Delivering Business Value Through SharePoint. Impact Research 1

Transcription

1 Delivering Business Value Through SharePoint Impact Research 1

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary.. Research Method What is SharePoint?... What Are the Different Versions?... Who is Using SharePoint?... Why are Companies Implementing?.... What are the Challenges? How is an Implementation Completed?.... Key Conclusions..... Case Studies Impact Research 2

3 Executive Summary Impact Research 3

4 Executive Summary SharePoint brings business value to many companies SharePoint users report that the tool delivers major business value with a low total cost of ownership. SharePoint and Similar Tools Adoption SharePoint s rapid adoption is an indicator of its value. 70% 60% Companies are attracted by these six functions of SharePoint: Collaboration Portal Enterprise Search Content Management Business Forms Business Intelligence 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Employees Implemented Currently Planning/Implementing This report will help you with your SharePoint deployment by: 1. Explaining each of the six functions and how they are used. 2. Identifying realizable benefits. 3. Warning of challenges that you might face and how to mitigate them. 4. Providing a comprehensive guide for completing a successful implementation. Impact Research 4

5 Executive Summary SharePoint brings a wide range of benefits Companies have reported that SharePoint benefits impact the company, the end users, and IT. Companies of all sizes and industries have implemented SharePoint and reaped benefits. SharePoint s impact on an organization is most often defined as positive business value rather than pure cost savings. SharePoint is more than just a platform. It transforms the way IT and end users conduct their daily work by enabling more efficient communication and collaboration. Impact Research 5

6 Research Method Impact Research 6

7 Research Method Research Method SharePoint is a key consideration for many companies SharePoint was selected as the focus of this in-depth report because: Adoption statistics indicate that 34% of companies will deploy SharePoint or an equivalent tool by end-of-year 2007, an additional 25% will deploy by the end of 2008, and 19% plan to deploy between Our survey of 2,000 companies found that 61% of enterprises focus on.net, while only 23% are primarily Java. SharePoint is built on the.net framework, and is a logical choice for.net shops. There is high demand from Info-Tech clients for research on SharePoint. Info-Tech s research process for SharePoint This research is based on real world client experiences. Companies were interviewed and surveyed to analyze adoption drivers, implementation considerations, benefits realized and challenges faced. Info-Tech Research Group content is driven by the needs of our 21,000+ enterprise customers and is in no way sponsored, paid for, or initiated by any external vendor or service provider. If SharePoint isn t for you If you already know that SharePoint doesn t fit well with your company, please see the following ITA Premium research notes: Portals: Portal Marketscape: SharePoint Not the Only Option in 2007 and Portals: Think Platforms, Not Products Enterprise Search: Demystify Enterprise Search to Unveil Business Process Success and Break Content Management Silos with After-Market Search Content Management: Web Content Management Solutions Business Forms: Vendor Landscape: Affordable E-Forms for Small Enterprises Business Intelligence: BI Competency Center: Prevent Pricey Mistakes Impact Research 7

8 Research Method Profile of Clients Interviewed Our in-depth research approach delved into the implementations of 258 organizations across a representative sample of industries and sizes. Of these, 217 filled out a comprehensive survey and 41 engaged in an extensive interview. Trans/Utilities/Comm, 5% Education, 8% Distribution by Industry Primary, 2% Retail/Wholesale, 4% Business Services, 28% Distribution by Company Size (19%) (23%) more than $70K (19%) (18%) (12%) Distribution by Total Spend (12%) (16%) less than $3K (19%) Government, 11% $26K - $70K (21%) $3K - $10K (24%) Healthcare, 11% Manufacturing, 19% Financial Services, 12% $11K - $25K (17%) Impact Research 8

9 What is SharePoint? Impact Research 9

10 Defining SharePoint SharePoint addresses many business needs SharePoint is A platform for collaboration. The ability to design, deploy, and manage enterprise portals. A way of searching for people and information. A forum for enterprise content management. The capability to streamline formsdriven business processes. Business Intelligence (BI) for every employee to make better decisions. Business Forms Business Intelligence Content Management Platform Services Collaboration Search Portal SharePoint can help an enterprise manage content and processes, improve business insight, enhance collaboration, and empower IT to make a strategic impact. Impact Research 10

11 Defining SharePoint SharePoint can be broken down into 6 functional areas Source: Microsoft Function Components Description Collaboration Portal Enterprise Search Content Management Business Forms Business Intelligence (BI) Docs/tasks/calendars, blogs, wikis, integration, project management lite, Outlook integration, offline docs/lists Enterprise Portal template, Site Directory, My Sites, social networking, privacy control Enterprise scalability, contextual reference, rich data and people search Integrated document management, records management, web content management with policies and workflow Rich and Web forms based front-ends, line of business actions, enterprise single sign-on Server-based Excel spreadsheets and data visualization, Report Center, BI Web Parts, KPIs/Dashboards SharePoint products provide collaboration functions that help keep employees connected. This improves communication between teams while giving easy access to the people and information employees need to succeed in their jobs. The portal functions enable enterprises to use a single platform for Internet, Intranet, and Extranet content and applications. SharePoint Enterprise search provides users with the ability to find relevant people, documents, and business data. SharePoint provides core document management functionality such as versioning, check-in/check-out, document locking, metadata, workflow, and access controls. Companies can streamline forms-driven business processes with electronic forms that integrate with existing systems. SharePoint provides BI capabilities so employees can share, control, and reuse business information to improve business decision making. Impact Research 11

