sharepoint lied: it isn’t a document management system, it’s really a file management system by...

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SharePoint Lied: It Isn’t a Document Management System; It’s Really a File Management SystemDo you feel that your document management system is missing something? It is. It’s missing documents. Sure it manages files well enough, but are files and documents the same thing?

This session focuses on the differences between files and documents, and examines some strategies for converting SharePoint from just a file management system into a document management system.

Eugene RosenfeldCTO, Black Blade Associates, Inc.

http://www.blackbladeinc.com/

mailto:[email protected]




About Eugene Rosenfeld CTO, Black Blade Associates Two-time SharePoint MVP

www.BlackBladeInc.com twitter.com/erosen03 ThingsThatShouldbeEasy.blogspot.com [email protected]




http://twitter.com/erosen03

http://thingsthatshouldbeeasy.blogspot.com/




About Black BladeSpecialize in SharePoint document and records management, information architecture, distributed systems, and systems integration

www.BlackBladeInc.com twitter.com/BlackBladeInc www.blackbladeinc.com/pages/blog.aspx [email protected]




http://twitter.com/blackbladeinc

http://www.blackbladeinc.com/pages/blog.aspx




About this Presentation Session is best suited to content

managers and information architects Focusing on:

Capabilities Usage scenariosRequirements

No code or configuration Lessons learned from our

implementation





About You How are you using SharePoint today? Do you have a particular problem

you’re hoping this presentation can help you address?

If you could make just one problem go away by snapping your fingers, what problem would that be?





Overview Define Document

Management System File ≠ Document Convince you that need a

DMS Our SharePoint DMS

implementation





Setting Expectations Advanced document management

Not everyone needs or is ready for this Investment required

3 – 12 months to implement Will require re-engineering business

processes to get full value





Collab vs. Doc ManagementCollaboration Document Management

Goal is to exchange information

Quick to start Free-flow process Little control Live in the now

Goal is to produce and manage a work product

Benefits from greater planning

Structured process Granular control Manages full document

lifecycle Collaboration should be part

of document management Makes collaboration

productive





Who Should Think About This? Life sciences Financial Energy Government Publishers Television / Video Academia / research Manufacturing Consultants

Regulated industries

Media





What is a document management system?





One DefinitionA document management system (DMS) is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions modified by different users (history tracking). The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management systems. It is often viewed as a component….

track and store





Essence of a DMS Document data storage and retrieval Document processing operations





Document Data Storage





Question: Is there a difference between files and documents?

SharePoint stores document data as files. So…





File ≠ Document? Yes What is the difference?





What is the difference?

Content





Question: Is a document just a “special type” of file?





Document a special type of File? Not exactly Though they are related





File and Document Relationships Single-document files

One document per fileWord, Excel, PDF, etc…

Multi-document filesA single file contains multiple

documentsZip files, databases, email

w/attachments, etc… Multi-file documents

Huh??

Adequate support

Minimal support

No support





What are multi-file documents?





What is a Multi-file Document? Single logical document

Ex: a proposal, a book, a report, a presentation

Divided into partsStored as separate, but related filesEx: multiple chapters, slides, images,

spreadsheets Work with the each document part

separately or with the document as a whole

Two main types: Virtual and Compound Documents





Isn’t this just a Document Set? No. A multi-file document is a single

document Document set stores several different

documents together, like a folder





Are Multi-file Documents New? No, just new to SharePoint You’ve already used multi-file

documentsHTML pagesReusable Content in SharePoint publishing

pagesOneNote notebooksWord compound documentsFrameMaker documentsTeXSource code





SharePoint Document Support Single-document

files Multi-document

files Multi-file

documents

- Adequate support - Minimal support - No support





Document Processing Operations





What SharePoint can do now for document management





File Management Operations Organization (tagging, metadata,

storage) Concurrency control (check in / out) Single permission set for entire file Versioning Publishing (content approval) Workflow





File Consumption Multiple accessors / readers Search





Document Authoring Single author, multiple readers Authoring with Microsoft Office Potential multi-format documents using

document conversions





What about Co-Authoring? Requires Office 2010+ or web app Authoring restrictions within a

document are not stored in SharePoint Users can still get edit conflicts Must download full document to edit Cannot use check in / check out Bottom line: collaboration or review tool





SP DM Features? Document authoring / viewing

Kind of – more a feature of Office Web Apps Search indexing





You need a SharePoint DMS





Question: Is SharePoint Document Management “Good Enough?”

We will look at a common scenario involving a team of people creating and distributing a proposal. The team will include an engineer and sales person from our company, and a sub-contractor. The proposal will also make use of materials provided by the marketing and legal departments.





Is SharePoint Document Management “Good Enough?”

No Why?

Data storage inadequateOperations on data are woefully inadequateShould have all the web content

management features for documents





Difficult to Implement Scenarios Authoring with partially-trusted users

Partners, customers, vendors, anyone besides you

Creating financial documentsData from financial system and human

write upEnsure human doesn’t fudge financial data

Enforcing document content complianceEnsure every employee offer has official

NDA Presenting a consistent brand

Update all marketing materials with new logo





Our SharePoint DMS





SP DM Limitations in a Nutshell SharePoint provides lots

of tools for managing the document in its file shell

…but what about the tools to manage the meat of the document, the important parts inside the file shell?





