Collaborpedia

Outlook Social Connector Brings Your Networks to the Enterprise

Written by: Shadeed Eleazer

The trend of enhancing the user experience from inside his/her inbox continues as Microsoft has announced the BETA release of the Outlook Social Connector. The timing of its release comes at a perfect time for the software giant, as the tech industry is buzzing over the announcement of the Windows Phone 7 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain this week.

For a corporation that many viewed as ‘behind-the-times’ in comparison with rival Apple, the recent announcements have many wondering with enthusiasm how the combination of Windows Phone 7, Outlook Social Connector, and the enhancements of the 2010 Suite of Office Applications will shake up the marketplace.

OSC connects the user to the social experience via a provider that connect the social and business networks that you utilize. The surprise in this initial offering is that it has partnered with LinkedIn amongst the other networks introduced which are: Facebook, MySpace.

Impact on Productivity
How will information workers be impacted by the increase in “social media noise” within their respective inboxes? Many organizations have completely blocked social media within corporate settings and have been either reluctant or dismissive about creating a solid Social Media policy that addresses the upcoming changes in the workplace. Is there a business reason for employees to use Facebook or MySpace? Time will reveal these answers as decisions will need to be made.

Particularly (but not only) in the German speaking world (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) Xing is much more popular than LinkedIn for professional social networking. Any chance to get a connector for Xing? And what about Facebook? I have over 200 friends there, at least half of them I know professionally…

Microsoft announced the Outlook Social Connector as early as Nov 2009 but additional testing has lead to the integration of Facebook amongst additional new features.

Features Include:

• The People Pane - This includes a profile appearance of your friends/colleagues when you receive a message from them.
• Rich history - Instant access to a history of recent message traffic and attachments from each incoming/outgoing message.
• Activities Real-time updates from social networks
• SharePoint 2010 Integrate your Social networks right into the revamped MySite. I believe that Windows Phone 7, SharePoint 2010, and Outlook 2010 will be a killer trio. Joel Oleson put together a great post on Win Phone 7 and SharePoint 2010 capabilities
• Extend A The OSC Software Development Kit will enable developers to integrate a variety of social networks. The possibilities to build a true Social Media Center are becoming apparent.

From the Microsoft Outlook site regarding compatibility:

“NOTE: The Outlook Social Connector included in the Office 2010 Beta is not compatible with the beta providers currently available online. Office 2010 Beta users must install the Outlook Social Connector 32-bit Beta in order to successfully use the social network providers currently available. Also, you cannot install the 32-bit OSC Beta on Outlook 2010 Beta 64-bit.”

Download the 32 bit connector here.

Mike FitzMaurice (NINTEX) – Building Business WorkFlows with No Code

FitzMaurice is the Vice President of Product Technology at Nintex. He started with Microsoft in late 1997 in Microsoft Consulting Services, often creating collaboration and messaging solutions. Mike was a part of the consulting squad that helped the very first early adopter customers beta test “Tahoe”, which would become SharePoint Portal Server 2001. And was part of a team that authored best-practice deployment solutions for optimal usage of SharePoint Server 2001 and SharePoint Team Services in a corporate intranet. Mike FitzMaurice became a Technical Product Manager in time to bring SharePoint Server 2003 and WSS 2.0 to completion, and has not strayed from SharePoint ever since.

Register HERE

Nintex is a leading global innovator of software products that extend Microsoft technology, with over 1000 customers in 60 countries, including 40 Fortune 500 companies. The company focuses on building software that bridges the gap between that which can be bought from Microsoft today and common functionality requested by customers – with a passionate commitment to innovation and user experience. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Nintex aligns with Microsoft’s strategic and architectural direction to ensure that Nintex and Microsoft products work in harmony, both today and into the future.

5:30 - 5:45 Registration, Food and Beverages, Networking and News

Discussion of events and news in the local SharePoint community.

