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Successful SharePoint Implementation Requires Certain Ingredients
Technical precision challenges are less likely to halt a SharePoint project than organizational issues are. Proper implementation of SharePoint is required.
It necessitates a robust strategy that supports corporate objectives. This will guarantee that users will accept and use the SharePoint solution. A detailed grasp of the business scenarios that SharePoint solutions will help and their significance to the company must serve as the foundation for the strategy.
Before choosing the style and functionality for a SharePoint project, business processes and IT stakeholders must carefully examine business objectives.
Based on more than 100 projects, we have provided the following success factors for SharePoint implementation.
A Well-Designed Plan
Planning is critical to a successful SharePoint setup. The implementation plan typically goes through the following phases:
- Analysis And Discovery: The SharePoint team evaluates the needs of a business and incorporates third-party software. Then, it considers the business workflows processes used by the firm, such as document management, and chooses the appropriate SharePoint capability to streamline those operations.
- Design: This step entails developing a solution that satisfies a business's needs, such as creating an information architecture that aligns a business's content with specific SharePoint sites.
- Deployment: A SharePoint team installs a SharePoint solution in the corporate network during this phase. This process will vary depending on whether the SharePoint solution is on-premises or in the cloud. This stage can be used to migrate from older SharePoint versions or third-party software. It is also possible to map data, which guarantees smooth data transport.
- Configuration And Customization: Here, SharePoint is set up to meet the requirements of a firm. SharePoint teams set up metadata and views, add users, create security groups, create sites and libraries, and develop navigation. Thanks to SharePoint's numerous web elements and built-in site designs, it's much more straightforward. If the functionality offered out-of-the-box is insufficient, custom features, such as non-linear approval workflows, can be added to the system.
- Acceptance Testing: During this phase, a SharePoint solution is tested with a small sample of users. The SharePoint team then modifies the resolution in light of group comments before making it accessible to all users.
- Training: Users must be trained before successfully using a solution in their daily tasks. A video tutorial or instructor-led training could be used for this. All users are not required to receive training; however, site administrators and content creators may.
- Support And Evolution: In this stage, an IT team resolves issues, upgrades, and improves the UI and UX. If necessary, SharePoint Integration and customizations can be made.
Timeframes Clearly Defined
A project to implement SharePoint must be carefully planned. Companies should take into account not just the overall project duration but also the timetable for each stage or milestone.
It typically takes 2-4 weeks to evaluate, develop, install, configure, and test a SharePoint project. Testing can take 4-6 weeks. Training can take 1 week. Support can take 4 weeks.
Pay Attention To Details Regarding Deployment
On-premises, The implementation of SharePoint will differ from that of the cloud (SharePoint online). The two deployment models' main distinctions from one another are as follows.
SharePoint On-Premises
- Hardware: Implementation needs a farm. A collection of servers that run SharePoint. The quantity of servers depends on various criteria, including the number of users and the content.
- Maintenance: The implemented solution must be maintained regularly to ensure it is viable. This can be done in-house or by an external IT team.
- Customization: Many customization options allow you to tailor a solution for your company.
SharePoint Online
- It's easy to get started: Without the need for servers and hardware, implementation is simple. One business operation has Office 365 and SharePoint Online subscriptions. For instance, a corporation needs the gear to switch to SharePoint Online.
- Accessibility: SharePoint Online allows employees to access the solution from any device, anywhere in the world.
- Updating: According to Microsoft's cloud-first concept, updates are first applied to SharePoint Online.
- You can combine the on-premises deployment with the cloud deployment with a third option called hybrid. This is a fantastic choice for businesses wishing to store their most frequently used documents in the cloud while abiding by compliance laws like GLBA and SOX.
Factors That Improve The ROI Of SharePoint Implementation
Success in SharePoint implementation requires significant financial and time investment. That many organizations are dissatisfied with the return on investment (ROI) from SharePoint solutions is not surprising.
Both the cloud and on-premises versions are accurate in this regard. Businesses shouldn't let it deter them because there are many methods to boost ROI once the solution is implemented.
- Utilizing SharePoint's capability for content management, project management, business intelligence, and collaboration hubs allows organizations to maximize the platform's potential while spending less on development and maintenance.
- Establishing transparent government. Clear governance guidelines and qualified IT staff are needed to maintain a SharePoint system at its peak. Organizations should have a central SharePoint control center with experts in hardware, infrastructure, content management, and all other facets of SharePoint. Companies can work with this team to meet their business goals and make the most of the SharePoint solution.
- Duplicate documents and websites that are no longer in use should be deleted. Once a SharePoint solution has been implemented, SharePoint teams must maintain order in their sites and documents. Duplicate documents, static sites, and material never utilized are a good use of space for a SharePoint solution and the IT team that supports it. It is essential to remove new content and sites regularly.
