow this rule with limitations as too much of this affects the quality of your work. I have turned off all my social network notification tools, I don’t use any chatting program and only check my Gmail after hours or during lunch (and that’s if I’m taking lunch) as these tools are distracting and prevents me from doing my duties optimally. <br />
But speaking to someone that can take your mind off work for a few minutes, and in that time, you get a smile on your face or even a bit of laughter, you just got yourself an instant de-stressor.<br />
<br />
<b>Take your mind off things</b>. <br />
It is important to not think about work when you not working, but when you have tight deadlines, your responsibilities tend to stay in your head, even after hours, stressing you out. So it’s important to find an activity that can pull you away from that. <br />
I can suggest that you do something worthwhile like participate in a charity event so you can find fulfilment via some alternative avenue, but my approach is video games (not very noble, probably regarded by most as a waste of time, but it works). <br />
Video Games allow my mind to enter this alternative universe, and focus on the challenges presented in the game, with that sense of fulfilment when I have accomplished the task. The best de-stressing games I played to date is Batman: Arkham City, but I hear Call of Duty and other FPS (First person shooter) games are great for de-stressing as well.<br />
<br />
<b>Get away</b><br />
I always believed that it was a good idea to build up my leave days to a significant number, and then use it for some significant event like an overseas holiday. <br />
In reality, those overseas trips are few and far between and I learnt, that sometimes you need to take time off to do nothing, i.e. have no plans but to relax. <br />
You could plan to go to some relaxing spa, maybe have a picnic or have a nice walk in the forest or up the mountain. Don’t be scared to take off a day from work every now and then just for relaxing (I know this one may be easier said than done - and if you have any advice on how to do this, let me know)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsOc9BUUfnMeA8aFwsFFmy0r9tcxtjNiotwnbWwR800JVKrE6tniHTTYZWjaOoCZHiZ9W0TRlOoA_qbHknKotSy8dhwW7ezfh-WiZ81aqwFpT9i3bAUVS9r7Dk1ny6nLAMecoV/s1600/1433.strip.sunday.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsOc9BUUfnMeA8aFwsFFmy0r9tcxtjNiotwnbWwR800JVKrE6tniHTTYZWjaOoCZHiZ9W0TRlOoA_qbHknKotSy8dhwW7ezfh-WiZ81aqwFpT9i3bAUVS9r7Dk1ny6nLAMecoV/s320/1433.strip.sunday.gif" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
So that it, that’s my de-stressing techniques, the important thing is that you have to love your job and gain fulfilment from it, it makes all the stress worthwhile.<br />
<div><br />
</div>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-51958644549512473222011-11-05T17:59:00.000+02:002011-11-05T17:59:15.270+02:00SharePoint 2010 and Content Migration PresentationIf you managed to catch my SharePoint 2010 and Content Migration presentation for SharePoint Saturday, thank you for attending - as promised, my slides are attached.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left; width: 425px;"><object height="355" style="margin: 0px;" width="425"><param name='movie' value='http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=sharepointsatsharepoint2010andcontentmigration-13195322642318-phpapp01-111025035213-phpapp01&stripped_title=share-point-sat-share-point-2010-and-content-migration' /><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true'/><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='always'/><embed src='http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=sharepointsatsharepoint2010andcontentmigration-13195322642318-phpapp01-111025035213-phpapp01&stripped_title=share-point-sat-share-point-2010-and-content-migration' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' allowscriptaccess='always' allowfullscreen='true' width='425' height='355'></embed></object></div><br />
<br />
If you didn't attend my presentation, which is very possible sine the majority of my audience is from the States, India and Jhb. I tried to make the presentation as clear and detailed as possible. I also reduced all the unnecessary images I used to give the presentation more live so the downloads are much smaller. Enjoy.Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-26718429632211814192011-10-12T13:34:00.000+02:002012-07-18T15:02:16.005+02:00Don’t use SharePoint 2010’s mobile view for internet presence sitesSharePoint offers a lot; it’s a platform that provides BI, ECM, Search, collaboration and a lot more including WCM. It’s the Web Content Management (WCM) component that makes it’s a great platform for internet presence sites and with the more appealing pricing structure available for internet presence, it is becoming the preferred choice to internet deployment.<br />
<br />
Without any effort from the SharePoint deployment team, SharePoint provides a “mobile friendly” view of the site been created. In theory, this sounds great, this means that we can create a SharePoint site, apply a nice appealing brand to it (it is an internet site, so the look is important), spend some time on the structure the content so information can be easily found (very important for internet sites), configure search correctly and then fill the site with information and images knowing that it will automatically work out the best way to display this information on mobile devices, right? WRONG!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgVC8s4hhyphenhyphenE2Cj4mzFw1yPqLnI0ZdBqYgZUngPYPNnMGJHTv2OAsk9IlFU4zabxt4-DLjUAfBNr7TyOiVEzaiH6un5nXmJtjJL4n_2A7gtpuESpvtEK2Ee-IeEBORdwYIcsrv/s1600/1206558994350927690taber_No_Cell_Phones_Allowed.svg.med.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgVC8s4hhyphenhyphenE2Cj4mzFw1yPqLnI0ZdBqYgZUngPYPNnMGJHTv2OAsk9IlFU4zabxt4-DLjUAfBNr7TyOiVEzaiH6un5nXmJtjJL4n_2A7gtpuESpvtEK2Ee-IeEBORdwYIcsrv/s1600/1206558994350927690taber_No_Cell_Phones_Allowed.svg.med.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
