Designing a Communication Plan Russ Basiura Principal Consultant RJB Technical Consulting Goal: Widespread user adoption of SharePoint technologies within your organization © 2005 RJB Technical Consulting, Inc.. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. RJB Technical Consulting makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.

AgendaAgenda  Your Vision  Your Plan  Communication Guidelines  Adoption Approach  Adoption Quick Wins

Goal of Presentation  Serve as a tool for SharePoint evangelists within each organization  Provide guidelines for success based on experiences with a dozen different companies  Assumption: You already know and love SharePoint

Business Needs Drive Adoption  Business Performance Management  Employee self-service  Enterprise communication and collaboration Benefits: - Better decisions - Increased productivity - Improved customer service - Automated processes - Reduced costs

Critical Success Factors  Successful adoption depends not just on the design and the technology, but also on developing and implementing a plan for three critical “non-technology” components:  activities that you need to consider in both the launch and ongoing operations of your new solution. Rollout  processes to prepare for the roll-out and ongoing content management processes for your solution.  processes and roles for maintaining and managing the content in your team sites GovernancePlanning

Your Vision – Have one  Perfect tool to organize and manage unstructured data: Spreadsheets Documents and Forms  Perfect place to present an organization’s structured data: Operational Metrics Financial Scorecards

Your Plan  Define your approach.  Have a kick-off event/meeting  Plan for Training and Support  Road Map for adoption and technology SPS and/or WSS Web Parts Office Integration (InfoPath, Smart Documents) Custom Solution Business Intelligence Business Process Automation

Communication Strategy  Leverage key executive support  Identify key knowledge managers  Identify key messages “Speed-to-Insight”

Key Messages Audience Message Users Productivity Control Flexibility Managers Roll-Up Management by Exception Communication Administrators Centralized Administration Distributed Control Leadership (CEO, CIO, CFO…) Security Business Value Address Risk

Communication Method Examples  Break room or cafeteria poster  Conference room walls  Splash screens  Corporate or departmental meetings  Training or new employee orientations  Newsletter announcements  Department Meetings – 5 minutes on agenda  Monthly “Tips-N-Tricks” s to site owners  Videos

Adoption Approach  Mother of all Projects vs. Small victories Big Project Pros: Better Acceptance. Demonstrate many SharePoint/Office features from the start. Cons: All eggs in one basket. May never even know what SharePoint is. Small Victories Pros: Gain acceptance with less risk. Makes later application development easier because users understand SharePoint. Cons: Slower – SharePoint utilization may take longer. Users with More specific needs will look to other products.

Quick Wins  Corporate Branding Colors and Images  Popular WSS features Calendars Lists (look for spreadsheets) Discussions Templates  Common Problems Project Management Document Management Issues / Requests / Complaints

Keys to Driving User Adoption  Assimilate key users first  Design the deployment to prevent duplicate content  Make it easy for content authors to add content to the portal  Make it “Fun” to use

DiscussionDiscussion Russ Basiura Principal Consultant RJB Technical Consulting © 2005 RJB Technical Consulting, Inc.. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. RJB Technical Consulting makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.