I’ll be speaking at SPTechCon in February!
Check out the lineup of other speakers too!
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Archive for the ‘SharePoint’ Category
#SP24 – The 24-hour online #SharePoint conference!
For 24 hours starting April 16, you will have no opportunity to sleep as 96 presenters, myself included, provide you with four tracks each with 24 one-hour SharePoint goodness.
I’ll once again be presenting Movin’ On Up – A SharePoint Migration Case Study. You may have already seen me present this in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, or online on SharePoint ShopTalk. But as the migration project is ongoing, I’ve learned new things, so there is a lot of new material that has been added since the earliest version of the presentation.
Here is my promo video for SP24:
Another thing that makes this session cool is that it will be pre-recorded, not live. (Half of the sessions will be pre-recorded, the other half will be live presentations.) So why is THAT cool? Because, while virtual me is talking about the migration plans, real-live me will be available to answer questions real-time. It will be like being in two places at once, getting twice as much done. Heck, it’s even better than having a clone, because you’d have to feed the clone!
If you aren’t one of the over 4000 people who have already signed up, you can do that here.
Did I mention that SP24 is FREE?!?!?
See you at SP24!
Been Busy, Getting Busier – Houston, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Upgrade!
I’ve been pretty busy, learning the ropes at my new employer, finishing my book, and preparing yet again for a migration from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2013.
It is that last one that is making me even more busy.
I’ll be in Houston on February 19 at the Houston SharePoint User Group giving an updated version of my talk, Movin’ On Up – A SharePoint 2013 Migration Case Study. In Houston? Sign up HERE.
The following week, I’ll be in San Antonio for the San Antonio SharePoint User Group to do it again. In San Antonio on the 25th? Sign up HERE.
The week after that is the SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas. If you’ll be there, let me know and I’d love to meet up with you!
And the week after that, we roll out SharePoint 2013 to the users here at Dynamic Systems.
And after that? Publication of my book.
Yikes!
Speaking, Other Events, and a Little Housekeeping
I wanted to let everyone know about upcoming events and apologize for being so silent for a while around here.
There is a reason for this (and I’ll share a secret about it after the cut), but first I want to give you a look at the things I have coming up.
- Innotech Austin, Wednesday October 16
- SharePoint Shop Talk, Thursday October 17
- American Heart Association Austin Heart Walk 2013, Saturday October 19
- SharePoint Saturday Dallas, Saturday November 2
Details and a secret shared after the cut… (more…)
Movin’ On Up – A SharePoint 2013 Migration Case Study
I recently had an opportunity to lead an effort to create an upgrade plan for a company that was on SharePoint 2007 and wanted to take advantage of the features of SharePoint 2013.
Last night, at the Austin SharePoint User Group meeting, I presented an overview of the process of creating the plan, as well as a look at some of the plan documents – the proposed project schedule, recommended security options, system and information architecture recommendations, and lists of decisions the governance committee and other stakeholders would need to make.
The presentation went very well, particularly because the audience of about 30 had excellent questions during and after the presentation, which led to some lively discussion.
The Title
Movin’ On Up came from the theme song from the television show The Jeffersons. The 1970’s situation comedy was about an affluent Black family who moved into a more upper-class neighborhood than they had been living in previously. Much of the show revolved around characters not really knowing how to deal with their new neighbors. They were used to things being a certain way, and were uncomfortable adapting to the changes introduced by the Jeffersons’ newfound upward mobility.
Similarly, I felt that the client was going to have some discomfort during the upgrade process, as the users got used to new ways of doing things, and dealing with change. Consequently, a significant portion of the middle of the presentation is a rough draft of a presentation for the kickoff meeting with the stakeholders, to get them onboard with the upgrade plans and invested in its success.
The Presentation
If you have any questions or comments, ask in the comments below!
Upcoming Presentations
I have two upcoming presentations in Austin.
