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The question of the day comes from Diane:

Is there a web part that would pull all tasks assigned to me from sites and sub-sites into one aggregated list?

Diane - Yes, you want to use the Content Query Web Part (CQWP).
 
Put the CQWP on your desired page. Configure the query to “Show items from the following site and all subsites”. Point to the highest level site that contains information you would like to aggregate. It will automatically drill down to all subsites. For the List Type, choose Tasks. Scroll down and set your “Additional filters” to filter for your name in the “Assigned to” column.

I would probably use [ME] as the filter. That way, anyone coming to the site will see their tasks, not yours. It just depends on what you are trying to display. Ryan at Get the Point has also provided possible uses for the [ME] filter.
 
This all assumes that you have the CQWP enabled in MOSS and all of the information is in one Site Collection.

Hope that helps.
Mark

For the past few weeks, the EndUserSharePoint.com Weekly Newsletter has been taking a look at Site Columns and Content Types.

This week’s installment includes two downloads: an expandable/collapsible map examining inheritance and hierarchy in Content Types, and a large poster of the map completely expanded (1379 x 5043 pixels).

If you would like a copy of the map and the poster, subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter and it will be included as part of your confirmation process. The following is an excerpt from the content of this week’s article:

Drilling Down

Each child can become a parent in its own right, carrying children as a part of its structure. Expand the Document Content Type to see that it has twelve (12) direct children and numerous ‘grandchildren’.

Expanding any one of the child Content Types will show all of the columns in that Content Type. If a Content Type is a parent to more Content Types, the base columns are shown along with the new columns for each Content Type, as shown below with the Document Content Type. When a column is derived from a parent Content Type, it is shown in light gray. New columns are shown in bold, green.

The question of the day comes from Tim:

You recently told me how to import a CSV from Exchange Public Folder Calendar’s into Sharepoint 2007. You stated that I “Import the spreadsheet using the Custom Lists:Import spreadsheet functionality. Create a new view, placing the Calendar view as your default.”

That was very helpful and much appreciated. However, all of my appointments imported on the same day and at the same time. It seems that I cannot get fields to match up during the import. Is there some documentation to explain this process?

Tim - The problem occurs when the data type for date columns comes over as “Single line of text” instead of as a date. Because of this, your start and end dates won’t appear as choices in your drop down field when setting up the calendar view in the list. Let’s walk through the process.

(Tim originally asked this question on the SharePointU.com forums. This is a followup to that discussion.)

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Step 1: Export the data as a .csv file and save it in Excel.

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Step 2: Create a table in Excel that hold the calendar schedule.

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Step 3: Give the table a name. This will make it easy to select this as the data to import.

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Step 4: Import the schedule into a SharePoint custom list

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Step 5: Configure list settings

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Step 6: Select cell range

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Step 7: Verify column data types (this is where the problem resides)

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Step 8: Create the calendar view

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Step 9: Configure the calendar view

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Step 10: Examine the Full Schedule view

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Using this step-by-step process, you can now import your existing calendar data into SharePoint. The nice part is you can connect this new calendar to Outlook and manage it locally. Very nice touch.

Hope that helps.
Mark

Periodically I look at the forums on SharePointU.com and try to help out where I can. Last week there was a request for info on how to use KPIs.

All of us must measure something in order to see if we are meeting our goals. They can be financial goals, customer satisfaction goals, or amount of work done measurements. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are a way to quickly gauge how you are doing, not by having to go through and analyze measurements through a spreadsheet, but through some simple visual indicators.

Putting KPIs into your dashboard allows you and your team to get an immediate view into how you are doing on your goals and measurements.

Let’s use Site Collection Management as an example. If you believe in the Theory of Lockdown (Bob Mixon), you will not let End Users create their own site. You will put up a form and let them request a site and have those requests automatically go into the Site Request list. Instead of having to look at the list each morning to see how much work needs to be done, you can create a set of visual indicators to see how things are going.

Here are some things that might be useful to measure on such a list:

•  Total number of request
•  Number of open requests
•  Number of requests on hold
•  Number of requests denied

Goals and indicators need to be established against each of the items tracked:

•  Total number of requests
  • < 500 : green (everything is OK)
  • 501 - 750 : yellow (warning)
  • > 750 : red (there is a problem)
• Number of open requests
  • < 5 : green (everything is OK)
  • 5 - 10 : yellow (warning)
  • > 10 : red (there is a problem)
• Number of requests on hold
  • < 3 : green (everything is OK)
  • 4 - 10 : yellow (warning)
  • > 10 : red (there is a problem)
• Number of requests denied
  • < 10% : green (everything is OK)
  • 11% to 25% : yellow (warning)
  • > 25% : red (there is a problem) 

These measurements are inserted into a KPI list and then displayed through a KPI web part anywhere within the site collection. After everything is setup, your dashboard might look something like this:

 :
Here’s a check list to get you started on your first set of KPIs against a list:

1. Create something to measure (an issue tracking list is a fun one)
2. Setup views in the list that correspond to what you would like to measure
3. Build the KPI list
4. Display the KPI list in a KPI web part

That’s the quick hit. Leave a comment below if you’d like to see a step-by-step walkthrough of the process. If If there is enough interest, I’ll create a screencast to show the entire process.

