Monthly Archives: April 2012

Utilize SharePoint Server 2010 for SCRUM Project Management

Posted on by
Reply

In her series HackingIAP for MIT, Abby Fitchner “Microsoft’s startup evangelist and all-around rockstar” offers video training on the Agile software development methodology, and the SCRUM framework. As Abby notes, Agile software development leverages several features of lean manufacturing, most notably “eliminating anything at all that is wasteful.” The SCRUM framework is a lightweight team setting characterized, as Abby puts it, by “touchpoints and feedback loops” which have been included to ensure that team efforts keep on track.

Eric Eaton’s set of video tutorials on managing projects with SharePoint Server 2010 for SharePoint-Videos includes two videos on the topic of using SharePoint to manage projects with Agile’s SCRUM Framework. As Eric notes, Agile is presently en vogue. As we see it, the present popularity of Agile project management likely stems from today’s constrained fiscal realities for enterprise project development. These “lean” realities call for an approach to project management that is dedicated to eliminating waste, while sharply focused attention is kept on successfully delivering a sequence of objectives in the most efficient manner possible, meaning one at a time, rather than through a multitasking approach. Coincidentally, these two objectives are native to the Agile project management method.

Eric specifically demonstrates how to manage projects by name and schedule with SharePoint. With historical data relative to the actual duration of SCRUM projects vs planned, we can extrapolate a useful metric for project portfolio management purposes. Similarly, the ability to track total task hours provides another useful metric for the same purpose. Finally, Eric shows us how to utlize SharePoint Designer to produce a button (and accompanying workflow) to start the clock running on a new SCRUM sprint.

We think that utilizing SharePoint to collect metrics on the history of SCRUM sprints makes sense. The fact that we do not require Microsoft Project to collect this information adds substantial value to a SharePoint implementation. SCRUM sprints of all types can be managed via the same method that Eric Eaton demonstrates within this set of videos, including SCRUM sprints for revenue-generating work for external customers, thereby adding additional value. Of course, pulling all of these metrics into a project portfolio management system ensures that all project data, as gathered across an enterprise, is accounted for by the system, which lends validity to any conclusions that may be drawn from the data.

If you would like to learn further about this set of video tutorials, we would welcome an opportunity to speak with you. You may reach us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

An Integrated Training Solution for SharePoint Server 2010 Incorporates Key Delivery Components for Large Groups of Users

Posted on by
Reply

SharePoint-Videos integrated training solution for SharePoint Server 2010 is delivered via 3 conduits:

  1. Local, Intranet access for end users, readers, subsite owners and their collaborators. The training content is completely comprised of short video tutorials specifically designed to educate this group of SharePoint users with succinct presentations of required computer operations. This conduit supports on demand access from within SharePoint
  2. Internet access to our entire collection of tutorial videos. For this pathway we utilize Amazon’s streaming technology, which provides support for massive numbers of users simultaneously accessing our content. This delivery component is ideal for SharePoint Administrators, Site Collection Administrators, Architects, Developers, Designers who require access to a very wide range of techniques
  3. Direct instruction via our coaching offer. This offer leverages virtual meetings, custom course development and even one-to-one training, as required, to support unique technology requirements. Coaching is particularly useful where large groups of users have chosen to emphasize codeless development methods, thereby conforming to the training content delivered by our tutorials for specialized SharePoint Server 2010 applications like Reporting Services, Access Services, BCS, etc

Our Integrated Training Solution combines Options 1 and 2 as described in our SharePoint user training options along with our consulting services for SharePoint training offering.

Our solution constitutes a compelling alternative to piecemeal training offers that lack a cohesive format and, thereby, fail to provision information uniformly across a diverse group of SharePoint users. Where training has emerged as a pressing requirement as the result of governance, an inconsistent training methodology can actually undermine the intention of the governance policy. Therefore, an integrated approach such as ours should be a prime option for large groups of SharePoint users looking to plan and, subsequently, exercise governance across the complete range of possible approaches and purposes for SharePoint implementation. Further, our integrated solution interweaves training within all SharePoint activity, thereby supporting user adoption across the complete range of users within a large organization.