- Putting in place a compliance programme. To meet the needs of regulated businesses, the centralized control center can impose compliance guidelines and best practices. This development team assures compliance with industry-specific security and audit regulations. It makes sure that only authorized individuals can access and download documents.
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Factors That Encourage User Adoption
A well-thought-out user acceptance strategy is necessary for a successful SharePoint solution. A solution with a high user adoption rate is valuable to its users.
There are numerous techniques to guarantee user adoption of SharePoint:
- Incremental Implementation: For user adoption, it is advantageous to implement a SharePoint solution in stages. You can choose a pilot user group to test the solution and offer suggestions. The pilot group can begin with the basics of SharePoint, which makes it easier for them to master it. This encourages them and their IT team to work together on improving it.
- Enhancing UX & UI: SharePoint solutions can only be as valuable as the users who use them. If they are difficult to use and have poor design, users will not find value in them. Users, however, will use solutions that are simple to utilize and advantageous to their business. Businesses should design user-friendly interfaces that are appealing and simple to traverse to make SharePoint solutions easier. For instance, the Promoted Links Web Part helps simplify the use of SharePoint sites.
- Comprehensive Training: Many businesses utilize SharePoint primarily as a platform for file sharing. They don't use any of the several capabilities offered by this platform. They don't, for instance, use metadata to categorize their content. These functions, which can aid users in their daily chores and boost productivity, are infrequently used. Examples include content personalization, workflows, and reporting services. Companies should provide comprehensive training for SharePoint's capabilities to help users understand how to use them. Users will only be able to remember some things at a time, so it is best to provide them with training materials like FAQs and videos so they can brush up on what they already know.
- Simple Features: User acceptance will result from simplicity. It is preferable to use a different function than the standard function if it is sufficient to suit current business requirements. Some built-in features might not be required. For instance, there are numerous links to web components in basic SharePoint functionality. It is preferable to remove all but the most used from the navigation.
- Engagement: Engagement is critical to increasing adoption rates. It also helps to increase users' motivation and engagement in using a SharePoint solution. Users must find the content on an intranet to be helpful. KPI dashboards, communities, news, and a media gallery should all be included. Gamification may also be employed to promote frequent usage of SharePoint products. A badge can be given to someone who leaves comments or edits content. Managers can also use intranet collaboration tools to show leadership and increase engagement. They can share documents, make announcements, and give duties to subordinates.
- Maintaining Regular Monitoring: This is required to keep track of SharePoint usage and uptake. To monitor which functionalities are utilized and which ones are not. Users can design questionnaires to provide input on usability and new features.
Read More: Insight On Sharepoint Development Services And Benefits Of Its Usage The Application Sharepoint
Considerations Regarding Implementation Costs
Depending on the type of solution, breadth, number and complexity of customizations and connectors, and many other criteria, the cost of implementing SharePoint can range from around $20,000 to $200,000.
It would be best if you also considered the costs of development as well as the associated expenses. These include:
- Licenses: Microsoft provides a range of licensing choices for Office 365 or SharePoint. The price of a subscription plan depends on how many applications are used and the storage space. It starts at around $5.00 per month for SharePoint. Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server licenses are necessary because SharePoint does not support them.
- Security Tools: Microsoft provides various backup and malware protection products to help ensure security for SharePoint solutions. There are additional third-party options available to assist in safeguarding SharePoint from infection and data loss.
- Infrastructure And Hardware: On-premises Microsoft SQL Server, SharePoint Web front-end, application servers, disc storage, networking infrastructure, and other necessities are needed for SharePoint deployment.
- IT Staff: The cost of IT specialists will depend on how complicated the configuration and development of a SharePoint solution are. If users use SharePoint for basic functionality, IT support and maintenance costs will be lower than if they are using SharePoint to develop business applications that require the expertise of business analysts or IT help desk specialists.
- Third-Party Software: SharePoint might not be able to complete some activities independently and may need to be integrated with outside software, which can add to the cost. Transforming paper documents into searchable PDF files is impossible with a SharePoint document management system. The system has to incorporate external optical character recognition (OCR).
Sharepoint Development Methods
The four main types of SharePoint Development are as follows:
- Farm Solution
- Sand Solution
- SharePoint Add-ins
- SharePoint Framework
Farm Solution
This was introduced by Microsoft SharePoint in 2001. Since then, they have made technological advancements, with MOSS 2007 introducing a farm solution, their first SharePoint customization option.
The Farm Solution comprises managed custom code installed on farm servers for SharePoint. The server-side object model is used for communication with SharePoint developers.
Assemblies, XML, and other files from the extension are included in the code. A single file called a Solution Package contains all of these files combined. The Solution package includes an a.cab-based format in addition to the a.wsp extension.
This package contains components and functionality relevant to SharePoint.
Uploading and deploying solution packages into the farm's solutions store is only accessible to farm administrators.
The farm solution includes a site collection, a web application, and the whole farm development scope. Custom Windows PowerShell cmdlets, custom timer jobs and event receivers, and Central Administration extensions can all be created using SharePoint farm solutions.
The farm solution's assemblies all function flawlessly. However, an assembly composed of several other assemblies can be deployed utilizing custom solution code access security (CAS), reducing the assembly's trust level.
There are also no restrictions on resource usage. The farm solution code is hosted by the W3WP.exe worker process in IIS. The system of the IIS application pool begins to recycle whenever a SharePoint developer delivers, activates, or deactivates a feature.
The farm solution cannot be installed on SharePoint Online or distributed through the Office Store (Office 365).
Pros
- The Farm solution is the most excellent SharePoint on-premises option for developers to access server-side APIs in the SharePoint server.
- At the agricultural level, assemblies can be used with complete confidence. This allows for more farm access to meet some of the most challenging business needs.
- The farm administrator can only deploy the solution within the farm so that security will remain intact.
- Extremely reliant on the Allow for further customizations using the Net framework.
Cons
- The Farm Solution is only applicable to on-premises SharePoint servers.
- The application pool starts to recycle when a farm solution is deployed.
- SharePoint goes offline while it is being deployed.
- The entire SharePoint farm will be affected by any mistake or security flaw in the code.
Sand Solution
Microsoft has added Sandbox solutions to SharePoint 2010. Like a Farm Solution, a Sandbox solution can be utilized as one (.wsp file).
Unlike Farm solutions, Sandbox solutions let site managers install customized solutions without needing more senior administrators' approval.
A SharePoint site collection's solution gallery saves all of the data to the Sandbox solutions. The components of a Sandbox Solution operate with stringent Code Access Security (CAS), policy, and Resource Access Restrictions constraints.
The Sandbox solution presents a code that interacts with the client-side object model of SharePoint. It is kept in the worker process for the SharePoint user code (SPUCWorkerProcess.exe).
The IIS worker process has no bearing on the Sandbox solution. The system's IIS application pool does not recycle when any Sharepoint Consultant deploys or activates/deactivates this feature.
The farm is not included in the Sandbox solution packed file; just the site collection is.
SharePoint Development Company can use No Code Sandbox Solutions to deploy each site collection in SharePoint Online Version.
Only the site collection administrator is able to do this. Sites with several domains cannot use it.
Pros
- SharePoint Online and On-Premise can use the sandbox solution (Microsoft Office 365). Note that SharePoint Online currently accepts only sandbox solutions.
- Only that specific SharePoint site collection will be impacted by any programming error or security flaw, not the entire SharePoint farm.
- Solutions can be deployed in SharePoint site collections by administrators with specific rights.
Cons
- It is not compatible with other domains.
- It can't be used in conjunction with multilingual resource files.
- Visual Studio workflows cannot be used in a sandbox solution.
SharePoint Add-Ins
SharePoint 2013 marked the debut of the Microsoft SharePoint App. Now they are referred to as SharePoint Add-ins.
SharePoint Add-ins are self-contained extensions and can include client-side scripts, cloud-based data, Sharepoint components, and logic.
They do not, however, execute on SharePoint servers as managed programmes. Either the Office Store or a catalog of organizational add-ins can be used to install them. Both SharePoint Online and SharePoint On-Premises Farms support its installation.
- SharePoint hosted add-ins.
- Provider-hosted add-ins.
SharePoint Hosted Add-Ins
It focuses on SharePoint's page, list, web part, and workflow components. It does not contain any server-side code.
Either directly on the customized SharePoint pages or in the JavaScript files linked from the customized SharePoint page, JavaScript can be utilized in business logic. The SharePoint object model is also accessible in its JavaScript version (JSOM), which makes things simpler. The CRUD (create/read, update, delete) activities on data can be carried out with the add-in.
Custom JavaScript and a client-side rendering option allow SharePoint developers to modify controls. The website where the add-in was installed is known as the host web. This page allows you to start the Add-ins. The website where the add-in is installed is located on the add-in web.
JavaScript included in addins hosted by SharePoint has access to information and resources beyond the add-in web.
A JavaScript cross-domain library or a JavaScript Web Proxy are the two ways to access the data. SharePoint-hosted add-ins can access data from the parent subscription and the host web using these two techniques.