5:45 - 6:15 Topic: SharePoint Tips and Tricks

Audience: All
Technical Level: 100-200

6:15 – 7:30 Topic: Mike FitzMaurice – Building Business WorkFlow with No Code

Audience: All
Technical Level: 200

7:30 -7:45 Round Table Q and A, Raffles and Giveaways

Round table discussions will be held on specific challenges facing the members. If you have an issue that you would like to have addressed by the group submit your questions to phillysharepoint@rjbtech.com

Where: Microsoft Great PA District Office, Malvern, PA

The meeting is free, but space is limited. REGISTER NOW!! If you have already registered, it is not necessary to register again.

Written by: Shadeed Eleazer
In the ongoing marketing campaign being waged by Box.net entitled Box.net vs. SharePoint challenge, a video has emerged produced by Box.net which highlights the “ease of use” of Box.net and the various errors that average users encounter when attempting to utilize SharePoint such as authentication, complexity of simple tasks etc.

Box.net has enacted a viral strategy by establishing a Twitter Hashtag known as #sharepointblues to encourage SharePoint users to vent their frustrations and ultimately give the trial version of Box.net a test run. Box.net has offered to pay for a specified length of SharePoint if users are not satisfied with the trial offering.

What are your thoughts on Box.net’s strategy and taking on the Enterprise collaboration Goliath known as SharePoint?

Written by: Shadeed Eleazer

In today’s economy, deployments of all sizes ranging from single user to enterprise require justification before purchasing power is leveraged. Pennsylvania based RJB Tech is presenting a FREE in-person presentation on September 9th that will address those needs and provide consultants with strategies to deliver to key decision makers within their respective companies.

The official event writeup is below:

Business Justification of SharePoint
September 9th, 2009 (9:00 AM—12:00 PM)

In the current economy new initiatives require sound business justification. It is more important than ever to have a clear understanding of what total investment is necessary to achieve specific results. In this seminar, you will receive practical advice and actual tools to help develop a solid business case for implementing SharePoint and related Business Intelligence tools. We will work through an interactive example to help attendees understand how best to get their SharePoint project off the ground. Following the seminar, RJB staff will be available to discuss specifics around your company’s needs and how RJB can help. RJB Technical Consulting will lead participants in this highly valuable interactive session.
- Creating a business case using vision and strategy focused on results
- Techniques and tools for analyzing business needs and requirements
- How SharePoint makes businesses more efficient
- Different ways to calculate return on investment
- Determining resource requirements
- Making better decisions though Business Intelligence tools
- Limiting scope creep
- Ways to manage the internal decision process
- Developing the exact solution to meet your needs

Please join RJB Technical Consulting for this FREE Executive Seminar on the Business Justification of Implementing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Register Now!

https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=140340
Who Should Attend
This FREE Executive Seminar is recommended for anyone considering deploying the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 should attend this event.

Agenda

8:30                Introductions / Session Overview
9:00                Why develop a Business Case?
9:30                Gathering and Justifying Requirements
10:00             Pitching the project
10:30             Managing the decision making process
11:00             The SharePoint value proposition
11:45             Questions, Answers, Break out discussions on your specific needs and LUNCH

Registration is FREE, but space is limited. Register now to reserve your seat!

Register Now!

When:
September 9th, 2009
9:00 AM—12:00 PM

Location:
Microsoft Mid-Atlantic Office
45 Liberty Blvd.
Great Valley Corporate Center, Suite 210
Malvern, PA 19355

Baltimore SharePoint User’s Group August Meeting Recap
Written by: Shadeed Eleazer

Fresh off the overwhelming success of hosting the first SharePoint Saturday event to be held in the greater Baltimore region, the little engine that could aka Baltimore SharePoint User’s Group would resume our normal meetings on Thursday, August 20th, 2009.

There were a few burning questions that the organizational staff had for this meeting, one of which being:

What would be the meeting turnout due to at least 100 of the attendees of #spsbmore discovering BSPUG for the very first time?

For this meeting, SharePoint Author/Developer Jeff Webb was scheduled to deliver his presentation on Configuring Complex SharePoint Security.
Jeff is excellent with the dynamic nature of the SharePoint demo. He fielded each question successfully and stayed behind after the close of the meeting to field discussions in greater detail.