On August 14th, I will be presenting Movin’ On Up – A SharePoint 2013 Migration Case Study at the Austin SharePoint User Group
Zachry’s SharePoint environment is a lot like many others – invested in a customized SharePoint 2007 implementation, and was never quite ready to implement 2010.
In the meantime, some content was put on SharePoint Online to address external collaboration needs, and a pilot SharePoint 2010 implementation became the official records center. Business users needed more relevant search results, content databases had grown uncomfortably large, and access controls had become spaghetti. Fortunately, site sprawl wasn’t too bad… except the reason for that was low adoption.
SharePoint 2013 arrived to a perfect storm – business and technology needs to be addressed, content that needs to be brought back in-house, and user adoption that needs to be improved. Time to upgrade!
See how Zachry approached the upgrade, the issues than needed to be addressed, and the questions that needed to be answered.
Wednesday October 16th at Innotech Austin I will be presenting on at topic aimed at business users, TBD – I will either be running my SharePoint Group Therapy Governance Workshop, or I will be presenting a demo of BCS for Business Users.
I hope to see you there!
Speaking at SharePoint Saturday Houston – Group Therapy Returns!
A week to go until SharePoint Saturday Houston 2013, and I have been selected as a speaker!
Once again, I’ll be presenting SharePoint Group Therapy – A SharePoint Governance Workshop.
Bring your SharePoint governance issues and questions, we’ll work as a group to resolve your issues and help you gain control and drive user adoption.
Business alignment can be seen as the marriage of IT and business objectives. Every marriage has its rocky moments, and sometimes a therapist is needed to resolve those issues. Perhaps your marriage could benefit from a little SharePoint Group Therapy?
See you in Houston!
Quick Fix: “The document could not be opened for editing. A Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Compatible application could not be found to edit the document”
Problem:
A user tries to open an InfoPath form in the application instead of the browser, and get an error message:
The user can open the file in the browser just fine, and has been able to open the forms previously with no problem. User is able to download the form to their desktop and open the form in InfoPath. But when they try to open the form in the application from the context menu, the above error is shown.
In researching the error, I found a support posting that provided a clue to the problem. In it, the user is instructed to enable Add Ons in their Internet Explorer:
- Go to Tools in IE, click Internet Options
- Click Programs at the top
- Click “Manage add-ons” near the bottom
- Click Publisher, then you can see all of Microsoft Corporation together
- Scroll to SharePoint names (May be one or several)
- Make sure they are all enabled by clicking on the name; the Enable button is towards the bottom.
- Then click OK and OK and restart IE
Can you guess what the problem was?
(more…)
Favorite SharePoint Feature This Week: “Manage files which have no checked in version”
This is one that will come in very handy if you have users who upload documents via Explorer, but you have required metadata in the library.
That never happens in environments I work in.
In each library, there is a link under Permissions and Management in the Document Library Settings, “Manage files which have no checked in version” (In SP2007, the link is ‘Manage checked out files’.)
(more…)
Get More from SPD Workflows – #spsatx 2013
Slides from my Lightning Talk at SharePoint Saturday Austin March 2, 2013.
Last year I learned to dislike slides, but I wanted to have the information in a format that attendees could refer back to, especially since I had to cover so much ground in so short a time.
Why do I dislike slides?
(more…)
Quick Fix: Anonymous Login Error
SharePoint 2010 web server, on Windows 2008 R2. An error message appears in the server Application event log:
Source: SharePoint Foundation
EventID: 3351
Level: Critical
Error:
SQL database login for ‘SharePoint_ConfigDB’ on instance DATABASENAME failed. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.
Login failed for user ‘NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON’.
Error message repeated once a minute.
Solution:
After rebooting the server, the error went away.
I’d love to be able to explain this, or say the discovery of the solution was a result of my genius. Sadly, no. After several days deep-diving the logs and exploring the breadth and depth of the blogosphere to no avail, temporarily disabling various timer jobs that appeared in the logs just prior to the error message, and chasing dead ends, it was a power outage and a failure of the backup power supply which forced the server to be restarted and made the error disappear.
