Getting credit for completing this lab

Lab Exercise: Introduction to Microsoft SharePoint The purpose of this lab is to give you an introduction to Microsoft SharePoint, a team collaboration software technology. As the use of SharePoint grows in organizations, it will be very useful to learn how to leverage this technology to support your work. Effective use of this technology can support team communication, task assignments, documentation, project workflow and management. In this lab you will learn to use some features of SharePoint and perform tasks outlined in the table of contents (see next page). You will be required to do these tasks in your team assignments later this term. Note: For this lab exercise and your future team assignments, SharePoint works best with Windows PCs running Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 or newer and Microsoft Office 2007. If you plan to access SharePoint remotely from off campus locations, please read the last section of this handout entitled Accessing SharePoint Remotely. This last section about accessing SharePoint remotely provides some alternatives for those using Macintosh computers, or for those who do not have Microsoft Office 2007. Getting credit for completing this lab This lab has a short assignment for you to complete in order to receive credit for completion. Please refer to section 8 below and instructions on what to save in Blackboard. i

Contents Lab Exercise: Introduction to Microsoft SharePoint... i Getting credit for completing this lab... i Section 1: Accessing your BA370 SharePoint team site... 2 Section 2: Add an announcement... 4 Section 3: Add a calendar event... 5 Section 4: Discussions... 6 Section 4.1 Setting Alerts... 8 Section 5: Assigning Tasks... 10 Section 6: Document Management... 14 Section 6.1: Document Versioning... 14 Section 6.2: Uploading a document... 15 Section 6.3: Viewing a document (read only)... 16 Section 6.4: Editing a document (check out and check in)... 16 Section 6.5: Viewing a previous version of a document... 18 Section 7: Workflow: Collecting feedback on a document and routing document for approval... 19 Section 8: Assignment Alerts & Contact Information of Team Members... 21 Section 8.1 Assignment:... 21 Section 8.2 Getting credit for completing this lab... 22 Section 9: Accessing SharePoint Remotely... 22 Section 9.1: For Windows Users... 22 1

Section 1: Accessing your BA370 SharePoint team site Use Internet Explorer 6 (or newer) and go to the SharePoint website by following the link iin your Syllabus or in Blackboard Depending on where you are logging in from, you may be prompted for your ONID account user name and password. When prompted for a user name, please ensure that you type ONID and then backslash and then your ONID user name. For example, when prompted to login, I would type ONID\rajav without the quotes. (See Figure 1 below). The password would be your ONID account password. If you have any difficulty or questions regarding ONID accounts, please contact the College of Business Help Desk located in the computer lab in the basement of Bexell. You can also call the Help Desk at 541 737 0947 or e mail them at helpdesk@bus.oregonstate.edu. If you have forgotten your ONID information, go to http://onid.orst.edu/ and click on Change Password to request for user name/password. Figure 1 If you are logging in from off campus, you may receive a security warning notifying you that the security certificate for this site is not recognized. Please continue to the web page and accept the certificate. Once you have accessed the SharePoint website, you should see a page that looks similar to the following. At the top left of the page, on the third row you will see a set of navigation tabs. Click on your term (i.e. Winter 2010, etc.) then click on the Section number (See Figure 2). Figure 2 2

Next click on your team number (see Figure 3) and you will now be in your team site. Figure 3 Once you have access to your team site, you can contribute to the site by clicking and adding content in the different areas (see highlighted portions in Figure 4). Subsequent steps of the handout provide a description of these areas and an introduction to using them. Figure 4 Your first contribution to your team s SharePoint site would be to add an announcement. Instructions on how to add an announcement are provided next. See Figure 5 and Figure 6. 3

Section 2: Add an announcement Click on the Add new announcements link as shown below: Figure 5 Figure 6 4

The title will appear in bold, and the body is the announcement that others will read. If you want the announcement to automatically disappear later you can schedule a date for it to expire. Click OK when done. Your next task would be to add a calendar event. Instructions on how to add a calendar event are provided next. See Figure 7 and Figure 8. Section 3: Add a calendar event Click on the Add new calendar event link as shown below: Figure 7 5

Enter the details of the event. For example, you may want to schedule a trial event using the calendar. Figure 8 Click OK when done. Next, we will start a team discussion. Section 4: Discussions Click on one of the Team Discussion links as shown in Figure 9: Note: Clicking A will open a browsing window where you can view, reply, and start discussions. Clicking B will start a new discussion window. 6

Figure 9 With reference to Figure 9, if you select A, you can create a new discussion topic by clicking on the new tab as shown in Figure 10: Figure 10 If another team member has already posted a discussion item, you can click on the discussion item and then click Reply (see Figure 11). Figure 11 7

You may need to refresh your page (F5 button on keyboard) to see new comments posted by your team members. With reference to Figure 9, if you were to select B, SharePoint will open a new discussion window (see Figure 12). Enter your discussion title and discussion details. Figure 12 Click OK when done. Next, we will learn how to assign tasks to team members. Section 4.1 Setting Alerts You can configure SharePoint to notify you by email when documents, discussions, tasks and so on change on your team site. This can be a helpful way to monitor the progress of a project. To change your alert settings, click on the triangle next to your name in the upper right hand corner, and then click on My Settings. 8

