Best Practices for SharePoint security, privacy and compliance

Huge amount of content is being generated by organizations everyday and with cloud solutions, enterprise social collaboration as well as mobile access, new ways are being adopted by employees for information sharing. This is leading to continuous expansion of the ways of collaboration. Most organizations use Microsoft SharePoint as a corporate information hub with the content coming from external clients and partners as well as internal employees. This may result in risks entering the organization such as malware getting in to the enterprise, regulatory compliance issues cropping up as well as sensitive information getting exposed unintentionally. This makes it essential to secure the system properly so that you protect sensitive information from getting out. Here are some practices that help improve SharePoint security.

Assigning users to groups- This is a practice that should always be adopted. Through assignment to SharePoint groups, the capability of a particular user may be predicted without their security profile getting audited. While using Active Directory, hybrid should be used in conjunction and then SharePoint groups created. AD groups should then be assigned to the apt group.

Need-to-know assignments- People should only be assigned to sites where the access is mandatory. Only if somebody can demonstrate the need for accessing a site, then they must be assigned to a group which is associated with accessing the needed sites. In most scenarios, if the purpose behind a user’s presence in contributor groups cannot be justified, then they should not be allowed on the site in the first place.

Site inheritance should not be broken at object level- There can be a lot of frustration as well as confusion if permissions are broken at the object level. A user should be assigned to proper security group; then they must be left alone. If the list or library contains sensitive data then a child site must be created and accordingly group permissions assigned.

Refrain from assigning document level permissions as far as possible- Assignment of permissions at the very document level can turn out to be a maintenance nightmare. If the need arises, then additional sites or libraries must be created before breaking a list or library’s security. Permissions may be broken but it may turn out to be a fatal decision.

Monitoring content- You should monitor the content both on schedule as well as in real time by using automated processes that are rule-based, in a way that will provide protection to the information in a systematic way. The content must also be classified by the use of related metadata where metadata may be added by the authors but the controls of allowing user’s classification being overridden, is with the system.

Audits and scans- To check the level of compliance, ongoing audits must be performed as well as scheduled scans run regularly for SharePoint sites.

Risk evaluation- Risk must be evaluated according to the organization’s logic for providing multiple perspectives related to potential risk to data transport as well as delivery.

Measuring progress- Over time, progress must be measured so that priority is demonstrated, along with the triumphs of compliance initiatives; accordingly modifications should be made wherever necessary.

Prioritizing areas for improvement- Areas that need improvement must be prioritized and accordingly concerns as well as issues should be addressed. For that you should work in close association with content authors as well as stakeholders.

Linking compliance improvements- Compliance improvements must be linked to migration programs. For example, before migrating to SharePoint, scan data should be run on file shares. It should also be remembered that new initiatives need compliance.

Implementation of proper monitoring ensures that your information stays safe. However, the security problem is not simply a SharePoint-specific problem and may be said to be a universal problem for all content, no matter where it resides. But proper planning along with the correct technology may help you address this concern.

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Business Value and SharePoint

Most organizations adopt new technology platforms only after evaluating their business value. Many reports have highlighted how an organization can avail several benefits by creating a well-designed intranet solution using SharePoint 2013. But the design and implementation of the intranet solution need to be customized according to the organization’s specific business needs and objectives. At the same time, the business as well as technology departments must understand the full capabilities of the web application development platform from Microsoft to get higher ROI by optimizing content and document management through a customized intranet solution.

Driving Business Value with SharePoint 2013

Create Intranets Accessible on Several Devices

The modern professionals use a variety of devices to access their corporate resources. In addition to desktops and laptops, users also access the document on smartphones and tablets. So the intranet must be scalable enough to allow employees to access documents on devices of their choice. SharePoint 2013 allows organizations to create customized and scalable intranets that allow their employees to access the information on any device. Further, the platform is compatible with major operating systems and web browsers.

Bring the Distributed Teams Together
Nowadays, most professional service organizations work with remote teams. An organization can easily curtail overheads by working with teams located in different regions. But it must facilitate quick and interrupted communication between the members of the in-house and distributed team to carry out the business process without any hassle. SharePoint is widely used by enterprises to create secure and effective intranet solutions that can be accessed simultaneously by multiple users. The intranet will further acts as a central location where employees can access the required documents and information anytime and anywhere.