Pros
- SharePoint experts may now upgrade the SharePoint server and Share Point Online with new features.
- Apps can be executed without the environment. No coding mistake or flaw will impact other SharePoint sites and site collections.
- It is much easier than installing farm solutions.
- Administrators can monitor the apps.
- Apps can be created on multiple platforms.
- The SharePoint Store makes it simple to download various applications.
- Microsoft provides a revenue-sharing scheme for app stores.
Cons
- REST API calls and JavaScript are frequently utilized in the app model.
- App elements are loaded into IFRAME in SharePoint page pages when using SharePoint Site Theming. Numerous cross-server communications for SharePoint clients impact the site's performance and UI.
- On the master page, no adjustments are possible.
Provider Hosted Add-Ins
An alternative option from hosted SharePoint Add-ins is the Provider Hosted Add-in. The external web application or data source is the main subject.
The add-primary's focus is not solely on the SharePoint components. It may also include additional elements. Remote server-side or non-Microsoft technology code (such as Java, Python, etc.) may be present.
Its whole infrastructure is housed outside of the SharePoint farm.
Additionally, it has at least one remote component hosted on a SharePoint farm or through a SharePoint Online subscription.
When .NET is utilized along with the remote components, the managed code SharePoint Client-Side Object Model library (CSOM) is accessible. Several REST/OData APIs can be used to access SharePoint data. NET.
This add-in access SharePoint data only when its foundational components have been validated and permitted. Additionally, the add-in requires rights to access SharePoint data on the web host.
It can deal with events involving SharePoint items and lists of items, such as adding an item to a document library. An item cannot be added to a document collection using the SharePoint Hosted Addin. Any internal or external web service can be connected.
Pros
- The SharePoint-hosted app can implement Client OM using C#.
- Java, Python, and other non-Microsoft technologies are also used. SharePoint apps can be developed using Python, Java, and other programming languages.
Cons
- You'll need Microsoft AZURE CLOUD APPLICATION or another dedicated server to host SharePoint apps.
- App elements are loaded into IFRAME in SharePoint page pages when using SharePoint Site Theming. Numerous cross-server communications for SharePoint clients impact the site's performance and UI.
SharePoint Framework
Thanks to SharePoint Framework, users now have a new method to access cutting-edge web tools and technologies in their chosen settings.
As a result, they can develop compelling experiences and apps that are responsive and mobile-ready from the beginning.
The page- and web-part model SharePoint Framework (SPFx) offers full support for client-side SharePoint development.
It also supports open-source technology and permits simple integration with SharePoint data. SharePoint Online and SharePoint on-premises are compatible with it (SharePoint 2016 Features Pack 2 and SharePoint 2019).
Here Are Some Critical Features For SharePoint Developers
- These controls are responsive by nature, part of the primary page DOM, and simple to use.
- Performance is trustworthy.
- Modern and vintage pages can both add SPFx web components.
- The life cycle, rendering, loading, serializing and deserializing configuration changes, and other data are all accessible to SharePoint developers.
- It operates in the browser's current context and connection.
No framework is required. Any framework, including React, Angular, and Knockout, can be used for development. IFRAME cannot load it.
It operates in a similar environment to the user's browser. Other open-source tools and libraries, such as Node, gulp, and npm, are also included with SPFx and JavaScript libraries for clients.
Used to create models for the online component. Two approaches are offered in the SharePoint Framework.
- Injection of JavaScript client-side .
- SharePoint Add-in.
Pros
- The SharePoint Framework is cloud- and mobile-friendly.
- It is beneficial when customizing a SharePoint Online website with a modern UI.
- It is compatible with SharePoint Online, SharePoint 2016 feature packs 2, and the on-premises 2019 editions.
- There are web UI pages for SharePoint Developers in traditional and contemporary styles.
- It enables React, Knockout, and AngularJS to build solutions with other frameworks.
- IFRAMEs cannot render SharePoint framework customizations; only the current page's DOM object can.
- There are lots of open-source development tools accessible.
Cons
- The market has some restrictions and flaws because it is still in its infancy. Additionally, functionality from one version may be dropped in a later release.
- However, if you're an a.Net developer, it can be overwhelming at first.
- Visual Studio lacks the tools to help you develop and work with it.
- No store stocks custom-made web parts or extensions.
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How Can You Make Implementation A Success?
An in-depth and expert study of the business demands is the first step in a successful SharePoint implementation.
This makes it easier to fit the platform's functionality with their business needs. The next step is to create a thorough implementation strategy with distinct timelines and task scopes for each phase.
SharePoint solutions must be appealing and straightforward to use. One of the most critical signs of an exemplary deployment is this.
