5 Things Every Manager Should Know about Microsoft SharePoint 关于微软SharePoint每个经理应该知道的五件事

        Would you like to quickly find information that you know your company has in its files... somewhere? You can do that with Microsoft® SharePoint®. 

        你想要快速从公司文件某个地方中找到信息吗？微软SharePoint可以帮你做到。

        Would you like to work closely with teams in different locations, always keeping on top of who’s doing what? You can do that with SharePoint.

        你想在不同地方团队紧密协作，总是知道每个人在做什么吗？SharePoint可以帮你做到。

        Would you like to set up an extranet to securely share documents with major customers? You can do that with SharePoint.

        你想建立外联网安全地和主要客户共享文档吗？SharePoint可以帮你做到。

        If you’re thinking of adopting SharePoint in your enterprise, here are five key concepts that every manager should know.

        如果你想在公司应用SharePoint，这里有5个关键概念，每个经理都应该知道。

#1: SharePoint is mega-popular

        Microsoft says SharePoint is one of the fastest-growing applications in the company’s history. In 2009, SharePoint generated $1.3 billion in revenues from an installed base of 100+ million users.

        微软说SharePoint是公司历史上增长最快的应用程序之一。在2009年，SharePoint共从一亿多用户获得13亿美元的营收。

        Microsoft no longer breaks out SharePoint sales, but analysts say it has continued to surge. For example, a recent Gartner report calls SharePoint “the most widely used document- and collaboration-centered platform.”

        微软不再公布SharePoint销量，但是研究人员说它仍持续增长。例如，Gartner公司最近报告将SharePoint成为最广泛应用的以文档和协作为中心的平台。

        “Last year, Microsoft leapfrogged Oracle and moved ahead of IBM, so they’re now leading that space decisively,” says Jeff DeVerter, SharePoint Architect at Rackspace® Hosting. “Many vendors that were competitors in the past are now expecting SharePoint to be there in every enterprise.”

        “去年，微软超过甲骨文和IBM，所以他们现在以绝对优势领导这方面，SharePoint架构师在Rackspace会议上如是说，”许多供应商以前是竞争者，现在也期待每个企业都有SharePoint“了。

        In other words, SharePoint has won the battle for the enterprise.

        换句话说，SharePoint已经赢了企业这场仗。

        What this means for managers: SharePoint is a top-rated product that will be around for many years to come. If you’re thinking of adopting it, you’re backing the right horse.

        这对于经理意味着：SharePoint是近几年顶级的产品，如果你想应用它，就得备好马。

#2: SharePoint is many things to many people

        Far beyond one application, SharePoint is a full-featured suite of many different apps. These include:

        SharePoint是许多产品的完整功能套件，已经不再是单一应用程序这么简单。包括：

• content management。内容管理。
• enterprise social networking。企业社交网络。
• intranet, extranet and portal creation。内联网、外联网和门户创建。
• collaboration tools。 协作工具。
• project and workflow management。项目和工作流管理。
• business intelligence。商务智能。
• enterprise search。企业搜索。

        Companies use SharePoint to do many different things, or to do the same thing in many different ways. For example, one team may set up an online portal with SharePoint’s out-of-the-box look and feel, while another puts the effort into making that portal match the rest of the company’s web presence.

        公司使用SharePoint做很多不同的事情，或者用许多不同的方式做相同的事情。例如，一个团队可能要使用SharePoint开箱即用的外观建立在线门户，而另一个把精力放在使门户匹配公司网络的其他部分。

        What this means for managers: SharePoint contains many applications that can be set up in many ways. Managers need to define how the platform will be used.

         这对于经理意味着：SharePoint包含了许多应用程序，可以用许多方式创建。经理需要定义如何使用这个平台。

#3: Before adopting SharePoint, make a plan

        Before jumping into SharePoint, it makes sense to develop a plan for how your team can best use it.

        投身SharePoint之前，研究一个你的团队如何最好使用它的计划是很合理的。

        As a minimum, this plan should cover:

        至少，计划应该包括：

• A “taxonomy” (set of classes and naming conventions) for data stored in SharePoint。SharePoint中储存的数据分类（类和命名规范的集合）。
• Which pieces of SharePoint will be used and by whom。使用SharePoint哪些部分，谁来使用？
• Who will support each group of SharePoint users。谁来支持每组的SharePoint用户。

        “In the end, SharePoint is a tool, and tools alone don’t solve problems,” says DeVerter. “A tool should be used as part of a plan to solve a problem.”

        “最后，SharePoint是一个工具，工具本身不能解决问题，”Deverter说，“工具应该作为解决问题的计划的一部分。”。

        What this means for managers: Managers must ensure that a sensible plan is in place for setting up SharePoint and storing information with it.