12 Defining SharePoint Collaboration is the biggest driving force There are two drivers motivating companies to choose SharePoint: 58% Environment Drivers Microsoft Shop Organizations already standardized on the.net development platform are likely to choose SharePoint over Java-based solutions. 67% Ease of Implementation/Use 55% Use of other Microsoft applications makes deployment and end user 50% adoption easier. Functional Drivers Collaboration Functionality The most-cited driving force, collaboration features, are crucial to enabling organizations to drive business value from employees. Content Management Functionality Document management has now extended to include records management, Web content management, and workflow. 45% Low Cost The low total cost of ownership of SharePoint drives adoption. 46% Portal Functionality Users are beginning to demand features that a portal brings. Companies report that they chose SharePoint because it is a cost-effective means to empower end users to collaborate, share information and feel a sense of ownership in the company. Impact Research 12

13 Use by Function Collaboration most popular SharePoint application Collaboration is the most widely used functionality, in part due to its inclusion with every version of SharePoint. Business Forms and Business Intelligence are more specialized functions used only by organizations with needs in those areas. SharePoint Functionality Adoption Collaboration 50% 14% 11% 16% 9% Portal 47% 12% 8% 19% 14% Enterprise Content Management 30% 12% 18% 25% 16% Currently using Currently implementing Planning stage Enterprise Search 25% 10% 14% 27% 24% Considering/ evaluating No Plans Business Forms 22% 9% 17% 29% 24% Business Intelligence 11% 11% 12% 26% 40% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Impact Research 13

14 Case Study Examples There are many unique ways to use SharePoint Functionality Mini Case Study Collaboration A large distribution business uses the collaboration features of SharePoint to deal with customer order change requests. Sales, shipping, production, and transportation all subscribe to this list and receive alerts when a change is requested. If a customer wants to receive a hundred more cases of product, all of the groups convene via SharePoint to decide whether or not this is possible, and in what timeframe. Portal A mid-sized healthcare organization implemented SharePoint for the Portal capabilities. The company is able to deliver important messages to a wide audience in a cost-effective manner. Information is updated regularly by the end users, which ensures dynamic content while minimizing IT maintenance costs. Internal communication has improved as a result since employees have a central repository to find information, announcements, and business metrics. Enterprise Search A large architectural and engineering firm chose the Enterprise Search from SharePoint over a third party tool. Not only did they save on licensing costs, but now employees are able to find the right information and people needed to do their jobs well. Impact Research 14

15 Case Study Examples There are many unique ways to use SharePoint - cont Functionality Enterprise Content Management Business Forms Business Intelligence Mini Case Study A large manufacturing company is using SharePoint for their document management and records management. One of the big issues that the company had to tackle was their e-discovery. They wanted to have control over all of their business content and records that should be shared at the departmental or organizational level. SharePoint is the repository for content and houses it instead of PST files on hard drives. A mid-sized financial services company took paper-based HR forms and used InfoPath 2007 (a SharePoint technology) to streamline this workflow. In the past, employees had to contact HR for the required document, fill it out manually, and submit it back to HR for them to manually enter in the data. Now, users have a central place to find forms and submit everything electronically. Data is automatically entered into the database. As a result, 1.5 FTE HR employees were saved, employees save time, and data is more accurate. A school district uses Excel Services (a SharePoint technology) to create dashboards for executives around student data. For example, this enables them to easily track enrollments, class sizes and composition, special needs students, etc., in order to remain compliant. The dashboard easily displays which schools are compliant, which ones are not, and which ones are in severe non-compliance. Companies of all sizes and industries have implemented SharePoint and delivered business value in numerous forms. Impact Research 15

16 What Are the Different Versions? Impact Research 16

17 Version Comparison Not all SharePoints are created equal Source: Microsoft? For a more detailed comparison, please see: SharePoint Products Comparison Office SharePoint Server Enterprise CAL (MOSS) ($$) Office SharePoint Server CAL (MOSS) ($) Collaboration Docs/tasks/ calendars, blogs, wikis, integration, project management lite, Outlook integration, offline docs/lists Content Management Integrated document management, records management, Web content management with policies and workflow Search Business data Extensible and customizable search of enterprise content and people Portal Enterprise Portal template, Site Directory, My Sites, social networking, privacy control Business Intelligence Server-based Excel spreadsheets and data visualization, Report Center, BI Web Parts, KPIs/Dashboards Business Forms Rich and Web forms based frontends, LOB actions, enterprise SSO Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) Document management Contextual reference (Inc. with Windows Server 2003) Impact Research 17

18 Version Adoption Adoption by version of SharePoint Although more companies currently use the Services version of SharePoint, many of these same companies are considering and evaluating the Server version. Companies that look at MOSS are often looking at broader business issues and several functions of the platform. Usually when WSS is chosen first it is a more narrow focus that is, they want to solve one issue right now. SharePoint Adoption by Version Currently Using 26% 26% 28% 17% Currently Implementing 36% 8% 53% Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Planning Stage 31% 8% 61% SharePoint Portal Server 2001 SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Considering/ Evaluating 5% 23% 4% 16% 52% Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Used Previously 47% 5% 27% 19% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Impact Research 18

19 Version Changes Key changes have been made over the years Significant functional and technical changes were made from 2003 to Many of these changes contributed to the rapid uptake in adoption. Source: Microsoft Functional Changes Technical Changes Collaboration Limited Document Management Enterprise Search Different code base between WSS/SPS Two search engines.net 1.1 or 2.0 Improved Collaboration Enterprise Document and Records Mgmt Web Content Mgmt Improved Enterprise Search Process Automation (Forms and Workflow) Regulatory Compliance Single code base Single search engine Leverage.NET 2.0 fully Better browser support Reduce usage of ActiveX controls CMS Integration Larger content database support Support for third-party authentication: LDAP, database Impact Research 19

20 Upgrade Reasons The top factors driving upgrades For the most part, companies are upgrading due to the added features and improved capabilities in newer versions. Despite the fact that many clients purchase Microsoft s Software Assurance (SA) coverage, only 17% of companies report this as a driver for upgrading. Primary Reasons for Upgrading Added features Improved w orkflow capabilities Better integration w ith applications Improved search capabilities Improved customization of the interface Upgraded technology/environment Integration Improved forms Free Upgrade Rights Enhanced social netw orking 20% 19% 17% 14% 34% 30% 29% 28% 40% 44% Microsoft did a clever thing with WSS. If you have Windows Server 2003 CALs you get it for free. So we tried it and our users loved it. It is definitely a gateway drug to MOSS. IT Director, Food Industry Upgraded OS 11% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% The work effort required for an upgrade is most justified by the improved capabilities and features. Free upgrade rights do not always motivate an upgrade. Impact Research 20

21 Who is Using SharePoint? Impact Research 21

22 Number of Employees SharePoint Adoption SharePoint has great momentum Adoption is high in companies of all types and sizes: There is an inflection point for companies of over 100 employees, when adoption for WSS accelerates. The second inflection point occurs at 500 employees, at which point MOSS adoption picks up % SharePoint and Similar Tools Implementation Status Source: Info-Tech Research Group 13% 10% 18% 15% 8% 8% 54% Average Adoption * % 16% 9% 12% 29% 9% 6% Implemented % 13% 16% 14% 17% 9% 8% Currently implementing Pilot project underway Interested, planning stage % 7% 16% 19% 23% 17% 5% Interested, no plans Aware, not applicable % 4% 11% 14% 34% 13% 11% No knowledge N= % 6% 8% 16% 26% 20% 16% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% *Average adoption includes organizations using, implementing, piloting, or planning. Impact Research 22

23 Why Are Companies Implementing? (Benefits) Impact Research 23

24 Benefits SharePoint brings a wide range of benefits Although many companies are reporting hard benefits, most benefits are considered soft. Ease of Information Access was the top cited benefit due to its wide applicability. Storage Savings was the least cited benefit due to the difficulty involved in measuring this benefit. SharePoint Benefits Ease of Information Access 24% 46% 7% 21% Improved Internal Communication 25% 42% 10% 21% End User Productivity 14% 46% 16% 4% 20% Document Version Control 18% 35% 16% 4% 27% IT Time Savings 17% 31% 18% 11% 22% Web Development Savings 15% 22% 16% 13% 34% Improved Business Insight 7% 28% 16% 11% 38% Improved Customer Communication 13% 21% 15% 9% 42% Reduced Data Entry Errors 6% 18% 18% 16% 42% Storage Savings 7% 14% 16% 21% 43% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Hard Savings Soft Savings Minimal Benefit No Benefit N/A Impact Research 24

25 Benefits End users are empowered with information Benefit Opportunity Ease of Information Access Improved Internal Communication % Realizing Hard/Soft Savings 71% 67% Reported Examples A central place for users to find relevant people and information efficiently. A known forum for posting and retrieving company information. End users can customize their home page views to what is important to them. The platform enables users to share and disseminate knowledge across groups and locations. Virtual teams can collaborate and people feel a better sense of ownership. A structure to easily organize project related information improves communication within cross-functional teams. Teams can more easily bring the right people and information to a project. The platform facilitates the distribution of information through sites and features like alerts. Instead of relying on , people are automatically kept informed. Also, a person can be brought into a project and have the ability to view a history of events. Prior to implementing SharePoint, we did some research and found that eighty percent of our unstructured electronic storage is accessible to one and only one person and only twenty percent of our storage space is shared information. We think it should be the other way around. CIO, Chemicals Industry Impact Research 25

