Client: “HELP! SharePoint is broken. Can you come to Chicago today and fix it?”

Concurrency: “Sure, can you tell me what is broken?”

Client: “Our users can’t find what they are looking for, no one is storing documents in the right locations, we have offices in Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago that are supposed to collaborate with each other but can’t.”

Concurrency: “Would it be correct to say that nothing is technically broken, but the Information Architecture of your SharePoint environment is not meeting your needs and your SharePoint governance policy is not being enforced?”

Client: “Information Architecture? Governance? All we did was install SharePoint and let the users create sites… about 5,000 sites from what I can tell… Oh! I see what the issue is, SharePoint is not broken… our process is! Can you help us?”

Concurrency: “We are happy to help. When thinking about any ECM solution is it critical to understand your Information Identity and business needs before deploying the actual technology. Any system, even an industry leading robust system such as SharePoint 2010 is only as valuable as the logic behind it. When clients don’t take the time to determine this logic and follow SharePoint best practices is when SharePoint fails. Fortunately, there are tools built into SharePoint 2010 which can help you determine and manage your information more effectively. This includes, but limited to, the following:

• SharePoint Taxonomy (Managed Metadata): SharePoint 2010 has implemented the use of taxonomy through the Managed Metadata Service Application (MMSA). Leveraging this service, a taxonomy can be created and maintained via the Term Store.
  More on SharePoint Taxonomy…
• Metadata: Add context to your content using metadata, whether the content is a document or a project task to be completed.
  More on Metadata…
• Document Sets: Create a collection of related documents that can managed as a whole, rather than individually.
  More on about Document Sets…
• Document IDs: Automatically apply a unique identifier to documents and records.
  More on Document IDs…
• Document Management and Records Management: There is a host of document management and records management capabilities within SharePoint 2010.
  More on Document Management and Records Management Capabilities…

Client: “Wow, there are a lot of core features I was never aware of. What about our site structure and governing our users. Can you help us with that?”

Concurrency: “Of course, our SharePoint consulting services are comprehensive and address SharePoint Information Architecture items, such as site maps, taxonomy, metadata, content types, and the organization of content for optimal storage and locating. Within SharePoint Governance we address not only permissions but the entire gambit of ensuring that the appropriate structures and processes are in place.”

Client: “Great! Can you come down to Chicago next week?”

Concurrency: “You bet, see you next week.”

Print PDF