SharePoint at Princeton Sal Rosario Office of Information Technology srosario@princeton.edu

What is SharePoint? Web-based tool for team collaboration. Specially useful when managing projects

What type of information can I share? Libraries: a library is a container for files you want to share. You can create folders inside a library. Windows users can access a library via Windows Explorer Documents: all kinds, except those that pose a security threat Pictures: .jpg, .gif, .png formats Forms: created with MS InfoPath Slides: created with MS PowerPoint 2007 Wiki Pages: you can use this to create content collectively such as in Wikipedia

What type of information can I share? Lists: row-based (tabular) storage of information Announcements: good for one-way communication Events: tabular and calendar views available. Can be integrated into MS Outlook Contacts: Can be integrated into MS Outlook Tasks: Can be integrated into MS Outlook Project tasks: tabular and Gantt chart views available Links Issues Custom: You can create your own

What type of information can I share? Surveys: results presented in graphical summary and can be exported to MS Excel in tabular format Discussion boards: for quick discussion items Blogs: for more “polished” discussion items

Key value-add features RSS Feeds: you can choose to subscribe to receive updates from SharePoint libraries and lists to your RSS feed reader (news reader). Just like you can subscribe to receive the Princetonian updates Alerts: You can choose to be notified instantly, daily, or weekly via email of SharePoint content updates Web Services technology: SharePoint can integrate with other tools by exchanging XML information

Key value-add features Document management Check in/Check out Version history: good for those “Oops!” moments Information management policies: auditing, expiration Content approval: a designated individual or a member of a designated group needs to approve before content is published Workflow Collect Feedback: routes a document for review. Reviewers can provide feedback, which is compiled and sent to the document owner Approval: routes a document for approval by a chain of individuals Custom: You can create your own without programming using MS SharePoint Designer (formerly known as MS FrontPage). Example: faculty search process

Molecular Biology (1) SharePoint site for scientific research facility so that users can create web-based electronic requests for specific analyses of unknown DNA samples.  The facility manager can focus on running scientific experiments which details the methods used and can then post and share the analyzed results.  Previously this was done via handwritten paper forms, whiteboards and “is my stuff ready” phone calls.  By making the process more electronically streamlined, the researcher is able to focus on “science” and less on “paper pushing”

Molecular Biology (2) Site for faculty assistants so that they can create and share information about administrative policies and procedures and “frequently asked questions”, with the intent of making a printed, formalized and up-to-date “faculty assistant resource guide”.  Previously this was done via private emails and word-of- mouth.  Also, by involving the faculty assistants in how to manage and create a Sharepoint site, we are finding that they are then able to take their training and show their individual faculty members on how to use the new technology

Molecular Biology (3) SharePoint site for scientific research facility so that users can schedule instrument time on a scientific instrument (electron microscope) using built-in shared calendaring.  Facility manager can now schedule specific times for training, research time, and maintenance time while allowing all users to see a current status of the instrument, and having the ability to control who can read and who can make changes.  Previously this was done via a paper wall calendar

Molecular Biology (4) Site for faculty meeting agenda and minutes.  Previously these were distributed via email with encrypted attachments, but the department manager is finding it useful to be able to organize the information on a web- based tool, where the access permissions can be tightly controlled without specific technical Microsoft Active Directory experience

Molecular Biology (5) Site for faculty search.  We are currently looking to hire some new faculty and the process of gathering resumes, evaluations, printed works, recommendations, voting on who to invite, voting on who to accept was previously done via paper and via committee meetings.  By moving the content to SharePoint, we hope to be able to accelerate and streamline the process by which members of the faculty committee can electronically review the status of applicants, make comments in a shared discussion forum, and keep track of various details

Molecular Biology (6) Site for conference planning.  Every year our department has a small conference from 150 members of the department to present their research either via PowerPoint slides or via printed posters.  In the past, individuals would bring PDF and PPT files to be printed on a large format printer.  With approximately 90 posters to be printed, this used to be an organizational problem.  This year, we used Sharepoint for individuals to upload their individual files to a central location.    As individuals uploaded their files, the files were put onto the print queue and users were electronically notified as to the status of their files for printing.  As a side-benefit, members of the department were able to view others’ PowerPoint posters and presentations electronically, before and after the conference for additional review.  Members of the administration also found the built-in templates in Sharepoint to be effective in displaying custom lists of attendees, shared calendars.  In particular, a faculty assistant was able in a short time period to upload photos of the conference without the technical requirements that a traditional “Dreamweaver/FrontPage/Java-based” website would require.  In the past, we had thought to put this on a publically available website, however, due to some of the “proprietary” or “early research results”, some members of the department felt that it would be a risk to put on the public main website.  By using the built-in access controls and authentication in SharePoint, many people found it easier to communicate and collaborate with their internal colleagues

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Internal discussion forums to coordinate activities Calendaring for external speakers and internal department events Asset and inventory lists/databases Working on a more elaborate document repository with interfaces to departmental copy/scanner machines

History Offering faculty a summary of links to the various business forms and policies that they regularly seek. The business manager asked for this because she was constantly having to search for and send these individual links to people faculty Ticketing system as an internal help desk system Collaborative departmental work

Treasurer’s Office Staff meeting workspaces Project plans Employee surveys Workstation loaner tracking Software development issues tracking and discussion boards Document research libraries Management collaboration workspaces

Human Resources Equipment sign out calendar Department vacation calendar Department announcements Workspace for an active task force on campus Document Library

Web Development Services (1) Computer inventory list to track serial numbers, MAC addresses, purchase dates, etc. of issued desktops and laptops. It came in very handy when one of our laptops was stolen from our new building. I went to the entry for that computer, printed it out, and gave it to the Public Safety officer

Web Development Services (2) Our group uses SharePoint exclusively for project management, including tracking our web project statuses and associated files, calendar of due dates, and also storing our project agreements