        这对于经理意味着：经理必须保证合理的计划，建立SharePoint并在其中保存信息。

#4: SharePoint relies on many technologies

        “The biggest challenge in troubleshooting SharePoint problems,” says Shane Young,  – SharePoint MVP, “is you have to be an expert with both the underlying technologies and SharePoint itself because the problem is rarely very clear. Finding people with both skill sets has proven to be very challenging.”

        “解决SharePoint问题最大的挑战，”Young，SharePoint MVP说，“是你必须是基础技术和SharePoint本身的专家。因为问题很少是明显的。照这样两种技能兼具的人也非常困难。”

        For SharePoint to work properly, all these other technologies must be running perfectly:

        为了让SharePoint正常工作，所有这些其他技术都必须完美运行：

• Windows。视窗系统。
• Structured Query Language (SQL) database(s)。SQL数据库。
• Internet Information Server (IIS)。
• Active Directory。AD域。
• Domain Name System (DNS)。
• enterprise networking。企业网络。
• incoming and outgoing e-mail servers收发邮件服务器。
• and more。还有很多。

        Any misconfiguration, glitch or failure in any of these components can cause SharePoint to fail. When that happens, all that an end user may see is that a portal they want to access has gone offline. The actual cause will likely be hidden deep in the company’s IT infrastructure.

        任何错误配置、小毛病或者其他部件的失效都可能导致SharePoint异常。此时，所有终端用户可能看到的是他们想访问的门户掉线了。真正的原因可能隐藏在公司IT基础深处。

        What this means for managers: SharePoint technical support and system administration cannot be an afterthought; these should be part of the initial planning.

        这对于经理意味着：SharePoint技术支持和系统管理不能事后才考虑。这些应该是初始计划的一部分。

#5: Supporting SharePoint takes special expertise

        It’s no surprise that SharePoint system administration is a big challenge.

        并不奇怪，SharePoint系统管理是很大的挑战。

        “SharePoint has frequently been deployed in a bottom-up or distributed fashion, often outside of the scrutiny or guidance of strategic IT. This is changing as companies realize its potential and its risks,” reports Gartner.

        “SharePoint经常被自底向上或分布式方式部署，经常处于IT安保管理之外。随着公司意识到潜在风险，这种情况正在改变。”Gartner报道说。

        For example, business users can install the software piecemeal, choosing only the bits and pieces they plan to start with. Years later, IT may have to “clean up” the platform by re-installing and reconfiguring SharePoint in a more organized, enterprise way.

        例如，业务用户可以安装软件零碎部件，只选择要开始计划的部分。几年后，IT不得不清理这个平台，要以更加组织化企业化的方式，重新安装或重新配置。

        Business users can draw on SharePoint’s tools to develop mini-apps for team members. But these users are not likely trained in best practices in software development, so these homegrown apps may be riddled with unpredictable bugs.

        业务用户可以使用SharePoint工具开发小应用程序。但是这些用户不能够在软件开发中得到最佳实践的训练，所以这些自制的app很容易因为未知bug而出现问题。

        Troubleshooting any SharePoint outage takes time. And meanwhile, mission-critical work may grind to a halt. Without SharePoint, users may not be able to finish proposals, send out invoices, or interact with customers.

        解决任何SharePoint中断都需要时间。同时重要的工作可能扩大化最后停止。没有SharePoint，用户可能不能够完成提案、发送发票或与客户交流。

        It’s fair to say that maintaining SharePoint takes special expertise. But not every IT team has this expertise or can keep up-to-date with such a sprawling application.

        所以说维护SharePoint需要特殊的专业知识。但是不是每个IT团队都有这样的技术或者可以始终紧跟这样一个不断扩张的应用程序。

        “By the time a system engineer in an enterprise has to go back and do something in a SharePoint environment, three, six or nine months may have gone by since they last touched it,” says DeVerter. “What you don’t use, you lose—whether it’s SharePoint or anything else.”

        “等到系统工程师不得不回去在SharePoint环境中做一些事情的时候，自从上次他们碰SharePoint，三个、六个或九个月可能就已经过去了，“Deverter说，”你不用，你就会失去--无论是SharePoint还是其他什么。“

        What this means for managers: It may not be realistic to expect your IT team to support such a major application by themselves. In fact, analysts say these unrealistic expectations create a considerable amount of pain among enterprises using SharePoint. 

        这对于经理意味着：期待你的IT团队单独来支持这个巨大的应用程序可能不太现实。实际上，分析家说这些不显示的期待在企业使用SharePoint过程中，创造了许多痛苦。