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Use SharePoint for Enterprise Content ManagementFindability, taxonomies, and records management: It’s more expensive than you think.

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Introduction

IT managers in mid-sized organizations.

IT staff that need guidance in how to develop skills and competencies in SharePoint.

Those who are evaluating Microsoft SharePoint 2010 as a potential solution for ECM.

Understand how SharePoint is being used by your peers.

Build the business case for SharePoint.

Anticipate the potential costs of SharePoint.

Overcome some of the key limitations of SharePoint:

• Findability.

• Managed metadata.

• Records management.

Know and understand third-party solutions and if they should be used.

Understand what’s new for ECM in SharePoint 2013 and if/when you should upgrade.

This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:

If your organization is looking to implement SharePoint for

Collaboration, see Info-Tech’s: “Build

an Enterprise Social Collaboration Strategy

.”

SharePoint does ECM, but you must develop atypical IT competencies to be successful. It will likely cost you more than you think.

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Executive Summary

SharePoint is one of several solutions for Enterprise Content Management (ECM). If your organization is a Microsoft shop, uses .NET, and runs on SQL Server or Windows Server, SharePoint must be considered as an option; but it may not be the best one.

There are three versions of SharePoint:

◦ SharePoint Foundation

◦ SharePoint Server Standard

◦ SharePoint Server Enterprise

SharePoint Server Standard is necessary for full ECM. It will likely cost you more than you imagined.

SharePoint is a toolbox that can be built upon, and there are many third-party solutions that will make your SharePoint deployment complete if there are gaps in native functionality.

ECM requires a focus on competencies and internal disciplines, particularly, findability, managed metadata, and records management. Skill development is crucial.

SharePoint 2010 is Microsoft’s latest release and builds upon previous versions. It has improved many old functions and added new ones critical for indexing, enterprise search, and backup. The time to upgrade is in the near future.

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Ask: Am I reading the right material?

Develop a SharePoint Governance Strategy

SharePoint

Collaboration

ECM

Build an Enterprise Social Collaboration Strategy

Implement a Collaboration Platform

Develop an Enterprise Content Management Strategy

You are here:Use SharePoint for ECM

Info-Tech has many resources that address SharePoint use cases. Governance, Extension, and Collaboration are addressed in other solution sets.

Extend SharePoint to Overcome Key Challenges

Manage a SharePoint Customization & Development Team

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Determine if this research is appropriate for you

Read this research if:

You are an IT leader in a mid-sized enterprise exploring an ECM Strategy.• SharePoint often comes up in ECM conversations.

SharePoint isn’t the only option for ECM, but it’s crucial to know where it falls in the ECM landscape.

You are an IT leader that already has SharePoint and now wants to use it for ECM.• SharePoint is commonly used for informal document

control and collaboration. ECM presents a whole new challenge. You must understand what it will cost, what it can do, and what it can’t.

You are an IT manager and have been told you’re using SharePoint for ECM.• Anticipate your SharePoint challenges and prepare for

the impact the project will have on IT.

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SharePoint has become incredibly popular. Over 75% of Info-Tech clients use it. Their success in operation varies widely, and most of them use it for basic collaboration and content libraries.

Enterprise Content Management raises the bar for SharePoint. ECM is different from basic collaboration. It is mission critical for executing business processes .

Most enterprises struggle with SharePoint for ECM. It is difficult and surprisingly expensive.

Understand the costs of SharePoint and take a frank look at internal IT capabilities. If you have concerns, get a consultant. If you still want to use SharePoint, read this solution set. It will help you to:

• Understand SharePoint costs.

• Anticipate challenges.

• Prepare IT.

Alternatives might be in order

SharePoint isn’t the only option. Further information on vendors in the ECM space can be obtained from Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscapes Content Management for Knowledge Workers and Enterprise Content Management for Process Workers.

What you need to know: SharePoint for ECM is more difficult (and expensive) than most people expect

Read this set… or just let a consultant do the project for you.

SharePoint manifests in enterprises differently than other ECM platforms. IT leaders typically adopt SharePoint as part of a licensing or platform strategy. Traditional ECM appears with detailed RFPs, a flotilla of consultants, detailed implementation plans, and a large outlay of capital. This complexity encourages high-level commitment.

SharePoint might appear like a cheap-and-cheery ECM alternative. But without the commitment and investment, it often just whimpers and dies.

Don’t blame SharePoint for internal ECM failings!

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What’s in this Section: Sections:

Recognize that SharePoint dominates the market

Recognize that SharePoint Dominates the Market

Determine the Costs and capabilities of SharePoint for ECM

Address SharePoint’s findability limitations

Prepare for Records Management

Prepare IT for SharePoint and ECM

Understand what the future holds for SharePoint

• Know who is using SharePoint and why.

• Know the challenges of using SharePoint for ECM.

• Discover the most used features of SharePoint.

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Where We Are:

Microsoft has demonstrated that it has learned from previous iterations of SharePoint. Improvements have been made in SharePoint 2010 that extend usability and functionality.

The Reason:

SharePoint 2010 has improved functionality over previous releases, particularly for administrative tasks. It is becoming much more mature as a platform and is a threat to the market for administrative add-ons. It has also begun encroaching into the records managements area, where previous versions have failed.

The Result:

Info-Tech predicts that by the end of 2013, 85% of SharePoint implementations will have moved to SharePoint 2010.

SharePoint 2010 can finally deliver true ECM functionality!

SharePoint for ECM is really SharePoint Sever (Standard or Enterprise); it is not SharePoint Foundation. Friends don’t let friends use SharePoint Foundation for ECM!

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SharePoint 2010 has improved drastically.

Web Content Management and Records Management require special consideration.

SharePoint 2010 is a great improvement over earlier versions. It is far easier to manage and enables a wider range of capabilities, particularly for collaboration.

The key enabling feature for ECM is the addition of managed metadata. This feature greatly improves the user experience and enables advanced workflows and content lifecycle.

Records Management and Web Content Management remain two areas where SharePoint remains limited. Administrators can still deliver tremendous technical capability but the out-of-the-box functionality requires extensive configuration.

In many cases, third-party SharePoint add-ons or even SharePoint alternatives are in order.

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Inserting Content

Privacy

Content Delivery

Developing Taxonomies

Archiving

Training Users

Records Management

0 5 10 15 20 25

8

12

14

18

18

19

21

Popular SharePoint uses map directly to common challenges

In a similar study published in 2011, AIIM found that the most used function of survey respondents was collaboration. Following in second was document management. See Using SharePoint for ECM: How well is it meeting expectations?

External Social

Records Management

Web Content Management

Internal Social

Document Management

Collaboration

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

7

17

20

20

34

35

Source: Info-Tech Research Group, Q1 2012.n=45

Prepare for the common ECM challenges: records management, training, and developing taxonomies.

How are you using SharePoint? What are your key challenges?

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Sometimes it’s best to leave it to a consultant

Ask yourself some important questions:

RequirementsWhat do we need SharePoint to

do for us?What business benefits can we

attain?

InfrastructureHow much hardware do we

need?Which version of SharePoint do

we require?Do we need any other Microsoft

products?Do we need any third-party

products?

OperationsHow do we build our managed

metadata?How do we train our users?How do we support our

infrastructure?

Can we determine…

Professional advice and consultation?

Someone to come in and do the project for us?

Can we afford…1 2

If you answered mostly “no” to , or “yes” to , then get a consultant to help!

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Despite what Info-Tech recommends, most people will at least initiate a SharePoint ECM project with limited outside assistance. Don’t say we didn’t warn you! Keep reading and prepare for the inevitable pain.

Info-Tech Insight

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