26 Benefits End users are more efficient with their time Benefit Opportunity End User Productivity Document Version Control % Realizing Hard/Soft Savings 61% 53% Reported Examples Retrieval of documents is quicker and results in overall time savings. Users are more efficient with time spent collaborating with all stakeholders. Always having access to the most current version of a document improves communication and eliminates duplication of effort. There is more confidence in information being viewed. Version change tracking ensures that nothing is accidentally changed that shouldn t be. A layer of accountability is added. End users can restore old documents themselves, instead of having IT restore from backup. I think the biggest thing is just getting everything in one place, which saves on time and cost. It also enables our business to better talk amongst itself. Find people quicker, find documents quicker, finding things you didn t know, finding information and giving it to people sooner. We ve got a lot of manual process that we are going to cook into this. That goes along with save time, save cost and save operations. VP of IT, Business Services Impact Research 26

27 Benefits IT is serving end users more easily Benefit Opportunity % Realizing Hard/Soft Savings Reported Examples IT Time Savings 48% End users maintain their content, not IT. SharePoint takes a service that used to be maintained by IT, and turns it into a self-service platform. Web Development Savings Improved Business Insight 37% 35% Web sites are set up more quickly because developers are not writing a lot of code. Further, you don t need to start with a blank slate due to the templates available. For organizations that use external providers to set up Web sites, SharePoint enables this function to be easily completed in house. A key feature with SharePoint is the ease of deploying surveys. Many companies save paying a third party for this capability and perform the function in house. Empowering users to control their own content creates a dynamic flow of information being presented. Business intelligence capabilities improve the speed and quality of decision making. A BI solution reduces time spent collecting and analyzing business information. I think that Microsoft got it right, the ease of use, for at least the straightforward tasks - incredible. That s a real plus. You are not looking at weeks of development for an intranet site to do a certain function, it s like hours. Web Services Administrator, Government Impact Research 27

28 Benefits Companies report improved client relations Benefit Opportunity Improved Customer Communication Reduced Data Entry Errors Storage Savings % Realizing Hard/Soft Savings 34% 24% 21% Reported Examples Interfacing with customers for either project collaboration or sales support is important to many businesses. The platform ultimately improves communication with customers as the outlet increases the frequency and quality of interactions. The increased use of forms-driven business processes eliminates paper-based tracking. Immediately inputting information not only saves time, but also ensures the accuracy of information being recorded. Instead of ing one document to multiple people many times over, one copy of that document is kept in a central place. Files that are too large to be ed can be stored on SharePoint and accessed from the site. The problem here is we are always looking for a document, we are always looking for information. The issue is that information always leaves the office when a person leaves the organization. It s our capital, so the information here is our business. We don t sell a product - we are in the business of investment sales. What we know is the core of our business. Looking for it is wasting time; losing it is even worse. Technology Director, Financial Services Impact Research 28

29 Benefits Hard benefits are realized in a few different ways Please see the chart below for a sample of savings reported by peers. Type of Benefit Cost Savings Business Value Description Reported Savings IT Time Savings 1-2 FTE staff saved (on total IT staff) due to less maintenance Web Development Savings Web sites are set up 4X faster Reported cost savings of up to $8000/mo for Help Desk tracking software, or survey development, or Web development Storage Savings Reduced overhead of $10-15K annually End User Productivity End users find information 3X faster 1-2 FTE staff saved due to efficiency gains in using business forms Document Version Control End users restore documents immediately Improved Customer Communication Customers hear from company twice as often I m on the IT side of things so obviously my job is to make things better, faster, cheaper, and more efficient. I believe technology like this helps make that kind of thing happen. IT Project Manager, Government Companies are reporting that both IT and end users are saving time, while the business improves decision making and ultimately delivers more value to its customers. Impact Research 29

30 What are the Challenges? (How to Avoid Pitfalls) Impact Research 30

31 Avoiding the Pitfalls What challenges does SharePoint present? Top Five Challenges SharePoint Challenges 1. IT staff learning curve (36%). With each successive version, SharePoint is becoming an increasingly complex solution, which makes it harder for IT to learn to use and manage. 2. Site design (31%). While portal solutions generally facilitate Web development, users sometimes find the structure restrictive, particularly in terms of look and feel. Enterprise users often have difficulty avoiding the SharePoint look. 3. Customization (31%). In addition to design considerations, users can struggle with customization of SharePoint components such as templates, Web parts, and workflows. IT Learning Curve Site design Customization Content organization End-user acceptance Integration Documentation 4. Content organization (29%). Some organizations regret having underestimated the planning phase prior to using SharePoint for content management. The challenge is in creating a logical, functional hierarchy for information that users will be able to navigate with relative ease. 5. End-user acceptance (26%). Despite the widely reported benefits of SharePoint s tools, some end-users are resistant to changing their work habits to adapt to a new solution. This problem can be particularly frustrating when SharePoint is used for collaboration and content management, but users persist in sending attachments to their teams. Security Upgrade/Migration Executive buy-in Maintenance 15% 13% 18% 18% 26% 25% 25% 31% 31% 29% 36% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Impact Research 31

