Bob Mixon

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 - Marketing Lists

Bob Mixon — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:28:00 GMT

So, I am deep into Microsoft Dynamics CRM lately and I thought it would be a good idea for me to blog about my findings. If your asking, how does this relate to SharePoint? Well... it does; there has been a number of customer who have both technologies and want to integrate them. I will be covering this too.

With some help from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Forum members, I now have a better understanding of how Marketing Lists are used.

First and foremost, Marketing Lists are a place-holder to manage a set of Accounts, Contacts or Leads. Once you create a Marketing List to manage a specific type of record, only that type can be stored in it. So if you are working on a campaign that will include records from your Contacts list and Lead list, you will need to create 2 Marketing Lists.

A Marketing list is dynamic from the stand-point that you can add, remove and updates associated records on an as needed basis. However, don't be confused with the belief that the list will be updated based on some filter criteria. For example, you create a Marketing List named Campaign Leads and add all records from your Leads list. Adding a new record to your Lead list will not automatically update the Marketing List. In this circumstance, you will need to update the Marketing List members by re-running the query again.

Here are a couple of links that may help with using Marketing Lists:

Thank you again to those in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Forums for helping me better understand some of the details related to Marketing Lists!

Free Workshop - Case Studies in SharePoint Dashboards by Mark Miller

Bob Mixon — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:41:00 GMT

Case Studies in SharePoint Dashboards is a live, online demo/workshop to show easy, simple ways to display information in SharePoint. This is a free workshop for all subscribers to the EndUserSharePoint.com Weekly Newsletter.

With a basic WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) implementation, you don't have access to Excel Services, KPI web parts or any of the other cool features available to SharePoint Enterprise users. This workshop will concentrate on what is available in WSS and how those features can be used for creating useful, easy to read dashboards from your existing SharePoint libraries and lists.

This presentation is useful for managers, site planners, and Information Workers who have to deal with documents, lists and links stored in SharePoint. Site Managers and Site Collection Administrators will gain tips and tricks for implementing some "not so obvious" features of SharePoint when creating dashboards.

The host of Case Studies in SharePoint Dashboards is Mark Miller, founder and editor of EndUserSharePoint.com. In the past ten years, Mark has traveled throughout North America, Europe and Asia teaching live, in-person workshops at Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, Intuit and Autodesk.

He has been teaching online since 1999 using Centra, Breeze or GoToWebinar.

I'll be Speaking at the Orange County SharePoint User Group

Bob Mixon — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:21:00 GMT

This week Wednesday, September 17th, I will be speaking at the Orange County SharePoint User Group meeting.

Improving SharePoint Search Relevancy through Scopes
6:30pm - 8:00pm - QuickStart, Irvine, CA

Organizations struggle with delivering information within the scope and context of business users needs. Understanding scope and contextual search needs can be a daunting task. However, results can be dramatically improved through careful planning, architecture, design, and development techniques.

In this session, you will learn the techniques and best practices required to deliver a SharePoint solution that supports scoping of information. We will cover appropriate architecture, design, and configuration techniques then dive into development. Development topics will include an introduction to search syntax options and the key query classes offered in MOSS, and search object model with a demonstration of executing queries with scope information.

Hope to see you there!

Sad to hear about Patrick Tissghem

Bob Mixon — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:41:00 GMT

Just today I learned very sad news; that friend and fellow SharePoint MVP, Patrick Tissghem, passed away on Wednesday, Stepember 3rd. I have fond memories of Patrick, spending time with him at conferences, listening to him speak, learning from him and just having fun together. You will be missed Patrick.

My heart and prayers go out to him and his family...

The announcement can also be found on the U2U web site.

Learn to Build "Real World" SharePoint Solutions with, 3-Time SharePoint MVP, Bob Mixon

Bob Mixon — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:32:00 GMT

Online - All from the Comfort of your Home or Office

This course is designed for developers, architects and professionals (IA, KM and PM) who want to optimize their implementation skills for SharePoint-based solutions.