Share Internal Documents Securely with Various Stakeholders
Each enterprise also has to share internal documents with various stakeholders to facilitate the decision making process. Each stakeholder in a project must access the internal document immediately to facilitate key activities like project planning, resource sharing, documentation, collaboration and approvals sign off. The custom SharePoint solution provides a secure environment to modern businesses to share a variety of content with various stakeholders. In addition to members of a remote team, the solution can also be used by partners or clients to access the required information. The solution further help users in avoiding the complexity associated with document sharing.

Easy to Find the Required Information
Along with being secure, the SharePoint solution further makes it easier for the stakeholders to find the required information immediately. Microsoft has updated the web application development framework with both Bing and fast capabilities. These features enable end users to quickly find a specific document, along with reviewing the search results while initiating or after the search.

Realign Business Processes
The complex projects often require organizations to restructure and realign their business process. While realigning business processes, the strategy must be communicated to different departments in a detailed and unambiguous way. For instance, the details of a sales deal must be clearly conveyed to the sales, finance and project management departments. The native SharePoint applications make it easier for enterprises to realign key business processes. Each time a department initiates in change, it can submit the information into the system on a daily basis. The solution will further inform other stakeholders about the updates and changes by sending notifications. Thus, business process realignment can be done smoothly without affecting the core activities of an organization.

Microsoft has further released SharePoint 2013 with a set of new features to deliver enhanced business value. The business and technology departments of an organization must avail these capabilities to create customized and scalable technology solution that complements their needs and objectives.

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10 Tips for Making Your SharePoint Project a Success

While SharePoint, as an advanced web application development platform, has become widely used for its many benefits, several organizations fail to emerge successful with a SharePoint project. So, prior to looking into the tips on making SharePoint project a success, here is what one should avoid doing at the time of implementation of SP.

Mistakes to Avoid in SP Project Implementation

• Trying to accomplish too many tasks within very less time is one of the common mistakes committed by enterprises. It needs to be realized by the stakeholders as well that the specific needs will be catered to and fulfilled in future if not right now.
• Point searching several websites that are quite large is a mistake for the reason that there is no possible way of limiting the volume of data in the search catalogs of SP. As a result, SP will simply index numerous pages while also bringing the server down.
• The attempt at doing everything including delivering projects in house leads to a failed outcome. Unless the enterprise has quite a large team, emerging successful with a SharePoint project is but a rare possibility.
• Allowing any one individual to exercise complete control of permissions is a blunder. This is because users with full permission can take certain wrong steps such as adding a lot of content, deleting sites, giving inappropriate permissions and so on.

Tips on Enjoying a Successful SharePoint Project

Once you are aware of the things to be avoided, it is time to concentrate on few tips or strategies, applying which paves the way for an effective SharePoint project. Here is a list of these:

1. Making Use of Standard Functionality

Configuration is always preferred over coding. SharePoint is immensely powerful and mistaking it for just a .NET application should be avoided. As such, spending on other resources instead of spending too much on coding makes it easier to support as well as upgrade the site.

2. Understanding the Technology

Understanding SharePoint thoroughly is essential in the very first place. One should gain the basic knowledge of SP in order to be able to not just deploy it in the desired manner but also encounter the issues, as and when they arise.

3. Empowering the Users and Delegates

When it comes to executing a SharePoint project with success, one must not be apprehensive of handing down the rights to create sites or author content and so on. Alongside, use of publishing control, version control along with workflows to adhere to quality and policy of the organization should also be facilitated.

4. Focusing on Simple Visual Designs

With respect to the SharePoint user interface, more emphasis should be laid on the functionality of the site instead of its looks. Let the designers know what matters most for a SharePoint site from the very beginning, as customizing it later might appear to be a rather tough task.

5. Never Planning for the End

This might appear to be rather tricky but it has to be remembered that a project in SP, unlike others, does not end but expands with the growth of the business. What is necessary is to take an interactive approach and let users understand as well as contribute to the process of repeating till the desired goal is achieved.

