If you’ve already heard some of those stories though, it can be hard to trust that you won’t have a similar experience.  That’s why Socius is launching our SharePoint Rapid Implementation Offering, where you know exactly what you get and how much it is going to cost up-front.

With Socius’ SharePoint Rapid Implementation package, you will get one site set-up with SharePoint Foundation, up to three sub-sites, and we’ll align your organizational brand standards to SharePoint’s theming engine.  Not only does this offering give you peace of mind knowing what you can expect, but also what you can spend.  This package is only $2500.

The fixed rate for this offering also represents a discount on Socius’ standard billing rate for implementation services.  This discount doesn’t end when your SharePoint solution is live, either.  We’re extending it for any Socius services you take advantage of for the first 60 days after implementation.

For more details about Socius’ SharePoint Rapid Implementation Offering, visit www.socius1.com/rapidsp.

So how do we know that we can get you up and running quickly and effectively with a SharePoint solution at a predictable, fixed cost?  Because we’ve done it before.  Our SharePoint solutions have helped our clients connect and build a corporate culture, manage business critical documents, and collaborate and surface business insights.

Contact us today to get started with SharePoint (www.socius1.com/contact).

By Socius, a SharePoint partner in Ohio, Kansas, and South Carolina

What Does It Take to Get Up and Running on SharePoint? is a post from: SharePoint Blog

In Windows SharePoint Services, the Team Site template has two very useful features that can help you get started: the quick launch bar and the list toolbar. The quick launch bar contains links to relevant pages within your team website, while the list toolbar contains links to forms that allow you to add and edit items in your lists, discussion board, and document library. 

1. Custom Lists 

Among the features found within SharePoint is the ability to create custom lists. The following are some examples: 

•  contact lists – used for communicating with people, these lists can be shared and copied to your address book
• link lists – organize important links to pages for people in your team to use
• spreadsheets – here you can define a range of cells in a spreadsheet as a list on your site. Team members can filter and sort data as needed
• custom lists – When you cannot find what you need from a built-in list, create a custom list containing whatever information you need. You can then instantly share it with your team 

2. Sharing Files 

Within Windows SharePoint Services is a document storage and retrieval system that provides file sharing among team members. Users can check in and check out documents, customize views, and keep track of modifications with version history information. 

3. Other Collaboration Tools

 Beyond the powerful list system, Windows SharePoint Services offers many other collaboration tools, including: 

• discussion boards – team topics, proposals, and activities are all organized, sorted, and filtered according to user needs
• surveys – when team members need to make decisions, they can take a vote and get reliable results
• meeting workspace sites – when you need information in a centralized location that team members can access, a meeting workspace is perfect for the job. Before a meeting, publish the agenda and necessary documents. After the meeting, publish the attendee list, track tasks, and provide supplementary materials.

4. Customization

Windows SharePoint Services offers a wide range of customization options. If you have the necessary web development skills, you can customize your site’s appearance and functionality to fit the requirements of your team. With easy to use Web Part features, you can customize your site’s lists, images, text, home page, and all of the components that tie pages together. You can even setup personal views for Web Part pages that give users the ability to make small appearance and accessibility changes that only they can see. SharePoint sites can also use predefined themes that dictate the overall color scheme, font, and design of the site.

Total SharePoint Collaboration

Microsoft SharePoint is perfect for user-to-user and team interaction and collaboration, and the concept of collaboration extends to software as well. SharePoint features a profound level of integration with Microsoft Office Programs. No matter what your team members are working on, they can collaborate seamlessly with SharePoint’s Shared Workspace.

For more information about deployment and setup: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/bb267375.aspx

Source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-sharepoint-services-help/introducing-the-features-of-a-sharepoint-site-HA001142598.aspx?CTT=3

By OTT, Inc, a SharePoint Partner in the Twin Cities area, Minnesota, http://ott-inc.com/  

4 Ways Teams Collaborate Better with Microsoft SharePoint is a post from: SharePoint Blog

 There are a number of factors you need to determine before you begin records management:

• What information will you designate as records?
• Once you know which active documents are records, how will you handle them, and how will you collect them once they are designated as records?
• How long will you retain records in order to comply with laws, regulations, and business needs?
• What technology and business processes are necessary to comply with the aforementioned obligations?
• How will you dispose of expired records, and how will you store and secure sensitive documents, such as those from lawsuits?

 The responsibility of determining what constitutes a record falls on the shoulders of your corporate compliance officers, records managers, and lawyers.

 Records management systems include the following components: content analysis, a file plan (where and how records are stored, how long to retain, etc.), compliance requirements documents, a method for collecting inactive records, a records auditing method, a metadata capturing method, a holding (suspending) records method, and a records monitoring and reporting method.

 Using SharePoint Server 2013, organizations can implement integrated records management systems and processes effectively and efficiently. For a full overview of the records management planning process, you can visit Microsoft’s TechNet Library online.

 Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261982.aspx

By OTT, Inc, a SharePoint Partner in the Twin Cities area, Minnesota, http://ott-inc.com

Understanding SharePoint Server 2013 Records Management is a post from: SharePoint Blog

Pique Solutions conducted an in-depth study of organizations using BCSP to determine the ROI of these connected solutions.  Instead, they discovered that businesses that use SharePoint in conjunction with LOB applications realized benefits well beyond a simple return-on-investment, they experienced “transformational” savings as high as 80-90%.

How does it happen that the savings is this high?  Well, it starts with the rapid ROI – BCSP leads to faster deployment, far less custom coding, and simplified ongoing administration and governance than other methods of using IT to accomplish the same data sharing and visibility.  So that low investment combined with high returns including productivity and efficiency, more effective cross-team collaboration, improved business processes, and more leads to a very rapid ROI.

Pique Solutions also discovered that companies that worked with a BCSP partner, one with expertise in both SharePoint and the LOB applications that are being integrated, experienced an even faster ROI and were even planning to extend their BCSP solution to incorporate additional processes or data.  Socius is a BCSP partner that offers integration between SharePoint and the LOB solutions that we offer including Microsoft Dynamics ERP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM software.

Sarnova is a great example of an organization that realized a rapid return on their investment of exposing Microsoft Dynamics ERP data in SharePoint.  Read their case study here.

Learn more about the transformational benefits of BCSP by viewing the results of Pique Solutions’ study.

By Socius, a a SharePoint Partner in Ohio, Kansas, and South Carolina

SharePoint + Line-of-Business Applications = Business Transformation is a post from: SharePoint Blog

Everyone is on the bandwagon; Microsoft’s surprising purchase of Yammer means they are definitely committed. Thousands of firms have invested millions in integrating “social media’ across the board. Along with this, even social media has gone to social media – Google+ integrates with LinkedIn, LinkedIn with Twitter and of course, all integrate with Facebook. Companies have really taken to the medium, particularly marketing using things using Facebook to drive their sales and brand, tell their corporate stories, announce products, hold contests and use it to attract new talent.

Outside of the office, social media has made its personal mark. People are engrossed in Twitter – posting updates when they check in to a hotel, visiting a restaurant or simply heading out to the office. Facebook provides everything from posting photos of their last vacation and kids birthdays to connecting with the extended family, old friends and ex-flames alike. From a professional perspective, it makes connecting with jobs easier – they can now apply to a job directly from Facebook or LinkedIn enabling them to boast about their achievements and just about anything they can think of. Many larger firms including even fast food companies encourage this and have recruitment campaigns enabling people to apply directly from the company Facebook page.

Social media has become so prevalent that some companies actually require potential applicants to provide them with their social media accounts as a condition of employment. Many now post information about office happenings directly to their accounts (bad weather closures, new product information and more). Now there’s the wave of “Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) to encourage employees to integrate their personal and professional life and get a little surfing and IM’ing done in the process.

Surely ‘social media’ has revolutionized the way we communicate and to accommodate so have the devices we use. Not too long ago, when actual desk phones existed, there was a time when you got no answer, you knew your friend wasn’t home. Then it became cool to have an answering machine – just think, you could have someone leave you a message and you could find it when you got home! Then there was voicemail – you no longer needed to get home to get your messages. For that ‘emergency’ contact, remember when pagers were all the rage (until they went off and you couldn’t find a phone). Of course, pagers and payphones died along with the advent of car phones (remember the little antennas?). Then came along the cheap cell phones, then instant ‘walkie-talkie’ features which in short order made way for “smart’ phones now going away to make room for the totally integrated devices (tablets, etc.) we have today.

There’s only one problem – we’re all too wired.

Kids don’t play anymore. Your average first grader has phone or a tablet in their pocket. They may be excellent at texting but have never played a game of baseball, built a tree fort or regularly walk over to their neighbor’s house. Most have never seen or understand what a ‘board game’ is. They’re losing their motor skills, they can’t handle any kind of physical work, don’t know how to garden and have no clue as to how to mow the lawn. They don’t go outside anymore except to go from point A to B, evident by the pasty look from no exposure to the sun.