There were several new faces in the crowd, and after it was mentioned that they left with a good impression of the group. Most interesting new member is a Sous Chef, who is “curious to learn about technology”. During our audience introductions, there was sort of a stigma being attached to “not knowing a lot about SharePoint”. I felt it was necessary to re-inforce the concept that we ALL start somewhere. The best approach is to develop a lifetime learning approach to SharePoint in order to increase proficiency.
In addition to that, Columbia, MD based consulting firm Intellisae joined us for the meeting. Their top developers were in attendance alongside their Principal Lead so they were definitely well-represented by the group. They also are looking for top-notch .Net talent, so if interested in opportunities with the firm, please contact me.

This meeting couldn’t have gone on successfully without the aid of volunteers from our member community including hauling food and beverages to the 3rd floor and hanging up signs. Eric joined us for the intro of the meeting before hopping on a flight to London. He set up the livestream of the meeting which was very, very helpful.

Join the Baltimore SharePoint User’s Group for September’s meeting where we will welcome Linc Williams to deliver a great presentation.
Pics and footage of Jeff’s presentation are on the way.

Overall, I left with a good feeling on how this meeting turned out. This is what the SharePoint community is all about, a mix of seasoned professionals interacting with people totally new but curious about the platform. It is our goal as a User Group to provide an experience that is relevant to all skill levels that attend our meetings.

Special Thanks
Surfray and the UMBC Tech Center for sponsorship of food and location.

About Baltimore SharePoint User’s Group:
When: Every third Thursday of the month, doors open at 6pm
Where:UMBC Tech Center 1450 South Rolling Road, Halethorpe, MD 21223
Cost: Membership and meeting attendance is FREE
Info: www.baltimoresug.org
Updates: www.twitter.com/baltsharepoint

SharePoint Saturday Baltimore Twitter Directory:
Written by Shadeed Eleazer

SharePoint Saturday events are great in my opinion due to the amount of content being generated by the participants which include speakers, sponsors, and attendees.

For those of you not on Twitter or unable to make the event on 7/25,  here is a quick reference guide to access news and notes regarding Saturday’s event without needing Twitter access.
You don’t have to be a Twitter Evangelist to enjoy the benefits of real-time updates concerning your favorite event or trending news item.

Where to Search for Real Time Updates
Hashtag search for all SP Saturday Baltimore content, news, pics - #spsbmore
Where to Search http://search.twitter.com

Event Details - Change in Schedule, Lineup, Cancellations
@SPSBaltimore

Baltimore SharePoint User Group
@baltsharepoint

#SPSBMORE Organizers/Volunteers on Twitter
@ericharlan
@budweber
@deannie
@alduns
@mrshadeed
@don_zielke

Speakers/Ask The Experts
@meetdux
@usher
@SharePointPhily
@danlewisnet
@AvePoint_Inc
@joeloleson
@fabianwilliams
@EUSP
@cdonlan
@klopmp
@aemacaulay
@deannie
@susanlennon
@catpaint1
@DocPointMark
@errinoconnor
@johngerl
@michaeltnoel
@snahta
mikewat
@paulschaeflein

* If I left out anyone, all apologies in advance.
See you guys at SharePoint Saturday!

Pennsylvania based RJB Technical Consulting has announced a seminar to be held next Wednesday. The topic will be leveraging social media within the SharePoint platform in the hopes of improving your organization, expanding corporate reach, and lowering costs in a down economy.

The Benefits of Social Media and How it Can Lower Your Organization’s Costs.
July 8th, 2009 (9:00 AM - 12:00 PM)

This seminar will focus on the benefits of social media within SharePoint and how it can help lower your organization’s costs.
Join RJB Technical Consulting and take advantage of this opportunity to learn how to improve your organization by lowering costs while expanding your reach.