6. Managing Expectations Arising from Different Quarters

Every SP project will essentially begin with two figures set as goal, one of cost and the other of delivery date. One must always stay careful about managing the expectations of the senior managers by means of giving them high level costs as well as timescales.

7. Allowing the Permission Model to Stay Simple

The permission model, especially the structures, should be kept as simple as possible. Building complex structures implies managing too much in return of too less a value.

8. Choosing the Partner Carefully

It is more than necessary to have a partner, who understands both the technology as well as the NHS. Partners should be the ones you can trust no matter how much you test or challenge them. Mutual advice and cooperation paves the way for appreciable results.

9. Convince Even the Rather Stubborn Customers

The best way of engaging the stubborn customers are by considering and appreciating their requirements as well as ideas. It has to be remembered in this respect that the stubborn ones are also the most vocal ones and hence, they can turn out to be the real assets for an enterprise.

10. Be Ready to Take Risks

As the saying goes, 'No risk, no gain', it is always good to take risks than stay back in apprehension. Try out varying strategies and trust the users enough to gain the desired success in the usage of SharePoint.

Implementing the 10 points suggested above greatly amplifies the chances of getting successful with SharePoint application development, leading to the benefit of the enterprises.

We provide custom Sharepoint development services. If you would like to know more about the expertise of our SharePoint developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

The Importance of SharePoint Software Development in the Marketing Technology Today

Microsoft launched SharePoint in 2001 as a rapid web application development platform. But within a decade, it is being used by enterprises for various purposes. Many companies even use SharePoint to manage their content, documents and records. A number of survey results have further highlighted that the platform is being used widely by companies across the world to build intranet. The innovative features offered by SharePoint 2013 also make it easier for businesses to constantly collaborate and communicate with both external parties and internal departments.

The quick and hassle-free sharing of documents, images and content further helps the marketing teams in boosting sales, and beating competition. At the same time, an enterprise also has option to build a customized SharePoint intranet site to enable members of its sales teams to access the latest information, images and videos on the go. If you are yet to migrate to SharePoint 2013, it is time to understand the significance of the platform in latest marketing technologies.

Why Invest in SharePoint Intranet Solution for Your Marketing Team?

Hassle-Free Communication and Collaboration
The SharePoint intranet will allow you business to store marketing brochures and similar collateral in a PDF or Microsoft Word format. The data can further be tagged and classified according to your marketing strategy. So the members of your marketing team can access the most updated and relevant data without putting any extra time and effort. You can further use the versioning feature for documents to ensure that your employees are accessing the most updated version of marketing collaboration. The quick and hassle-free collaboration will contribute towards optimizing the performance of your sales team.

Better Control over Marketing Images
Most marketing campaigns, nowadays, use images to attract and engage the prospects. But each member of the sales team must know the approved marketing images. As SharePoint allows you to store the images at a centralized location, the library can be accessed by each employee, along with acting as an archive for old marketing images. The accessibility with further help you marketing department to exercise a greater control over the images that will be used as part of the ongoing marketing campaign.

Easy to Share New Marketing Videos
Similar to images, videos are also an integral part of marketing campaigns. Some of the video clips can be used to promote products or services offered by the company, whereas others will convey important information to the employees. SharePoint allows you to add new marketing videos by using the Media Web Part feature. You can simply post the latest video on the home page of the intranet, and the video clip will be accessible to all employees in an instant. The feature can also be used to display both audio and video clips on the various pages of the site.

Find Required Information Quickly
Microsoft has further designed the latest version of SharePoint with an advanced search center. The feature enables users to find the most relevant information on a topic in a simpler and faster way. The search results will be displayed according to the relevance of words in the search term entered by the user. Further, the search center is designed with a refinement pant that allows users to restrict the search results by choosing from the links appearing in the panel. At the same time, SharePoint further enables enterprises to promote the expected results through features like Keywords and Best Bets. These features will help you in allowing sales team members to access the most relevant information according to their individual contribution and expertise.