Teenagers have spent a generation under the glow of the screen, spending long nights in their rooms or at the internet café. Teenagers can’t communicate anymore (unless over the mic when playing World of Warcraft). Five kids sitting in a room don’t talk – they text each instead (I’ve seen this first hand). They are even ‘sleep texting’ since their phone is next to them at all times. They have difficulty talking with their parents if at all and their ability to comprehend the language diminished to the point where they cannot put together a proper sentence. They never read a book, never go the library and they can’t understand a dictionary (if they knew what it was). Google isn’t exactly history.

Schools haven’t helped. We’re now in the second generation of students that have never done long division or worked out a math problem without a computer and forget about fractions. Teachers don’t teach short of telling students how to login so the computer can guide the course. Teachers don’t know how to create a proper syllabus and can only follow the computer generated outline. Chalkboards have been replaced with high-definition monitors. Physical education classes are non-existent for fear they may ‘hurt someone’s feelings’ so they’ve been replaced with computer labs.

For parents, they’ve lost connection with their kids. They’ve given up calling for their kids to dinner, they simply text them (if they ever sit down together at all). Moms ignore the baby crying because she’s in the middle of Café World. Dads (if they’re around) don’t involve themselves since their kids have more understanding of computers than they do.

For working folks, they’ve intertwined their personal and professional life so that there is in fact, no difference. They’ve given up any sort of separation or privacy, even knowing the danger of anything personal being said (or texted) being read by the wrong person. They’ve lost jobs because they stupidly go on rants on Twitter. They’re on call and in instant reach of their boss 24 hours a day. There’s no leaving at 5pm anymore and have become accustomed to answering texts and emails over breakfast.

Overall, the world has become a very narcissistic and neurotic place. Kids now bully each other electronically. Ten year olds are sexting pictures of themselves to classmates. Teenagers think they’re the most special people in the world and it revolves around them and their ‘feelings’. Moms notify everyone that they are dropping the kids off at school. Everyone now believes that checking into that nice hotel must be broadcast to the world, as if there were some kind of prize for doing so.

Some believe they are so important, they broadcast every aspect of their life to the point that it’s dangerous – everyone knows when they’re not home and can in fact track their every movement. They lose jobs when they call in sick when caught posting the pictures of that party on Facebook. Some are stupid enough to post how drunk or high they got the night before or how they talked so-and-so into having sex.

Sorry people, you are not that special and overall it is a dangerous trend in society at large. Need I mention Newtown?

It’s time to turn the damn things off once in a while!

It’s time we take a serious personal look at where we are today. It’s time to realize that with all of these great communication devices, we’re no longer communicating. People no longer turn it off – ever (hell there’s even a do not disturb App for that). They no longer have a break from it and never give themselves the chance to recharge personally or professionally. It’s time for kids to grow up outside of the computer, parents to get to know their kids and teenagers to learn how to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Now don’t get me wrong – I love technology. I grew up with it. I started working full time at age 11 as a data entry operator working a 12 hour night shift. Self-taught, I learned how to become an operator by age 13. I started programming in Basic when I was 15 working at Dartmouth College. I worked full time as a programmer coding Cobol when we had to use coding sheets and have them translated to punch cards. At 17, I worked full time at Bell Labs. At 19, I ran the Oregon State University computer center on weekends teaching students in between my dish washing and waiter jobs. I started my consulting firm in 1984 consulting to DEC and have been consulting ever since. It may sound funny, but when I visited the Smithsonian computer display, I was amazed that I’d used every single computer there (short of the Univac).

You should make it a personal challenge to wean yourself of the electronic extension and get a life.

Start out with yourself – how long can you shut it all off and maybe take a walk? How about learning a new skill like knitting or maybe woodworking? How about taking up something like golf or tennis (where you have to shut it off if you are polite)? You really can exist without it if you just make an effort.

Parents need to work with their kids, get to know them and encourage them go out and play and run around the yard instead of hitting Control-X. They also need to communicate with them and get them off the damn box instead of playing games until the wee hours of the morning. Don’t expect them to know, you have to teach them – when left to their own devices, kids will fall into the trap. And by the way, the parents should be leading by example.

Teenagers need more activities that aren’t electronic. They, like adults, need a life. Learning skills, interacting with people, playing Frisbee or maybe, just maybe reading a book. When tied to an electronic piece of hardware at all times, they have nowhere to turn when the power goes out. Boredom is a terrible thing; lack of any kind of imagination to keep one’s self entertained is even worse. Maybe a little more interaction would prevent so many that can’t cope with society or becoming mentally deranged.