We welcome opportunities to discuss applications of our solution with organizations committed to delivering highly successful, value-rich processes with SharePoint Server 2010. If your plan must succeed, then you ought to speak with us. For our part, contact provides us with an opportunity to assess the fit between our offer and a specific plan to implement SharePoint, thereby setting the stage for delivery of maximum value to our customer. You may reach us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved

Implementing an Integrated Training Solution for All SharePoint Users Within a Large Organization makes sense

Posted on by
Reply

Our takeaway from the SHARE 2012 Conference is that an integrated training solution is a building block of any promising plan to hasten user adoption of SharePoint within large groups of users in the public as well as in the private sectors. Having sat through 7 or 8 conference discussions on a variety of subjects the one constant that we can note with confidence is that serious attempts to build important features with SharePoint Server 2010 like enterprise search must be accompanied with training:

  • Users must be trained to implement metadata tagging as an ongoing activity
  • System Architects should be trained to incorporate discrete content types, with content type specific tags, etc for SharePoint implementations
  • SharePoint Administrators and Site Collection Administrators should be trained in the where/why/who and how of Term Store management

Further, a sound SharePoint implementation plan ought to include in person training, coaching, hard copy training materials and video training content to ensure a high probability of success.

Keeping a “training imperative” in mind as proposals for implementing SharePoint are considered will help to separate well thought through ideas from simple notions (harbingers of a “wild wild west” built on SharePoint that may loom just around the corner). As any seasoned SharePoint project manager is aware, migrating a computing environment into a “wild wild west” built on SharePoint is not only a waste of time, but, worse yet, quite dangerous. Therefore, proposals that do not include a training component should be avoided. Typically, these proposals will also neglect to include a clear governance policy (which ought to be framed around a business objective, or a set of business objectives for SharePoint). In sum, these proposals exhibit several of the typical earmarks of project failure.

Rehmani Consulting Inc has framed an integrated training solution for SharePoint Server 2010. Our solution incorporates all of the features noted above, with the exception of print training content. The perfect time to discuss training is coincidental with planning a SharePoint Server 2010 implementation, either from the ground up, or via a migration from an earlier version of SharePoint. Retrofitting a training component post implementation can certainly work, but launching with a comprehensive training solution in place makes better sense.

You may reach us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved

From the SHARE 2012 Conference in Atlanta: To Train or Not to Train Users for SharePoint is that the Question?

Posted on by
Reply

We noted lots of divergence between presenters on the topic of whether or not it makes sense to train end users on Microsoft SharePoint. For one presenter on the topic of Project Management with SharePoint, the answer was a clear “no.”

To give this presenter her credit (the presenter was Ms. Linnea Lewis of the Denver Public Schools System), she framed her position statement around a “should“: “How much training should an end user require to use SharePoint 2010″? Within this hypothetical context we can certainly see why her answer was a clear “none” to “not much”. After all, we are in the age of very “dumbed down” technology; for example, WordPress for blogs, FaceBook for “social networking.” Ten minutes into either of these “tools” and I’m up and running, right? Therefore, ought not this same “instant on” experience be modus operandi for SharePoint and our end users? Ms. Lewis apparently would answer “yes” to this question as would a number of the attendees to her presentation who voiced support for her hypothesis.

We respectfully disagree. We don’t think SharePoint has much in common with WordPress or FaceBook. This post is not the place for us to flesh out this argument, but we do need to state our case. Evidently, we weren’t alone on this one. A presentation on SharePoint training at Bristol Myers Squibb and another on the state of SharePoint at Biogen Idec both treated end user training as not only a mandatory feature of operational SharePoint at these businesses, but, further, as a key tool to extract greater value from SharePoint as a tool for these enterprises. Without training, both presenters made clear that SharePoint would have no where near the high value feature of enterprise operations as is the present case.

Our SP101 – The Basics: SharePoint End User Training for Readers, Members & Subsite Owners delivers important, highly useful computer procedures succinctly to an otherwise computer neutral audience who are told to do something with SharePoint but don’t really care to know why.

If you reverb with our perspective and would like to learn further about how video tutorial content can benefit your SharePoint plan and, most importantly, your users, then please do reach out to us. You may reach us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved

From the SHARE Conference in Atlanta — Governance & SharePoint Training, Inseparable Companions on the Same Road

Posted on by
Reply

We are attending the first SHARE conference here in the States. Day one did not commence until 3pm East Coast time. Dux Raymond Sy provided the kick-off presentation on the topic of “What’s SharePoint?” We broke out into roundtable discussions on several topics after Dux’s 40 min opening. Michael Sampson facilitated a user adoption round table. Sue Hanley facilitated a round table discussion on SharePoint Governance.