SharePoint 2013 also comes with a set of innovative features that enable the members of a distributed sales team to stay connected with each other. The members of your marketing team can use the instant messaging and online chat option to find the members of their group who are currently online. So they can discuss various aspects of a sales deal in an instant.

Custom SharePoint development teams can help you build projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide SharePoint bespoke development services. If you would like to know more about the expertise of our SharePoint developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

How To Control App Token Lifetimes in SharePoint 2013?

SharePoint has emerged to be one of the most beneficial web application development platforms these days. The newer versions of this platform have turned out to be of immense use for the business enterprises as, they assist in the successful accomplishment of several tasks and necessitate much less time and efforts. Now, developers are trying out more innovative ways of exploiting SharePoint so as to derive the maximum advantages out of this already useful platform. Controlling the app token lifetimes in SP 2013 is one area of concern that is emphasized upon to a significant extent.

The first question that arises in this regard is where one can control the app token lifetimes. However, when considered on a broader platform, it will be seen that the place of control is actually not so significant and that a highly advanced app like TokenHelper can be of substantial help. There are around one or two JWT tokens that are created if one goes by the IssueToken method. It is usually one when the app only token is being used and two tokens for the application and the current user. However, in both the events, the JsonWebSecurityToken is created and the parameter that is used to create the same determines as to how long it is valid.

It is for the app token that the TokenHelper makes use of a constant, which is known as TokenLifeTimeMinutes. By default, this constant has a value of 1,000,000, which leaves no scope of worrying except in cases where one wants to limit it. Now, for the user token, the constant is hard- coded by default for making use of a lifetime of 10 minutes. The values can be found as well as changed into whatever you want just with a little drilling into the IssueToken method.

With a deeper look into the code, it can be seen that the TokenHelper incorporates a delegate that is invoked in what is known as the GetClientContextWithAccessToken method. This method plays the important role in adding a bearer token to any particular request that comes into the SharePoint from the particular app of the user.

Now, if the user sets a breakpoint on that specific line of code and eventually step through the request from the app, none of the token 'setup' functions creating the ClientContext will be resulting in an HTTP call. At this point, the ExecuteQuery method has to be called on the ClientContext object. The request goes over the wire, the delegate fires and finally, the token is added to the request. While one can cache the access token obtained in the high trust app, there may not always be a justified reason behind doing so.

On the other hand, caching the app tokens is beneficial only at the time of using the relatively low trust apps. When such is the case, one has to save one or more trips to ACS for the purpose of accessing token at the time of caching them. In events where there are multiple users or several requests, the process helps. The only thing that one needs to be aware of in this regard is the right ways of caching the tokens for the low trust apps.

This is just a brief overview of the overall process of controlling application lifetimes in SharePoint 2013 along with a discussion about the use and benefits of the high trust as well as the low trust apps. However, it is a task that needs to be taken up by only the experts and pros in the field, who are aware of the processes and can therefore, adept in handling the same to produce faster results in less time.

You can hire developers from top SharePoint development companies in India who can help you build products within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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Tips for Effective Migration to SharePoint 2013

In the recent times, with Microsoft launching SharePoint 2013, a large number of businesses are considering migration to this new edition to enhance their business processes. In fact, this new version of SharePoint is anticipated to revolutionize the way in which companies are building links amongst their knowledge workers, business processes as well as business-related content worldwide. This platform includes novel features such as enhanced document management capabilities with respect to sharing and contributing content, enhanced social features along with a renewed search experience. SharePoint 2013 is speedily positioning itself as one of the much sought after technology for the introduction of crucial organizational initiatives in the areas of social collaboration, enterprise content management and web content management.

The advanced features of Sharepoint make it vital for organizations to take certain points into consideration prior to adopting this latest platform. Let us discuss some of the guidelines that should be followed in order to achieve effective migration to SharePoint 2013.

1. Take care of hardware requirements: In case of SharePoint 2013 servers, minimum of 8 GB RAM and four 64-bit cores is needed for small environments while medium environments require 16 GB RAM. For every server operating in SharePoint 2013, location within a single data center is essential.

