In the previous article, we understood the concept of user-self-service to speed up team work. In this article we will explore some examples and address common IT concerns.

Sharing using a central website
The alternative to sharing data / documents using a central website is much simpler and faster than using a File Share or e-mail. Sharing is so common that IT simply cannot control it.

Scenario: Calendar sharing
Usually calendar sharing is done using the messaging system. Sharing your calendar with many team members is a very cumbersome process. It also exposes your personal appointments to team members, which is not desirable.

Using a central site
1.      Create a central site for each project (or customer / initiative)
2.      Create a calendar on SharePoint
3.      Assign contribute permissions to the team members
4.      Send the URL of the calendar to everyone
5.      Each user can now see the latest calendar in a central place

But that is not all. What if you are travelling without access to the Intranet? You can get offline access by connecting a SharePoint Calendar to Outlook. This is a one-time task. Once connected, the calendar can be managed in Outlook. You never have to go to the website again. This way, changes made by each team member are automatically known to all other team members, online as well as offline. IT does not have to participate in any of this ad-hoc collaboration.

Scenario – Gathering data
This is a very common requirement. Someone creates an Excel format and mails it to others. Data is entered and sent back to the originator. Now there are multiple Excel files which need to be manually combined.
Since data gathering by users is ad-hoc and the format as well as target audience changes often, IT cannot develop a formal application for it. This sounds like a problem that cannot be resolved.

Using a central site
1.      Create a list in SharePoint
2.      Specify the columns you need (just like creating a format in Excel)
3.      Assign permissions to contributing users. They will simply receive the URL of this list.
4.      There is a security setting to control the visibility of data. Users can only see and edit the data they enter.
5.      Users can add data directly on the web page
6.      When the owner of the list logs in, data from all users is shown. No manual copy paste is required.
7.      Finally data can be exported to Excel (and refreshed from the Excel site)

Alerts
How often have you been told, “Let me know when you finish this work” or “Update me when this is done”? Technically this is called ‘Notification.’ The person doing the work is responsible for sending a notification about the progress of the work.
SharePoint can manage this responsibility for you. Users can ask SharePoint to “let them know when something changes or a task is updated or new items are added.” This facility is called ‘Alerts.’ Setting alerts speeds up business processes and execution.

Creating sites as per business needs
When SharePoint sites are created, they are empty by default. Depending upon business needs, the site owner can assemble a site from a large number of components. Sounds like lot of programming and technical tweaking? Not at all! It is something business users can do with minimum training.

Assembling the components
Based upon the business requirement, you can choose the right combination of components to create the site. Here is an example. Suppose there is a crisis and you have created a crisis management team. That team has to work very closely and efficiently to get over the crisis. Here is how you could assemble your site…