Jul 15
Reflections on “5-Days to a Successful MOSS Deployment” with Bob Mixon
Sebastian Atar
I'm in my first year with C/D/H and look forward to using my 10+ years of IT experience, along with my MBA background in finance and lean operations to solve business problems.
Most recently, this has involved using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server to enable collaboration and sharing of information, as well as Novell Identity Manager to simplify management of user accounts.
When not working, I enjoy spending time with my wife and son. We love visiting family in Seattle and New York. When not traveling, we pass time reading, gardening and BBQ-ing with family.
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Articles by Sebastian Atar
A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in Mixon Consulting’s “5-Days to a Successful MOSS Deployment” course, led by Microsoft SharePoint (MOSS) MVP, Bob Mixon.
It was a chance to step back from my current work in the SharePoint space and take a higher level view of how I approach a project. It also allowed me to validate and improve upon current practices, as well as share ideas and experiences with other professionals.
Mixon estimates that between 50-60% of SharePoint projects are considered failures (for more grim IT project failure statistics, click here). Initially, the estimate seemed high, but when we analyzed our collective experiences, both good and bad, it became plausible.
To begin, SharePoint is a fairly complex endeavor; it requires server infrastructure experience, familiarity with databases, some design skills, the ability to understand how to organize content, etc. It also requires input and involvement by employees across a broad spectrum of departments, all with different backgrounds, performance drivers and motivators.
When you consider the broad range of technologies and skills that a SharePoint deployment requires, it is easy to see that a lot can go wrong. But these are issues we are accustomed to working through. As our discussions progressed, we discovered a fairly common thread. Many of the issues we faced were not technical at all.
So, what does it take to ensure a successful deployment?
The core of the course focused on just that, the following “critical success factors” to ensure a successful MOSS deployment.
1) Make it easy for the content contributor to get information into SharePoint.
Simply put, make it easy for the end user to know where content resides in SharePoint. If your user has to ask, “Where does this go?”, then you should re-visit your site organization and structure.
2) Serve the content using easy-to-understand navigation.
SharePoint solutions should provide quick access to information through a “topical, functional AND task based navigation structure”. Basically, you want to provide content in the way it will be consumed.
3) Provide relevant search results.
With SharePoint 2007, Microsoft has made vast improvements in enterprise search. It is a fast and effective tool. However, this does not absolve architects from designing a solution with the proper taxonomy and metadata so that search can provide value.
But are the critical success factors enough? Well, no.
A SharePoint implementation requires buy-in and input from all levels. It is not an IT-driven initiative, but a company-wide effort. It cannot be premised by artificial goals and must be driven by a genuine desire to solve critical business problems.
Just as anything that results in a major change, it will be a natural reaction for users to react adversely. Humans are creatures of comfort and it is important to use small, progressive changes to acclimate the user to their “new environment”.
Mixon refers to these as “quick sprints” and the concept reaches wider than IT projects. Simply ease the user through change, building their confidence through repeated successes while increasing their understanding through training. Build confidence in users by tackling smaller departmental or functional group issues, building your credibility as a problem solver and your user’s confidence in the solution. Obviously, set yourself up for success by choosing departments or groups that are more receptive to change. Over time, you will see that even those who originally opposed your efforts will come around.
An example of a great “quick sprint” opportunity is a finance department’s annual budgeting process. This typically consists of sharing an uncontrolled Microsoft Excel template across department managers with varying degrees of skill in Excel. There is no version control except for email time stamps appraising the controller of each revision. Also, short of securing individual cells, there is almost no security for formulas. Worst of all, most of the work occurs on a user’s Desktop where it is never backed up.
A simple, well-planned SharePoint implementation can address all of the functionality issues (I counted at least five) that are-completely-ready “out-of-the-box”. For more ideas on how to ensure your SharePoint project is a success, email me at SebastianA@cdh.com.