SharePoint DM Vision SharePoint document management

limitations stem from single-file documents:

Lessons from the web:Separating the elements of a web page (the

document) into multiple files makes for a much stronger management system

We need a system that can manage documents as if they were web pages

We need multi-file documents





Proposal as Multi-file Document

Proposals Document Library

Market Department’s Document Library

Legal Departments Document Library

Proposal About the Company

Legal Terms

About the Company

(Reference)

Legal Terms (Reference)

Proposal Lead

Engineer

Executive Summary

Technical Proposal





Demo: Web Pages – the-20-year-old multi-file document format

We will see how HTML’s multi-file document structure allows us to easily make global changes across many documents,





Sample User Interface





Demo: Our internal SharePoint multi-file document DMS





Authoring: This is what we had…





Working

Larger team = more wasted time

Start FinishTotal Time

Authoring with Standard Documents





This is what we have now…





WorkingTotal Time

Start Finish

Larger team = faster completion time

Authoring with Virtual Documents





Partial Trust Authoring




Proposal

About the Company

Legal TermsAbout the Company

(Reference)


Technical Proposal

Trusted Employee

Partially Trusted Sub-Contractor

Executive Summary





Automated Systems Authoring




Mutual Fund Prospectus

About the Fund

Legal TermsAbout the

Fund (Reference)


Historical Returns

Analyst

Data Warehouse

Investment Objectives





Requires Process Reengineering Current process

Is serialCentered around managing the nut

New processes Will be parallelFocused on managing the contents inside

the shell





Closing





Summary DM = storage and processing Multi-file documents provide the key to

unlocking SharePoint DM capabilities Devote 3-12 months to build the

capability Need to re-engineer your business

processes to leverage new capabilities





About Black BladeSpecialize in SharePoint document and records management, information architecture, distributed systems, and systems integration

www.BlackBladeInc.com twitter.com/BlackBladeInc www.blackbladeinc.com/pages/blog.aspx [email protected]




http://twitter.com/blackbladeinc

http://www.blackbladeinc.com/pages/blog.aspx




What multi-file documents can do for you





Multi-file Document Capabilities Better authoring

Controlled concurrent authoringReusable, live contentMultiple authoring format with multiple

consumption formats Granular management

Enhanced version control / record management

Granular permissions and auditingTargeted approval workflows





More Capabilities Real-world distribution

Distribute document in multiple formatsEasily correlate published and authored

versions of a documentSystem signs all published documentsSystem encrypts sensitive content to

remove second-hand information leaks Records processing

Detect retention conflicts within documents





New Usage Scenarios Team-based Authoring Authoring with External Users Geographically Distributed Authoring Sensitive Document Authoring / PII Combined Automated and Human

Authoring Brand management Digital Asset Management Compliance reporting





New SharePoint Applications New usage scenarios enable new apps Proposal Builder Project Management Digital Asset Management Financial Reporting Book Authoring Brief Builder PDF Publisher





Strategies for creating a multi-file document capability on SharePoint





An Ideal ImplementationOk multi-file documents

Ideal multi-file documents

Require you to use special file formats. I.e.: Web pages require .HTML FrameMaker requires .MIF

Require custom authoring apps or add-ins Special web app Office add-ins HTML editor FrameMaker

Uses your existing file formats – no changes Word - .DOC, .DOCX PowerPoint - .PPT, .PPTX

Use existing authoring apps – no add-ins MS Office OpenOffice WordPerfect

Author as multi-file, distribute as single-file





General Approach Completely server-side approach Use native document formats No custom apps or Office add-ins

needed End result had to be a single file per

document format Low operational and maintenance costs No data loss





Components Document content data Document processing engine Process management User interface





Document Content Data Store documents, sections, and

relationships Options

Store in SharePoint using foldersStore in SharePoint using document setsStore in SharePoint using metadataStore in custom data store

Final answerStore in SharePoint using metadataHeavy use of content types





Document Sets as DocumentsDocument Sets Multi-file Document

Final product is a document collection

Based on folder paradigm

Can’t control order Flat list Requires SharePoint

Server 2010

Final product is a single document

Based on document paradigm

Full ordering support Full hierarchy support Nice to have WSS / SP

Server and 3.0 / 4.0 support





Document Processing Engine Performs work on document and

sections Options

List item event receiverWorkflowWindows service or Timer jobStand-alone processing engine service

Final answerStand-alone processing engine service,

loosely coupled to SharePoint using WCF services





Process Management Feeds the processing engine with work

items Options

Document queue on processing engine service

Document queue on SharePoint farm Final answer

Document queue on both the SharePoint farm and the processing engine service





User Interface Allows the user to interact with the

system Options

Web parts or Application pagesUI on processing engine service with WSRP

producer support Final answer

List viewsApplication pagesUI on processing engine service but no

WSRP




sharepoint lied: it isn’t a document management system, it’s really a file management system by...

Documents

sharepoint document

multidocument files

document data storage8

dms document data storage

single logical document

multifile documents

single file

differencebetween files