SharePoint offers a mobile friendly version of the site, that is true, but when they created this mobile friendly view, they created it for the convenience of collaboration, and the factors that are important for internet sites were not included in the mobile view.<br />
<br />
Here are a few examples: <br />
<br />
By default, <b>mobile view does not allow anonymous access, </b>there are ways to override this, but that should be your first clue that the mobile view is not internet friendly.<br />
<br />
The <b>look and feel is not displayed in the mobile view, </b>and there is no interface to change the look and feel of the mobile view, meaning that your internet brand will not be viewable in the mobile devices, solutions in solving this problem involves editing files located in the 14 hive folder, and that approach is not best practice, and should be avoided.<br />
<br />
<b>Navigational structure and content pages is not displayed in the mobile view, </b>the main part of an internet site is the navigational structure and the content. Those elements are ignored in the mobile view; instead, the mobile view’s navigational menu provides easy access to SharePoint lists and sufficient control in managing those lists. So if you have some hidden lists on your internet sites (like a list to store feedback responses) they will be easily accessible in the mobile view. Also, since the mobile view is focused on list management (and not the displaying of web parts), web parts containing content and information are usually removed from the mobile view.<br />
<br />
<b>Search facility is not working in mobile view. </b>Search is becoming the preferred way to search for information, so all the effort in classifying and indexing your information is rewarded by providing powerful search functionality, this functionality is turned off in the mobile view.<br />
<br />
If you don’t believe me, here’s proof. Go to Microsoft’s SharePoint site, <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/">http://sharepoint.microsoft.com</a>, look and the brand, the navigational structure, and the content and the search functionality. Now go to the mobile view of this site, <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/Pages/default.aspx?mobile=1">http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/Pages/default.aspx?mobile=1</a>, you will notice that you will need to sign in (thankfully, your hotmail account will work), and after you login, look for the brand, the navigational structure, the content, and now try to search for it. It is clear that this view is not designed for internet sites.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3R5BYJTRQ0rgtflE9ZwCWHJ_PdcRx6Nq_OVnxtfXt-CkEkDNkNf2bBeJkXiQDNA74mIe3I_pA04ciU0_Qe_W7KUafEvTgJJEsCOqDwYBfQ3B3Kw3Ozvb-B1oD67L1gcY_zms/s1600/smartphoneandserver.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3R5BYJTRQ0rgtflE9ZwCWHJ_PdcRx6Nq_OVnxtfXt-CkEkDNkNf2bBeJkXiQDNA74mIe3I_pA04ciU0_Qe_W7KUafEvTgJJEsCOqDwYBfQ3B3Kw3Ozvb-B1oD67L1gcY_zms/s320/smartphoneandserver.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So how can I make my site more mobile friendly? <br />
<br />
SharePoint looks at the browser accessing the site and if the browser is a mobile browser, the user is directed to a mobile friendly template.<br />
<br />
The file that contains the list of mobile browsers can be edited to stop the redirect from taking place or you can make use of URL rewriting features. This will cause the mobile device to load the standard view of your site and since SharePoint sites are W3C compliant, it should work fine on those devices (but they will probably have to do a bit of scrolling).<br />
<br />
Best practice will involve you doing a little work on the standard view, you will need to create a mobile friendly CSS file and with some clever JavaScript you can load the correct CSS that will provide the mobile friendly look on mobile devices.<br />
<br />
UPDATE : <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Mobile Entrée (</span><a href="http://www.mobileentree.com/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">http://www.mobileentree.com</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">), seem to have a good solution this problem, they created a 3rd party extension of the SharePoint platform that provides mobile friendly sites.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-55406571276319869032011-09-18T15:27:00.000+02:002011-09-18T15:27:48.098+02:00Sharing files with a iPad/iPhone/iPod wirelesslyI have a Windows laptop that I mainly use for work and blogging, a PC at home that is configured to act as a HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer), an iPhone and an iPad. <br />
<br />
When I am at home, all these devices are connected to my local network via WIFI. Some of my devices download files like eBooks, while others act as my eBook reader, the same thing happens with movies. so there is this need for me to easily share files amongst my devices and I dont want to connect my iPhone/iPad to the PC/laptop via USB - its just too much effort and I am sure I can find a better solution.<br />