Adults need to disconnect more often. Farmville will wait; if your crops go bad, so be it – if you find yourself rushing home because of it you have a serious problem. Maybe learn how to actually grow something as we need more real farmers anyway. How about having a bar-b-q with the neighbors? Your personal life should be just that, broadcasting to a world that could really care less is depressing when you figure it out. Moreover, stop chronicling your life – we don’t really care that you just checked in at Delta unless I happen to want to break into your apartment. Relax once in a while with a good book. Take a walk around the neighborhood or have a cup of coffee without worrying about WiFi being available. Speak to each other and maybe spend some time with your significant other talking – it might just save your relationship.

Finally – Employers how about taking the time to give your people the support and understanding to know that actual work comes first? How about helping them learn skills, like communicating verbally and in writing? How about building a team the old fashioned way by leading by example through communication and hard work? How about offering them some incentives and materials to learn a new skill? At the same time, how about getting out of their lives a little bit and stop monitoring everything they do like Big Brother? You know deep down that all that does is make them waste more time anyway. And when the day is done, how about you leave them alone? In most cases, they’ll be back tomorrow.

To all a good night – *Click*

Social Media and getting a life is a post from: SharePoint Blog

In a recent post on the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog, Bojana Duke, a SharePoint Program Manager breaks down some of the differences between what you’ll see when you upgrade your site vs. when you create a fresh team site.

Microsoft knows that you have spent considerable time and effort customizing your SharePoint site and organizing your content in the manner that best fits your organizational needs.  Therefore, they have also put in the time to make sure that you can retain your content and site structure when you upgrade.  In order to preserve your content structure during an upgrade, many of the new features that you may want to leverage in SharePoint 2013 will not be enabled by default.

When you upgrade your current site, the following will NOT be present by default:

• New master page with clean and simple design and new visual styles used to format text in your site
• Increased Site Logo space available
• Minimized ribbon so that you can focus on your content
• A global navigation bar which appears on every page of every site to help people find their way around
• The “Settings” menu represented by a gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen which is replacing the “Site Actions” menu
• Expanded set of “Quick Actions” icons now located on the right side of the page
• New “Edit Links” command available to enter a quick editing mode for making changes to the site navigation

If, however, you decide to create a fresh team site in SharePoint 2013, you’ll notice several new features that weren’t available on your upgraded site, including:

• Graphic “Getting Started” tiles which replace the “Getting Started” links in 2010 and provide shortcuts to several common actions, like sharing your site and applying a theme
• A Site Notebook leveraging Microsoft OneNote
• A Site Newsfeed that gives users an “at-a-glance” update on what is going on across the organization or on their specific projects
• Streamlined navigation and the ability to update and organize your navigation quickly through the “Edit Links” command
• List and Library forms open in a full page, instead of in a dialog box
• The default permission level for all users is “Edit”
• Share with “Everyone” or “Everyone excluding external users” instead of managing complex permissions
• Minimal Download Strategy (MDS) which helps pages to perform faster and more smoothly by downloading only content that has changed as you move from page to page

To learn how to turn all of these functions on so that you can use them on your upgraded site, reference the original post on the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog.

If you have any other questions about upgrading to SharePoint 2013, please contact us today!

By Socius, a SharePoint Partner in Ohio, Kansas and South Carolina

Upgrading to SharePoint 2013: Upgraded Sites vs. Fresh Team Sites is a post from: SharePoint Blog

Learn more about the strengths and shortcomings of each from the team over at Armanino, and get a brief overview on how best to leverage these products for your business.

Dynamics CRM and Microsoft SharePoint are two powerful enterprise applications.  Both are built on Microsoft Windows, SQL Server and can integrate with most Microsoft productivity tools like Office and Lync. I am often asked: ”For specific business processes, how is one better than the other? How can I make a good decision on which application to deploy?”

SharePoint is a powerful enterprise application that was designed to organize information that is often unstructured yet needs to be shared and used for collaboration. SharePoint supports web-based portals, both intranets and extranets, document management, search, business intelligence, and workflow.

As such, SharePoint is deployed to support solutions such as websites and content management, project management, sales and marketing collateral management, product and pricing catalogues, and contract management. Businesses that have information repositories and information to be gathered, codified, and shared are great candidates for SharePoint.

On the other hand, Dynamics CRM is very strong for managing front office business processes that have more structured data and repeatable business processes. Sales teams can manage lead tracking, opportunity management, and sales methodology control through CRM.  Likewise, CRM is used to support customer service and call centers that need to quickly look up customer information and take action on problems or to provide information on additional products and services. Marketing teams leverage CRM to plan and execute marketing campaigns such as email blasts, web tracking and analytics, and lead scoring to drive true marketing ROI.

