Well, the date is fast approaching for the annual SharePoint Best Practices Conference hosted by MindSharp.  This will be my first time speaking at the conference, and I must admit I’m getting pretty excited about it.

The thing about this conference that sets it apart from others is that it really focuses everyone’s attention on the "best" features of the platform.  First of all, take a look at the roster of speakers.  That’s a lot of talent to have in one place for 3 days.  And if you drill down into the topic list, you’ll see right away that these are areas that the speakers have a lot of experience in and are really passionate about.

I’ll be giving two talks this year.  On Wednesday morning, I’ll share some recent experiences applying an innovative technique called Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) Analysis to the problem of identifying content types that I think you’ll find interesting.  On Thursday, I’ll delve into the issues involved in building effective records management solutions for SharePoint 2010.

As an added bonus this year, there is a FREE lecture on Tuesday 8/24 given by conference founder Bill English on How to Organize Information in SharePoint 2010.  Although it is free, you still have to register to get in (click here).  If you’re not attending the conference, and will be in the DC area, you might want to consider this one.  Lots of good information, but I’d register early because there will be a limited number of seats.

Here are the details for my two talks. 
Hope to see you there!

Content Type Discovery using Dependency Structure Matrix Analysis

Duration: 60 – 75 minutes  Audience: Admin, IT Pro

Date/Time: Wednesday, August 25 @ 9:30 AM

Abstract: Content types are the cornerstone of every Enterprise Content Management solution built on the SharePoint platform. However, finding a consistent and repeatable methodology for identifying the appropriate content types for a given solution remains a challenge for most organizations. Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) analysis has been around for more than 30 years, and has been applied to everything from process modeling to Software Architecture. This session will explore the use of DSMs to identify content types by deriving functional groups based on interdependencies that exist between content elements flowing into and out of business processes.

Building Enterprise Records Management Solutions for SharePoint 2010

Duration: 60 – 75 minutes  Audience: Admin, IT Pro

Date/Time: Thursday, August 26 @ 9:30 AM

Abstract: SharePoint 2010 introduces many new content management features that can be applied to build both document and records management solutions. In this session, we’ll examine these features in detail and explore ways to apply them to solve traditional records management problems such as creating hierarchical file plans, using metadata to drive content routing and making eDiscovery more accessible for records managers and end users. During the session, we’ll also explore the new in-place records management features that make it easier to manage compliance details for individual documents, and we’ll take a closer look at the improved Records Center site to see how it combines all of the new content management features to simplify the creation of a locked-down records vault.

Click here for more information: 

S23 – Managing Electronic Records using SharePoint 2010

What I found most interesting is the amount of misinformation that still exists around the core capabilities of the SharePoint platform, as well as the wide variety of perspectives on how SharePoint fits into the ECM space.  Most of the respondents seem to be having trouble wrapping their heads around the sheer scope of SharePoint the “platform”.  It will be interesting to see how things develop over the coming year.

To read the full discussion, click here: AIIM Discussion on SharePoint’s Impact on the ECM Market

Check out this postby Lee Dallason why he thinks Microsoft has been so successful in redefining ECM around the capabilities of the SharePoint platform.  To put it simply, it’s because of a brilliant marketing strategy and not because of SharePoint itself.

Dallas boils it down to three key points:

1. Microsoft focused on solving the most pervasive problem first: self-management of workgroup file sharing (off-loading the burden from IT).
2. Microsoft setoff a viral promotion campaign by letting end-users believe they could control their own data.
3. Microsoft marketed the product through IT operations channels.

Dallas observes that because SharePoint deployments are so pervasive and are expanding so rapidly, the entire ECM food chain has been thrown out of balance to the point that traditional ECM vendors must now justify their products against mundane collaboration features instead of the more specialized features they tend to promote.  But perhaps the most interesting observation is revealed by the following statement:

"There is no single department in any IT organization with greater potential reach than those that manage access and identity (i.e. Active Directory)."

Dallas argues that by marketing and promoting SharePoint through IT operations channels, Microsoft essentially achieved preferential status for SharePoint, even though the technical challenges in infrastructure and security were no less prevalent than with other products. In other words, the people evaluating SharePoint and who would ultimately bless its deployment had already invested their time and energy learning how to resolve the problems they would face after the product was put into production.  Brilliant!

All in all, a good read for anyone interested in ECM.