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SharePoint Newsletter - New Year Edition

Happy New Year! Well, somehow Christmas has come and gone and a New Year is already underway. We hope you had a very peaceful and Happy Christmas holiday and we would also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! 

We recently welcomed our 17,000th member to the group. As luck would have it, he works for a wine making company and not only has he sent a biography for our 'InTheSpotlight' section, but also has provided wine tasting tips. Unfortunately we didn't get chance to include them in in a newsletter before Christmas, but we did follow his advice (once or twice over the festive period!) and can give our seal of approval!

Featured Discussion

Have you used, or know about any SharePoint Add-ons, web parts, applications, templates, services?

Featured Discussion ImageWhile writing the Newsletter for this group, we have managed to find so many awesome SharePoint add-ons, so I thought it would be a great idea to let us all know about them. If you can add details, like name, vendor, whether it's free, category, licensing model and a link to the product page that would be great. Also, we will feature a few in the Newsletter, so please let us know if you DON'T want any free advertising.

If you know of any other great sites that the group might find useful, why not add them to the discussion on LinkedIn here.

Which version of SharePoint are you currently using in Production?

Featured Discussion ImageIf you didn't already know, LinkedIn has given us the ability to create polls as part of our discussion group. Hence, as our first poll we ask the question about which version of SharePoint you are currently using. It looks like SharePoint 2007 versions are well and truly still in use. Currently, SharePoint 2010 Enterprise is the most popular followed by MOSS 2007.

The results (at the time of writing) are displayed above. To add your vote to the poll, follow the link here.

Featured Sites and News from around the web

Preventing authenticated visitors from browsing system pages

Featured SharePoint SiteIn this useful guide, Waldek Mastykarz explains how to block authenticated visitors from browsing your system pages by extending the idea of the ViewFormPagesLockdown Feature. It includes great step by step instructions and lots of screenshots to help you.

Joel Olesons Product Review: harmon.ie for SharePoint – Increase Adoption and Simplify User Experience

Featured SharePoint SiteIf your company is looking to integrate centralized document creation and management into its corporate culture and looking to simplify the social element of keeping better track of people and documents then we recommend you read this. Joel Olesons' product review of harmon.ie considers (amongst other things!) common SharePoint adoption problems and explains how harmon.ie can address them.

I Use SharePoint : Win Win

Featured SharePoint SiteMicrosofts' new and improved quick reference cards for step-by-step instructions on SharePoint 2010 features. Pick up some dinner ideas, trivia and more along the way!

Developing SharePoint Taxonomies - An Easy Test to Determine Who Should Own Them

Featured SharePoint SiteSharePoint taxonomies are new and exciting. For the first time a widely adopted content management tool can manage and leverage taxonomies and provide for some semblance of vocabulary control.

Nothing but SharePoint.com

Featured SharePoint SiteAn awesome resource for everything SharePoint! This site is full of useful articles pinpointed to either End User, Developer or IT Pro. Well worth a look if you have 5 minutes during your next coffee break!

Editors Choice

DocRead : Policy Compliance for SharePoint

Ensure your 'must read/ legal compliance' documents reach the relevant employees and monitor the agreement/acceptance of policies with DocRead.

DocRead seamlessly integrates with SharePoint allowing you to choose which SharePoint Groups or Audiences to target your documents to. You get to determine how long users have to view, read and confirm their acceptance of the policy and track their progress via a reporting suite. Using the notification scheduler also allows you to send email reminders when items are assigned, completed or fall overdue.

Using 'Smart Move' - DocRead efficiently manages the distribution of the policy to users by tracking when they join (or leave) an audience (or group). It's ideal for distributing risk assessments, legal compliance documents, your onboarding process and removes the headache of ensuring that employees receive the correct essential policies or compliance documents when they move departments or when their circumstances change.

Download a free 30 day trial here or watch a short overview video here.

Best of Blogs

SharePoint Code Samples

Whilst full of Christmas spirit, our very own Mark Jones decided to start a series of SharePoint code samples all written in C#. He's created 7 so far, and promised to add more as and when time permits.

If you think your blogs are worthy of a mention, please let us know!