2. Operating system requisites: The ideal operating system incorporates 64-bit edition, R2 SP1 Windows Server 2008. The 2012 Windows Server operating system can also be utilized. You must consider migration to 64-bit servers before any other upgrade or migration.

3. Decide upon the destination before starting off: Doing this gives you a clear-cut idea of where you are heading to and this allows you to go for proper channelization of the resources at hand. For example, if you are using SQL 2012, use Windows 2012 along with an Office Web Application Server.

4. Divide current customizations into categories: It is advisable to categorize the customizations into three categories. The first category constitutes items such as custom authentication provider that would stop the project. You need to have solutions for this, or else the migration would not be a success. The second category comprises items that would not put a halt to the project but are required to be completed. It is good to address them once the migration is completed. Items that need to be eliminated make up the third category.

5. Realize environmental alterations: When you are deciding to go for Windows 2012, the environmental change that takes place needs to be taken into consideration. The SMTP server role has been deprecated by Windows 2012 and depending on the information, decision needs to be taken as to whether to use a more intricate configuration or go for installation of the deprecated feature.

6. Get every migration step scripted: This task involves restructuring site hierarchy, mounting content databases.

7. Conduct dry runs: While performing dry runs, you must follow a sequential guide. Through the dry runs, it is quite convenient to identify the disk space and timing requirements.

8. Go for proper space and time planning: Once the disk space and the upgrade time required are identified depending upon the dry runs, you can take necessary action. For instance, by adjusting the SQL server memory, the time for mounting as well as upgrading SharePoint can be decreased.

9. Follow dry runs with test: The only thing that separates a live run from a dry run is that the data is not updated, hence the end result should simulate the live migration. Taking this into account, through utilization of an alternate access mapping, it can be opened up to selected end users for testing, in order to validate the overall usability and the basic functionality.

10. Set up destination environment: It is advisable to configure and prepare to the maximum extent prior to migration. Once the configuration of the environment is done, the same will ensure smoother migration.

The above mentioned tips would go a long way in helping you plan your SharePoint 2013 migration. They will definitely help you enhance the overall efficiency of your SharePoint application development team.

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Migrate a SharePoint Team Wiki to an Enterprise Wiki

An Enterprise Wiki (EW) refers to a publishing site that offers updating and sharing huge volumes of information within an organization. In case an organization requires a centralized, large knowledge repository which is designed to both share as well as store information over an organizational scale, the use of EW can be considered. They make use of the Enterprise Wiki site template, developed over the publishing infrastructure of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. This particular infrastructure makes room for a number of means for controlling content. For instance, permissions can be assigned or workflows may be used for establishment of an approval procedure.

The EW Site template can be leveraged for the creation of sub-sites or site collections. The site created through this template is focused on the content. The “Pages” Library is the main component of the site. Again, there is the “Wiki Page Library” list template. It has the potential to host wiki pages and can be utilized to create various kinds of sites. In fact, Wiki Library list template serves as the default pages library for the “Team Site” template.

Planning for an Enterprise Wiki

Before implementation of an EW, the concerned organization must determine whether it is the right solution. It is a perfect solution when the business is in need of manifold users for contribution to the knowledge repository. But in case a means to establish one-to-many communication regarding an area of interest or a project is required, a Team Site should be preferably used.

While deciding whether to go for it, the following things should be considered: 

• Purpose to be served: It should have a clear-cut purpose. For instance, a particular business goal can be addressed or it can be a centralized knowledge body regarding particular business problems, processes or topics. The aim is to offer a space wherein members belonging to a virtual community can remove, change or create content, including content created by previous authors. However, in case you need to have a knowledge exchange means that is more structured where one-to-many communication is mostly used, a blog or a team site comprising Web Edit facility can be used.
• Number of users who would be contributing: A number of factors influence this decision. These are- whether there is potential to support enhanced growth coupled with the need for enhanced server and network capacity, whether legal consideration regarding contribution are there, whether key contributors from each business area should be determined.
• Control of EW access: Ideally, each member of the organization should have access to update, edit or contribute content. In case there is the need for information separation with respect to groups, blog or team site with Web edit can be used.
• Implementation of control over content: Blogs are designed in order to provide structured knowledge exchange while a wiki makes room for informal contributions. However, there are requirements and guidelines with respect to an organization for handling of particular content regarding specific subjects. Addressing inaccurate or inappropriate entries can also be considered.