Next, click on My Alerts Any existing Alerts will be displayed in this page. If you do not have any Alerts, you may now create them by clilcking on Add Alert It is recommended that you add an alert for Shared Documents Tasks Team Discussions. You cannot add all three alerts at once, you must add them one at a time. Once you hit the Next button, you will have the option to specify how often you wish to receive the alerts. Once the Alert is created, you may create the other Alerts (Documents, Tasks and Discussions). If you want to change the alerts in the future, you may come back to the My Alerts page and edit or delete an Alert. 9

Section 5: Assigning Tasks SharePoint allows tasks to be assigned to your team members. Each task can be assigned to only one team member at a time. This is to avoid confusion as to who is assigned a specific task. If you want to assign the same task to more than one team member (example: you want all team members to review a document that you posted), then you can assign the same task to each team member separately. Alternately, there is a more efficient way to assign several team members to one task, which is discussed later in this handout. For now, we will learn how to assign a task to each team member separately. Step 1: To create a task, click the Tasks link (see Figure 13) and select New task (see Figure 14). Figure 13 Figure 14 10

Step 2: Complete the details of the task. When you are selecting who the task is assigned to type the last name of your team member and click on check names icon as shown in Figure 15: Figure 15 If you are having difficulty finding your team members name in Step 2, then follow steps A through C described next. If you are successful in finding your team members name during step 2, then click OK, skip steps A through C, and proceed to step 3. If you are having trouble with Step 2, try the following steps A through C: 11

Step A: If you get the message No exact match was found then click on the directory icon as shown in Figure 16. Figure 16 Step B: Search for the name of your team member by typing their name in the Find box. Click on Search icon as shown in Figure 17. Figure 17 12

Step C: After finding the team member s name in the directory, select that name and click OK button as shown in Figure 18. Figure 18 For this lab exercise, you do not have to execute Step 3. It is sufficient to read Step 3 for now. Step 3: The person who was assigned a task will receive an email notifying them about the new task. They can click on the link in the email which will take them to the Team Site and they can read and perform the task. Note that, the SharePoint administrator has setup the Alert me feature (see Tasks Actions Alert Me). This enables automatic e mail notification when tasks are assigned to team members. The next two sections of this handout introduce you to Document Management and Workflows. 13

Section 6: Document Management Section 6.1: Document Versioning During the lab exercise, the instructor will provide comments regarding Document Versioning (Figure 19). Figure 19 Next, you will learn to upload a document, which will be shared with your team. 14

Section 6.2: Uploading a document Click on the Shared Documents link (see Figure 20), and you can view the Team Site documents. To upload a document, click the Upload button (see Figure 21). Figure 20 Figure 21 One could then browse to the location of the document and upload it to the site. For now, you do not have to upload a document. So, feel free to cancel out of this screen. 15

Section 6.3: Viewing a document (read only) To read a document, without making any changes to it, you may click on the document and it will open. (Note, if you are working on this from your home you will have to have Office 2007 installed on your personal computer or this is likely to not work. If you do not have Office 2007 you may have to refer to the last section of this handout). Section 6.4: Editing a document (check out and check in) As you are reviewing the document you may decide that you want to make changes. At this point, before your changes can be made, you must check the document out. Click on the Office Button, then you will see a Server option. Under that, there is an option to Check Out the document (see Figure 22). Figure 22 16

When you check out a document, you may see a notification as shown in Figure 23: Figure 23 This message is notifying that you can edit the document without being online (i.e., without being connected to the network). We will not be editing the document offline during the lab exercise. If you see this message during the lab exercise, you can click OK. CAUTION: Once you have checked out the document, no one else on your team can edit it until you check it back in. It is very important that you check the document back in, or cancel the check in. Both of these actions will release the document so that others can now edit it. To access this menu, click on the Office button, then Server, and then you will see the options to check in, or discard the check out (See Figure 24). Figure 24 17

When you check the document in, you will receive the following prompt as shown in Figure 25: You have the option of checking this in as a minor version, or publishing this as a major release version. You can also overwrite the current working version if you chose to. If you overwrite, you will lose the prior version of the document that is being overwritten. For BA370, it is strongly recommended that you maintain all version history. Important Good Practice: Please inform others about what you changed in this document, and why you changed it. Please note that this good practice is expected from each team member in all your assignments. You can expect to lose points on your assignments if you do not follow this practice. Figure 25 Section 6.5: Viewing a previous version of a document Once you have checked in the document, if needed you can go back and review an earlier version. To do this, click on the drop down arrow at the end of the name of the document that you wish to view. Select version history as shown in Figure 26. Figure 26 18