We had spoken with Sue Hanley at some length in the past. We had noted her comment that she always recommends training content with every engagement that she takes on as an Information Architect. Today we found out why. As Sue sees it, SharePoint Governance and Training are inseparable twins. Training is a necessary complement of SharePoint Governance and vice versa.

She shared with us an example of how to package governance and training together from Biogen Idec, a global pharmaceutical company. Users are told to use SharePoint Lists for specific functions. Written training materials are provided for list functions that specify just how lists are to be built, items added to lists, etc. Short video tutorials are provisioned that provide instruction on precisely the same process. Finally, a short governance document spells out the who/what/where/how/why for lists at the company.

We like this example. Our SP101 EU Training Curriculum includes video tutorials on SharePoint lists, libraries, sites, etc. All of this content lends itself very well for inclusion in the type governance & training offering that Sue described.

We noted that some other attendees of this round table failed to see why governance should include training specifics on just how lists are to be created, libraries set up, etc. These attendees recounted how they had loosened up on just how end users should perform SharePoint operations like building lists, etc. From their point of view, these users will find out what they need to know to get work done, anyways, so why make a bother about just how a procedure should be done. They stated, finally, that users had grown more interested in why SharePoint is being implemented for a specific procedure than had been the case in the past.

Sue Hanley countered that, in keeping with a healthy governance structure, a training component should instruct any/all users in a uniform and consistent approach to executing required procedures. We agree. After all, without governance, SharePoint can be used in an unbridled manner, spouting up anywhere and very much a “wild west” as characterized by another attendee at the conference.

We are most interested in hearing from businesses that share our point of view. If you are building a governance plan for SharePoint and understand the need for a training componence, then we want to hear from you. You may reach us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved

A Scalable Training Solution Makes the Most Sense for Corporate SharePoint Users

Posted on by
Reply

We have recently spoken with quite a number of businesses in highly regulated industries:

  • Oil and Gas Exploration
  • HealthCare
  • Finance

as well as large groups of users in the public sector — state and local government offices as well as federal agencies. We have noted that where a governance policy has been effected (fortunately this is the case for the majority of groups with which we have spoken), the edict has been to reserve design and collaborate permissions to a reduced subset of the organization, generally 5 – 10% of the users. The remaining users have limited permissions, generally performing very simple, safe tasks outside the range of activity that can lead to security vulnerabilities, etc.

For most of these cases we recommend our SP101 – The Basics: SharePoint 2010 End User Training for Readers, Members & Subsite Owners. Most of the contacts with whom we have spoken on this topic have affirmed that this set of video tutorials more than satisfies training requirements for users with quite limited permissions as well as the training content most likely to be required by those individuals within these organizations with design and collaborate permissions.

With regard to organizations that have standardized on SharePoint Designer 2010 and/or InfoPath 2010, we have recommended that purchases of one or both of our video training DVDs on this subject be included and, specifically, purchases at the enterprise level. We’ve mad this further recommendation in response to the interest we’ve heard these organizations express in provisioning all required training content locally, within an Intranet (perhaps within Productivity Hub) environment. This type of purchase affords our customer the ability to pick and choose just the right content from any of our tutorial sets for inclusion in an overall training content plan.

An organization outfitted with three levels of video tutorial content for SharePoint 2010 is in a most favorable position to realize substantial cost savings with regard to the support and mentoring requirement for the same community. Our discussions with these organizations have indicated that the support and mentoring demands are otherwise quite high and costly. When compared with the actual acquisition cost for our content an opportunity generally arises to entirely recoup any/all capital cost within a year or less of purchase. A prompt return on investment certainly makes lots of sense, especially in 2012, when greater scrutiny is, typically, been exercised over IT purchases.