Speaker - Russ Basiura

Recommended Audiences:
Technology Executives, IT Managers, Business Executives, Vice Presidents, CEO, CIO, COO, CTO, CFO, IT Directors, Business Managers, Business Owner, Business Professionals, Controller, Business Decision Maker, Technical Decision Makers

Click Here to Reserve Your Spot

Agenda
8:30 AM Breakfast and Registration
9:00 AM Introduction of Social Media
9:30 AM The Benefits of Social Media & How it Can Lower Your Costs
11:00 AM MySites and Social Media Within SharePoint
11:30 AM Panel Discussion, Q & A, and Raffle
12:00 PM Lunch

Registration is FREE, but space is limited. Register now to reserve your seat

Location:
45 Liberty Blvd.
Great Valley Corporate Ctr, Suite 210
Malvern, PA 19355

Phone:
610.834.3900

The interesting aspect of SharePoint Saturday Charlotte, NC was that the bulk of the
speakers came in from outside of the Charlotte area. Event organizer, Senior consultant Dan Lewis
did an outstanding job of building awareness for the event, which was the first SharePoint
Saturday to be held in the Carolina region.

SP Saturday Charlotte featured very interesting sessions overall of speakers and a rising
group of SharePoint professionals that honed their presentation skills through
including Doug Ware, J Dan Attis, Laura Rogers, Becky Isserman, Dan Usher, Michael Lotter,

In the Speaker’s Lounge, Doug Ware previewed some early functionality add-ons for his product
Skinner 2, which is the second release of the design tool geared toward SharePoint branding.
Skinner allows visual editing of SharePoint sites through step-by-step preview mode and exports
the changes into a file which can then be deployed to SharePoint.

My topic was centered around Transitioning into SharePoint Careers, which was a session devoted to
outlining the roadmap from a beginning SharePoint professional to a Senior professional.
The issue that most professionals face is they are given a task to deploy SharePoint and there is
a learning curve associated with that.

I think the move to have some of the heavier hitters with heavy influence in the Microsoft community close out the event such as Microsoft’s Michael Ganotti, was a great decision in terms of keeping attendees
enthused and present for the entire event. Ganotti delivered a great presentation on SharePoint and Web 2.0 and outlined some enhancements that exist for customizing SharePoint

What makes SharePoint Saturday so special is the viral nature of the event Overall, great job done by the organizational team.

From an Idea to a Foundation�
by:
Shadeed Eleazer - BSPUG Co-Founder

As co-founder of the Baltimore SharePoint User Group, I must say that we’ve come a long way during this journey of two years. We’ve opened the doors with the goal of building a SharePoint community within the greater Baltimore area.

The exciting thing is that we’ve achieved a level of consistency that very few groups attain, but there’s still a lot more that we can do and we’re just scratching the surface. 

Year 3 will launch us forward to new heights as we will leverage new methods to introduce ourselves to the greater Baltimore community and surrounding areas. More importantly, several members of our group have grown into community leaders as individuals, which helps the public profile of the group in attracting new members. 

As training dollars dwindle for companies, there has to be a new approach to keeping our information workers trained and prepared for the looming release of Office SharePoint 2010 beta. BSPUG will continue to rise to the challenge and address those needs and pain points. 

To provide some transparency, I’ll list what we (somehow) managed to do well in our first 2 years: 

Consistency - BSPUG operates on time, everytime. We’ve never canceled any of our 23 meetings and 1 Code Camp. Having a predictable model ensures familiarity and smooth introduction to unique visitors.

Location - We’ve managed to lock in long term agreements with our location sponsors. This area is the aspect that cripples the majority of start-up User Groups. Many begin at the library, coffee shops, etc which is fine to some degree but very unpredictable in most cases. We stayed with our first location sponsor for 1 year and moved to the UMBC Tech Center, which offered us a scalable model attendance wise and access to labs for hands-on sessions such as Code Camps etc. 

Web Presence - My personal opinion is the one aspect that makes us unique in comparison to other user groups is that we use the web/social networking more effectively than any other group. Our website is very slick in design and functionality, and that was something we pushed for since the first month or so in operation. We didn’t start out on a SharePoint site, but our design communicated the idea that we should be taken seriously. We also have a keen understanding that a User Group consists of two types of memberships which I’ll outline below.

Types of Memberships: 

• In-person Attendee - Regular attends meetings and special events.  
• Enthusiastic but Unavailable Attendee - Loves SharePoint but the a.) commute b.) family commitments c.) timing just doesn’t allow them to join us every month. This group will attend special sessions such as our Joel Oleson or Bill English sessions and participate in our Knowledge Base. 