<br />
<br />
Cloud based file storage mediums like DropBox are available, which pretty much means that I can store my files on the internet and access it via any other devices, but I have a problems with this approach. Cloud based file storage mediums cost me bandwidth, and in South Africa, bandwidth is expensive (which is why I believe that South Africa will be slow adopters of cloud based solution – but that’s another topic for another blog).<br />
<br />
If I want to copy my 1MB photograph taken from my iPhone to my laptop wirelessly, I will need to upload the file to my DropBox storage via the iPhone app. This will cost me 1MB of bandwidth, I will then need to use another MB of bandwidth to download the file to my laptop, I know this sounds petty, but do this for 10, 20 or 100 files, the bandwidth adds up and it is really unnecessary, especially since all my devices are connected to my local network so I should be able to do this without using the internet.<br />
<br />
There are other disadvantages like slow speed, restrictions with the storage medium and this actual step of uploading or duplicating files just to make it available for sharing. So the preferred alternative would be the ability to share files across my local network.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58irA3X_3m6gSXpZ0ZjX1H0jFd2oBFvV6_2MWLVahPjkKSioAs60lJK6GTX7cthb-fWhSR1UnVzk9rqT0MpyXpxObopKejazvWTz56XXOmqG1l48dgc5PgV5AV756ASfhsG-I/s1600/file-sharing-with-wi-fi-hd-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58irA3X_3m6gSXpZ0ZjX1H0jFd2oBFvV6_2MWLVahPjkKSioAs60lJK6GTX7cthb-fWhSR1UnVzk9rqT0MpyXpxObopKejazvWTz56XXOmqG1l48dgc5PgV5AV756ASfhsG-I/s1600/file-sharing-with-wi-fi-hd-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
iDevice (iPhone/iPad/iPod) developers figured out how to transfer files from their iDevice over a WIFI network. They have created apps like File Sharing (<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/file-sharing/id300556365?mt=8">http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/file-sharing/id300556365?mt=8</a>), Air Sharing (<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/air-sharing/id289943355?mt=8">http://itunes.apple.com/app/air-sharing/id289943355?mt=8</a>) and Good Reader (<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/id306277111?mt=8">http://itunes.apple.com/app/id306277111?mt=8</a>) just to name a few (there’s a lot out there). They all work on the same principle. They use WebDAV protocol (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV%20">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV </a>) that makes it possible to access files on the iDevice via a URL.<br />
<br />
WebDAV protocol are perfect for this purpose, it’s a standard set of rules and methods that makes it possible to edit and manage documents all via HTTP, it essentially makes the device on the network a readable and writable medium.<br />
<br />
Having an iDevice app that uses WebDAV is a step in the right direction (I installed and love Good Reader) but more needs to be done for me to achieve a true file sharing environment across all my devices.<br />
<br />
The biggest problem is that I can share files from my iDevice, but I cannot share files from my PC or laptop – now for me to get that right, i need to get my PC or Laptop to share files via WebDAV or FTP protocols (Good Reader allows you to access other shares on the network via WebDAV or FTP) – and that is a lot more complicated that it sounds – I tweaked around with my IIS settings, loosen my security configurations, installed all kinds of server type software on my PC/Laptop, read all kinds of articles on how Microsoft did a poor job in WebDAV support and just about gave up – I was unable to make my PC/Laptop files accessible to my iDevices. Finally I found some a programme that provides a “User Friendly, personal FTP and WebDAV server”.<br />
<br />
The programme is called neteK (<a href="http://netek.berlios.de/%20">http://netek.berlios.de/ </a>), its freeware but its incomplete, the FTP part is working, but the WebDAV part is not, I tried contacting the developer as I believe that there is a market for this product once the WebDAV component is working, but he is not replying to my emails and from what I can see, this product was last updated in 2006 – so it’s probably a dead product – but he made his source code available (<a href="http://developer.berlios.de/project/showfiles.php?group_id=6106">http://developer.berlios.de/project/showfiles.php?group_id=6106</a>) - so if anyone wants to work on a product that provides a user friendly, personal FTP and WebDAV server – get a kickstart from the source code and work on a solution. I believe that this problem I am experiencing with sharing files amongst my devices is a common problem and is rapidly becoming a big problem as more different types of devices are connected to the network and needs to talk to each other, so there is a market for this product. Imagine how great this product will be if you can get it working for iOS, Android, XBox, PlayStation, Wii, BlackBerry, Windows, Linux, etc.<br />
<br />
<br />
