SharePoint Consulting and Review of the Best SharePoint Consulting Companies

Article by The Revere Group

Introduction

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (SharePoint) has become an emerging technology for small to mid-size organizations. This is largely due to the low costs associated with implementing this rising technology coupled with SharePoint’s robust set of out-of-the-box functionality that facilitates business collaboration and resource sharing. Due to the many benefits that SharePoint offers, organizations are taking steps to join the intranet portal movement for the first time or making plans to move away from their current non-Microsoft intranet portal and implement SharePoint. This process, which may differ slightly from company to company, can be cumbersome and costly if proper SharePoint design is not considered. This document describes several areas of interest that should be considered if your organization plans to implement SharePoint Services as its corporate intranet portal.

The Problem

Organizations may consider migrating their current intranet portal to SharePoint for many different reasons such as user interface deficiencies, site navigation challenges, problems with searching content or document sharing to name a few. Regardless of the reason for migration, companies may perform the migration tasks somewhat haphazardly. This is normally a result of time constraints and the fact that their employees need to start using the SharePoint site to share information as quickly as possible.
Many organizations do not take the time to carefully consider how they would like to use SharePoint. It is often assumed that because there are many different ways to share information in SharePoint, the application itself will help alleviate certain business problems. In practice, however, organizations tend to categorize and store information in such a way that makes finding the information that is important to them very challenging. Additionally, many companies do not realize the full capability of SharePoint and therefore do not know the correct techniques that can be used to store and use information on the site. No two intranet portal technologies are architected the same way. Functionality that exists in one technology may not be available or work the same within another. Migrating from another portal to SharePoint is no different; hence the value of following a structured approach for design in order to maximize SharePoint’s potential.

Understanding SharePoint

So, the decision has been made to migrate your existing intranet portal information to SharePoint Services. What does the Windows SharePoint Services architecture offer that distinguishes it from other portal technologies? Windows SharePoint Services allows teams to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration, benefits that help increase individual and team productivity.
Below are a few benefits that SharePoint offers:

Browser based customization
Discussion boards
Document Libraries
Ships with Windows 2003 Server
Integration with Windows Active Directory
Microsoft .Net web part customization

A SharePoint site is organized in a hierarchical fashion. A top level site is used as the highest level site (default home page) under which sub sites may be created. Sub sites may also exist within other sub sites. Each site is created from a site template (several templates are shipped with SharePoint and others may be downloaded). SharePoint sites consist of several standard parts:

Quick Launch Menu
– hyperlink menu list used to navigate to specific site pages or content areas.
Tool Menu
– hyperlink menu list used to navigate to administrative options
Search box
– used when searching for information in a particular site
Web Parts
– page based applications and/or special purpose content areas such as events, discussions, document libraries, etc.

How SharePoint Design Solves the Problem

SharePoint sites can be customized in appearance, functionality, and user accessibility. Therefore, special consideration must be taken to ensure that the site design is aligned with the organization’s business processes. When migrating from an existing intranet portal, first consider how the organization uses the current portal. Does it serve as an online storage area for documents? Are users allowed to openly communicate with other users of the portal? Should multiple sites be created for each business unit within the organization to effectively organize or control access to the information? What kind of security is in place for the current portal? These types of questions will help formalize the structure and organization of the new SharePoint site. This information is most easily collected by devising a series of interviews with key intranet site users throughout the organization. Ask each user what his/her role is within the company and how they use the current intranet portal on a regular basis. Ask the user what they like and dislike about the site and what things they would like to see improved. Anonymous surveys may also be used to gather information if the user base is relatively large or located in different geographic areas. Upon collecting the survey information, organize your findings into a more formal requirements list. Include new requirements of the SharePoint site as well as current intranet portal functionality that will need to be migrated to the new site. Document the type of content and information that will need to be migrated such as users and user groups, documents, folders, images, and any other additional content. Categorize each required element to get a better understanding of the type of requirement it is, such as technical design, site navigation, custom development, migration, or user feature request. Review the consolidated requirements list with key users in the organization to make sure there are no oversights. This list will ultimately drive how the new site is created and how the site content is structured. Upon successful review of the requirements, create a document that addresses the following in high-level detail:

