This document discusses essential concepts and best practices for users of SharePoint. It provides guidance on searching versus browsing files, using metadata to drive searches, avoiding folders, stopping email attachments, reasonable governance and security, using document IDs, discouraging downloads, and the importance of training users. It emphasizes that training cannot be optional for SharePoint to be effective and that leadership must support the transition to the new system.

1. SharePoint:
What Your Users Need to Know
Bringing High-Tech Down to Earth™
Sawyer Training, Inc.
Presented by
George J. Sawyer III
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2. Essential Concepts

Searching vs. Browsing
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Metadata Drives Search

Folders Are Evil

Stop Sending Attachments

Don’t Lock Them Out of Sanity

One Document – One ID

Damn the Downloads
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3. Searching vs. Browsing
Browsing, think 19th century file cabinets.
Search, think going home and searching Google
or Amazon.
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4. Metadata Drives Search
Think of the metadata in iTunes.
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5. Folders Are Evil
This will be one of your biggest challenges.
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6. Stop Sending Attachments

Make links a “way-of-life”
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7. Don’t Lock Them Out of Sanity




governance needs to be reasonable
Train your users to be digitally literate and practice
secure computing
empower your users to share data appropriately
Utilize the security groups and containers in
SharePoint
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8. One Document – One ID


Implement Document IDs
place the Document ID as a column on the far left of
every library
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9. Damn the Downloads

Discourage downloads

Teach them to trust the system

Teach them how to bookmark and search
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10. Governance

Features

Unlock the Doors

Ground-up Permissions

Lead from the Top
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11. Governance

Too much governance is just as bad as too little
governance
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12. Features

Users need tools to do their jobs

Don’t give access to features until users are trained
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13. Unlock the Doors


Users can’t do their job if they can’t get to the files
they need
If you use the excuse that your employees can’t be
trusted you’ve just told me everything I need to
know about your organization
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14. Ground-up Permissions

Appropriate training

Appropriate policies

Appropriate audits
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15. Lead from the Top

Mandate from the top

Leadership must communicate

Leadership must train too
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16. Planning Successful Training

Plan for the Long-term

Train to the Permissions
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Consider Certification

It Starts at the Strategy Phase

Address the Fear

Lead by Example

Training is not Optional
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17. Plan for the Long-term

SharePoint demands more
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18. Train to the Permissions


Align training to your permission levels
Do not grant users permissions until they have taken
the corresponding class
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19. Consider Certification

Certifications

Assessments
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20. It Starts at the Strategy Phase

Trainers can often serve as the user advocates
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21. Address the Fear

Communicate
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22. Lead by Example

Leadership is the most digitally illiterate group in
the organization
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23. Training is not Optional

SharePoint training cannot be optional
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24. For More Information
www.sti.st
 gsawyer@sti.st
 612.743.5253

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