SharePoint Services

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SharePoint Services

SharePoint project success is dependent on system adoption and feedback from users. These projects are often driven by one or two departments and tend to have more adoption challenges that other systems. Use the following five-point approach to have a higher success rate for your SharePoint project:

  • Functional Design – Make the portal your own by giving it an identity. The design of the portal should reflect the way it is intended to be used.
  • Make it Relevant – Ask the question of relevance first. Identify the users and ask why will this project be relevant to each role in the organization.
  • Governance & Maintenance Plan – A portal that is updated is a portal that is interesting. Stakeholders assign responsibilities and should update the portal on a regular basis.
  • Keep it Simple –  Simple and quick updates often make the difference between a system that is used and a system that isn’t.
  • Phased Approach – Keep risks low and provide small but regular updates to the system.

Intranets & Portals

The Intranet portal is the organization’s information and collaboration gateway for employees. An extranet is the collaboration platform for an organization’s external ecosystem (suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, etc.).

An intranet and extranet must be designed to increase adoption and usage by using our five-point approach. We start by building a relevant but rich homepage that incorporates our principle of “information + action”. We believe that information is usually followed by action, and by incorporating the ability to act from within the portal increases the usability of the system.

Portals have the following features:

  • Distinct identity & branding
  • A multipurpose homepage
  • Department, team, & project sites
  • Integration with other systems
  • A customized search experience
  • Process & workflow automation
  • One or more line of business applications
  • Document, content and/or records management
  • Reports & analytical dashboards
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Business Process Automation

Often referred to as workflows in the context of SharePoint. BPA is a key driving factor for user adoption and generating ROI from a SharePoint platform. Simply put, BPA is the automation of services/functions that a department or your organization provides. Internal HR services that can be automated include a sponsorship request, business card request or even a vendor registration request. External services such can also be automated using the same platform.

Businesses evolve so processes must evolve. These processes must be flexible and be easy to manage. A visual and configurable tool such as Nintex should be used to enable agile development and maintenance of the processes. Choose from a gallery of process templates that can get you started right away or you can bring your own specific processes. Whether you are in the financial services industry, insurance, manufacturing, logistics, or distribution, BPA can help you reduce your paper trail, improve compliance and improve efficiency.

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Document & Content Management

One of the most commonly used features in a SharePoint environment is document and content management. However, in most cases, this is also one of the most under-utilized features. DMS/CMS capability in SharePoint comes with all the features one can expect from an enterprise-class system, including the ability to set content and compliance policies.

While SharePoint provides robust core DMS/CMS capabilities, it is best augmented with some of the best-in-breed tools. G-Scan adds capabilities such as scanning, OCR, and indexing, while Nintex also provides an easy-to-use and intuitive workflow and forms platform. On the other hand, Sharegate provides an easy to use tool for migration and management of content from and to the SharePoint platform.

A SharePoint expert can analyze your documents and data to recommend the appropriate information architecture for your organization, complete with metadata, taxonomy and approval processes. Get enhanced visibility on your documents via search and applied meta-data and take control of your documents today!

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Line of Business Applications

SharePoint is not just a software, but it is a platform upon which line of business applications can be built. By integrating data using Business Connectivity Services to building self-contained applications, SharePoint can be used to manage information in a manner that reduces training costs and drives adoption. In addition to building custom applications, you can leverage a range of starter solutions to quickly onboard and prototype solutions for your needs.

Check out solutions for Asset Management, Budget Approval System, Employee Joining & Separation Management, Correspondence Management, Leave & Time Management, Attendance Management, and more.

With SharePoint, the recommendation is to use out-of-box features as much as possible, however, given those niche cases where a custom solution is warranted, you should look for a partner that not only understands your needs but is also a SharePoint platform expert.

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Migration & Upgrades

Are you running a legacy version of SharePoint? Are you bored of the ‘classic’ SharePoint 2010 interface? Do you want to adopt the cloud but migrating to SharePoint Online seems like a herculean task?

The good news is that upgrading your SharePoint environment or migrating to the cloud is not as daunting as it seems. A successful SharePoint upgrade or migration project is characterized by three things: the right tool, the right process, and the right people.

The Right Tool: Using a tool allows a migration or upgrade project to skip several steps and is the easiest approach when skipping SharePoint versions or moving from on-premise to online. Tools also help with running prechecks and allow for fine-grained control over the migration process, allowing you to dump stale content and keep your new SharePoint environment fresh and shiny. Consider using a tool especially when you want to change information architectures between the upgrade.

The Right Process: Choosing the right process could mean not only saving time but also cost. A migration/upgrade tool is likely to cost thousands of dollars and while it is worth every penny, you can save on this cost if your SharePoint upgrade is straightforward. Having the right process defined for your upgrade also means that you can adapt SharePoint on your terms instead of being forced to use a big bang approach. Have you considered migrated individual site collections and running both systems in parallel? Have you thought about how you may want to preserve original file timestamps and authors? How will you verify that your target is indeed the correct representation of your source, especially when the two are not structurally alike?

The Right People: A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. You may have the best tools and the best processes defined, but if your consultant isn’t able to anticipate and plan for the migration, then you’re risking everything. Choose an expert of certified consultants who has demonstrated capabilities of upgrades and migrations.

Work with these parameters to achieve faster upgrade time, predictable costs, a higher-quality result, and highly satisfied administrators and users.

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Customer Testimonials

“IOTAP feels like an extension of our development team, they have the same drive to customer satisfaction and technical excellence that we have. IOTAP staff to learn and apply new technologies very quickly give us a big competitive advantage. We would highly recommend IOTAP.”

“We wanted to find a Gold Microsoft partner who had a lot of experience, great reviews, and high customer satisfaction scores – we found all of that with IOTAP.”

Success Stories

 

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