Intranet Case Studies

By Michael Doyle

SharePoint FridayHonolulu

Who is Michael Doyle?• Senior Architect at Waggener Edstrom• SharePointNinja on twitter• Author for MS Press• Blogger on AIIM• Can be emailed at doyle@techelixir.com • Web site is www.sharepointninja.com

What is an Intranet anyway

Literally - Any network that cannot be accessed directly from the internet

Specifically – A set of web sites designed to provide information to users to help them perform their duties

• Example

Fixed Width

Non Fixed Width

versus

Branding

–A little goes a long way–The last twenty percent will take much,

much longer than you expect–Try themes to get you started–Pretty is important

Feature Stories

• Keep them coming back

Personalize Content

Navigation issues

• One click is still the goal• Consistent navigation is desirable but hard to

achieve• Popular items (my sites, search, tagging) need

to be easy to get to and in familiar places• Easy access to the home page

Consistent Navigation Issues

– Each Site Collection has its own navigation– Can use custom providers such as XML Files, Web

Services, or Databases– SharePoint interface to manage navigation is easy

to use but limited (per site collection and two levels)

– Writing your own is pretty straight forward with lots of examples online

Mega Menu

Security Guidelines

– Security Groups in SharePoint Groups–Minimize the number of groups– Security is a means to an end. Don’t over do

it.– Third party products can definitely help to

manage security.

Search Integration

– Except for rare cases, search should be part of every page.–All encompassing search at top, specific

search in main content area.– Extend search to other parts of network and

use facets to refine

Best Bets – low hanging fruit

FAST Search

–Major investment in server hardware and people resources–Virtually unlimited in scalability–Just dropping in a FAST Server does not

provide that much functionality (noted exception is the visual preview)

Search is a garden. It needs tending to produce results.- Monitor crawl times- Tag, tag, tag- Delete unwanted content (weed it out)- Adjust results on what people are

searching on. (Search Service Application: Search Administration -> Web Analytics Reports

Managed Metadata

–Open vs Closed– Some is better than none–Pick a central hub location and consume

the metadata from other locations–Managing metadata requires resources–Greatly increases find ability

Managing Metadata

InfoPath Forms

–Best bang for the buck of any service– InfoPath Web forms saves time and

money–Client not required–Worth the cost of the Enterprise edition–Don’t program if you don’t have to

Site Maps

My Site Customization

– Lots of work–Politically charged–Powerful momentum from social

networking– Less is definitely more–2007, 2010, and 2013 are all vastly different

in their look and feel

My Site Example

Profile Replication

US

EuropeAsia

Replication Information

– Part of SharePoint Administration kit– Overview at http://

technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc663011.aspx

– PowerShell interface– Remember the DoSocialReplication option– Based on audiences and trusted My Sites

Consuming the User Profile Service

– Can be a little tricky to set up– Issues with creating My Site Hosts– Connect to Metadata service as well– Blog post

http://www.sharepointninja.com/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=1b1adaf0%2Dd914%2D4578%2D9613%2Df33ce22c41fe&ID=44

Storage

– Upgrade to SP1 (or SP2) now to get Storman.aspx if using SP2010

Content Databases

– Size should be guided by disaster recovery guidelines–General rule of thumb is still below 200 gig–New technology can make content

databases in the terabyte size–BLOB storage. Really make sure you can

recover these files.

Language Packs

• Download at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=3411

• Service Pack 1 http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26629

Simplified Chinese Example

Intranet Example

Top Searches

Build Your Own Top Search

• Create a Database Connection• Connect to SharePoint database• Use an account with read access• Use the database

WebAnalyticsServiceApplication_ReportingDB (followed by a GUID normally)

• Edit SQL Command

Top Search SQL• SELECT TOP 10 ROW_NUMBER() OVER (Order by SUM([TotalFrequency]) Desc) As

Row, [QueryText],SUM([TotalFrequency])as Count FROM [WebAnalyticsServiceApplication_ReportingDB_90199734-6932-4fe2-80b2-95a037354f45].[dbo].[WAQueryTextAggregationByDate] a, [WebAnalyticsServiceApplication_ReportingDB_90199734-6932-4fe2-80b2-95a037354f45].[dbo].[WAQueryText] bwhere a.[QueryTextHash] = b.[QueryTextHash] and DateId > CAST(CONVERT(varchar(10), DATEADD(d, -30, GETDATE()), 112) As int)and [ScopeNameHash] <> 0xD62E20AE0D633059C732F7A81FCDB2C7Group By [QueryText] Order by Count Desc

Yammer

• Now a Microsoft Product• Acquisition too close to SP2013

release to be included• Expect a web part integration soon

Questions?