We are most interested in hearing from businesses that share our point of view. If you have metrics on the cost of support and mentoring for your organization and would like to see a substantial reduction in this type of overhead, then please let us know. You may reach us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved

SharePoint 2010 is a Scalable Collaboration Tool

Posted on by
Reply

Often an audience will respond with references to a sort of Facebook on an Intranet when asked for a snap reaction to the concept of online collaboration. For audiences that use SharePoint 2010, the concept of online collaboration should also invoke even richer images of pooled corporate data, freely liberated from business silos through the use of Business Connectivity Services (BCS). Regrettably it is difficult to stimulate the latter reaction from audiences; however if we remove some of the technical jargon from a presentation and focus, instead on the business drivers for data collaboration of the sort to which we have just now alluded, we may well be in a better position to receive the type of response that we are after.

Let’s face it, Business Intelligence (BI) gathering is an activity that is gaining lots of steam across enterprise businesses. In fact, BI is nothing much new when one considers the fact that businesses have tried with great ardor over the last couple of years, if not longer, to arrive at a set of methods to deliver attractive metrics that can explain the success or failure of projects across an enterprise. These methods include collecting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), balanced scorecards, and custom dashboards, all in the service of Project Portfolio Managment. The results, however, have not been that impressive. The quest is still ongoing to find the right tools to deliver truly meaningful data that can be used for historical analysis as well as for predictive purposes.

Of course, SharePoint offers a very promising platform for fine tuning these methods into a tool that will deliver substantial value for its required application. As we mentioned at the top of this post, the method is to utilize BCS to simply populate SharePoint with business line specific data. In fact, BCS makes it much easier for business users to simply take this global publishing step, which nevertheless, promises to deliver enormous value to BI gathering efforts. The simplicity of this type of publishing via BCS should encourage business silos to globally publish this business line specific data in formats that lend themselves to the core of BI processes. We here at Rehmani Consulting Inc have published a unique set of instructional video tutorials on BCS authored by Raymond Mitchell.

Two videos are available from this set for general public review:

If you catch our drift and would like to seize the opportunity to implement truly scalable collaboration with SharePoint, please let us know. You may reach us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved

One size fits all versus a custom fit — What’s the Best Choice for Video Tutorials on SharePoint 2010 Administration?

Posted on by
Reply

We recently had an opportunity to review Microsoft MSDEV’s video tutorials on SharePoint Administration. While we applaud the inclusion of computer screen recordings with an expert audio track in this video, we think that the free-ranging presentation of information, together with a lack of focus on specific aspects of SharePoint 2010 administration render the training value of this content to be low for an average user.

In contrast, our video tutorial on setting up Site Collection Administrators for SharePoint Server 2010 is entirely specific to no more or less than a depiction of precisely the computer steps required to add Site Collection Administrators for Site Collections.

We think that it is absolutely essential that a video tutorial such as this one be completely focused on no more than one topic. Further, the bulk of the recording ought to be entirely composed of recordings of the computer procedures required to accomplish the task of adding this class of users. The audio track should be carefully scripted to simply provide a spoken word explanation of the computer procedures undertaken to get the task done. You will note, however that we do take the time to explain the ramifications of adding a Site Collection Administrator in order to provide the viewer with ample warning of the impact of adding administrators at this level. In a sense training would not be complete should caveats and warnings fail to be included in the content.

Of course, lack of clarity of focus also diminishes the usefulness of content repetition for the user. Simply consider that users who have to navigate within tutorial videos to locate the content they need, may fail to find the content. A failure like losing content within a training video that is actually too long and wide ranging to be useful is unfortunate as it undermines the strongest features of video tutorials — access on demand and within the work context whenever needs arise. If users have to stop work and drop everything to find training content then productivity suffers.

If your objective is to provision readily accessible training content for SharePoint to end users, then you ought to consider short video tutorial content that may cover a complex set of topics through a complete set of short tutorial videos with a dedicated video for each topic. We would be happy to cite some success stories that we have recently compiled from the experiences of our customers, first hand, with our content.

Please either call us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved

Microsoft Project Server 2010 facilitates Project Portfolio Management According to Business Objectives

Posted on by
2

Microsoft Project Server 2010 can be applied to management IT Project Portfolios. This application is of interest to us as it literally represents a method of closely aligning investments in IT and related procedures with business strategy and objectives. In an insightful piece, Microsoft Project Server 2010 A Look at Portfolio Strategy, Tim Runcie, Microsoft Project MVP, Tim Cermak, and Manmeet Chaudhari (then another Microsoft Project MVP) of Advisicon discuss this application of Microsoft Project Server 2010 in some detail. We think that Project Portfolio Management ought to be an ongoing activity for most any IT organization. Accordingly, we recommend that any/all interested parties review Advisicon’s Whitepaper on the topic.