Good luck, When you get rich with this product, remember to mention my name :)Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-25977473198203717152011-08-28T15:17:00.000+02:002011-08-28T15:17:32.637+02:00SharePoint 2010 and Branding<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style> <![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Some time ago, before SharePoint 2010 was popular, I write an article (<a href="http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/07/please-dont-pimp-your-sharepoint-site.html">http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/07/please-dont-pimp-your-sharepoint-site.html</a>) pleading with the world to please stop creating fancy looking SharePoint sites, because you are not using SharePoint the way it was intended, and you are creating a maintenance nightmare.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, with SharePoint 2010 around, I think its time we re-visited this topic.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhREuXjCXXSySrCi7rAHtvJdYJkto_l3_APqTbRVUj73Byupruvu-R44ZXBF4Zpzbm-Q9T-UDy5JSmKxKdafLnVhxYhrJ074FSqu25Lo0FMabJNNyZ0tIWcBYU0xYlErxKEIwqe/s1600/designs_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhREuXjCXXSySrCi7rAHtvJdYJkto_l3_APqTbRVUj73Byupruvu-R44ZXBF4Zpzbm-Q9T-UDy5JSmKxKdafLnVhxYhrJ074FSqu25Lo0FMabJNNyZ0tIWcBYU0xYlErxKEIwqe/s320/designs_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Lets me start off by saying that SharePoint has improved greatly when it comes to branding, but I still believe that strong branding should be limited to internet sites.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Intranet sites are more feature heavy, and those features has a default size, layout, structure and design that fits the default look provided by SharePoint, so I still see a lot of additional time spent on tweaking the features so it fits the new look, and then a lot of time will be needed to maintain these tweaked features.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, when you want to apply a brand to a SharePoint site, use the publishing templates, these templates are designed to be a strong WCM (Web Content Management) type site, so the features are more limited to publishing content rather than collaboration and BI (Business Intelligence) type features but the overall look of the template is easier to adjust, tweak and re-design.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=nadirkamdar&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0470584645&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>There are now some great tutorials out there to help you be a SharePoint Designer Guru; I like his article straight from the Microsoft MSDN site: <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg430141.aspx">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg430141.aspx</a>, and if you prefer a video, here’s a great one from Technet: <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-za/sharepoint/hh239611">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-za/sharepoint/hh239611</a>, it’s a series of WCM videos but Chapter 5 gives you a 40 minute video just on branding.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And, after all that training, if you need inspiration, check out Top SharePoint: <a href="http://www.topsharepoint.com/">http://www.topsharepoint.com/</a> for the biggest gallery of Branded SharePoint sites.</div>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-86883145730528108582011-08-21T07:43:00.000+02:002011-08-21T07:43:54.637+02:003d printing - the next big thing - see it in action with Lego<a href="http://thenxtstep.blogspot.com/2011/08/amazing-mindstorms-3d-printer.html?spref=bl">The NXT STEP - LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT Blog: Amazing Mindstorms 3D printer</a>: Brought to us by Arthur Sacek from Brazil's ZOOM Education for Life , this very well built and surprisingly precise 3D milling machine is tr...Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-53114651837861597202011-08-20T14:31:00.000+02:002011-08-20T14:31:46.947+02:00How to find a “Good” SharePoint consulting company?Looks like every organisation wants SharePoint these days.<br />
<br />
I mentioned before, there is a <a href="http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-there-is-shortage-of-sharepoint.html">big shortage of SharePoint skills</a> out there, so hiring a good SharePoint resource has become a rather difficult task, especially when you realise that a good SharePoint deployment requires a range of <a href="http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/08/all-in-one-sharepoint-guru-does-not.html">specialised skills</a> meaning that you need a specialised SharePoint team for a successful deployment. Where does one begin in getting this team?<br />
<br />
The answer is in Outsourcing, i.e. hiring a consultant company that specialise in SharePoint deployment. That seems simple, but perform a search for SharePoint consultant companies in your area, I bet you there is a lot more than you expected. That’s a problem, because you now have to select the “best” consultant company and pray you don’t make a mistake as this will greatly affect the success of your SharePoint deployment and you’re ROI (return on Investment).<br />
<br />
So what do you look for when selecting a “good” consulting company?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-sEN0ELkui4aHNr9_mCbWp_2vdwZkO72OMRybS-3qkxGdgNRaW5468maEKyrX0fpePP6wuDGIBQl9pqG4jmC9nDStzJWZQ2pNFYPETTLpuCvSqLwmdIBbfSZgbShdO4qOA2c/s1600/25co11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-sEN0ELkui4aHNr9_mCbWp_2vdwZkO72OMRybS-3qkxGdgNRaW5468maEKyrX0fpePP6wuDGIBQl9pqG4jmC9nDStzJWZQ2pNFYPETTLpuCvSqLwmdIBbfSZgbShdO4qOA2c/s320/25co11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