SharePoint and CRM are often deployed together.  For example, once a sale is in progress or completed, SharePoint is integrated with CRM to provide project management visibility, document control, sales collateral management, or pricing support.  SharePoint is an excellent extension option for CRM and can support customer and partner portals. As an example, CRM can manage cases, contacts, opportunities and knowledge base articles that extend out to customers and partners through SharePoint’s powerful web and contact management features.

When deployed together, CRM and SharePoint complement one another well.  SharePoint supports the collaborative, organizational requirements companies have for unstructured information, while CRM excels at driving defined business processes for more operational, structured data driven processes.

For more information on SharePoint, Microsoft CRM, or a combined solution, give us a call and tell us a little about your company and goals.

Source: http://www.crmsoftwareblog.com/2013/03/microsoft-crm-vs-sharepoint-why-one-over-the-other

By Scott Mangelson, CRM Practice Leader at Armanino LLP – the West Coast’s largest Gold Certified, Microsoft CRM Partner in Portland, Seattle, and throughout California. http://www.amllp.com

by SharePoint Software Blog Editors

Compare Microsoft CRM vs Microsoft SharePoint is a post from: SharePoint Blog

As patients move from one part of the hospital to another, and from one caregiver to another, it’s easy for medical professionals to be out of the loop, asking patients the same questions over and over again. This happens because some of the information is not easily recorded, or it isn’t available to everybody at the same time. This challenge is common in the healthcare profession.

The SharePoint solution developed for UMCU allows patients to access their medical information anywhere internet access is available, even after leaving the hospital, and makes it simple for hospital employees to pull up the information at a moment’s notice. UMCU has reported that the entire process has been speeded up dramatically.

The new patient electronic record system allows employees to collect and record extensive patient information. It shows which medications have already been administered, which ones still need to be, and what actions have yet to be taken. This makes it simple for doctors to be informed about what is going on and make appropriate decisions. It also serves as a protection for patients.

The data was transferred over to SharePoint in one night, and it was completed successfully with no complications. The staff has also noted their appreciation for how easily SharePoint works together with other Microsoft programs that they use on a daily basis.

Source: Microsoft Case Studies

by SharePoint Blog Editors

Medical Center Revolutionizes Healthcare With SharePoint is a post from: SharePoint Blog

Tracing Service failed to create the trace log file at location specified in SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\15.0\WSS\LogDir. Error 0×0: The operation completed successfully. . Traces will be written to the following directory: C:\Users\SPSERV~1\AppData\Local\Temp\.

The confusing part about the message is that it indicates not the physical path to the log files but the Registry setting (HKEY_LOCALMACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Shared Tools/Web Server Extensions/15.0/WSS) – remember, by default, the SharePoint logs are located in c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\Logs but if you are working in a production environment, the logs are probably (or should be) located elsewhere. You might already know where they are but if you don’t, you can easily use the setting to find them – if you open the Registry editor (Start > Run… then enter regedit then click OK) then follow the path, you will see the “LogDir” setting (FYI don’t make any changes here):

As you can see, this is the default setting – %CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\LOGS\ – that is, the default path mentioned above.

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the location specified – (by default, c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\). Right click on the folder and select Properties then click the Security tab:

SharePoint 2013 and Tracing Event ID 2163 is a post from: SharePoint Blog

Insight Enterprises, a Microsoft partner, helped broker the deal that will put Windows 8 on computers in the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). In addition to Windows 8, DoD employees will also have access to Microsoft Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 Enterprise. Microsoft has referred to the deal as its “most comprehensive licensing agreement” ever arranged with the DoD.

“Microsoft has longstanding relationships with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and DISA, and we are honored to expand our support of ongoing technology modernization efforts across all three organizations,” said Tim Solms, general manager of Microsoft’s Department of Defense Business.

The $617 million deal includes significant savings on licensing costs and software assurance costs for the Department of Defense. Microsoft calls the deal a “transformative three-year Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement” that includes enterprise licenses and software assurance.

SharePoint 2013 Enterprise will allow agencies to share and communicate with one another better through the use of search technology and social communication. Office 2013 will provide the latest versions of familiar software that DoD personnel use every day. Finally, Windows 8 will afford DoD employees with an unparalleled level of mobility as the operating system is supported on a variety of devices for true cross-platform compatibility.

“This agreement enables us to provide the best technology tools to an incredibly broad range of servicemen and servicewomen across the DoD, and we are looking forward to implementing to support their mission goals,” said Solms.

Source: http://www.geekwire.com/2013/score-microsoft-defense-department-windows/

By Socius, a SharePoint Partner in Ohio, Kansas, and South Carolina

$617 Million Deal Will Bring Microsoft Windows 8 to Department of Defense is a post from: SharePoint Blog