With helpful and proven tips, techniques and processes you will be armed with the tools your organization needs to achieve the full benefit of SharePoint. By using real world examples (and mistakes), Bob will save you many hours of wasted time and disappointments.

Learn To:

Build "Real World" Solutions using SharePoint out-of-box features, without Visual Studio.
Create site and navigation structures that can be used by both the contributor and consumer.
Build a Taxonomy and learn how to Apply it to SharePoint.
Reduce, if not eliminate, Document Duplication.
Configure Search so it Delivers Relevant Results.
Understand security, how it works and techniques for correctly applying it.
Automate business processes with workflow.
Create a Request and Site Provisioning Solution.
Utilize SharePoint to manage your implementation.
Increase confidence in your ability to successfully create solutions that will be adopted by users.
Understand key factors in making a build versus buy decision.
Much more...

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to do SharePoint right the first time - Next class starts 9/16.

Save $100 when you register before Friday, September 12, 2008
Register Here!

For complete workshop details, click here.

Have you ever changed the top-level Site Title Site Column?

Bob Mixon — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:52:00 GMT

So have you? Not that you would ever want to admit it in public; but I hear of it all too often. Right from the browser, you can change the top-level Site Title Site Column. Doing so will change the display name of that column everywhere its used in the Site Collection. Now here is the interesting part; you can't change it back... Or, at least you may not think so.

For each Site Column, known as an SPField object at the API level, there is an internal name (SPField.InternalName) and a display name (SPField.Title) being maintained. When you change a Site Column in the browser, you are only changing the display name; i.e. SPField.Title. And, this can be changed back to its original name using the SharePoint API; and this is the only way you can change it back.

If this happens in your environment, give this a try!

SPSite site = new SPSite( "[URL of top-level site]" );
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
SPField titleField = web.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName( "Title" );
if( titleField != null)
{
titleField.Title = "Title";
titleField.Update();
}
web.Dispose();
site.Dispose();

If you prefer PowerShell, give this a try...

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint")
$siteurl = "URL of top-level site"
$spsite=new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite($siteurl)
$spweb=$spsite.OpenWeb()
$spfield=$spweb.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName("Title")
$spfield.Title = "Title"
$spfield.Update()

The above code will update the Title Site Column back to its original display name of Title.

Orange County CA SharePoint User Group Meeting

Bob Mixon — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:39:00 GMT

Last night, Wednesday August 20th, I attended the Orange County CA SharePoint User Group. It was a good sized crowd; not sure of the count but maybe up-wards of 50 to 60 people attended. I sure do like to see this; working with community efforts like this is a great way to learn. Roland DG show the work they have done on their MOSS solution; Intranet and Extranet.

There were a lot of questions around the topic of search at the meeting; and not a lot of answers. Search in SharePoint does work; you simply need to understand how to architect a solution to produce relevant results within the scope and context of business user needs. I did offer to deliver a session (or series of sessions) on the topic of search; we'll see if they bite!

The Orange County CA SharePoint User Group web site can be found here. If you live near Orange County, even those of you from LA, I highly recommend attending. The meeting is the 3rd Wednesday of every month. Just put it in your calendar, it's only one evening each month and I am sure you will learn!

K2 blackpoint: What is It?

Bob Mixon — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:15:00 GMT

Maybe you have heard of it, maybe not! In either case you may be wondering what the heck it is? Read on...

Before I dive in too deep, let me give you a little background on K2; this is what I know and I am sure there is a lot more. K2 started back in 2001 and started delivering workflow solutions/products. The first product I am familiar with is K2.net 2003. Their current primary workflow product is K2 blackpearl, released in 2007. K2 blackpearl is a full-featured workflow platform, built on Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), and is used to build process-driven applications. IMHO, the primary focus of such a product is to provide you with the tools to automate processes allowing your business to maintain its competitive edge. K2 has hit the mark with flying colors. K2 not only allows you to build process-driven applications, it enables the true Business Process Management life-cycle.