32 Avoiding the Pitfalls Learn from your peers experiences SharePoint Issue Mitigation Steps IT staff learning curve (36%) Site design (31%) Allot at least one to two weeks per functional component (portal, content management, etc.) just for education. Although SharePoint is designed to be user-friendly and easy to pick up, it will not be completely intuitive for some people. Unless staff are already familiar with SharePoint, they will require time to learn what is possible with SharePoint, in addition to learning how to use it. Take advantage of Microsoft s free resources. The key is finding the right starting point: IT administrators and staff should go to TechNet (SharePoint Server or WSS). Developers should refer to SharePoint information and tutorials on MSDN (SharePoint Server or WSS). Microsoft provides a wealth of resources on SharePoint, both as online documentation and in the form of training sessions. The sheer volume of information, however, makes it difficult to navigate (see Documentation below). Prioritize. Decide which sites or pages warrant extensive design work, e.g. externally-facing content, high-traffic pages. The more customized the site, the more work it will require. It would certainly be nice to achieve a unique corporate look for all Web content, but is it really necessary? Use blogs as a resource. A number of Microsoft professionals maintain blogs filled with helpful guides and tips on SharePoint design. Heather Solomon s blog is particularly useful. Impact Research 32

33 Avoiding the Pitfalls Learn from your peers experiences (continued) SharePoint Issue Customization (31%) Content organization (29%) Mitigation Steps Look for downloadable templates and tools first. With SharePoint s popularity continuing to soar, there is a large and growing SharePoint community with a variety of resources that can be leveraged. Free, untested components can carry reliability or security risks. It is best to start with Microsoft-provided tools such as the Fantastic 40 custom application templates. Consider third-party providers of custom SharePoint components licensing a Web part from one of these vendors is often much less costly than trying to build it yourself. The leading provider of SharePoint-related products is Bamboo Solutions. Remember the customization/support tradeoff. Some SharePoint users have reported that Microsoft is unable to provide full support for highly customized implementations. Factor in the potential added support costs when considering customization options. Map it out in detail during the planning phase. Too many companies have rushed through this critical piece of SharePoint planning, hoping that the information structure would somehow be resolved in the course of implementation. Keep in mind that content organization will also affect reporting; displaced content will result in inaccurate reports. Use Microsoft s planning worksheets to define and facilitate the process. The biggest challenge we face right now is that the proliferation has been so great that there's poor navigation, there's poor design there's just sites all over the place and there s information that is out there that you don't know how to access. IT Operations Manager, Education Impact Research 33

34 Avoiding the Pitfalls Learn from your peers experiences (continued) SharePoint Issue Mitigation Steps End-user acceptance (26%) Integration (25%) Documentation (25%) Train end-users. Among survey respondents who cited end-user acceptance as a challenge, 44% did not provide formal SharePoint training for end-users. If business users don t understand the software or what it can do for them, they won t use it well, or won t use it at all. Microsoft has started to put together a set of self-paced online tutorials for endusers. Share success stories. Demonstrate uses and benefits of SharePoint by presenting miniature case studies examples of users or departments within the company that have had positive experiences with SharePoint. Identify potential integration issues during planning stages. As one would expect, SharePoint works best in an all-microsoft environment with version parity across applications. The average enterprise, however, might be running WSS 3.0 with Office 2000 or a competing productivity suite, with more than one Web browser. Expected functionality, such as browser-initiated document creation, or in-document check-in, may not be available. Such an organization should anticipate potential integration limitations as early as possible. See Microsoft Office and SharePoint Integration Whitepaper. Take a targeted approach. Early adopters of MOSS 2007 found documentation on the new product to be scarce. While that is no longer the case, the sheer volume of information available makes it difficult to find specific answers. This table can be used as a guide to online resources: the SharePoint Issue column defines topics covered, while the Mitigation Steps column contains links to relevant sites or tools. Impact Research 34

35 Avoiding the Pitfalls Learn from your peers experiences (continued) SharePoint Issue Mitigation Steps Security (18%) Include security considerations in planning and implementation. Refer to the guide to SharePoint security planning, and follow the recommended configurations. Upgrade/ Migration (18%) Executive buy-in (15%) Use recommended upgrade plans and checklists. For migration to MOSS 2007, refer to the e-book Upgrading to Office SharePoint Server Involve the business from the start. Survey results clearly demonstrate that if the business plays a more active role in the SharePoint project, there is significantly less chance that executive buy-in will be a problem. Maintenance (13%) Assign staff to manage SharePoint. Though most companies do not have fully dedicated SharePoint administrators, many have staff responsible for running SharePoint along with other systems. It is more efficient to have a single point of contact from a support perspective as well as for knowledge transfer. Impact Research 35