Warning: PowerShell Won’t Throw An Error When You Are About to Kill Your Web Application
Here is a little gotcha that PowerShell and SharePoint hit me with.
PowerShell will not return an error when you assign a user account to a SharePoint web application if the user does not exist or has been entered incorrectly. However, after an IIS reset, your SharePoint site fails and returns an error.
Symptom: SharePoint will not serve any content when you browse a site. Instead, the site displays the following error:
Error: The user does not exist or is not unique.
Background:
Warning messages appeared in the server logs indicating that the web cache is not configured correctly: (more…)
Quick Fix – Where’s My “Allow users to edit data in this field” Option?
In InfoPath 2010, when adding a form field to be available as a column on the SharePoint form library (File >> Advanced Form Options >> Property Promotion >> Add), the option to make the field editable from the library is missing. Instead of a checkbox with the message “Allow users to edit data in this field by using a datasheet or properties page”, there is a message “Some options are hidden when publishing to SharePoint Portal Server 2003.”
The solution is pretty simple. Re-publish the form (File >> Publish >> SharePoint Server (Publish form to a SharePoint library). Do not use Quick Publish!). As you go through the Publishing wizard, keep the selections the same to update your published file. The fourth screen will look identical to the Property Promotion dialog, but when you click Add (or Modify), the option to “Allow users to edit data in this field by using a datasheet or properties page” will be there.
SharePoint Saturday San Antonio 2012
I have been busier of late than I could have imagined, so there has been a distinct lack of updates around here. But I did want to let you know that I will be speaking at SharePoint Saturday San Antonio this weekend, presenting SharePoint Group Therapy (A SharePoint Governance Workshop). This is the fourth time I’ve run this session – I’ve done it at SharePoint Satuday in Austin and Houston this year, as well as on SharePoint ShopTalk.
As in Houston, my session is right after lunch, so my challenge will be keep everyone awake. Since the session is interactive, that shouldn’t be a problem!
See you in San Antonio!
File Too Large? Not So Fast…
When bulk uploading a large number of documents into SharePoint 2010, a user ran into an unexpected error.
But the maximum file size had not been changed from the default, 50 MB. (See the file size in the error message? Less than 10 MB.) What is up with that? (more…)
Quick Fix: User With Contribute Permissions Can’t Upload .swf to SharePoint 2010?
When a user with contribute permissions tries to upload a .swf file to SharePoint 2010 library, they get the following error message after the upload appears to complete:
There is a list of file types, including shockwave files, that users with Contribute permissions cannot submit to SharePoint libraries. In order to be able to submit these files to libraries, the user has to have higher-level permissions (like Design). But these files are not in the blocked file types list found in Central Administration (http://YourCentralAdminURL/_admin/BlockedFileType.aspx). What gives?
I provide the answer and a PowerShell script to solve the problem. (more…)
Join the Conversation!
I’ve been invited to participate as a panelist on SharePoint ShopTalk, a live, weekly interactive online discussion about all things SharePoint. Most of the panelists are MVPs, people I respect greatly, so I take it as a great honor to be invited to join the panel.
Come join the conversation every Thursday, from 12:30pm – 1:30pm EST.
You can also follow @SPShopTalk and join the Linkedin group.
I’ll be facilitating SharePoint Group Therapy on June 28th, and I’ll be available on the panel to answer questions as often as possible.
New Post at SharePointTherapist.com!
I started SharePointTherapist.com at the end of January with a lot of fanfare and enthusiasm, and then life pulled me in other directions for a while. Now I’ve finally posted the next question, “How do we get started with SharePoint governance?”
Head on over to SharePointTherapist and give it a read, then weigh in with your opinion in the comments!
Quick Fix: Undeclared
We’re in the process of setting up a Records Center for the organization’s records, and we’ve been doing some testing to try things out and develop the procedures for our users.
When it came time to do some clean-up of the test documents, we ran into a hitch.
