Experiences Using SharePoint
Discover how Epping Forest College utilizes SharePoint to improve collaboration among staff and students. This innovative platform allows teams to communicate, share documents, and manage projects effectively. With separate sites for each project and seamless integration with Office 2003, SharePoint simplifies the workflow. The college’s implementation includes a staff intranet and e-learning content, fostering better permissions management. Explore the challenges faced, training issues, and valuable tips to optimize the SharePoint experience for everyone involved.
Experiences Using SharePoint
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Presentation Transcript
Experiences Using SharePoint Tim Rawe & Solima Khatun: Epping Forest College
Windows SharePoint Services • Teams can communicate, share documents, and collaborate on a project. • Could have separate sites for every project on which a team is working on. • Only a Web browser is needed to design and contribute. • Office 2003 enables users to work directly with a site…. • saving files to libraries. • editing documents in the client program. • moving or linking to information. • all from applications they are used to using. Home site What is SharePoint?
SharePointPortal Server • Creates a unified portal site that connects an entire organization • Brings together disparate information. • Facilitates easy collaboration on documents, projects, etc. • Presents specific applications and customised content based on who a user is. • Integrates with Windows SharePoint Services, Office 2003 etc. What is SharePoint?
Ways to use SharePoint • Intranet • Extranet • Document libraries • Event information • Surveys & voting • Team activities • Projects and collaboration Why use SharePoint?
EFC’s motives for using SharePoint • Missed early move in to VLEs • Developed HTML based intranet • Problems training staff in HTML skills • No money for established VLE systems • SharePoint tried/purchased via MS Select scheme. • Browser based approach that can empower users Why use SharePoint?
EFC’s implementation of SharePoint • Structure incorporates a staff intranet and student e-learning content. • User/group permissioning via Active Directory. • Staff given admin rights to their sub sites • Integration with MS Office. • Trial of My Site feature delayed by capacity of server. Using SharePoint
SharePoint operational issues • Backup and restore. • FrontPage is a necessity (!?!?). • Using Firefox – some compatibility issues. • Creating sites with no spaces in names. • Currently introducing Moodle ‘through’ SharePoint. Using SharePoint
The staff and student experience • How well have staff grasped the potential of SharePoint? • Issues in training • No problems for students • Staff commitment to communicate/collaborate is key Using SharePoint
Tips and tricks • Blogs • Web parts • Stsadm - Get on friendly terms with your server admin! • Develop templates before bulk creating sites • Populate root sites with site template styles. • Beware changing the MS Cascading style sheet – it gets overwritten with Service Packs Using SharePoint
SharePoint server setup Using SharePoint
Where from here? • Popular and easy to use but…. • Too complex navigation structure at present, so…. • Will split Staff intranet (SharePoint) away from Student VLE (Moodle) • Upgrading to SharePoint 2007 and Office 2007. Using SharePoint
Resources • SharePoint Tips (very useful) • Blogs (e.g. Jan Tielen's blog) • MSD2D - SharePoint web parts • SharePoint Services & Portal Server menu charts (for free!) • SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide Using SharePoint