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3rd Party Product Selection
SharePoint 2003 and 2007 unquestionably do a lot and SharePoint 2010 does even more. For the SharePoint purist, an approach may be taken which excludes all 3rd party product add-ons as they implement through custom development. For the rest of the world, it makes sense to explore 3rd party products. It is here that the quandary can present itself as portion of the turf can be highly polarizing.
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The people who assume these responsibilities need to have a balanced and knowledgeable perspective on development and 3rd party product selection. The importance of the balance is paramount when making strategic decisions in this capacity as too much of a bias in either direction could negatively influence optimization of your platform. This is frequently a team oriented responsibility as you may have someone(s) accountable for the functionality exploration and someone else accountable for technical validation.
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Site Specific User Experience
Once SharePoint is engrained into a business group(s), the user experience is typically targeted for improvements and this can often be a point of contention. This varies a bit from the UX standards as we are now talking about how those standards can be applied and organized on the pages. It can also impact site templates as they are proliferated throughout business groups.
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People assuming responsibility for this area are typically those most familiar with the functional requirements of the site and how it should be best organized. Their skills do not have to be overly technical as programming and/or scripting are rarely involved and if they are, then this person(s) is typically working with a configuration specialist (mid-tier – thanks Marc Anderson!) or development specialist.
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Process Automation
The automation of processes with SharePoint is gaining momentum as more information is being stored in SharePoint and it becomes an ideal target for introducing automated processes. This area will be predicated upon the tools employed for process automation; be it OOTB Workflows, SharePoint Designer (SPD) Workflows, Visual Studio Workflows or 3rd party products. In all cases, it is recommended that small steps are taking with process automation as people too frequently design for the exception and not the rule. Big tip….design for the rule!
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If Visual Studio is used, then developers must be factored into the equation. This is also often true when adding custom actions/conditions to SPD or when using the API/Web Services of the 3rd party products. Putting the technical side in perspective, this then leaves us with the challenging position regarding who should now be managing and performing process automation using the tools. These people are typically engrained in the business process and have a fond appreciation for the intricate details of automating processes. They should also be highly appreciative of testing different scenarios. Depending upon your organization, these people may exist with the business function or within IT as a liaison between business and IT.
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Site Administration
The management of the site(s) can create some controversy at times as the person(s) who have full control for the site can do the most good (or damage) in terms of its configuration, the content, security and privileges and other such factors. There is indeed a lot of responsibility associated with site administration and the role of site administrator is heightened further when the site is a highly visible one.
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People well-suited for this role are those that are closely linked to the success of the site. They should have a vested interest in its success and should be proficient with the SharePoint tools that are commonly used at the site level. Modifying WebPart parameters, going into Site Actions and adjusting Site configuration settings and performing in all sorts of other capacities will become important areas of responsibility. It is recommended that Site administrators go through some type of basic training and testing to confirm that they understand the responsibilities of the role and how to accomplish their objectives.
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Content Approval
To approve or not to approve, that is the question! Giving people the authority to approve content becomes an important factor regarding the exposure and consumption of content. This is especially true when publishing features are enabled and content “lights up” based upon the approval process. It is also true when linked to workflows which provide some type of automation.
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This area of responsibility is one that has little to do with technical expertise. Rather, it is all about the person(s) who possess the appropriate business acumen, political might or good (or bad) fortune to assume responsibility for approving content. On a serious note, assuming this responsibility can often be a daunting task. This is especially true for highly profile content. So select wisely and confirm that they have a thoughtful enough mind to approve.
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