SharePoint Managed Metadata Overview
Guest Author: Sharon Richardson SharePoint.Sharon SharePoint has always had some form of metadata capabilities. However the latest version includes the first attempt at managing metadata. This post is a brief introduction and overview. First a quick (and very basic) primer on what is metadata. It is simply data about data – the stuff that describes a document (or any digital artefact). The title, author and date modified are all metadata properties. You can define your own properties such as category (what’s it about) or status (public, confidential). Metadata typically comes ...


Making Sense of SharePoint’s Workflow and BPM Capabilities
Guest Author: Ahmed Hafeez Edgewater Technology Workflow and BPM often get lumped together but it is important to understand the difference between them if you are to pick the right tool for your enterprise. While it is generally agreed that workflow is for modeling simple sequential processes and BPM solutions are more capable of handling complex tasks the distinction between the two needs to be further sharpened. According to David McCoy of Gartner BPM can be defined as “… a structured approach employing methods, policies, metrics, management practices and software tools to ...


The SharePoint Maturity Model, Version 1.0
Guest Author: Sadie Van Buren A Matter of Degree As SharePoint gains in popularity and adoption worldwide, an increasing number of resources are available to help organizations understand and navigate the different aspects of this platform. What’s missing is a cohesive way to analyze and understand the system as a whole. Yet many experts have observed that, although SharePoint implementations vary from organization to organization, there is a typical progression of implementation, upward through each functional area and across the areas together. I created the SharePoint Maturity Model to apply a holistic view ...


SharePoint Community Events Need You: How You Can Get Involved – Part 1
Guest Author: Christian Buckley http://buckleyplanet.net One of the best things about the SharePoint community is that people really want to get involved and share their experiences. At a recent SharePoint Saturday event in Boston, I had a great conversation with a developer who had been through a couple deployments, and asked how he could best share his experiences and add to the vast best practice knowledgebase that is the SharePoint community. At the most recent SharePointPalooza event, held in beautiful downtown Seattle, I met several local end users who shared their perspectives on productivity solutions, ...


How clear is your product documentation? Not as clear as it could be.
I went to "Family Morning" at my 5 year old daughter's school yesterday. I walked around the room, looking at the work she has done, reading the story she is working on and getting to know her new friends. Then I saw the chart that showed her how to pack up and it stopped me dead in my tracks. This is the ULTIMATE user's guide poster. It is 2 feet by 3 feet. There is nothing challenging about it. Each step is self explanatory, down to having a little picture to clarify the step. I almost started screaming out loud! This ...


How clear is your message? Not very, I’m afraid.
Look at the picture above and tell me what this company sells. 99 times out of 100 people will say "Fish", and they will be correct. I think about this a lot. I speak at many SharePoint events around the world, seeing the same SharePoint vendors, many who I have come to consider colleagues. The problem is, I still can't tell you what their product is. I know the name of their company. I know the people who work for the company. But if you paid me $1,000,000.00, I couldn't tell you the name of their product and what it does. Why ...



SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture Master Class in London
Governance is one of those things people talk about all the time but can’t figure out how to get started. Paul Culmsee and Andrew Woodward from 21Apps are planning to do something about that. They have created a new workshop: SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture Master Class. Paul and Andrew are seasoned veterans who will walk you through the minefields and get you started on implementing a governance program. After reading the complete details, use this promotion code (EUSP)... [Read more]

SPTechCon 2010 Boston – Images, Tweet Steam, Live Blogging Archives and Resource Links
SPTechCon Boston was a jam packed three days of sessions and getting together with colleagues from the SharePoint Community. I took almost two hundred pictures during the event, so have a look to see if you recognize anyone. In addition to the images, we had a constant stream of twitter feeds and live blogging going on, all of which is embedded below in the panels below. Other sites are publishing articles, post SPTechCon. Here’s the list I found in my twitter stream. If you know of others,... [Read more]

I get by with a little help from jQuery and SPServices…
Guest Author: Mark Rackley The SharePoint Hillbilly So.. unless you’ve been living under a rock (or in Arkansas) you have no doubt read a billion blogs (well, maybe not a billion) about using jQuery in SharePoint. You’ve also probably read several more on the great tool at CodePlex called SPServices created by Mr. Marc Anderson. Maybe you’ve played with both? Maybe you’ve grappled with trying to find a real world scenario for when you would use them? Well..... [Read more]