In brief

Other selected links

Cool Tool

ShareTask for IPad and IPhone 

ShareTask allows you to view, edit, delete your SharePoint Tasks from an IPad or IPhone. 

ShareTask takes the SharePoint username, password and list URL, stores them in a secure manner and displays the task items in a box {that is|which is} easy to browse and manage with a finger.

ShareTask supports phone rotation and entering from a keyboard. The app works with custom Task lists also, not only with the default SharePoint Task list. 

ShareTask costs just $2.99 If you want more information why not visit their website here.

LinkedIn the Spotlight

Shane Fischer

My name is Shane C Fischer and I work for the Terlato Wine Group as Manager of Business Applications. The Terlato Wine Group is a fine wine producer, importer, and marketer of fine, luxury, and signature wines from around the world. Some of our largest brands include Santa Margherita, Markham, Seven Daughters, Gaja, Chapoutier and many others.

A few years ago we upgraded our corporate intranet to Sharepoint Server 2007. There were two key goals for the upgrade. First we wanted to develop a functional intranet to assist the employees with their communication, collaboration, and other tasks. Second, and just as important, we wanted a corporate intranet that conveyed the same luxury feel that our wine products hold. The organization of the project used a core team concept with one or two representatives from every department. This was important to ensure that all voices were heard. In total approximately 18 people contributed to the effort. In the end we produced a high class, luxury site that provided a functional platform for the business and potential for future scalability and growth. If anyone is interested in screenshots of what we put together just let me know.

As the Manager of Business Applications at Terlato Wine Group I get to work with many different software platforms. Sharepoint is one of my favorite. Over the years we’ve expanded our use of the system to include InfoPath forms and workflows, and project management sites. In the future we plan on upgrading to the newest version to take advantage of all that the system has to offer.

Now for those who plan on hosting a holiday party over the next few weeks here is a critical wine tip to ensure your party goes over smashingly. Many wines are suggested to serve at “room temperature”. In modern times this is a bit of a misnomer. This does not mean the average 70 degree dining room temperature. This actually refers to “cellar room temperature” which is generally around 56 degrees. This is important because the warmer a wine gets the more the alcohol evaporates. This causes the scent and taste to be skewed from the intention of the wine maker. To ensure your wine smells and tastes its best cool it to about 56 degrees. If you don’t have a temperature controlled cooler or refrigerator it is best to purchase a fridge thermometer. This will let you know what temperature your wine is at when stored. After you pour the wine into the glass swirl it a bit. This will allow oxygen to release the scent and flavor. Check for hazy frosting of the glass after swirling. If you see this, then your wine is too cold. This will prevent the flavors from getting out. Hold the glass with your hand to warm it over time and continue to swirl. When all haziness and frosting is gone from the glass enjoy the fruits of your labor.

If you fancy a SharePint (or ShareWine ;)) then please check out some of these:

Top 5

Top 5 Collaborative Apps to Liven Up Your SharePoint Environment in 2012

William's blog gives you some ideas to get people off to an engaged and lively collaborative start to the year.

To read his full article follow the link here.

  1. News Channels to Watch and Engage In
  2. Workplace Concierge Community
  3. SharePoint Users Helping SharePoint Users Community
  4. What is Working? Communities, Challenges, or Contests
  5. Build-Our-Workplace Request Community

This top 5 list is provided, with thanks from William's blog at Corus works.

He builds on this original top 5 post with another article: Put a little Managed Work behind your Collaboration and Make Things Happen. where he posts : A good dose of lively, self-managed, engaged collaboration is fantastic and it will grow on people. And, if you prepare to drop a little Managed Work into the apps I mentioned you'll really get a boost.

For the diary

Want to know when the latest Newsletter is available?

The SharePoint Newsletter is published weekly, it contains featured blogs, members, products, services and events. If you are interested in receiving an email when it's ready subscribe here. Please note : We will not share or pass your details onto any third partes.



Help us

Help usWe strive for this newsletter to be the latest and greatest about SharePoint from those involved with our 'SharePoint 2007 & 2010' LinkedIn group. If you want to suggest content for any of our sections, please email us at info@collaboris.co.uk and we will do our very best to include it.

To join in with the discussions, why not visit the group on LinkedIn now?

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