Build a SharePoint collaboration site for your Super Users

This clicked with me a couple of weeks ago. Here I am as an Administrator of a global SharePoint 2007 environment and I am struggling with a way to get all of my Super Users on the same page (no pun intended). This has to change and fast. So I started to think about all of the activities that will start to take shape.

• The Super Users associated with various site collections will need training.
• They all have to start thinking about naming conventions for the various content types
• Best practices need to start forming for how they are going to manage content security
• I’ve been considering the idea of a newsletter
• Custom list for submitting SharePoint bugs
• Collection of links to training material (internal processes and procedures as well as general SharePoint material)
• Calendar for tracking activities around the SharePoint environment (not to be confused with an internal events calendar)
• Blog site for internal blogging between the Super Users

So I started to build an administration site that I will use to pull these Super Users together. This will be a collaboration site for the users that will help push this tool for the business…

How could a facilities department use SharePoint?

Sure, a facilities group could use SharePoint 2007 site collections to work on their office files. That would be great. Well, how often is a facilities group working on office documents? It is likely that they are not as heavy office users as say an administrative assistant or technical writer. Maybe they are heavy Visio users and sure those files could be stored in document libraries on SharePoint.

Let’s think out side the box a bit. Let’s think a bit about the Ethernet interfaces that we find on almost every device in today’s connected world and there are many devices that have Ethernet interfaces on them. These are not just IT devices like print servers or wireless access points. Let’s think about it from a facilities perspective. A facilities group may own and operate many different systems from HVAC systems to cleaning equipment, flow meters or security systems among many others. These systems may have web interfaces that allow some sort of monitoring, alerting or management features. In some of my other writings I touch on creating a shared interface for a particular type of employee and this is where SharePoint could step in and play a role in a facilities departments use of SharePoint 2007.

SharePoint could be used to create a shared interface for a facilities group. This interface might contain a number of different web parts including custom link lists to web page viewers to contact lists.

• Populated with links to all of the HVAC log-on pages through out the company.
• The web page viewers will display the pages that are used to monitor the progress of the different flow meters.
• A custom vendor list could be established and populated.
• An on call calendar for the business to view to see who should be contacted in the event of an emergency.

The benefit in this scenario is a common shared interface established that contains links to important systems and information used by the facilities department. This common interface has web page viewers to critical systems that allows the team members to frequently view the status of the various systems. Additionally you establish a standard way of accessing these resources which simplifies training and documentation as the business grows.  

Standardize how methods, procedures and processes are implemented

Imagine for a moment that you work for a fairly moderate size company that has offices and manufacturing sites all over the world. As the different manufacturing sites begin or continue to implement manufacturing process improvments such as Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and 5s methodologies it is likely that if the  team’s are truly committed to the their efforts and have the support from all stake holders, management and employees alike then they will succeed.  

Some of the hidden challenges that are often over looked is the over all approach to tackling and implementing these new methodologies with the entire business as a whole in mind. From an executive viewpoint there may be an overall goal but the individual site specific teams are going to be focused on their local goals. All to often I have heard or read about situations where different divisions or groups in a large enterprise are so diverse in their products that little effort or emphasis is put on making sure these new methodologies and practices are implemented site by site together with a similar approach.

This is where SharePoint 2007 comes in and provides some business value to the organization who wants to standardize the efforts to implement above methodologies. Much like the standardized production worker web interfaces that I discuss in the blog “Production workers want to do their job, get it done right and as efficiently as possible” the various process improvement efforts could have team interfaces established. The interfaces that are put in place may include some of the following basic SharePoint components to name a few.

• A document library for team status reports with a standard format for the reports.
• Alerting established on the above mentioned library to a team distribution list. All members globally have weekly alerts enabled on the status reports and are required to review the other sites progress.
• Various templates established and available in document libraries for the teams to use as needed.
• Team calendars established capturing planned events that will be taking place at the various sites. Alerting established.
• Shared links to useful Internet / Intranet information

The goal would be to establish the web interface that enables these teams to work with information and collect data in a systematic approach which in turn supports a standardized approach to implementing new processes and procedures. Reporting is also standardized so that executive management can get to the information they need when they need it and in a consistent manor.