I wasn’t allowed to delete the test documents because they had been declared records (which is a good thing – you generally don’t want people deleting records), but I also wasn’t given the option to undeclare a record in the Compliance Details so that I could delete the item, which I should have been able to do.
A quick check yielded this helpful thread, but it still did not allow me to undeclare the record. The library was indeed set to “Automatically declare items as records when they are added to this list” (the desired behavior that was part of what we were testing), but unchecking the box did not resolve the issue.
Records settings on the library set to "Automatically declare items as records when they are added to this list."
So I went back to the Records Declaration settings to see what else I could change, and found this:
After unchecking the box and clicking OK, this is what the settings looked like.
Note that the Manual Record Declaration Availability is set to “Never allow the manual declaration of records”. After changing the setting to “Always allow the manual declaration of records”, the option to undeclare the record returned.
“Never allow the manual declaration of records” should actually read “Never allow the manual declaration OR UNDECLARATION of records”.
UPDATE: I posted this pretty quickly yesterday, and on some further thought this morning I also realized this: The first option on the Manual Record Declaration Availability is:
Use the site collection default setting:
Allow the manual declaration of records
This means to let the site collection setting determine whether or not manual declaration of records was allowed. Well, suppose the site collection default setting was “Never allow the manual declaration of records”. The result would be the same as having that set on the library itself.
So, final word: Uncheck “Automatically declare items as records when they are added to this list” AND make sure that “Allow the manual declaration of records” is selected.
Autonumbering Event Handler
Earlier this month I finally got around to a follow-up post on the subject of custom auto-incremented IDs, with detailed screenshots and instructions for setting up an SPD workflow to provide an automated custom numbering scheme from an earlier post. That earlier post focused more on the calculated column code to generate the number pattern that met the requirements I had been given.
One of the reader comments on the first post mentioned that an event handler would be a more efficient way to handle the requirement. At the time that I created the solution, the idea was to create something user-servicable, and the lists involved were not expected to handle a large volume of new documents, so an event handler wasn’t the right solution at that time for that particular project.
I responded about the requirements, and no sooner had the response to the comment left my keyboard… Well, OK, not quite that immediately, but surprisingly close on the heels of that, came a new requirement for a much more ambitious project, for which a more robust solution was required. Enter the event receiver.
(more…)
Living Under A Rock?
If so (or if you aren’t currently deeply integrated into the SharePoint community), you haven’t heard SharePoint 2013 (aka SharePoint 15) is coming… (cue the theme from Jaws)
Microsoft has released preliminary documentation on Office 15 and SharePoint 15, and the analysis has begun.
I’m very pleased with the material coming out of Understanding SharePoint Journal. Bjørn Furuknap is doing a great job providing insight into the released documentation, and the two issues he’s released so far have helped me to better understand the released docs.
Based on the available information, it looks like we’ll see the beta versions of Office 15 and SharePoint 15 available in June of this year, with the release of the full versions in time for the SharePoint Conference in November (and this time, what happens in Vegas will certainly not stay in Vegas!).
If you are interested in learning more, I highly recommend the USPJ series (and it’s only $15!) to help you understand what is on the horizon for SharePoint.
I’m excited!
In compliance with my policy, the endorsement of the USPJ series on SP2013 is based solely on personally finding value in the content. I have recieved no compensation for this endorsement.
Auto-Increment Workflow Screenshots
My most viewed post to date (it will hit 8,000 page views Wednesday), Add a Unique Auto-Incrementing Column to a SharePoint List, has generated a number of questions, including regarding specific steps for setting up the workflow.
Below you’ll find the (long promised) screenshots for the steps to build the list for auto-numbering solution and the workflow that goes with it.
Some quick information before I dive into the screenshots, a few words about unique IDs and the auto-numbering solution(s) I have created. (more…)
Announcing the Launch of SharePointTherapist.com!
This past weekend was SharePoint Saturday Austin for 2012, Austin’s first SharePoint Saturday.
