Spotlight on 2010: Questions You May Be Asking Yourself

By Errin O’Connor, EPC Group

My firm is currently engaged in several large SharePoint 2007 implementations that are in their initial phases, and questions are being asked around SharePoint 2010 and how best these clients should prepare for it. I frequently get asked questions such as “Should we just wait until SharePoint 2010’s release to roll out our project?” or “What are the major features or changes in 2010 we can plan for now so that we are prepared?”

One major shift that I have seen with many clients is the realization that SharePoint is, in fact, not only a true Enterprise Content Management system (ECM) but the central interface their organization can utilize for virtually anything. MOSS 2007 could handle major ECM initiatives with customizations, or around areas such as workflows and the content types, but SharePoint 2010, in my opinion, is going to take out the old 800-pound gorillas such as Documentum and LiveLink.

You can start to prepare for SharePoint 2010’s upcoming release by doing several things:

· Implement a SharePoint Governance Strategy within your organization:

· This strategy has to be a living and breathing document that continually changes and grows with your organization’s implementation. SharePoint 2010 has about three times the features of SharePoint 2007 so Governance is going to be ever more important with the upcoming release. Operational SharePoint Governance is key! Not just how the ship (SharePoint) works, but how to drive the ship, maintain the ship, and dock the ship.

· Prepare your infrastructure:

· SharePoint 2010 is 64-bit all around so you need to ensure your infrastructure is compatible with the upcoming release.

· Tighten up your SharePoint training strategy

· There are major changes such in the user interface so it’s important to have internal teams who can handle the training of end-users. Perhaps more importantly, develop a SharePoint “train the trainer” strategy

· Implement a core Content Type Strategy

· So many organizations have rolled out SharePoint 2007 without a proper content type strategy and this problem will only continue to increase on a daily basis as more content is created. It’s key to develop a core set of content types that will work across your entire organization.

· Remember that SharePoint 2010 can have millions of items in a document library so start getting prepared!

· Start matching up your core content type strategy to your organization’s retention schedule.

· Spring Cleaning in the winter

· If one of your goals is to migrate off of your organization’s old file shares and into SharePoint 2010, start the cleanup efforts now. This can be a three- or four-month effort in itself, so start having your teams go through and clean up old content on the file shares (or even in SharePoint 2007) that is no longer valid or required so that the migration into SharePoint 2010 will go much smoother.

· Don’t wait to roll out a test environment of SharePoint 2010

· We are encouraging all our clients who have 2007 implementations to stand up SharePoint 2010 environments so that your organization can start familiarizing yourself with it.

Over the next several months I will be sharing SharePoint 2010 strategies, new and powerful features, and real-world implementation advice via this newsletter and I look forward to sharing my thoughts. I am in the process of writing the upcoming “SharePoint 2010 Inside Out” book for Microsoft Press on this new amazingly powerful platform.

Errin O’Connor is the founder of EPCGroup.net.