Regards,
Mark

The question of the day comes from Nik:

My team and I are making an analysis of requirements before setting up a new sharepoint site. We asked the users which columns they need , but they can’t give us a decent answer on this. Because it is so different for different subsites e.g. contracts, projects etc.. what is the way to go, is there any document available what we can follow to get our site structure, and metadata right? or at least a decent “beginning”. Any tips on this?

Nik - So you’ve finally opened the barn door and everyone wants to go in a different direction. The good part is, this is typical when setting up something like this. The bad part… you still have to deal with it.

As project lead, the first step is to get clarity on what you are trying to accomplish with SharePoint. It sounds as if you are at the end of that phase and are trying to start working on your Information Architecture. Try these steps to setup your next stage:

1. Define who your clients are. These are the people who will be using the site. You need to find out who they are, what content they will be consuming and what content they will be providing.
2. Analyze the content needed to fullfill you client requirements from step one. By defining specifically the content, you will be able to get a general idea of what kind of areas you will need to hold the content.
3. See if there are things in common with various parts of the content. This is where you can start developing base content types that can be utilized throughout the site collection. At this point, don’t try to get concensus or you’ll drive yourself crazy. You decide what the base content types should be. Everyone who has a specific need will be screaming at you that it isn’t right, but you will have the universal vision that they will be lacking. You are trying to build the foundation for the entire project. They are trying to defend their part of the castle.
4. “Prime the pump” with the basic content types with placeholder content. Use this to prototype and demo how the base content types will work in various situations.
5. Have your clients provide a sampling of content so you can verify the content types are providing the structure needed to manage the information. This will give you a chance to start tweaking your base content types and using them to build custom content types for your clients.
6. Work with your End Users to start building the framework of their sites: sites, libraries and lists.
7. Rinse and repeat… this is an interative process. You are not going to get it right the first time no matter what you do. Be prepared to go two steps forward and one step back, working with the client during each iteration, until you get the foundation right.
8. Don’t forget to throw a party once you reach a consensus point on the foundation and it goes live!

Here is a very simple Site Planning Worksheet you might find useful. I developed it for a client a little while back and I know some people have found it useful. It is a little dated, but should get you a running start. Let me know how it goes.

Regards,
Mark

This week’s newsletter is an Introduction to Site Columns and Content Types, one of the most overlooked subjects when it comes to End Users. Here’s is an excerpt:

The single greatest problem of a beginning End User is not having an understanding of how to structure a library or list so that it can be part of a centrally managed site structure, built for reusability with document templates attached. Forget about site design. Forget about user interface. They are told to start by adding columns to a library/list to make the information searchable and manageable through metadata, when most End Users do not have a clear understanding of what that is (metadata) much less how to  structure it.

Allowing contributors of content the power to control the Information Architecture of a site or list/library assumes they have the understanding and knowledge of how to structure information so that it is robust, reusable, modular and accessible to all users of that content. This places too much burden on the End User, who is usually an untrained content contributor who just wants to contribute and consume information.

To read the entire article, please subscribe to the weekly newsletter. This will get you access to the archives of all previous newsletter articles and downloads.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Regards,
Mark

I have been a teacher in one form or another for 30 years. The subject of how people learn has been a personal fascination since the beginning. I found two articles this week that brought back my enthusiasm for discovering ways to learn.

SuperMemo 

The first is an article in this month’s Wired magazine about Piotr Wozniak, the guy who invented SuperMemo. If you haven’t investigated his theories on learning, you’re in for a treat. A quick rundown is this: in order to learn something and really make it yours, you need to be reminded at specific intervals of “forgetfulness”. There is a chart on the second page of the online version that sums it all up.

Styles of Learning 

While conducting SharePoint workshops, I am always conscious of the different learning styles of the participants. Some like to be hand-held during all steps. Some like direction but want to try to flail a little on their own. Others just want the basic courseware and to be left alone so they can figure it out.

The second reading is from Pamela Devenport, an internationally recognized lecturer and master teacher, who has written a workbook for cello teachers: Cellostart - Essential Topics in Cello Pedagogy. Pamela has done a very good analysis of the various types of learning styles:

1. Visual Learners
2. Aural Learners
3. Kinesthetic Learners
4. Mental/Verbal Learners
5. Logical/Linear Processors
6. Global/Inuitive Processors

This is extremely important information. If we are to impart learning to beginning SharePoint users, we need to know our audience. During the “Train-the-Trainer” sessions, it is critical to introduce potential trainers to the various ways of learning.

Food for thought. These were a couple of fun reads.
Mark

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