The next meeting of the Philadelphia Area Sharepoint User Group will be on Wednesday, June 24th at 5:30 PM. The topics for the evening will include; Creating a Custom Wiki Template, All About MySites, and Search Engine Optimization for SharePoint Sites. The meeting will be held at the Microsoft Great Valley Corporate Center, PA District Office in Malvern, PA

Creating a Custom Wiki Template
A SharePoint Specialist from RJB Technical Consulting will show how to develop and utilize a custom Wiki template within SharePoint. A custom template is not available out-of-the-box with SharePoint, but with a little bit of code it is indeed possible. There are various ways to customize not only the entry screen, but the final Wiki page itself.
Highly recommended for anyone thinking of implementing a Wiki solution.

All About MySites
See highly customized MySites live and in action. One of the SharePoint Specialists from RJB Technical Consulting will demonstrate the integration between MySites and Outlook 2007 and show how Outlook Today can be configured to your users MySite. He will also discuss “Personalization Sites” and show how you can provide role-based MySites for your users that include dashboard functionality. See how workflow, KPIs, Excel Services and SSAS cubes can be integrated to provide a rich, highly functional work environment that increases end user efficiency. Russ will end the evening by showing how one company utilized the social media functionality of their users MySites to improve communication in a global enterprise.

A tip sheet for getting started with Microsoft SharePoint MySites will be distributed.

Search Engine Optimization for SharePoint Sites
Internet facing SharePoint Sites require special handling if you want them to be ranked on major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. In this session, we will breakdown SEO techniques that apply to all websites and those that are specific to optimizing SharePoint.

Join us for an interactive discussion led by one of RJB Technical Consulting’s SharePoint Specialists for useful advice on increasing SharePoint Site visibility on major search engines.

Meeting Agenda
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 5:30 PM

5:45 - 6:00
Topic: Tips and Tricks - Custom Wiki Template
Audience: Developers and Administrators
Technical Level: 200

6:00 - 6:45
Topic: All About MySites
Audience: Anyone
Technical Level: 200

7:00 - 7:45
Topic: Search Engine Optimization for SharePoint Sites
Audience: Site Administrators
Technical Level: 100

7:45 -8:00
Round Table Q and A, Raffles and Giveaways

Round table discussions will be held on specific challenges facing the members. If you have an issue that you would like to have addressed by the group submit your questions to phillysharepoint@rjbtech.com.

BSPUG is celebrating our 2 Year Anniversary!

Thanks to all the attended our May session with Dan Usher. You can find his presentation in the resource section, and the photos in the videos located in the videos section.

Our next session will be on June 18th at UMBC training center. We will update this newsletter on the exact room number shortly.

Our special guest speaker is none other than Dux Sy.
With over 15 years of experience in Information Technology and Project Management, Dux (you’re right, it’s pronounced as “ducks”) has earned a reputation as among the leading experts in leveraging technology to enhance project management. A certified Project Management Professional (PMP), he is currently a managing partner and the chief evangelist of Innovative-e, Inc., a Microsoft-certified, business technology consulting and services company that serves startups to Global 50 clients.

We’re going in a unique direction for June. We are allowing YOU to select what topic you want to have delivered by Dux.

1. 7 Ways to Leverage SharePoint for Project Management

2. Best-Practices in Gathering Requirements for SharePoint Projects

3. Effectively Managing SharePoint Projects

In the RSVP survey this month, you will have another option to vote on the topic you would like to hear. The night of the event we will announce the winning topic and proceed to give it.
Voting closes on June 12th, 2009.

Please jump over to the RSVP survey on the events page and RSVP for this session.

Please go over to the events page and RSVP for this as well. Thanks all, see you then!

TELL A COLLEAGUE! This is sure to be a great presentation, please tell a co-worker.

For more information on BSPUG, please log-on to www.baltimoresug.org.

For our new members, we will be meeting at UMBC Tech Center, 1450 Rolling Road, Halethorpe, MD 21228. Doors open at 6pm for food and refreshments.
As always please go to www.baltimoresug.org/events and respond to the RSVP survey to RSVP your spot.