By clicking on the Date and Time of the version (see Figure 27), you can open it for review. Figure 27 Section 7: Workflow: Collecting feedback on a document and routing document for approval Workflow is a very powerful feature in SharePoint and is one of the biggest reasons for SharePoint s wide and early adoption in the business world. Workflow allows a team member to assign tasks to several team members. These members will receive an automatic e mail notification of the task assigned to them. After each member completes their assigned task, the person who scheduled the task receives automatic e mail notification! Note that, the SharePoint administrator has setup the Alert me feature (see Tasks Actions Alert Me). This enables automatic e mail notification when tasks are assigned to team members. To access the workflow option, go to the Shared Documents (see Figure 20). Click on the drop down arrow at the end of the name of the document that you wish to view. Select workflow as shown in Figure 28: Figure 28 19

You can choose to either collect feedback or gather approval. The feedback option is the most appropriate for reviews, so we will proceed with that choice (see Figure 29). Figure 29 Choose who the task is assigned to and then provide instructions on what needs to be performed. You can schedule a due date and also notify others that you have made a task assignment (see Figure 30). Figure 30 The person assigned the task will receive a notification email with your instructions and also links to the site. 20

Once a task has been assigned, you can look at the task history to see the status of a workflow. Click on Workflow (see Figure 28) to see a screen that appears like the one shown in Figure 31: Figure 31 Section 8: Assignment Alerts & Contact Information of Team Members Now that you know how to work with SharePoint, you have a small assignment to reinforce your knowledge of the material. You could choose to do this assignment now in this lab (if we have time) or you could work on it later. You may want to set up a Calendar event (see Figure 7 and Figure 8) on your team s SharePoint site to remind you about this assignment. Please note if you do not complete this assignment on time, you may forfeit your eligibility to work on the remaining assignments. This implies that you will not receive scores for the remaining assignments in this class. Your group members are depending on your timely and active participation. Please earn your group members trust by completing this assignment without any errors and in a timely manner. This assignment is intended to provide a simple example of how SharePoint workflows can help track tasks and manage shared team documents. Section 8.1 Assignment: 1. Set My Alerts to be notified when team members make changes to the site 2. Collaberate on the creation of a document Alerts: Reference section 4.1 Setting Alerts above and set alerts for the Team Discussion, Tasks and Shared Documents. Having Alerts set will send you email notification when your team members make changes to documents, assign or complete tasks, and post new discussion messages. 21

Collaberate on the creation of a document: In your shared documents folder, one member of your team must create a new MS Word document named Team Members Contact Information. Each team member will take turns editing the document, adding their own contact information: Name (First and Last name) Email address (that you check regularly) Telephone number (that you use regularly) *Including your telephone number is optional To accomplish this assignment, one person (perhaps you or someone else on your team) must create the document and then upload it to SharePoint documents. Before you crete a new document, check to see if one of your team members has already psoted one to SharePoint. Once a document is posted to SharePoint, each remaining team members should Check out the document and edit it to add individual contact information. Remember to check in the document after adding contact information. You must add Version Comments (see Figure 25) when they check in the document. An example of a version comment could be, I go by the name Michael. I have added my name, e mail address and phone number Do not overwrite any previous version. Section 8.2 Getting credit for completing this lab To receive credit for this lab, you must login to Blackboard, and go to the assignment SharePoint Lab. Enter the following statement: I created alerts for myself to be notified about Tasks, Discussions and Documents in SharePoint. I also collaborated on the creation of a document which has my contact information and my other team members as well. Section 9: Accessing SharePoint Remotely Section 9.1: For Windows Users If you are using Mac OS, read the next section. If you are using Windows OS (See Figure 32 and Figure 33): Figure 32 applies to Windows XP and Vista/Windows 7. Start... Run and then type MSTSC.exe 22

Figure 32 Figure 33 If the Remote Desktop Connection software does not start, then your PC does not have the program and you need to install the Remote Desktop Client first. Go to the following web page to download the client for XP: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=80111f21 d48d 426e 96c2 08aa2bd23a49&DisplayLang=en Once the RDP window opens, enter umbrella.scf.oregonstate.edu and login using your ONID account (See Figure 34). Figure 34 Once you are logged in, just access the SharePoint site (see section 1). Since Office 2007 is installed on the server you are now logged into, you will have no difficulties checking your BA370 team documents out and editing them.section 10.2: For Mac Users Begin by downloading the Remote Desktop Client from the Microsoft website, depending on which version of OSX you are running (See Figure 35): OSX 10.4 and higher: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=803f9438 8DF3 490F 92C6 0E0F92787DB8&displaylang=en OSX 10.2.8: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6573f9f1 8AE1 4DA9 AB5C F8457ECDAF2D&displaylang=en 23

Figure 35 Once this has been downloaded, double click to install (Figure 36). Figure 36 You should now see the Remote desktop connection. Click on the icon to launch (Error! Reference source not found.). Figure 37 Enter umbrella.scf.oregonstate.edu and then press the connect button (Figure 38). Figure 38 24

You should now get a login prompt from the Umbrella servers. Login with your ONID credentials and then launch Internet Explorer (Figure 39). Figure 39 Go to the BA370 SharePoint site (see Section 1) and now you should be able to check out and edit Office documents. Since Office 2007 is installed on the server you are now logged into, you will have no difficulties checking your BA370 team documents out and editing them. 25