Document Management & SharePoint: Forms vs Documents

I’ve spent the last couple of months developing a customized document management system in SharePoint 2007 for a client.  Many interesting challenges have surfaced as a result of working thru the different requirements for this solution, and I thought it might be useful to write about them.  Check back from time to time to read the ongoing saga.  Now, of course, it would be a miracle if I were able to discuss them here in any kind of logical order, so I’m going to settle for random thoughts instead. :)

Columbus 2010 Launch Event – Office/SharePoint

Last week I presented along with Steve Caravajal at the Columbus region Microsoft SharePoint/Office 2010 Launch Event, sponsored by ICC.  There are exciting features coming from the new 2010 suite, and it looks like the product teams put some good thought & work into these new versions of Office & SharePoint.

My slide deck is below, and the other slide decks from the event should soon be posted to the ICC website.  Stay tuned.

Office 2010 Launch Event - May 2010

View more presentations from Ricardo Wilkins.

My SharePoint Consultant toolbox

So, it’s been about 6 weeks since I’ve stepped into the role of full-time SharePoint consulting. In that short time I’ve already worked with several clients, and I’m definitely enjoying the variety. But juggling different clients also means that I need to keep my self organized, and to do that I use kool tech! :) So I thought I’d share some of the tools I’ve come to rely on over the past few weeks to keep this SharePoint train running like a well-oiled machine:

SharePoint 2010, Architects, VM’s and all that good stuff

Last month I took a new step in my career, and began a journey into full-time SharePoint consulting.  I’m now a SharePoint Solutions Architect for ICC, an IT services firm and Microsoft Certified Partner here in Columbus, Ohio.

So far, it looks like my timing was pretty good, as the excitement among our customers seems to be continuously building as we near the launch of SharePoint 2010.  One of my primary tasks at ICC is to help us prepare to be effective in the delivery of SharePoint 2010 services, specifically in the area of application development.  That means I’ve had to spend a lot of time recently getting acquainted with all this SP2010 goodness. :) And as I’ve started diving deep into its many offerings and improvements, I can say that the excitement seems well worth it.

Speaking at COSPUG SharePoint event

This week I was a speaker at a SharePoint event in Columbus, Ohio, where local business & technical professionals gathered to share their respective experiences with SharePoint.  I spoke on the use of MOSS 2007 at the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

Sharepoint Conference via COSPUG

Today I attended a local Sharepoint Conference sponsored by our User Group. Kudos for a job well done! Topics included:

• Governance
• InfoPath
• Troubleshooting Environment Issues
• Custom Branding
• Content Types 101
• Search – Keywords, Best Bets, and Property Mappings
• Content & Infrastructure Deployment Challenges

Interestingly enough, I think I learned the most not so much from all the expert presentations, but rather from the Local Spotlight track, where local folks gave presentations on how they are using Sharepoint in a real-world environment in their own organization. Sometimes all the APress books and Level 200 demos in the world just can’t beat good ole fashion real-world scenarios! ;-)

Sharepoint adoption outside of the workplace

Although I work daily on Sharepoint development as part of my job, I also think Sharepoint is such a great tool that I’ve also been using it at home.  I administer two WSS 3.0 sites for my two small group bible study groups from church.
It helps with the distribution of readings, membership rosters, and calendars.  Each study meeting has it’s own meeting workspace.  The discussion boards allow for additional conversations on the readings.  And we even have a convenient way of posting Prayer Requests and Praise Reports.
But, just like in the workplace, adoption is slow.  My study groups have certainly accepted e-mail as a way for us to communicate, but Sharepoint as a way for us to collaborate has only caught for some so far.

For instance, I’ve realized that the simple power of sending readings as text via email is still more valuable to some than posting a nicely-formatted list item of the reading into a document library.  They prefer reading it directly from their phones & blackberry’s as opposed to logging into a website.  My first thought was to combat this preference by using the power of the built-in mobile version of WSS sites.  However, that feature is very weak.  Most things in the WSS site don’t translate well, if at all, to the mobile version.  And meeting workspaces don’t work period.  I appreciate that Microsoft threw that little extra feature in there, but it feels more beta than anything else.  I wait for the day when that becomes full-feature.

My personal use of WSS helps remind me that there are still some simple technologies and methods that still make sense in today's WSS world.  It’s important to be realistic about the needs of your audience, and not pull out the WSS hammer for every one of their nail needs. :)