Before I answer that question, let me lay down the sad truth. There are many SharePoint consultant companies out there that are not good at what they claim to do. They claim to be SharePoint consultant companies because they see a lot of money in SharePoint, they understand that SharePoint is Microsoft’s most profitable product and they want a piece of that pie, they are relying on the fact that they can "learn" SharePoint by securing one good client and figuring it out. The lack of training and experience will not stop them from deploying a solution, but it will not be deployed using best practices, making it a unstable deployment.<br />
<br />
There are also SharePoint consultant companies out there that may have the necessary training and experience in deploying a certain part of SharePoint but has no clue on how to deploy another component (SharePoint is just so big) and again, they plan to figure it out by securing a client.<br />
<br />
There are also situations where consultant companies will not do any custom work, even thou SharePoint were designed for customisation, or they do too much customisation, making it difficult to maintain or expand the solution (these are typical situations of not following best practices).<br />
<br />
Some SharePoint consultant companies may not have specific skills like SharePoint Architects or SharePoint Designers making it difficult for them to deliver a strong solution.<br />
<br />
Some SharePoint consultant companies may not have a good post-deployment support structure, and thus cannot support your solution after deployment.<br />
<br />
So there are a lot of bad apples that one has to go through in order to find that right Consultant Company. Where does one begin?<br />
<br />
You can start off by checking out there relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft wants to assist you in selling their product because it is there business to sell licenses and you need SharePoint licenses in order to use SharePoint (unless you plan to use the free version of SharePoint, in which case, I’m not sure how much support you will actually get from Microsoft). Good Consultant Companies tries to maintain a good relationship with Microsoft; in fact, they go the extra mile in building a strong partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft has high demands when they enter into a partnership; they expect their partners to be:<br />
<ul><li>Product Centric with proven competency</li>
<li>High level of performance</li>
<li>Loyalty</li>
<li>Perseverance</li>
<li>Results </li>
<li>Customer Focused</li>
<li>Sufficient staff members are Microsoft Certified </li>
<li>Sufficient customer references are submitted, proving customer satisfaction</li>
</ul><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=nadirkamdar&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0956155669&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>So when you are looking for a good consultancy company, check who has a good relationship with Microsoft, the easiest way to spot this is to look for the silver or gold partner logo (obviously, the gold partner logo is preferred). Like I said, the consultant companies need to go the extra mile to establish this partnership, so when they do qualify for the gold partnership (for example) they usually like to advertise that, on their website, email signatures, business cards, letterheads, etc. so it is usually not that difficult to figure out what type of partnership (if any) the consultancy company has with Microsoft.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKt8dOxEIgeP1nrMzzdDry8ASKF4uWcesORoSuwtx_OCa4hgbyT3kLKXgT7On4XmKzYbKgIvKzEuhcnTmNseXQqkFAFDs4gQIB8hV003xaMsgJARJKw0sxJJvGBLgUmScsL7mH/s1600/MS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKt8dOxEIgeP1nrMzzdDry8ASKF4uWcesORoSuwtx_OCa4hgbyT3kLKXgT7On4XmKzYbKgIvKzEuhcnTmNseXQqkFAFDs4gQIB8hV003xaMsgJARJKw0sxJJvGBLgUmScsL7mH/s200/MS.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<br />
While the Microsoft partnership logo may separate the Mickey Mouse companies from the more established ones, this is not enough in finding a good consultancy company.<br />
<br />
Some Consultant companies may not be good on what they do, but they managed to secure one big client through clever marketing, or being in the right place at the right time, or through some inside information or good networking – and they managed to use this relationship to for fill the necessary requirements to obtain the high Microsoft partnership status, so don’t be too reliant on that component alone.<br />
<br />
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=nadirkamdar&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000PC109S&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>So now you need to look beyond the surface of the consultant companies. Essentially, you want to determine their capability maturity. This will provide some insight on the company’s behaviour, practices and processes which will assist you in determining their reliability in producing the required output.<br />
<br />
For example, a company with a low capability maturity level typically have undocumented processes and approaches and are in a constant state of dynamic change, they are driven in an ad-hoc, uncontrolled and reactive manner that usually provides a chaotic or unstable environment for the processes.<br />
<br />
When the processes are defined, measured and documented, with standards and governance that is adaptable to different situations and are subject to improvement over time, the company is more mature, stable and reliable.<br />
<br />