There is no doubt there will be one for 2013, given that this was rated to be one of the best SharePoint Saturday events ever. Many thanks to Jim Bob and Matt who did a stellar job of putting together a real classy event and setting the bar for other events.
My part in this production went very well also. My session, SharePoint Group Therapy (A SharePoint Governance Workshop), while lightly attended (hey, I was up against Bill English, and if I hadn’t been speaking I would have been in his session too!) was highly regarded by the attendees present. So much so that I have decided to launch SharePointTherapist.com.
The idea is to replicate, as best as possible on the web, the collaborative environment of the workshop where anyone can bring their SharePoint issues and questions and get answers from myself and anyone else in the community who wants to participate. Unlike other existing venues, this will be focused around governance issues rather than technical ones.
So if you have problems in your current environment, fears about implementing governance, or fears about implementing SharePoint, bring them to the SharePoint Therapist.
I’m also planning on taking my session on the road to other SharePoint Saturdays and other SharePoint events.
The Voting Is Over, And The Winner Is…
With 10 days to go until SharePoint Saturday Austin, and the Central Texas SharePoint User Group meeting this evening, it is time to close the voting and announce the winner…
In November the speaker lineup for SharePoint Saturday Austin was announced, and I was fortunate enough to have made the cut. I had submitted two topic proposals, but there were som many great speakers that wanted to present at SharePoint Saturday Austin that each speaker was limited to a single presentation.
So I left it up to you, my readers, to decide which topic you would rather see.
The voting has been close, but one topic did finally pull ahead. So now here is the topic I will be presenting January 21 at SharePoint Saturday Austin:
SharePoint Group Therapy (A SharePoint Governance Workshop)
This session is intended for Business stakeholders and SharePoint administrators.
Do your users complain about the usability of your SharePoint? Do you suffer from site proliferation? Rights management issues? Content inaccuracy and staleness? Can you easily tell who owns the content of a particular site or list? Do you have rogue SharePoint servers in your environment? Is your SharePoint out of control?
Then you might benefit from SharePoint Group Therapy.
At the very least, this session will give you a free hour of group therapy, as you will have a chance to vent about your (SharePoint) problems in a roomful of sympathetic listeners.
I’ll play therapist and help move participants past their trauma and regain a sense of control through Governance.
This session is structured as a workshop, with participants interacting with each other in what should be a lively, opinionated discussion of what SharePoint Governance should be, and how it should work.
Since the goal of therapy is to actually make things better, you should bring your questions about SharePoint Governance and aligning your business objectives with SharePoint, and I’ll try to help you get answers.
- What problems are you having in your current environment?
- What fears do you have about implementing governance?
- What fears do you have about implementing SharePoint?
Participants should be prepared to share personal experiences with SharePoint governance and its absence. We’ll talk about roles and responsibilities, stakeholder involvement, and fitting your organizational culture. We’ll also talk about changing your organizational culture using both carrots and sticks – training, enforcement and business alignment.
Business alignment can be seen as the marriage of IT and business objectives. Every marriage has its rocky moments, and sometimes a therapist is needed to resolve those issues. Perhaps your marriage could benefit from a little SharePoint Group Therapy?
So there you have it. Thanks to everyone for your input, and I’ll see you next Saturday!
The Migration Begins
Yikes! The time has finally come to migrate our stuff from SharePoint 2007 into the new SharePoint 2010.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
I’ve talked about how the existing environment was a mess. Rather than upgrade the mess, our strategic decision was to use a third-party migration product to copy the relevant portions of existing environment into the new, better-organized one, putting things where they out to belong.
While our content database isn’t particularly large, this isn’t going to happen overnight, or even over a weekend. There is an awful lot of mess to clean up.
So we are going to do it a baby step at a time. But that means there are tactical decisions that need to be made to allow the users to get their work done in the meantime…
User Friendly
Here is where the two paths meet.
