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SharePoint Implementation With Social Intranet Portal

Client Requirement

SharePoint Implementation With Social Intranet Portal project determines whether SharePoint could meet the client’s documents and record management needs as well as introduces improvements to the client’s information management practices. The client demanded a SharePoint Intranet Portal to move forward to support its existing and long-term goals.

A gap analysis identified that the client’s need were not meet and decided to test SharePoint to improve employee collaboration, centralized communication etc. to ensure that the key information required by the client’s staff is up-to-date, accurate as well as easily available and searchable.

Why SharePoint?

• Maximize investment in Microsoft
• Industry standard
• Scalable for the future
• Provides solutions for current challenges
• Better integration with other third-party systems

The project scope includes:

• The intranet to provide a clean, well-organized and professional interface which meets the communication goals for all staff.
• Devise a new information system that is suitable for current intranet content but scalable for longer term future use.
• Integration and migration from critical business systems.
• To increase staff engagement and motivation by improving the tools available to the staff for collaboration, communication and team working.

Project Challenges

The team faced the following challenges:

• Developing a portal offering all the features and functionalities with an exclusive focus on the user’s day-to-day important activities.
• Providing a robust framework for supporting the smooth functioning of the portal accessed by number of users simultaneously.
• Improve collaboration, document management,information sharing between employees and various departments.
• Single access point for everyone with a new intranet portal that allows employees to accomplish their objectives and improve productivity.
• Creating a social interaction platform where employees can do their work, collaborate and use applications and other enterprise systems.
• Synchronizing and incorporating web usability principles while developing numerous features designed for enhancing the users’ experience.
• Ensuring user privacy and safeguarding their content.

Technologies Used

Manpower

Planning

• Strategic planning in designing the new information system in a manner that satisfies the client’s current requirements by maximizing usability and streamlining business operations.
• Thorough research and analysis was done and new information architecture was designed that changed how the information would be structured and stored.
• Detailed wireframes were developed to provide the basic visual prototype for how pages would appear.
• Regular communication with the client was established in order to validate the techno- functional requirement of the new intranet development.
• Integration of third-party applications were carried out into the new user-friendly SharePoint environment.
• The other significant task, a full content migration from the old system to the new system involved hundreds-of-thousands of documents and this was accomplished successfully.

Architecture

The following diagram represents the logical SharePoint technologies architecture. SharePoint is now in its fourth major release and comprises the SharePoint Foundation 2010 (formerly Windows SharePoint Services version 3.0) and SharePoint Server 2010 (formerly Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007). SharePoint Foundation 2010 is a free add-on to the Windows 2008 server, running on top of SQL Server, Windows 2008 Server, and ASP.NET 3.x. SharePoint Server 2010 is a product that comes with different editions (Standard vs. Enterprise) and options (Excel Services, Content Management, etc.), and runs on top of SharePoint Foundation 2010.

Since SharePoint Server 2010 is built on Windows SharePoint Foundation 2010, they both share a lot of similarity in architecture and foundation. SharePoint Server 2010 provides more application-level features and services. It also has different and more extensive User Profile management features than SharePoint Foundation 2010. The important point about this architecture is that SharePoint relies on many user management and security principles from the Windows Network Operating system, IIS, and ASP.Net foundation. In the rest of this section we will take a look at:

• SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 architecture
• SharePoint Security (Authentication and Authorization)
• SharePoint User Profiles in SharePoint Server 2010 and SharePoint Foundation 2010

Development Highlights

• SharePoint Server was set up for the client for easy management of content.
• A detailed on-site requirement gathering with different department heads helped set clear boundaries on requirements for each module.
• The intranet platform provided a comprehensive all-in-one solution that worked hand-in- hand while taking care of every consideration from the beginning to the end of the process including SharePoint development, technology integration, content migration and various support activities.
• Login was provided through AD to maintain security and aide in usability to the users. Users could directly log into the site without having to enter credentials again.
• A powerful document management system workflow was set up to keep check on every document uploaded by using approval system of respective departments’ authorized users.
• The Sharepoint server, Document server and Indexing server was set up separately in order to have a good performance of the site regardless of number of users and data quantity.
• While adhering to the industry’s best practices and rigorous quality control and quality assurance standards, the new system was developed and delivered within the required time constraints.
• A customized IT ticket system was also set up in order to support the IT team in handling day-to-day requests from end-users. It contained of workflows where automated emails were sent out once a ticket was logged and even when it was re-assigned.
• A customized dashboard was set up where data from multiple modules were placed for easy and quick access to users.
• A legacy ASP.Net BI system which was developed previously by CLIENT team was integrated to work within the portal. User need not had to re-login to go into the BI and it was controlled to be accessed by authorized users only.
• The website was setup on intranet of the client to protect its data from outside networkaccess.
• Some of the screenshots of the portal are given below: