SharePoint Services and Solutions
Consejo has deep experience developing SharePoint solutions for customers of all
sizes and industries. Our consultants have real implementation experience through
dozens of SharePoint implementations from the original SharePoint 2001 portal product
to the most recent SharePoint 2010 server. We have helped customers with planning,
architecture and development, as well as taxonomy and meta data development. In
addition, our consultants have a vast amount of experience developing custom web
parts, event handlers and other SharePoint-integrated applications that tie SharePoint
to other diverse systems in your environment.
If your organization is considering SharePoint technologies as a part of your IT
strategy, we've provided some implementation considerations below to help you
make more informed choices as you plan for your project. Should you have additional
questions or would like to discuss how Consejo can help you with your project, please
contact us.
For information on how Consejo can quickly design, develop, deploy and support a
SharePoint solution for your organization, please review our various SharePoint-specific
solutions:
SharePoint Implementation Considerations
- If you're considering deploying an externally-facing SharePoint implementation,
remember that you'll need to purchase the SharePoint for Internet Sites license.
This license replaces the client access licenses (CALs) that you'd typically purchase
when using SharePoint internally. If you plan on using the same farm to host both
internally and externally facing sites, you'll need to purchase traditional CALs,
as well as the Internet Sites licenses. The Real Story Group has excellent coverage
of licensing requirements in their SharePoint Research.
- Microsoft requires the purchase of "external connector" licenses for Windows when
those servers are exposed externally. This means that each one of your web front
ends, application servers and SQL Servers must be covered (one license per server).
For SQL Server, in this scenario, it may be more economical to purchase SQL Server
using the per processor licensing scheme instead of the more common CAL model.
- Your search servers should have allocated approximately 25% of the total storage
requirements for the portal as search index space. In a medium or large farm configuration,
this means that your front-end web servers each need space equal to 25% of all of
the content stored in the portal. Take a look through Microsoft's SharePoint planning guides on TechNet for more
details.
- Regardless of how much functionality Microsoft has included in SharePoint (even
in 2010), many clients still need 3rd party tools. Frequently, organizations want
enhanced search capabilities, better taxonomy management and improved administration.
While SharePoint has improved all of these functions recently, there's still a gap
between what enterprises need and what Microsoft has provided. Consider these external
tools, associated costs and implementation time when planning your SharePoint deployment.
Check out SharePoint Reviews
as a good starting point for add-on research.
- Good SharePoint adoption depends very heavily on how well the implementation meets
the needs of your employees. This means that, as a part of the implementation, you
need to create the "what's in it for me" story. Each employee within a firm will
see different features, functions or processes as compelling. The key to success
is both discovering what is truly compelling and focus on a few that will yield
the biggest impact for the greatest number of employees. In addition, you'll need
to carefully plan your communication strategy to ensure they know their needs are
met with your new portal. Read more about the fallacy of the "build it and they will come" approach to SharePoint
- Developing a solid taxonomy for your SharePoint implementation is a key to success.
In other words, how you organize your content will enable your users to find it.
You should invest not only in the development of these organizing principles, but
also in the governing rules that help your users understand the appropriate use
of the tool. Read more about taxonomy in SharePoint and creating findability through more than just search.
If you are a WSS, SharePoint 2003 or SharePoint 2007 user and are ready to upgrade
or you'd simply simply like to find out more about SharePoint 2010, please
contact us. Consejo has been developing SharePoint 2010-based solutions for customers since the beta release. We can help you evaluate whether the platform is a fit
for your firm.
For information on how Consejo can quickly deploy a SharePoint solution for your
organization, please review our
SharePoint Fast Track program.