Is your business ready for the change to a new version of SharePoint? This presentation goes beyond the technical requirements to consider how best to approach the tasks of planning, training, and testing the new system from a business perspective.
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Speaker Stats
Joy Adkins
SharePoint Applications Administrator
Oklahoma Administrative Office of the Courts
Working with SharePoint for 6 years as
Business Analyst, Trainer, & Administrator
joy.adkins@live.com
@JoyKnows on Twitter
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Organization Stats
• Oklahoma Administrative Office of the Courts
• 77 District Offices - Approx 1000 users
• Supports Court Clerks and Judiciary Statewide
• Implementation Phases:
Internal Rollout to IT
Upgraded from 2003 to 2007 Enterprise
Added Project Server 2007
Upgraded from 2007 to 2010 Enterprise
Rolled Out to End Users Statewide
Supporting Collaboration on Largest Projects
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Best Practices
Treat it Like a Project
Choose the Right Upgrade Approach
Ask the Right Questions
Set Realistic Expectations
Test It First!
Identify Problem Children
Prepare the Users
Implement & Test Again
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Why Treat the Upgrade as a
Project?
Cross-Departmental Impact
System Administrators
Application Administrators
Developers
Users
Fundamental Architectural Changes
Service Applications
UPS uses Forefront ID Manager
Managed Passwords
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Why Treat the Upgrade as a
Project?
Social Features Impact on Biz
Determine Which are Appropriate
Impact on Search Results
AD Data Accurate? Complete?
Touches Major Systems:
Active Directory
SQL Server
MS Office Integration
Project Server
Rework can be Costly
The System Admin
can’t do it alone.
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Upgrade Options
In-Place
Database Attach
Consultant Help
Research only:
Hybrid
Pros:
Same Equipment
Uses Your Current Settings
Can be Fastest Option
Cons:
Meant for Demo/Test
Picks Speed Over Best Practice
Farm Down Whole Time
Not Reversible if it Fails
Option Not Available for 2013
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Upgrade Options
In-Place
Database Attach
Consultant Help
Research only: Hybrid
Pros:
Can Build to Best Practice
Side-by-Side Environments
Test DBs Against Envir 1st
Minimize Downtime
Cons:
More Knowledge Required
Must set up Envir Features
(email, AD) to test properly
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Upgrade Options
In Place
Database Attach
Consultant Help
Research only:
Hybrid
Pros:
Relieves Knowledge
Crunch
Help You Make Better
Decisions
Can Speed Upgrade
Cons:
Still might have Major
Trouble such as DB
corruption
Sometimes More Costly
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Upgrade Options
In Place
Database Attach
Consultant Help
Research only: Hybrid
(Upgrade test
environment in-place,
production with DB
Attach)
Pros:
Sample of What In-Place
Would Do
Head Start on DB Attach
Settings
Quick Knowledge Transfer
While Keeping Best
Practices
Cons:
Time Intensive
Still need to test DB Attach
Not True Replacement for
Experience
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Why the Right Questions Matter
You ask:
Do you have any customizations?
They hear:
Do you have custom-coded applications?
Ask Questions about What’s been done
Previously in Ways the Business Users will
Understand…
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Why the Right Questions Matter
Better Question:
What are some of the things you’ve done to make
SharePoint work better for you in these areas?
Look & Feel
Email notifications
Workflows
Filling out forms
Searching
Playing videos or displaying pictures
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Why the Right Questions Matter
Customizations are the #1 Upgrade Issue
Look & Feel
○ Inexperience Web Designer, Customized Master Pages,
SPD Use
Email notifications
○ Customized Alert Language
Workflows
○ SPD or Visual Studio Use
Filling out forms
○ InfoPath
Searching
○ Metadata & Content Types, 3rd Party Add-ins
Playing videos or displaying pictures
○ 3rd Party Add-ins
Listen for these
keywords in users’
answers.
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Realistic Expectations
Consider the Scope of the Change
Hardware
Patch Levels
Infrastructure Change
Application Look & Feel
Business Process Changes
New Optimization Options
Expertise Level Required
This is not just an
Office Upgrade.
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Realistic Expectations
Tradeoff:
The more the Upgrade Time Line is driven by
business deadlines, the greater the resources
that will be needed to meet those deadlines
• May need to call in help from:
• In-House Quality Assurance Team
• In-House Training Team
• Microsoft Support
• Consultant/ Microsoft SharePoint Deployment
Services
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Test It First!
Test Environ should be Close as Possible to
Production
Develop Test Criteria List from User Interviews
Test Basic Functions, then Known Problem Children
Don’t Assume Navigation Works Because You See
Links
Links should Go to Test Environment(relative links)
No Such Thing as a Perfect Clone
If Some Things Don’t Work?
Identify Mission Critical
Find workaround for Non-Critical
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
ID the Problem Children (Risk
Mitigation)
Custom Master Pages
Custom Development
SPD Workflows
Meeting Workspaces/Sites
Custom Email Alert Templates
Fab 40 Templates (Knowledge Base = Biggie)
Improperly Retracted Features
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
ID the Problem Children (Risk
Mitigation)
CodePlex Solutions (Search, Pic Display)
Site Owners not Identified (who’s testing?)
Groove/ Workspace
My Site Links in Office Clients
Recurrent Meeting Workspaces
Solutions using web services to fetch
Security Group Membership
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Prepare the Users
How Does This Affect Me?
List & Library Navigation Changes
Social Features
Business Process Changes
Notify Early – Give Quick Reference –
Follow-up Support
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Implement & Test Again
You Will Miss Something
One-off solutions on single sites
Multi-content libraries where some work & some
don’t
Infrequently Used Custom meeting workspaces
Infrequently Used Sites
URL Switch may have Odd Behavior Until IIS
Reset, Clear Browser Cache
Some Solutions may have to be Reworked in
2010
Office Integration Issues on Upgrade
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SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Best Practices
Treat it Like a Project
Choose the Right Upgrade Approach
Ask the Right Questions
Set Realistic Expectations
Test It First!
Identify Problem Children
Prepare the Users
Implement & Test Again
30. SharePoint Best Practices Conference 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
joy.Adkins@live.com
@JoyKnows on Twitter