36 How is an Implementation Completed? (Creating the Plan) Impact Research 36

37 Planning and Implementation Crucial planning and implementation steps Planning Implementation 1. Make the SharePoint Decision 2. Envision SharePoint 3. Create a Roadmap 4. Consider Complementary Products 5. Budget Requirements 6. Involve the Business 7. Calculate Resource Requirements 8. Organization/Architectural Design 1. Train IT 2. Pilot 3. Customize 4. Test 5. Train End Users 6. Roll-out the Solution 7. Ongoing Considerations Reported Average Allocation of Time ~ 45% ~ 55% Impact Research 37

38 SharePoint Decision Make the SharePoint decision? It's Official:.NET Roasts Java's Beans Over 50% of companies do not conduct a vendor evaluation prior to choosing SharePoint as their solution. Reasons include: Standardization on.net means ease of implementation and maintenance The low total cost of ownership (TCO) Sure we could drives implement companies SharePoint to pilot and test quickly easily, but we also wanted without to the have need good for budget power approval as a portal so at first we were End initially users are concerned already acclimated about Microsoft to using SharePoint. the However, Microsoft because suite of applications we started looking and comparing, we actually had a Microsoft Partner come in and show us the strength of SharePoint and what you could do if you really did start to customize it and really work with it to its maximum and work in MOSS. We saw a few demos from IBM and we ended up going with SharePoint mainly because we are a Microsoft shop. Director of Training and Communications, Financial Services None (54%) # of Other Vendors Compared 1 Vendor (15%) 5+ vendors (1%) 2 Vendors (19%) 3 Vendors (8%) 4 Vendors (3%) Impact Research 38

39 SharePoint Decision Make the Services versus Server decision Use the SharePoint Decision Tool to guide you in making the version decision Companies can use the following chart to determine which version of SharePoint is of best fit. Component Services (WSS) Server (MOSS) Technology Adoption Strategy Conservative Collaboration Yes Yes Content Management Limited Yes Search Functionality Limited Yes Portal Functionality No Yes Business Forms No Yes Business Intelligence No Yes Ease of Implementation/ Use Simple Mainstream to Leading Edge Moderate to Complex Cost Low Medium to High Free is easy to sell to management and when free is good enough, it s hard to go in and ask for money for an upgrade. IT Director, Manufacturing If you look at the features of WSS 3.0 and then MOSS there is workflow capabilities there, we didn t have before and we wanted it. We wanted the portal features. We wanted the better searching. Web Services, Wholesale Companies unsure of the business case for MOSS should pilot with WSS first. Impact Research 39

40 Envision SharePoint Develop the SharePoint vision Planning is a crucial phase in any SharePoint project; do not underestimate its importance. Allot time: the average time spent planning is 4 months, while implementation time is 4.5 months. Engage with the end users to determine exactly what their needs are in order to create a master scope document. Choose a group of users that are willing to participate in the pilot. Ensure proper governance of the overall SharePoint vision and site design. Give users the ability to control their content, while maintaining oversight of the entire model to ensure structure. If MOSS is on the long-term roadmap, consider that upper management will need to approve the expenditure. We had an executive steering team, who pretty much outlined what it is that they wanted to see. Now of course the IT folks had supported that outline by saying, here's the topics, here are the questions, here are the issues etc. The executive steering team would sit down with that and then they had a user team down below the executive steering team who would actually go to discussions about the details for the implementation. CIO, Business Services Prior to moving ahead with a SharePoint implementation, a company must develop a long-term vision for SharePoint. Solicit feedback from the users to ensure it is meeting their needs, while ensuring governance over site design. Impact Research 40

41 Create a Roadmap Create a roadmap for success A SharePoint implementation is not a set it and forget it type of affair. Trying to do too much all at once will increase the likelihood of failure. Taking a phased approach helps ensure design success and end-user acceptance. WSS Phase 0: Pilot Phase 1: Core Functions Upgrade to MOSS End MOSS Phase 0: Pilot Phase 1: Core Functions Phase 2: Advanced Functions Phase 3: External Functions End End End Impact Research 41

42 Create a Roadmap Create the WSS roadmap There are two key phases involved with a WSS deployment, detailed below. Once WSS has been deemed a success, the organization should evaluate whether upgrading to MOSS will provide a positive return on investment. If an organization is going directly to MOSS, these two phases can be skipped. Phase 0: Pilot Phase 1: Core Functions The first phase in any SharePoint deployment is to pilot the product within a department (eg. IT) or user group (eg. power users). This will help identify areas for improvement and provide valuable information that will ensure the roll-out is a success. Some organizations choose to pilot with WSS prior to purchasing MOSS. In these cases, it is an incremental approach where you build, test, deploy, and then build more over time. Due to the limited functions available with WSS, it is reasonable for an organization to deploy all of them at once after conducting a pilot. Although this generally takes less time than a full-blown MOSS deployment, the same process steps are followed (as outlined in this section). Impact Research 42