The 3rd Annual Regional SharePoint User Conference will launch in close to two weeks’ time.
below is some info on the conference distributed by organizers SUGDC

Registration benefits are:
Networking with over 700 other SharePoint professionals in the DC area
Free monthly meetings with free dinner (catered, not just pizza)
Access to a wealth of information, neatly organized on our SharePoint server
The annual2 day conference & trade show - largest in the DC area
And in today’s economy, you need to take advantage of allthese great opportunities.

In order for us to keep providing these great services to you, we depend on youto be an active participant by coming to the conference, or share your knowledge with the rest of the community.

Today is your last chance to get early bird pricing of $299 for 2 full days ofthe biggest SharePoint Conference AND Trade Show in the DC area. You cannot find this much SharePoint training in one place for a better price!

Too many speakers & topics: We have 3 tracks on Friday, and 4 tracks on Saturday!

The SUGDC.ORG SharePoint conference is the biggest SharePoint event for the DC area - you cannot afford to miss all the great MVP presentations and get the best practices on implementing SharePoint.

Raffle Prizes: This just in: LearningTree is providing a gift certificate for training.
Among our other prizes, you will have the chance to win a Microsoft Zune.

We have 17 Sponsors signed up for the trade show and more keep coming. You will not be able to see so many different products in one place. Meet the people that are shaping the SharePoint marketplace and get inside knowledge of how things work. Click here for a complete list: http://sugdc.org/Events/RSUC09/Sponsors/tabid/74/Default.aspx

No Pizza zone: We do not make you suffer through another mediocre food onslaught. Each morning we will have a continental breakfast, fresh hot coffee provided during breaks, and for lunch we will be serving a hot buffet lunch. (see our web site for more details).

If you have not heard about the conference…read on!

For two exciting days (Friday and Saturday starting June 26th), you’ll be eating, drinking, talking and living Microsoft Office SharePoint with Microsoft’s Most Valued Professionals (MVP’s) from across the country. For more details, visit our web site…

There are tracks for
Developers
Users
Managers
and Administrators.
There will be time to network with some of the areas top companies in DC where you will discover just how much demand there is for people with SharePoint skills.

Learn the best practices for implementing SharePoint and how to customize it to meet your specific needs. Whether you are a beginner looking to advance your career, or an experienced professional that wants to get deeper knowledge, this is the place to do it. June 26 & 27.

Today is the day to register and get the early-bird pricing. Don’t miss your chance to see 45 speakers and topics. You also get breakfast, coffee and lunch. And if you are looking for new job opportunities, we will have a networking event to help you get in touch with the people that are hiring.
The cost is $299 if you register today. Click here to register for the conference…

Group discounts are available

SUGDC would like to thank AvePoint for being our Premiere Sponsor. We would also like to thank the following sponsors that will be presenting their products and services at our trade show:

Platinum Sponsors:

FPWeb.net
i3solutions
Idera
Quest Software

Featured Products/Topics: 2007 Microsoft Office System, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server, Microsoft SQL Server

Recommended Audiences: IT Managers, Business Executives, CEO, CIO, COO, CTO, CFO, IT Directors, Business Decision Maker, Technical Decision Makers

This webcast will provide executives with an overview of SharePoint Server and the benefits that it provides your organization.  We will show you how Microsoft SharePoint solutions help enable companies to improve corporate performance, accelerate management decision making, enable collaborative analysis, and turn information into value. Learn how our team of experts has helped other organizations provide their people with the ability to:

• Empower their people to easily collaborate.

You will learn how you can transform information into business insight with an integrated solution that supports your business needs. 

5/7/2009

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Welcome Time: 11:45 AM

Time Zone: Eastern

About RJB TECHNICAL CONSULTING

Corasworks will be the special guest presentation for the March meetup for the Baltimore SharePoint User Group
The buzz is in the air in reference to Corasworks’ new release of Workplace Suite V10.
Corasworks delivers outstanding technical presentations and tonight will be no different.

Baltimore SharePoint User’s Group Members and New Attendees,
Meetup Info
The Baltimore SharePoint User Group meets every third Thursday of the month unless specifically
noted. If you have any questions about our meeting dates and times, www.baltimoresug.org is the most accurate source of info regarding the group.