Before creation of an Enterprise Wiki, the following tasks must be completed: 

• In order to provide storage for notes and social tags, a Managed Metadata serve application should be created.
• For the management of the site collection wherein the EW is located, administrator permission pertaining to site collections must be there.
• A User Profile Service Application must be developed in case the EW is intended to be used with My Sites.

Migration of Wiki Library

The following methods may be followed for migration: 

• The Enterprise Wiki may be linked to the existing Wiki library without moving the same. In this case, navigation must be well structured.
• This involves linking to the existing Wiki Library. Here, the entire library is moved or copied to the EW site. This facilitates links to other pages and lists because they belong to the same site always.
• Old wiki pages can be migrated into new EW Pages. This implies copying the wiki page content within the “Page Content” field. This can be manually done but may take a long period of time.
• Migrating to Enterprise Wiki may indeed prove beneficial for your organization. The steps should be carefully followed and it should be properly done to ensure maximum success.

We provide custom sharepoint development services. In addition we can assist you in migration to and from Sharepoint. If you would like to speak to one of our certified sharepoint programmers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Receiving More from SharePoint Deployment – Top 10 Approaches

SharePoint is a powerful and robust tool that has gained a good niche in the industry. Proper deployment of this particular tool helps resolving a number of cases for organizations. The tool features Enterprise level functionality that can easily be deployed for gaining effective solutions for improved collaboration, search, workflow, business intelligence, document management, etc.

However, it is to be noted that deploying such a level of authoritative solution, maintaining little thought and effort on its consumption, management, and development can lead to poor adoption. Well, to achieve success, you must focus on aspects adapting to which at the organization level can lead to increased user acceptance and better growth. Of course, the technical traits need to follow the organizational aspects.

Deploying SharePoint – Top Tips to Follow

Deploying SharePoint for better success often turns out to be an important task and hence, requires proper planning. Following some of the best practices of successful deployment, ensure that you do away with the common problems that tend to arise with SharePoint. Here is a look at the top tips that you must always adhere to in the process:

1. Develop a Proper Plan: A clear and concise strategy is a must for ensuring successful SharePoint deployment. Whether it is for improved internal collaboration, proper document management, or effective mobile functionality, a strategy helps determining the setup and installation process of the same. Additionally, it also helps estimating the time that the deployment might take and the way you would like to introduce the software to your staff. The planning process must follow the installation of the tool and extend post the installation as well.

2. Configure the tool: Once, you get accustomed to SharePoint in terms of what make the tool useful to businesses worldwide and its capability to customize to specific business needs and interests, you must follow the planning stage with configuration aspect. From offering an access of some particular documents to a specific staff group to analyzing the benefits that deployment of this tool can have on your business, this stage is for all such considerations. Additionally, you might also like rolling out mobile access for your staff enabling the feature of work on the go.

3. Maintain the deployment throughout: Well, when it comes to getting more from your SharePoint deployment, you must remember that the process does not end with installation of the tool. It is important to update the same for a smooth and secured operation. The administrators must avoid loss of any data. Additionally, the servers and databases must also be checked regularly for preserving them in good condition.

4. Formation of a committee also helps: Forming a SharePoint committee within your company or business for better management and monitoring of the same is essential. It is advisable to form the committee with administrators from various departments of your organization. The next step obviously includes creating a forum, as it would help communicate on the development aspect and share thoughts on the next proposed direction. The forum would also let you share rules and templates alongside managing requests efficiently.

5. Focus on the prerequisites: The servers of SharePoint come with few prerequisites, which must be installed essentially for a better deployment of the tool. These essentials include the Sync Framework Runtime 1.0, Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0, and several other hotfixes. These can be easily installed through an Internet connection of the server.

6. Make the tool available for alternative access mapping: SharePoint holds the capability of providing separate URLs for accessing similar kind of site collection or a site. This is achieved through the feature named Alternate Access Mappings. When it is about making the tool function with reverse proxies, for example Forefront TMG or load balance, the AAMs work wonderfully.