As mentioned in the site description slug (under my picture to the right), in my guidance post, and in my Manifesto (of sorts) (and probably about a dozen other places on this blog), I am both a SharePoint administrator and a board member of a nonprofit that helps people become re-employed after losing their job. Some of my posts on this blog are about SharePoint, and some are about career management.
As part of my role in giving career management advice, I strongly encourage people to be involved with professional organizations, or to start one if there isn’t one in their area. As a SharePoint professional, I am a member of two area SharePoint user groups (one in Austin and one in San Antonio), as well as an attendee (and onetime board member) of other local technology organizations. I’ve helped organize events, I’ve given presentations, and just plain volunteered to help set up, clean up, or do whatever was needed. I also help other local organizations by promoting their meetings and events, even organizations whose technology focus is outside the range of my field. I’ve seen a number of ways that organizations meet the needs of the members of their communities.
What I’d like to do is get your input about what the organizations that you are involved in or know of do to support their professional communities (regardless of whether that community is technical or not). How is the group organized, what kinds of activities does it engage in, and what have you found to be the most effective of its activities?
SharePoint Saturday Austin – You Decide!
Yesterday I mentioned the possibility of speaking at SharePoint Saturday Austin. Not long after posting that, I got the official word that I was in!
So I’ll be presenting, but there is bad news too… I had two topics I wanted to present, but they had som many submissions that each speaker will only get one slot. The final decision of which presentation I’ll do has not been made, and I’m giving you a chance to help decide which one it will be! (more…)
SharePoint Saturday Austin – Bring the Team!
Finally, a SharePoint Saturday will be held in Austin.
San Antonio has had a couple, as has Dallas and Houston. Now Austin gets a chance to show off its SharePoint talent, and gets the chance to bring in a lot of well-known outside talent to spend the day talking SharePoint.
SharePoint Saturday, if you aren’t familiar with it, is a free all-day SharePoint conference and party. There will be many presentations, ranging from business user topics through administrator and developer topics. An idea for a C-level event for executives has been proposed. It really is an event for the whole team to learn more about SharePoint, and (more importantly) how to align SharePoint with your business goals by finding out what it can do, and helping you and your team get the tools and know-how to do it.
Saturday January 21, 2012, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, with a SharePint afterward!
Did I mention it was free? FREE!
SharePoint Saturday Austin website
Register here!
Post it to your LinkedIn Events (here’s why)
Oh yeah, in addition to nationally and internationally known SharePoint experts, we’re focusing on bringing local talent into the spotlight too! I’ve submitted two proposals for sessions, and there is still time for you to submit your proposal too! If you know something about SharePoint (especially case studies or business user topics on how to get the most out of SharePoint or some specific feature), be sure to get your proposal in soon! Visit the SharePoint Saturday Austin site for mor information!
(Don’t know what SharePoint is? First check this out, then come to SharePoint Saturday to learn more!)
Quick Fix – Check Multiple Documents In And Out From A #SharePoint Library
I got a question from a user about checking multiple documents in to a SharePoint library at the same time in our soon-to-be-replaced SharePoint 2007 environment.
If you click “Site Content and Structure” under Site Actions, then navigate to the library you are trying to manage, you should be able to select multiple documents and check them in or out.
Obviously, you need to have adequate permissions to get access to the “Site Content and Structure”.
The user did have the requisite permissions, but when she tried to check the documents in, nothing happened. Oh, SharePoint appeared to think about it for a bit, it returned no error messages, but the documents remained checked out.
To be specific, and perhaps you may begin to get a glimmering of where the problem was, the documents had been bulk copied into the document library from a file share, using “Open in Windows Explorer”.
It turns out, as you might suspect, that there were metadata fields in the library. Fields that were required. Fields that had no data, since the files were dragged and dropped.
The easiest way for the user to resolve this was to generate the metadata in a spreadsheet, open the library in the Datasheet view (“Edit in Datasheet”), and update the fields using copy-and-paste, then going back and bulk checking in the documents.
Working It Out 