Office 2007 integrates really well with SharePoint 2007

I am not going to talk about the technical features as to how Office 2007 integrates with SharePoint 2007. I am going to talk about the hidden knowledge and content spread through out a business environment.

Prior to my current position as a consultant for various manufacturing business our firm put significant focus on making sure our clients computing platforms where standardized. Right from the infrastructure hardware deployed to their business application installed through out their environment. This was often a challenge but the effort and costs of doing it provided value to the businesses in the long run. Most businesses today have Microsoft Office deployed on their desktops some may have done a great job at standardizing versions while others have lagged behind. This particular blog will assume that Office 2007 is implemented. Look for other blogs regarding application standardization and how it might affect a SharePoint 2007 environment.

Many businesses have an underlining dependency on Microsoft Office content spread through out their environment. Some content may be located in various users home directories or on their desktops. These are the one off spreadsheets that are implemented to collect data for a special request from management or the documents that are implement as forms through out the organization for this reason or that reason. Although singled out these various pieces of content or knowledge have little impact to the bottom line, collectively the impact may be slightly higher. Consider for a moment all of the executive admins through out a global organization.  These assistants who might work at various locations may have never met each other yet each and everyone of them perform similar job duties through out their day. Job duties ranging from managing calendars to sending e-mail messages or faxes on behalf of the executives. If you consider for a moment the effort that is put in by admin assistants through out their work day you may start to see the value in implementing standard sets of work procedures or templates for these admin assistants.

With SharePoint calendars integrating so well with Outlook 2007 admin assistants could effectively enable a standard process for managing shared customized calendars for various levels of management. Depending on your business environment maybe there are calendars created with custom views for one reason or another. All of these calendars are then integrated with the Outlook 2007 client as well as carious PDA devices depending on your company’s PDA implementation.

To bring this to a close let’s talk about various e-mails that are composed and sent for different situations. Time is money and as e-mail messages are composed there may be opportunity to implement a standard set of e-mail templates that could be used to reduce the time spent composing the various e-mail messages for distribution.

Production workers want to do their job, get it done right and as efficiently as possible.

When I think of using SharePoint in a manufacturing environment my first thoughts are always about the production workers. These are the assemblers, technicians and testers that have a job to do and they want to do their job as efficiently as possible. Why? because they want to get through the work day. Most look forward to getting thier lunch break so they can catch up with their co-workers. They want to get through day so they can get home to their family and loved ones.

So your probably wondering exactly how SharePoint 2007 can help workers on a production floor?

A simple way to make a manufacturing environment efficient is to implement standard tools, interfaces, procedures and processes among other things. Using SharePoint enables a manufacturing environment very simply to publish web based interfaces that the technicians can use to perform their job duties. These standard interfaces can contain links to procedural resources for particular processes. Maybe there are links to training material for certain processes that change frequently. Additionally by including links to other company applications and resources such as the HR web site or a time card log-on page you essentially publish a web based interface with the tools a manufacturing employee would need to effectively perform their job duties. This published interface then reduces the dependency on the client PC configuration to some extent.

The business value of implementing a standard web interface to production workers in a global manufacturing environment is endless. Think about it from a training perspective where as the team leaders for the various work cells globally now have some level of standardization in their training material. What’s more is that this standard interface now enables a simpler cross training effort when employees move through the various work cells. Additionally, you enable a work force that has standard interfaces which allow for stream lined manufacturing processes. As the manufacturing processes improve your product quality and reliability improves. Consider that this is at a global scale for manufacturing sites world wide.

Business use of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Well I finally started a blog site on the business use of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. I am not exactly sure how this will unfold over the next few months but I am looking forward to expanding on this blog a bit more. Stay tuned, for a while you might see a few bogus posts just to get my mind flowing a bit.

1. Added a few categories for various business sectors that I enjoy.

2. Considering adding pages for the varios sectors as well

3. Added a few RSS feeds on the right side, right now its just SharePoint “How To’s” to fill the page up…