7. Prepare a SharePoint support featuring add-ons from third party: Typical to Microsoft, SharePoint too features some strong and robust functionality and lack specific functionality in some areas. This is where support to third party must be accessible for benefitting through the deployment.

8. Obtain in front of Office 365: This particular application is certain to make SharePoint cost-effective and affordable. Additionally, the tool can also be easily implemented with the help of Office 365, which is sure to benefit the businesses largely.

9. Strive towards timely wins with collaboration and portal: Incorporating the high value workload and setting up operational stability, prior to moving onto risky and challenging applications also help in better deployment of SharePoint.

10. Planning must match the budget: If you want to receive the best from SharePoint deployment, the focus must lay on correlating the planning with the budget. Financial support for staff training, resources, and change management must match with the environment of Sharepoint.

Following the above-mentioned tips diligently will surely help you leverage the maximum benefits of SharePoint application development for your enterprise.

We provide sharepoint development services. If you would like to discuss with an certified sharepoint programmer from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

10 Must-Know Things about SharePoint 2013 for All IT Pros

The release of SharePoint 2013 has been considered a great launch from Microsoft’s closet. It is derived from the earlier editions of SharePoint launched in 2007 and subsequently in 2010 to offer better support for mobile users, big data and public-centric websites. Let us probe into some crucial aspects of this latest release of Microsoft that all IT professionals need to know.

What’s so stunning about SharePoint 2013?

• Enhanced branding for better web presence: Gone are the days when lots of time had to be spent brooding over confusing designer assets, complicated style sheets and complex packages. The process has now become much more convenient. Presently, any web designer having adequate skills in CSS, HTML and JavaScript will be able to brand a public-facing as well as internal SharePoint site within a short span of time. This in turn leads to the reduction of expense for internal support. Moreover, the utilization of SharePoint as a platform for public-centric websites becomes much more cost-effective.

• Improved hosting for public-facing websites: Previously, it was indeed difficult to host a public-facing website over the SharePoint 2007 platform. The same site could be hosted on SharePoint 2010 with more convenience and with the brilliant capabilities of SharePoint 2013, the process evolved significantly. The latest release incorporates the ability to dish out pages for a variety of devices such as tablets, mobile phones and so on. The latest version of SharePoint also includes a large number of features with respect to search engine optimization, such as friendly URLs, XML based sitemaps, SEO setting by a variety of site collections as well as robots.txt support in order to delineate areas outside the boundary of search engine crawlers.

• Augmented business intelligence: SharePoint 2010 started off with a brilliant platform for big data reports and business intelligence and the capabilities witnessed considerable expansion with the release of SharePoint 2013. Now, SharePoint is equipped with the tools to provide enhanced business analytics and insights. The assimilation between Excel and SharePoint has also become tighter. Moreover the latest version also comes with a potent PowerPivot program which allows you to work with a plethora of columns and rows directly within the memory. Again, features like Dashboard Designer, Visio Services and PerformancePoint Services all function in unison to present a handsome picture of business metrics and health.

• End-user training: The latest version of SharePoint is equipped with an innovative feature that enables a particular group of site collections to operate under the 2010 version during installation of SharePoint 2013 code. In other words, the SharePoint 2010 code is being run within the 2013 version, which facilitates compatibility maintenance and testing with all applications and custom codes built over SharePoint.

• Enhanced mobile support: As SharePoint sites were being utilized in different categories of businesses, the issue of poor SharePoint performance in mobile devices was something that Microsoft had to cope with, so far as the earlier editions are concerned. Presently, we have the HTML5 coded view alternatively called the “contemporary” view which is tailor-made to ensure rapid access across BlackBerry, Android, iPads, iPhones and Windows Phone devices. New support is also available for push notifications, therefore the 2013 version can conveniently reach out as well as push any message into the device depending upon a number of factors.

• Machine translation services: This is one of the most innovative features of SharePoint 2013, which performs content translation automatically. In case an individual or entity requires content to be translated over and over again into several languages, then this Machine Translation Service is of immense help to the content creators.

