End User SharePoint Solutions

IT departments that tightly control access to SharePoint usually struggle to sell the value of the program to their organization. For many companies, the way to unlock SharePoint’s potential is to hand the design keys to end users.

Many IT departments roll out SharePoint in the same way they would roll out an Exchange server, without consideration or input from other departments. Consequently, after a voluntary 10 minute overview or a truncated list of features, the end users return to their desks and return to the old way of doing things.

SharePoint can solve end user problems if end users have access to the system’s design tools. It gives non-technical end users the ability to address their communication issues and business problems without needing to learn code. Simple actions like uploading documents and creating calendared events require no training at all.

While IT and management often pursue large, organization-wide SharePoint solutions, like document management or client portals, end users can gain a lot of value by solving the issues and inefficiencies that impede their day with the help of SharePoint. These small issues may not be visible from outside their departments or groups.

For example, an accounts payable group may be able to streamline invoice approval by moving the process into a workflow, or using workspaces for each vendor. Production may be able to improve communication between shifts with a bulletin board. Shipping may need to use a calendar to communicate schedules and shifts.

SharePoint for IT

IT, of course, should play a big role in managing the SharePoint site. IT should maintain the site. They should lead the charge for controlling site sprawl and duplication of content by working with end users to create a SharePoint governance plan. IT should also play a role helping to define the document taxonomy.

Of course, SharePoint is an excellent tool for organizing work within the IT department, simplifying IT Help Desk Ticketing, sharing information with internal customers, and addressing other IT communication issues.

SharePoint solutions have a wide range of applications, some of which are only visible to non-technical end users. Organizations that embrace SharePoint by allowing and encouraging innovation from end users see their return in a variety of ways that are difficult to anticipate.

See a similar article on our main training blog and IT Support sites.

SharePoint Metadata

Many companies adopting SharePoint for the purpose of document management make the mistake of simply importing their shared files into the portal without considering SharePoint metadata or any of the other tools that make SharePoint so valuable.

Businesses with document storage requirements complex enough to justify SharePoint, should also use metadata to make that information easier to find and manage.

What is SharePoint metadata

Metadata is information about a document or item. In the example of a sales agreement, the metadata may be the date the document was produced, who produced it, the customer name, sales rep name, or even if the document has been invoiced. All of this data describes the document, but isn’t necessarily contained in the document.

All Microsoft Documents have metadata. To review metadata in Microsoft Word 2010, for example, click on the file tab, then select Info on the left. The metadata is listed as properties on the right hand side of the screen, including author, date created, number of words, and optionally title, tags, and comments.

In SharePoint, Metadata is visible as the column headings in the spreadsheet view of a document library. By default, new libraries have at least Type, Name, and Modified SharePoint metadata headings.

Metadata is customizable to the properties that are most appropriate for your organization or application. A sales document for a sales department may use very different metadata than that of a human resources document.

How does SharePoint use Metadata?

Because SharePoint uses metadata for searching and views, nested folders are no longer necessary for document storage. This makes the SharePoint best practice of never burying content more than 3 clicks away from the home page realistic for even very large sites.

Metadata allows SharePoint to create custom views that include only the documents or items that are most relevant to the page and the user. For example, if all sales documents are kept in the same document library, but each document has a client name attached as metadata, then SharePoint can generate a custom view that only shows the documents for a specific client. This view can be saved and added to that client’s customer service page.

The problem with nested folders

Nested folders are much more limited. For instance, if an HR department uses nested folders to store employee files, and organizes those folders in 3 levels of department, group, and employee, then searches for every employee in a department will require clicking through each group. SharePoint can do this work nearly instantaneously with metadata.

Going overboard

Most SharePoint implementations will use a combination of metadata and folders to organize their documents. This organizational system is called document taxonomy.

Good taxonomies include everything that is crucial and nothing that isn’t. Filing documents should be easy and obvious. Complex SharePoint metadata can get in the way.

Overbearing taxonomies won’t be adopted. If the user has to stop working to think about the client’s eye color, the taxonomy will soon be abandoned.

Uses for SharePoint Metadata

For SharePoint, metadata is the advantage over nested folders and other document management systems. Tactful use of this tool will make documents more findable, file-able, and discoverable.

See similar posts on our main Training Blog and at our Legal Document Management sites.