Thursday March 19th, 2009 will be a special presentation as the CorasWorks Technical Team, leading provider of modular application development software for Microsoft SharePoint, will be delivering a technical presentation on the new release of the Workplace Suite v10.

What is the Workplace Suite v10?

Workplace Suite v10 allows today’s SharePoint information worker the ability to extend the capabilities of SharePoint. Many common tasks normally outsourced to a developer are included within this release which enables organizations to lower in-house development costs and enhance productivity with this product.

Capabilities include but are not limited to:

• End-user Forms to add, view and edit information

• Business Process for automating and adding workflow to defined processes

• Displays, Dashboards and Reporting for instant access to real-time data and information

• Design Tools to optimize your solutions and overall environment

• One-Touch Management System for centralizing management/maintenance and admin control

This presentation will be delivered in a format that shows the limitations of SharePoint and how Workplace V10 fills those gaps. This will not be a sales overview, the Corasworks Technical Team
will answer all questions from developer, admin, and project manager standpoints alike.

For our new members, we will be meeting at UMBC Tech Center, 1450 Rolling Road, Halethorpe, MD 21228. Doors open at 6pm for food and refreshments.
As always please go to www.baltimoresug.org/events and respond to the RSVP survey to RSVP your spot.

Saturday Mar 14th, 2009 kicks off SharePoint Saturday Boston to be held at the Microsoft Office on Jones Rd in Waltham, Mass.
Expect multiple sessions on various tracks ranging from developer, administrator, end user, project management and more from respected SharePoint professionals and MVPs.

Topics Include (but certaintly not limited to)
Best Practices for Configuring your SharePoint – Site Hierarchy and Features, Security and Configurations, and Performance Guidance

Administration - SharePoint Administration with PowerShell 2.0

Dazzling SharePoint with Silverlight

Mapping Mashups with SharePoint Designer

Building the Perfect SharePoint Farm - A Walkthrough of Best Practices from the Field

Speakers Include:
Michael Cummings
Dan Usher
Eric Kraus
Geoff Varosky
John Stover
Becky Isserman
Joel Oleson
Michael Lotter
Sean Bordner
David McWee
Tom Resing

Baltimore SharePoint User Group February Announcements

Video clip of Baltimore SharePoint User Group co-founders Eric Harlan and myself (Shadeed Eleazer) providing the meeting agenda, info on SharePoint Saturday Baltimore, and SharePoint Ski 2009.
Look for more BSPUG video including presentations and more on the way.

Today’s Webcast, hosted by SharePointJoel.com author and SharePoint Evangelist Joel Oleson, is a topic that many organizations need to take more time to figure out a strategy for, backup and recovery procedures. My golden rule that applies to most organizations that have implemented SharePoint is: “If the right person, loses the wrong document, then it is cause for trouble”
- Mr.Shadeed

Webcast: Effective Backup and Restore Strategies for Your SharePoint Service

Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Time: 8 a.m. Pacific / 11 a.m. Eastern / 4 p.m. United Kingdom / 5 p.m. Central Europe

Chaos in SharePoint backup and recovery arises when you’re not sure where your data is or when to back it up. When this occurs, users have to wait weeks for IT to retrieve their lost data. Join SharePoint expert Joel Oleson to learn how following a consistent backup and recovery governance plan can streamline processes, help you meet SLAs, and keep users productive. He and other special guests will review goals for developing the plan, provide you with prescriptive guidance to achieve them, and describe native and third-party tools that can help along the way.

Register HERE

Webcast Recap

Brent Ozar provided a good perspective from the DBA side of the house while Joel delivered the presentation on various strategies and considerations for SharePoint backup.
Many were probably expecting 10 minutes of strategy and 50 minutes of sales demo for this webcast, but the majority of the presentation was strategy and there was mention of other leading vendors as well in the SharePoint space.
Overall, I thought the webcast was put together well, time ran short at the end so Joel offered to answer all questions directly on his blog. www.sharepointjoel.com

Follow Joel on Twitter
Follow Me (Mr.Shadeed) on Twitter

When: Sat, 2/21/2009

Where:
Microsoft New York Metro District: New York, NY
1290 Avenue of the Americas, Sixth Floor
New York, NY 10104
Phone: (212) 245-2100
Fax: (212) 245-3290

SharePoint Saturday is a great FREE event hosted in various locations around the US to help immerse SharePoint professionals (including the merely curious) into the world of SharePoint.
Sessions include Protect and Defend Your Data, Site Templates vs. Site Definitions, Which is Best?, 5 Ways to Enhance SharePoint Site Usability and More!