• Simplified licensing: This facilitates the accessibility of features that were earlier allowed only after payment of extra license fees. An important feature, Fast Search, was available at additional price with the 2010 version but now it is assimilated within the 2013 edition and comes at no extra fee or license.

• Cloud readiness: The 2013 version of SharePoint is developed to make room for cloud services. It can operate totally in the cloud by means of Office 365 and constitutes all the major aspects of SharePoint on-premises.

A couple of concerns about SharePoint 2013

• Migration: It is a known fact that migration towards anything new has its own woes. When it comes to SharePoint 2013, you cannot adopt it unless you are already operating on the 2010 edition, until certain third-party tools are purchased.

• Distinct product editions: To maintain the cloud readiness, Microsoft has come up with two flavors of the product: SharePoint Server, that can be installed on own datacenter and premises and Office 365, which operates within the cloud (in Microsoft’s datacenters). This leads to a series of overlapping elements with respect to the capabilities and features, but Microsoft hopes to cater to all categories of client requirements.

Like every product that is launched into the market, SharePoint migration 2013 might bring with it a few worries. However, keeping in mind the striking and beneficial features of SharePoint 2013, the product indeed has a long way to go.

We provide sharepoint cms customization services. If you would like to know more about the expertise of our expert sharepoint developers, please visit Mindfire Solutions.

SharePoint Custom Solutions Development

SharePoint custom solutions development is used to leverage SharePoint’s true power by organizations around the world. SharePoint has been designed to be highly customizable and flexible. SharePoint’s core capabilities can be powerfully customized and extended to make it fit specific business contexts better. Organizations operate in their own unique ways and SharePoint respects their uniqueness. You need not change the way you do business to be able to use SharePoint’s power. Instead, SharePoint can be flexibly customized to suit the way you do business. 

SharePoint Custom Solutions Development

No two organizations run completely alike and SharePoint has been and is being customized in simple to sophisticated ways by organizations around the globe to leverage its true power. For organizations that have been able to harness SharePoint’s real power through thoughtful SharePoint customizations and extensions, the benefits they are reaping are phenomenal. For some such organizations, SharePoint, from a mere tool, has gone on to become a competitive advantage. SharePoint can be used in two fundamental ways. You can either use the pre-built, off-the-shelf software to quickly deploy collaboration and productivity sites. Or you can develop any web-based functionality imaginable on top of the SharePoint platform to suit the unique needs of your organization.

You can powerfully customize SharePoint capabilities like Sites, Communities, Content, Search, Insights, and Composites to suit your business needs better. You can develop custom web parts and work flows, simple and advanced search features. You can develop custom application pages, content types, event receivers, timer jobs, delegate controls, web services, and reports. You can create custom actions, custom ribbon controls, utility apps using SharePoint object model and web services, etc. The scope and depth of SharePoint custom solutions development is limited by your imagination only. 

Custom SharePoint Development Company

A custom SharePoint development company can ease the process of SharePoint custom solutions development for SharePoint end-users. Certified and experienced SharePoint developers can not only understand business needs and suggest best ways of going about fulfilling them, they can also build high-quality custom SharePoint solutions using less development time. 

Custom SharePoint development companies like Mindfire Solutions provide expert SharePoint development services backed by years of experience of providing SharePoint custom solutions development services for a variety of industries and customer needs. A Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Mindfire has 6+ years of SharePoint custom solutions development experience with 100+ projects for global clients. Mindfire's 25+ team of certified SharePoint specialists has earned it the trust of its clients and industry-wide reputation for delivering first-class custom SharePoint services. Mindfire is a one-stop custom SharePoint solutions provider offering the entire spectrum of SharePoint services with experience in all SharePoint versions including 2010, WSS, MOSS. 

If you want to customize and/or extend SharePoint capabilities and need some development help, get in touch with Mindfire today – call 1-248-686-1424 or email sales at mindfiresolutions dot com  – to leverage the strong track record and solid experience of Mindfire’s SharePoint experts to personalize and extend SharePoint capabilities. Mindfire's flexible working model and fine-tuned processes will result in significant cost reductions and decreased development time which will greatly suit your budget and business needs.