43 Create a Roadmap Create the MOSS roadmap Phase 0: Pilot Even if the organization is already running WSS, it is still important to pilot MOSS within a user group. The number of enhanced features is significant, and certainly warrants soliciting end-user feedback to evaluate the product s viability. Phase 1: Core Functions Phase 2: Advanced Functions Phase 3: External Functions Attempting to implement all of the six functionalities at once is not a best practice. Users will be overwhelmed and acceptance will be poor. Start with the core or immediate needs first, such as the Collaboration, Portal, Content Management, or Search functionalities. Once SharePoint has been deemed a success, the organization should consider expanding its functionality portfolio in order to take full advantage of the platform. Many companies look to add Business Forms and Business Intelligence. However, for companies that have separate tools for these functions or no need for them, this phase may be skipped. The final phase for any SharePoint project is to deploy externally facing functions. This step must come last as it requires further refinement of the look and feel of the platform, which will be easier when developers and users are more familiar with the product. Furthermore, this gives the organization time to build user acceptance you don t want to launch something for clients and then find afterwards that the end users are resisting the solution. Impact Research 43

44 Consider Complementary Products Consideration of complementary products The following products have been known to integrate well with SharePoint. Many companies are considering Microsoft Office 2007 sooner rather than later due to the added capabilities between Office 2007 and the current versions of SharePoint. Adoption of Complementary Products Microsoft Office % 11% 20% 33% 12% Microsoft Exchange % 7% 25% 35% 19% Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 24% 8% 11% 32% 25% Microsoft Visual Studio % 5% 7% 24% 30% Microsoft InfoPath % 8% 9% 33% 38% Microsoft Excel Services 11% 7% 11% 31% 40% Microsoft BizTalk Server 8% 6% 25% 59% Microsoft Office Groove 30% 65% Microsoft ForeFront Security 4% 23% 70% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Currently Using Currently Implementing Planning Stage Considering/ Evaluating No Plans Impact Research 44

45 Budget Budgeting Use the SharePoint Decision Tool to produce quick cost estimates based on business needs and the IT environment. The cost of a SharePoint implementation, including licenses, consultants, and hardware additions or upgrades, varies greatly among enterprises. The single greatest differentiator is the version of SharePoint: SharePoint Services (WSS) implementations had an average cost of $36 per user, while the average for versions of SharePoint Server (SPS or MOSS) was $704 per user. For each version, costs are largely dependent on implementation size, licensing agreements, degree of customization, and use of consultants or third-party providers. Cost Breakdown: SharePoint Services Cost Breakdown: SharePoint Server Consultant (45%) Licenses (0%) Licenses (34%) Hardware (16%) Hardware (55%) Consultants (50%) Impact Research 45

46 Budget Budgeting License pricing for current products is listed below (source: Microsoft Office Online) To determine the license costs for any of Microsoft Volume Licensing Programs, please use the following Microsoft License Advisor. Product Microsoft s Estimated Price Server Software Office SharePoint Server 2007 $4,424 Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search Standard $8,213 Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search Enterprise $57,670 Office Forms Server 2007 $4,424 Client Access Licenses (CALs) Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard CAL $94 Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise CAL (must be purchased in addition to Standard CAL, not instead) $75 Office Forms Server 2007 CAL $54 Office SharePoint Designer 2007 $187 Impact Research 46

47 Business involvement Business Involvement Consult business units on key decisions in the SharePoint project. Among enterprises that reported strong business buy-in for the initiative, the highest proportion of respondents consulted business users to keep them involved in the process. Most companies using a version of SharePoint Server (SPS or MOSS) had a greater degree of business involvement, generally consulting business users during the process or making them responsible for parts of it. Most companies using a version of SharePoint Services (WSS) had a lower degree of business involvement. One fifth of them did not involve the business at all in the SharePoint initiative. 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 44% 32% 34% 20% 19% 16% 12% 8% 8% 6% 1 - Not involved 2 - Informed 3 - Consulted 4 - Accountable 5 - Responsible Degrees of Involvement 1. Not involved: Excluded from project 2. Informed: Communication of relevant items/progress 3. Consulted: Asked to provide input 4. Accountable: Key participant 5. Responsible: Overall leadership/ultimate ownership Services Server Impact Research 47

48 Resourcing Resourcing Most organizations allocate limited resources to the project two to three full time equivalents. The largest proportion of the effort in implementing SharePoint comes from internal IT staff rather than outside resources. There is little difference in the mix of resources used for a Services implementation versus a Server implementation. The big differences between the two are in the total duration and complexity of the project. SharePoint Server 62% 22% 16% SharePoint Services 58% 18% 24% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% IT staff 3rd party MS Partner Impact Research 48