Tracks are broken down in Admin/ Developer/ End User/ Special Interest

Register HERE

Join SharePoint architects, developers, and other professionals that work with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for ‘SharePoint Saturday’, on Saturday, February 21st, 2009 at the Microsoft Office on Avenue of the Americas in New York City. SharePoint Saturday will be an educational, informative & lively day filled with sessions from respected SharePoint professionals & MVPs, covering a wide variety of SharePoint-orientated topics. SharePoint Saturday is FREE, open to the public and is your local chance to immerse yourself in SharePoint! Click on the Registration tab to sign up now!

Event Giveaways

10 slots to the “Case Studies in SharePoint Dashboards” online workshop ($1290 value) courtesy of EndUserSharePoint.com
Free SharePoint training ($3000 value) courtesy of Learning Tree International
SharePoint books courtesy of O’Reilly

Sponsors
B and R Business Solutions

AvePoint

Microsoft

End User SharePoint.com

SharePoint Reviews

Learning Tree International

O’Reilly

Jeff Deverter, SharePoint Architect and Jerry Schwartz, SharePoint Product Manager of Rackspace will be hosting a webinar today at 12 noon ET.

Register here

Webinar Overview

Microsoft SharePoint makes your day-to-day business easier, helping your business efficiently share resources and workspaces, manage projects and automate processes. Join the Rackspace SharePoint team for a complimentary SharePoint webinar showing how you can use Dedicated SharePoint from Rackspace to build simple solutions that can help increase your office productivity such as Intranets, Office Social Networking and Project Management systems. Hosted by Jeff Deverter, SharePoint Architect, Rackspace and Jerry Schwartz, SharePoint Product Manager, Rackspace Thursday, January 29, 2009 11 a.m. CST / 12 p.m. EST / 9 a.m. PST

The SharePoint Technology Conference registration kicks off today at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport located in Burlingame, CA. Close to 60 classes being held over a three day period featuring many of the brightest minds the SharePoint community has to offer.

Full Itinerary Details HERE

Workshops include but are not limited to the following:

906: SHAREPOINT AND SEARCH SERVER: GETTING THE RIGHT RESULTS EVERY TIME
By Joshua Haebets

606: ADMINISTERING SHAREPOINT USING POWERSHELL
By Darrin Bishop

903: ECM, EXTRANETS AND CUSTOMIZATION
By Errin O’Connor, Michael Goodloe, Ben Stegink and Alex Obraztsov

804: DOCUMENT CAPTURE AND INDEXING – A CASE STUDY
By Mike Stuhley

806: DATA MOVEMENT, STORAGE, ARCHIVING AND RECOVERY
By Randy De Meno

801: BUILDING SCALABLE, HIGH-PERFORMANCE SHAREPOINT APPLICATIONS
By Andreas Grabner

701: SHAREPOINT CONTENT TYPES: KEYS TO MANAGING INFORMATION TAXONOMY
By Bob Mixon

*Full Listing of Workshops is Listed HERE

Keynote Speakers:
“SharePoint: Today, Tomorrow and the Future”
Wednesday, January 28
8:30 am – 9:15 am
Tom Rizzo
Tom Rizzo, Director of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, has worked at Microsoft for the past 10 years in a variety of roles in Microsoft¹s server products, including Exchange Server, SharePoint, BizTalk Server SQL Server.
Tom is also the author of a series of Microsoft Press books.

“Calculating SharePoint’s ROI and its Impact on your Business”
Thursday, January 29
1:30 pm - 2:15 pm
Errin O’Connor
Errin O’Connor is the founder and chief executive officer of EPC Group and the author of “Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Inside Out,” by published Microsoft Press. He has completed more than 93 individual SharePoint implementations and has worked with some of the largest organizations in the United States.