Now, this may not be easy to determine, asking the consultancy company to fill in a questionnaire will more than likely lead to a less than truthful response, even interviewing them will lead to the same result. So there is no easy way to get this information, one approach that I believe is more effective than others is to conduct an interview, but interview the staff that focus on delivery, i.e. not there sales division or the company director but the people that actually deliver the work, as everyone else has an objective to secure the sale, the delivery team has to deliver on what the sales division promised, so you may get a more honest answer from them, but that is not guaranteed – still, I’ll trust them over anyone else.<br />
<br />
While you are interviewing the delivery team, try to determine how they will handle your particular project, are they using out-of-the-box SharePoint features as much as possible? Are they applying customisation only when needed? Are they actually saying “no” to some of your requests and recommending a SharePoint best practice approach instead, are they considering maintainability and stability with their approaches?<br />
<br />
<br />
Also, apart from the delivery component, do they offer any complementary services? Do they have a product support structure? Do they have processes that can assist with user adoption like a training programme or change management process? Many companies focus too much on delivery that they fail to provide a good range of complementary services which is essential for proper ROI.<br />
<br />
So, in a nutshell, good consultant companies has a strong partnership with Microsoft which means proven competency to deliver high level performance, the company also has a high capability maturity level and offer a good range of complementary services.<br />
<br />
<br />
That’s a good start, but I don’t think that’s enough, if you can provide any more points, let me know.Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-87383001234489647472011-08-05T12:28:00.000+02:002011-08-05T12:28:40.121+02:00Only Certified AIIM Master in AfricaI have received confirmation that I am now a certified SharePoint Aiim Master, the first one (I can say only one, but I guess that depends on when you read this article) in Africa.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.aiim.org/images/training/logos/sharepoint-m-web.jpg?w=80&h=30&as=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="101" src="http://www.aiim.org/images/training/logos/sharepoint-m-web.jpg?w=80&h=30&as=1" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
This is the highest certified SharePoint title available from Aiim, and this is a title I had to EARN, this isn’t a simple certificate of attendance. After attending the four day course, I had to study and then write an online exam, pass with over 70%, and after that, I had to study a detailed case study and submit a 10 page report on it.<br />
<br />
So yes, I worked hard for this title, made a few sacrifices, and, at the risk of sounding arrogant, deserve the right to blow my own trumpet for short while – thus this post.<br />
<br />
So what’s so great about this title? Well, it’s from Aiim (<a href="http://www.aiim.org/">http://www.aiim.org</a>), a non-profit organisation that specialise in providing education, research and best practices to organisations to help them find control and optimise their information. Aiim has been working on Enterprise Content Management for over 60 years now so when it comes to deploying SharePoint the right way. Aiim would know how.<br />
<br />
The course focuses on Best Practices for managing and sharing information on the SharePoint platform, it’s a non-technical course that really explains SharePoint, what it’s designed to do and really how to use the core features of SharePoint correctly. The course then looks at best practices approaches to the typical scenarios you will encounter when deploying/maintaining a SharePoint solution. More details on the course can be found here: <a href="http://www.aiim.org/Training/SharePoint-Course">http://www.aiim.org/Training/SharePoint-Course</a><br />
<br />
In my previous posts, I mentioned why we have a <a href="http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-there-is-shortage-of-sharepoint.html">shortage of SharePoint skills</a>, I mentioned <a href="http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/12/common-pitfalls-in-sharepoint-projects.html">common mistakes</a> that occur during SharePoint deployment and I also focused on how we tend to <a href="http://nadirkamdar.blogspot.com/2010/07/please-dont-pimp-your-sharepoint-site.html">use SharePoint incorrectly</a>. These posts highlight the fact that many people are deploying and using SharePoint incorrectly and there is a big need for this type of training.<br />
<br />
As the only certified SharePoint Aiim Master in Africa, I am the only one qualified to provide this training in and around Africa (unless you are going to fly someone in from the UK or the USA). So if you believe that this training can help you, contact me or our partner company (<a href="http://www.nokusaei.com/site/_SA/training.html">http://www.nokusaei.com/site/_SA/training.html</a>).<br />
<br />