SharePoint: Integrate ASP.net controls with Forms – Part 4: Trimming Drop Down List results using CAML
Guest Author: Matt Bramer http://mattbramer.blogspot.com ACK!!! CODE!!! I’ve been writing these posts by using a *real* no code approach, sort of. I have a very different view of what no code means, but that’s a different story altogether. However, this article I’d like to have you peer into the dark-side. I know all too well, viewing code can make your eyes bug out, but I do feel it’s necessary at some point to learn. I’ve taught myself most of the programming... [Read more]

Convert a standard SharePoint lookup column to a full blown cross site lookup using javascript only
Guest Author: Alexander Bautz SharePoint JavaScripts I have updated the tool described in this article with some new functionality. The functionality I will describe here is the ability to convert a standard SharePoint lookup column to a cross site lookup column using javascript/jquery only! Download the script from the above referred article. Create a Lookup column in your list and have it point to the actual list it is created from (it is in fact not relevant what list you point it towards).... [Read more]

QOTD: SharePoint Lookup Lists
The Question of the Day from Stump the Panel came in regarding lookup lists in SharePoint: “We are undergoing a re-organization which will result in new org structure, defined by Divisions and Departments. Our HR area is asking about using lists and look-up columns to store the new org structure. No problems there. But, I would like that list to be able to be consumed by columns across the entire site collection. Is this something that can be done (or can you suggest an alternate solution).... [Read more]

5 Live Media Streams from SPTechCon in Boston
We’re off to a raucous start at SPTechCon in Boston. Laura and I had a full room this morning for our Office 2010 and SharePoint integration workshop. Things are settling in, getting ready for the next three days. I’ve setup the EUSP twitter tracker for the event, plus there are 4 live panels for capturing the live blogging and media streams coming out of the conference. Hope you find them useful. Mark Read More →

SharePoint No Code Picture Slide Show
Author: Kerri Abraham Picture Libraries have a perfectly acceptable slideshow interface, the problem is that it seems rather limited since typically the end-user has to be in the library, educated that the option exists, and then expected to find View Slide Show way down the list under Actions. I want to be able to put the slide show on any page I desire, have full control over which pictures are displayed, and I want to do it all without code. Happily, I stumbled upon just that solution! Obviously... [Read more]

SPTechCon Live Twitter Tracker: Live from Boston
Let’s get rolling… it’s time to crank up the live tweet feed from SPTechCon in Boston. What you see below is a live twitter stream that shows anytime someone tweets about #SPTechCon. In addition, there 20 volunteers who’s tweets will show up, even without the hash tag. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we’ll turn on the full blogging platform so you can “sit in” on the workshops. Hope you enjoy it. — Mark Live Twitter Stream from SPTechCon Boston SPTechCon –... [Read more]

The SharePoint50 Project: Top Analysts
In our final installment of the SharePoint50 Project, we announce the analysts who are the most influential when it comes to a company purchasing SharePoint. For me, this was the most interesting segment of all because I only recognized one name on the list when I first read it. Seriously. Look at the pictures below. How many faces to you recognize? If you say more than three, and you are not one of them, you need to be writing for me. Come to think of it, ALL the people below should be writing... [Read more]

SPTechCon – Things to do in Cambridge
I’m taking the train from New York City to Boston this afternoon and need something to do in Cambridge for the next couple days when there is a lull in the activities as SPTechCon. My friend Lucy lives in Cambridge and sent me this note to pass along to other’s who are looking for “local” haunts. Thanks, Lucy. “I’m from East Cambridge, just near Kendall Square and Lechmere Square. “If you are in that area, check out the East Side Bar and Grill (not to be confused... [Read more]

A jQuery Library for SharePoint Web Services (WSS 3.0 and MOSS): Real World Example – Part 4
Author: Marc D. Anderson http://mdasblog.wordpress.com Way, way back in January, I wrote Part 3 of this series and said In my next article, I’ll show what the multiple document metadata entry page (EditFormBulk.aspx) looks like and how it works. Teaser: Yes, it uses jQuery and my jQuery Library for SharePoint Web Services to get its jobs done quite extensively, specifically the Lists Web Service’s operations GetListItems, UpdateListItems, and CheckInFile. Then I just never... [Read more]