We also need to note that Microsoft Project Server 2010 is very closely aligned with SharePoint Server 2010. In fact, we think that SharePoint Server 2010 can be configured to deliver a substantial amount of the Project Management functionality Microsoft Project Server 2010 at a substantially lower cost. Please note that we aren’t venturing to claim here that SharePoint Server 2010 can be configured specifically to support Project Portfolio Management.

A video tutorial training DVD on the topic of configuring and implementing SharePoint Server 2010 for Project Management, Project Management with SharePoint 2010, is available from SharePoint-Videos. This set of training content is authored by Eric Eaton, SharePoint Architect. We have recently (as of April 11, 2012) added two courses to this curriculum on crafting a centralized project reporting capability from this implementation. These two courses demonstrate how ” . . .to roll up project summary information across multiple lists and sites. These are the pieces that help to draw it all together.” (quoted from our SharePoint-Videos web page description of this course). Of course, collecting metrics in this manner contributes information to an intelligence gathering effort to support some of the Business Intelligence (BI) that is is implicit to Project Portfolio Management. We should note that another 2 courses in this curriculum illustrate how to support Agile Project Management, and specifically sprint teams for SCRUM, with SharePoint Server 2010.

We offer an enterprise license at a cost of $1995.00 for unlimited viewing of this video tutorial curriculum strictly from hard copy DVD media. The cost of this enterprise license is substantially less than 10% of the expense of sending 10 project managers to a 3 day instructor led training class on the topic. Further, provisioning training content in this manner carries with it the traditional benefits of video training content — on demand accessibility within the SharePoint workspace context and limitless repeat-training capability. For teams of citizen developers looking for cost effective approaches to at least some, if not all, of the Project Portfolio Management capabilities promised by SharePoint 2010, itself, our training content DVD represents an excellent solution.

Please either call us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about this video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved

Business Applications for InfoPath 2010

Posted on by
Reply

Successful enterprise businesses that manage to capture lots of value (and almost always lower costs) through the purchase of IT software usually do so, in part, through clearly understanding the operational purpose of the software as well as its potential role in business processes. There is little point, if any, of purchasing software that neither plays a role in current business processes, nor promises to play one in future business processes.

Therefore, we think it makes sense to spend a bit of time analyzing Microsoft InfoPath 2010 ® with regards to ascertaining how InfoPath can benefit business operations. If your organization has implemented SharePoint Server 2010, and you store information received from forms in a database of some type (including Excel Spreadsheets) you ought to think about acquiring InfoPath 2010. Bottom line: InfoPath 2010 is all about forms, but without an accompanying requirement for sophisticated computer programming. In fact, InfoPath forms are all constructed codelessly. Any data that you capture can automatically be added to SharePoint lists. We offer a comprehensive set of video training content on InfoPath 2010 that includes 13 tutorials (1.5 hours in total approximate length) on this software.

A product like InfoPath 2010 acts as a conduit for otherwise non technical business personnel to access and implement software. Codeless development is a natural for the group within this class of software user that aspires to the status of Gartner’s “Citizen Developer”. It is even conceivable that this same class of non technical user can successfully build no code applications to use InfoPath 2010 to populate a Microsoft SQL Server database. A successful attempt to implement the product for this database communication purpose will deliver substantial cost savings as compared to utilizing database specialists to deliver the same result, not to mention elevating the usefulness of existing staff members.

On the topic of benefits, simply consider that with data stored by InfoPath 2010 in SharePoint lists, the problem of file share restrictions is eliminated; therefore, opportunities for collaboration are fostered. As well, potentially important information can be served online via graphical presentation through web pages to cross functional teams of users.

Of course, all the data captured can be used for business intelligence (BI about operations) analysis. With citizen developers doing the “heavy lifting” to capture the data, the whole automated process is brought closer to home for the business process owner who may be more adept at crafting the information into something useful from a management perspective.

Rehmani Consulting Inc offers a total solution for user training for Microsoft SharePoint, InfoPath & SharePoint Designer. We welcome opportunities to collaborate with companies that care to review their interest in products like InfoPath 2010 in terms of the training that will be required to support the effort. Please either call us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, 2012 All Rights Reserved