So what is K2 blackpoint and where does it fit in? K2 blackpoint is workflow for SharePoint on steroids. K2 blackpoint is K2 blackpearl with functionality specific to Microsoft SharePoint enabled. It is the same core workflow engine, project format and so on. K2 blackpoint can also be viewed as a stepping-stone to K2 blackpearl; everything you build in K2 blackpoint will directly upgrade to K2 blackpearl when the need arises. So, if you feel your not quite ready for K2 blackpearl, start with K2 blackpoint now and see what doors it will open for you; the possibilities are quite amazing.

K2 blackpoint

If you are interested in seeing what K2 blackpoint can do for you, contact Mixon Consulting and we will setup a free online product demonstration.

InfoPath 2007: Display User on a Form

Bob Mixon — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:22:00 GMT

I have finally begun more development in InfoPath 2007. Instead of holding all of my work close and personal, I thought I would share it. Adding the current user on a form is a very common need; and quite simple to solve using InfoPath 2007 funcions.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to place a Text Box control on your form; this can be bound to data or not, it doesn't matter. Once you have done this, double-click the control to open the Text Box Properties. Click the formula button next to the Default Value field. In the formula dialog, type userName() and click the OK button. Click the OK button on the Text Box Properties dialog and you are good to go.

Read more about the userName() function on Office Online

Now that you have preset this Text Box using a function, you may also wish to make it read-only.

MOSS 2007 Site Navigation - Topical Versus Organizational

Bob Mixon — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:24:00 GMT

I, quite often, I am asked and discuss the manner in which an Intranet Portal site should be structured. Meaning, is it best to structure sites in an organization or topical manner. More often than not, I find business units and departments want to keep their identity and find it easier to manage their own content in a more centralized location. However, simply structuring your Intranet Portal sites from an organizational perspective may not be the easiest way for users to find answers and discover content. More often I find end users locate information from a topical approach.

Let me further provide an example. In most organizations Policies and Procedures are maintained by numerous business units and departments; I'll use Finance and Human Resources for my example. Members of the Finance and Human Resources departments will find it easier to maintain their specific Policies and Procedures on their respective Finance and Human Resources sites. Why? Because each are maintaining a lot more than just Policies and Procedures and to attempt to remember where the various types of data is stored is very inconvenient for them. They would prefer to go to a single location, i.e. their site, where their identity is maintained, and manage content. To be honest, this is a perfectly reasonable wish. If we make the creation and maintenance of content difficult, the Intranet will not be kept up to date. There is a much better chance of content staying fresh if we make the content authors job easy.

Now for the end user... There comes a need to find the current procedure for expense reporting. Is this being maintained by the Finance or Human Resource department? It's done differently in various organizations; unless the user knows, they will have to check both department sites to find what they are looking for. This is a simple example, but will multiply itself as your Intranet content grows.

There is always many ways to implement your Intranet Portal, I am going to provide you with one approach to handle the above business problem. This approach seems to work well in many organizations.

In these specific situations, give both the content owners/authors and end users the best of both worlds. It's not a case of which navigation model is better, it's a matter of providing both. It is quite common to provide multiple navigation models for various types of users. You can use permissions and audiences to further narrow what is visible to various users. The example site structure below contains a Human Resources and Finance departmental site. These sites are where the departments maintain their identity and their specific content is maintained; thus the departmental users goals have been satisfied. The Corporate Policies and Procedures site is used to aggregate and display information to end users; thus satisfying the end users need to not care where the information is derived.

As I said above, this example is simple; however, I hope it conveys the concept.

Store content where it is easy for content owners to manage. If you do this, the chances of the content staying fresh is greater.
Create additional navigation, as needed, to facilitate the location of information from a topical approach.