Recommended infrastructure and topology
- Server configuration for web server(s) and database server as well as the network topology.
SharePoint Site Architecture
- The hierarchy of the site and sub sites. Diagrams work well to serve as visual aid. Each site will branch from an existing site. Include why it is necessary to distribute site information into multiple sites.
User Security and Access
- List which security groups or user groups (cross-site groups) will be necessary to affectively manage users and access rights to content.
Menu options
- List the menu options that will appear on the main menu of each site such as calendars, documents, lists, discussions, surveys, etc.
Site Migration
- Document the different types of information that will be migrated from the existing intranet portal such as users, documents, content, links and lists, calendars, etc.
Site Organization
- Document how pages of the site will be organized such as the web parts that will be present on the home page of each site (including sub sites).

Review of the Best SharePoint Development Firms

Name	MindShift Technologies
Headquarter	Waltham, MA With Nationwide Presence and Services
Founding year	1999
Number of employees	375
Revenue	$60 million
Client reviews	Excellent (total 36 reviews)
Overview	MindShift technology receives the highest client ratings in SharePoint and managed IT services. MindShift technology, a leading managed service provider has a team of Microsoft SharePoint specialists available to assist clients with end- to-end development and implementation of a successful SharePoint solution. MindShift offers consulting and development services, and, optionally, can also host the SharePoint application in its world-class, SAS 70 Type II compliant data center. Invision is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with Advanced Infrastructure, Information Worker, and Custom Development competencies. MindShift SharePoint consulting and development services - available for both 2003 and 2007 editions - include: Organizational Study/Needs Analysis Microsoft Dynamics Integration Custom Web Part Development Infrastructure Analysis Web Site Integration/Development Workflow/Business Process Design Microsoft Dynamics Integration Dedicated Hosting and Co-location Network Infrastructure

Name	The Revere Group
Headquarter	Orlando, FL. With Nationwide Presence and Services
Founding year	1992
Number of employees	650
Revenue	$100 million
Sharepoint article user reviews	150
Overview	As a leading expert in the design, development and deployment of MOSS portal solutions, Revere has delivered MOSS portal technology to a variety of clients in industries such as Transportation/Logistics, Finance and Healthcare. Whether you are interested in learning more about the benefits of a properly implemented portal strategy, taking advantage of MOSS ‘out-of-the-box’ as a small pilot or across your entire enterprise, or using MOSS as an application development framework to craft custom solutions for your unique vision and needs, Revere can help you get the most out of your portal investment.

Name	Macadamian Technologies & Usability Design
Headquarter	Ottawa, Ontario With Nationwide Presence and Services
Founding year	1997
Number of employees	130
Revenue	$30 million
Client reviews	Excellent (total 3 reviews)
Overview	Macadamian Technologies & Usability Design is a newly registered service provider on RequestFill. Macadamian Technologies & Usability Design is among the first design & development companies to complete deep integrations of commercial products with Microsoft SharePoint. It's well known that developing products on SharePoint, or integrating an existing product with SharePoint is complex. Understanding how things like events or permissions are managed in SharePoint is complicated, and the documentation for developers who want to go deep under the covers in SharePoint is sparse. Macadamian Technologies & Usability Design has practical experience with the SharePoint Services SDK, and has dived deep into the inner workings of SharePoint. As a Microsoft Certified development firm, they've successfully completed a number of projects for software and technology companies, to tightly integrate their software products with SharePoint.

Name	Miles Technologies
Headquarter	Moorestown, NJ With Nationwide Presence and Services
Founding year	1997
Number of employees	125
Revenue	$12 million
Client reviews	Excellent (total 5 reviews)
Overview	Miles Technologies is a leading provider of technology-based business solutions for the small to medium-sized business market. Miles Technologies is unique in its broad range of service offerings and in its ability to provide comprehensive solutions that are customized for each customer’s individual needs. Recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in America, Miles Technologies provides a true synergy between business processes and technology. Miles Technologies is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with specialties in Networking Infrastructure and Custom Development. Its team constantly bring very latest technology solutions to their customers. Miles Technologies has delivered SharePoint technology to clients in a wide variety of industries. No matter what your goals are for using SharePoint, Miles Technologies can handle it all!