UPDATE : On 5th August 2011, I have officially lost my title as the "only" SharePoint Master in SA, well done Marc Lenferna De La Motte of achieving this title as well.Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-10378920955723483012011-06-19T17:15:00.000+02:002011-06-19T17:15:38.243+02:00The move from Technical Expert to Manager<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_uXW6jAKt3L3LNnVAYIVFx8lBmjDwV-aIRRlYbLmwpE1VG0fsYwsvY1bprZZ2LWMWet2Rr_Mn12emqUC-W4LVS_wLSMVKp_abCChZcYkqhkHYfBxpq4kSEtxpg6JXwyVeYxp/s1600/it-manager-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_uXW6jAKt3L3LNnVAYIVFx8lBmjDwV-aIRRlYbLmwpE1VG0fsYwsvY1bprZZ2LWMWet2Rr_Mn12emqUC-W4LVS_wLSMVKp_abCChZcYkqhkHYfBxpq4kSEtxpg6JXwyVeYxp/s320/it-manager-2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me start of by explaining how things were before I became a Manager.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I worked my way to a Senior ASP.NET developer with a decent amount of SharePoint exposure; it only took me 7 years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And in those 7 years I was usually poorly managed; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• scope was poorly defined and not managed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• no clear plan was in place or plan omitted crucial steps</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• timeframes were unrealistic </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• no quality checks were in place (faults were discovered during client demo's)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• clients expectations were not managed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• communications were poor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• processes were not followed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• resource allocation was poor (I once requested a .NET developer and my Manager believed he solved the problem when he got me a junior network administrator who knew a little HTML)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• poor risk management</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In many cases I had reached a point where I had very little faith (or respect) for my manager that I insist that they present me with the requirements and leave me alone so I can “do my magic”, this involved me contacting the clients to clearly define their requirements, plan an approach that is within the timeframes promised, build, document and demonstrate the solution (so it looks like I had the making of a good manager at a very early stage). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was seen as a champion and I enjoyed that, but poor management always frustrated me, and to make matters worse, I became the victim of my own success where my managers (from every company I worked in) ended up overloading me with projects, while other members of the team were able to watch movies and chat whole day. I shut off my Gmail Notifier because it was distracting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So when a company approached me and asked me to manage their Systems Integration department, I said yes without any hesitation. I saw it as a great opportunity to finally be part of a company that is well managed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the move from a technical expert to a manager is not an easy one. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first it was great, I was heavily involved in all the technical aspects of all the projects, I hired 2 resources, and spent hours a day training them up and improving the quality of their deliverable, I used my technical experience and skills to produce accurate cost estimates and timelines so clients expectations were well managed. Delivery was strong, Staff was happy, Department was profitable. In summary, my approach was seen as successful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over time, the number of projects coming in increased, meaning that I had to grow the team in order to continue delivering a strong solution. My team of 3 grew to 15 (and we are still hiring), I now have team members spread across 2 provinces and 2 continents. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With a team this size, I was forced to move away from the technical aspects of a project and needed to focus on Management specific tasks, my focus shifted to the following:</span><br />
<br />
<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=nadirkamdar&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0743269519&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Improve customer relations</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Project planning, estimating, coordinating</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Improve staff morale </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Improve internal coordination and processes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Improve department profits</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Focus on high quality service delivery</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Manage project scope</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Improve resource management</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Staff training</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Risk management</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been managing this department for over 3 years now. Thankfully, the department is still successful in all aspects – there are a few things I know now that I wish I knew 3 years ago. I would like to share that with anyone about to start the technical to management transition.