PowerShell and SharePoint

Bob Mixon — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:48:00 GMT

During our Mastering SharePoint workshop this week, I had a couple of students who wanted additional information about how to use PowerShell to automate the usage of SharePoint. PowerShell is a fantastic utility to quickly create scripts to perform bulk administrative type operations. Since PowerShell has the ability to load and work with .NET assemblies, the SharePoint API can be loaded and used in scripts. This opens the doors to having the ability to do virtually anything you wish.

Is it a good replacement for .NET developers? Maybe not. If you an individual with .NET development skills, it may not be worth the time to learn another language. However, if you are an administrator and don't know C# or VB.NET, PowerShell is a fantastic option for you.

MSDN PowerShell Team Blog

Below are some general resources (reading) that will help you understand what can be done with PowerShell and SharePoint. As I learn of new resources, I will continue to update this post.

General

DevConnections - PowerShell for SharePoint Developers

SharePoint PowerShell for Beginners
by Karine Bosch (U2U)

SharePoint PowerShell for Beginners - continued
by Karine Bosch (U2U)

SharePoint PowerShell Power Pack
Eric Kraus has compiled a library of PowerShell scrip commands to support the interaction with SharePoint.

PowerShell & SharePoint - Quick Start

GetFeatureDefinition - A SharePoint PowerShell Function
by Darrin Bishop

GetFeatureAndDependencies - A SharePoint PowerShell Function
by Darrin Bishop

PowerShell SharePoint Provider
A full PowerShell provider for exposing WSS/SPS 2003 (support for 2007 coming) as a filesystem. Administer your SharePoint installation with familiar copy/move/rename/delete and new-item metaphors. Move users between roles, copy users between webs; use the full power of the shell to script away the pain of GUI based mass-management.

All SharePoint PowerShell Posts from the Adventures in SPWonderland Blog

Lists and Libraries

PowerShell-SharePoint: Three ways to delete a list item: ID, CAML, string matching

Update a SharePoint List with PowerShell

Web Applications, Site Collections and Sites

SharePoint/PowerShell 1: Make me a portal
PowerShell script to interact with Web Applications and Site Collections

Microsoft Announces Faceted Search for MOSS 2007

Bob Mixon — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:38:00 GMT

A new version, 2.5, of Faceted search for MOSS 2007 is now available. I haven't tried it yet but I am sure it is getting solid, especially since it is version 2.5 now.

International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Conference 2008 - I'll be Speaking

Bob Mixon — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:30:00 GMT

And what exactly will I be speaking about? Give you a hint? It starts with an "S", ends with a "t" and is something I am passionate about. Yup... you guessed it right; SharePoint.

The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Conference 2008 is being held in Grapevine, TX from 8/25/2008 to 8/28/2008 and I'll be delivering 2 sessions on SharePoint. In both of these sessions I will be covering Legal Matter Management and Customer On-boarding process on MOSS 2007. The cool part about the conference is each attendee will have their very own MOSS environment to build a Customer On-boarding and Legal Matter Management solution along with me.

I will be covering the automation of Information Governance and how to enforce it using K2 blackpoint workflow and how to manage legal matters on MOSS 2007.

Will you be there? If not, I will make everything available right here after the conference...

And, are you in or near Grapevine Texas? Lets get together for coffee!

Did you know that K2 blackpoint Supports a Real Development/QA/Production Environment?

Bob Mixon — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:28:00 GMT

One of the major draw-backs of using SharePoint Designer for workflow is the need to crack-it open in your production pnvironment; there is no MS approved way around it. Which means, if you develop an SPD workflow in a development environment, you are then forced to recreate every step in your production environment. This process is quite prone to errors.

K2 blackpoint supports the complete "normal" development lifecycle; development in a development environment, source code management, consistent deployment to QA and production servers.

K2 blackpoint Video with Microsoft: Channel 9

Bob Mixon — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:24:00 GMT

Kirk Evans of Microsoft met with Shaun Leisegang and Sebastian Garrioch, from K2, to learn more about K2 Blackpoint. Watch the video on Channel 9.

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/kirke/Looking-at-Blackpoint-with-Shaun-and-Sebastian-from-K2/