49 Organization/Architecture Organization/Architecture As mentioned previously, this critical component of SharePoint planning cannot be overlooked. Refer to the resources cited in the in the Pitfalls section to ensure critical considerations are covered. Without proper organizational design, a SharePoint site can easily become a collection of disorganized sites. Follow these steps to ensure proper design: Ensure you create a sitemap that outlines the overall structure. Each of the five sections of the pyramid make up a taxonomic section. Define characteristics and owners for each. Start at the top and work your way down as you build the site design. Determine how users will navigate through the site. Plan how search will be configured. Central Portal Division Portals Advanced Groups and Teams Projects & Workspaces My Sites Planning overall site design is crucial in ensuring ease of use and end user acceptance. Impact Research 49

50 IT Training IT training Slightly more than half of the companies surveyed relied on a single training method to familiarize IT with SharePoint, while the other 47% used multiple methods. The most common method by far was self-study. Depending on the degree of business buy-in for the SharePoint project, budget limitations often require that IT forego formal training and learn as they go. Many companies choose to take advantage of onsite training led by Microsoft, which is usually offered free of charge. Type of training provided Percentage Self-taught 65% Online tutorials 26% Training led by Microsoft Partner 24% Training led by third party 23% Previous experience 19% Onsite training led by Microsoft 11% It was the instructor that made the training. We did so much beyond what was in the book and that is what made the training very valuable. If they just followed the book, then there would not have been a whole lot of use that would have come out of it. We did get a lot out of it, while working with the instructor. Director, IT Applications, Pharmaceuticals Although self study is the most commonly used method of training, IT learning curve was the biggest challenge reported by interviewees. In order to mitigate this challenge, alternate training methods should be considered. Impact Research 50

51 Pilot Pilot? For more information on pilot implementations, please see the Info-Tech Advisor note Pilot Implementations: The Primer. Many enterprises begin their SharePoint initiative with a pilot a small, controlled SharePoint implementation to assess its capabilities, integration, and potential. Some use WSS for the pilot to evaluate whether or not adoption of the full server solution is warranted. Others build a small site using MOSS, intending to extend the implementation in terms of scale as well as functionality once everyone involved is familiar and satisfied with the solution. We used it as a pilot, to see if it was going to be a useful product. It seemed to work out pretty well, and then in the IT department we started to use it for a few different things. IT Director, Manufacturing Beware of the pilot that grows uncontrolled into an enterprise-wide implementation. A high degree of end-user interest or pressure can lead to a hasty roll-out and disorganized content (see Pitfalls section). Impact Research 51

52 Customization? Customization Looking for tools to ease the customization process? See: Fantastic 40 custom application templates. Though SharePoint users often complain about the out-of-the-box look, more than a quarter of enterprises surveyed worked only with existing SharePoint templates and did not require customization. Of the respondents who did need to customize, more than half reported a need for multiple forms of customization work. Type of customization required Percentage Site design 36% Modifying Web parts to fit business processes 31% Personalization of sites 30% None 27% Development of custom Web parts 25% We used the out of the box solution and the initial deployment was using all the standard templates and tools available. Over time we have added some additional capabilities that aren t that easy right out of the box. IT Director, Utilities Customization is usually resource-intensive, and often an unending task. Prioritize ruthlessly to determine where custom work is truly necessary. Impact Research 52

53 End-user Training End-user training Most of the companies surveyed relied on a single training method to familiarize end users with SharePoint, while 36% used multiple methods. The most common method was training led by IT staff. Nearly one-third of companies did not provide formal training in SharePoint to end-users. Type of training provided Percentage IT-led training sessions 53% No formal training self-taught 32% Quick-start guides 26% Online tutorials 14% External training sessions 8% HR-led training sessions 5% We gave half an hour of training to everybody, to show them the main areas of it, and we gave a half day of training to the super users. The super users have come back for half day training or full day training, depending on what they are doing and interested in. The average user has had a very brief introduction, and the super user, depending on how and what they do, has had anything between half a day minimum up to about three days. IS Manager, Public Administration Companies that initially omitted end-user training sometimes found the need to add this step to increase acceptance and maximize the utility of the solution. Impact Research 53

54 Roll-out & Testing Management Roll-out & Testing When executing any major software deployment, detailed checklists are invaluable. One MSDN blog on SharePoint issues is a veritable gold mine of deployment resources. For those migrating from an older version of SharePoint, the upgrade e-book mentioned in the Pitfalls section will also be helpful. Management/Administration As discussed earlier, on-going maintenance of SharePoint is not widely regarded as a major challenge, but most enterprises find it beneficial to designate one or more staff members as SharePoint administrators (often not a full-time responsibility). Enterprises come to realize that SharePoint is not a product that can be left alone after deployment. Due to the scope and complexity of the solution, implementations tend to grow over time, and IT will need to allocate resources to manage that growth. Impact Research 54