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• If you are spending time on the technical requirements, you are not doing the things you need to do to be an effective manager</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Seek coaching from other managers who has made this transition, I unfortunately did not have a coach, and I feel that whatever I achieved in 3 years could have been done in 1 year with proper coaching.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• You need to change your thinking from “what can I do” to “what can I get my team to do”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Management is a full time job – if it’s not, your team is very small or you are doing it wrong</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• You need a set of skills that was not needed as a technical expect, mainly: business skills, leadership skills, management skills, planning skills, communication skills so attend a management class as soon as possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Technical skills are not a requirement to be a good manager – it helps but you can’t be dependent on that or too long, keep on learning about the technology, but focus on high level overview rather than technical details.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Do not be controlling, empower your staff</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Your manager or other members in the organisation may still see you as a technical expert (no matter how long you have the Manager title) and expect you to fulfil technical roles personally – you need to stop that from happening, make it clear that as a manager, you cannot fulfil the requirements personally and, if possible, assign a resource instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Become more people focused, maintain communication with your client and staff even if they are in a different continent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Be</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> passionate about Managing, it’s that passion that made you a technical expert, and its that passion that can make you an expert in Management.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• As a manager, it is your responsibility to say No to tasks that cannot be completed without compromising bigger projects or the companies reputation</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Understand that this</span> job is not expected to be easy. Managing people have too many variables and unlike you technical role, you are not going to get it right all the time, understand that, accept that and learn from that.</span>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-11292445425936779582011-06-19T17:11:00.000+02:002011-06-19T17:11:10.804+02:00The future of .NET starts today.Microsoft has provide a Windows SDK for the Kinect, you can download it here <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/">http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
Do you know what this means? It means that it is now possible for .NET developers to create the user interface that Tom Cruise used in the Minority Report.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe width="545" height="336" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NwVBzx0LMNQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=nadirkamdar&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0035WTJFW&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
To be honest, this was “possible” within hours from the date the Kinect was launched as hackers immediately found a way to gather the data captured from the device and started creating very clever applications that work with gestures, sound, video feed and so on. You can view some of these app’s here <a href="http://kinecthacks.net/">http://kinecthacks.net/</a>. Microsoft has just made it official and provided a proper SDK with training material that is supported by them.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now we (skilled .NET developers) have the necessary skills and means to build applications that can read the “raw data” captured by the Kinect and code an appropriate action. This can be the start of the Next Wave of User Interaction and the time to grab this opportunity is now.Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-12020735675160666042011-06-08T08:46:00.000+02:002011-06-08T08:46:18.922+02:00SharePoint Reviews: Free ProductsWhat a great resource of SharePoint 2007/2010/WSS 3.0/Foundation related freeware.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sharepointreviews.com/component/jreviews/tag/tags/Freeware/criteria:1/?Itemid=166">SharePoint Reviews: Free Products</a>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-70675204485733485742011-06-06T22:06:00.000+02:002011-06-06T22:06:57.931+02:00Installing and Configuring SharePoint 2010 -- Free 125 Page User Guide, Free SharePoint2007Tips Guide<a href="http://executiveandprofessional.tradepub.com/free/w_shar01/">Installing and Configuring SharePoint 2010 -- Free 125 Page User Guide, Free SharePoint2007Tips Guide</a>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36339128.post-37689361751788858252011-06-04T11:47:00.000+02:002011-06-04T11:47:01.748+02:00What is SharePoint? SharePoint 2010 Essential Training from lynda.comThis in an excellent Video for End Users that needs to understand SharePoint.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TE9TpraPlrE?fs=1" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="295" width="480"></iframe>Nadir Kamdarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12207419823364019378noreply@blogger.com0