Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects [Paperback]

Jennifer Mason (Author), Christian Buckley (Author), Brian T. Jackett (Author), Wes Preston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2012

Build effective solutions for real-world business scenarios—using out-of-the-box tools in Microsoft® SharePoint® Server, SharePoint Foundation, and Office 365. Each chapter in this hands-on book focuses on a single business project, using a standard approach to guide you through the solution-building process from start to finish. Apply your skills as a SharePoint power user or site administrator—and get started now.

Tackle 10 common business problems with proven SharePoint solutions

• Set up a help desk solution to track service requests
• Build a modest project management system
• Design a scheduling system to manage resources
• Create a site to support geographically dispersed teams
• Implement a course registration system
• Build a learning center with training classes and resources
• Design a team blog platform to review content
• Create a process to coordinate RFP responses
• Set up a FAQ system to help users find answers quickly
• Implement a cost-effective contact management system

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jennifer Mason is a Senior SharePoint Consultant. Her focus is on strategy, project planning, project management, governance, and best practices for implementing business solutions using SharePoint Technologies.

Christian Buckley has co-authored three books on software configuration management and defect tracking. He has worked on supply chain, grid computing, and product lifecycle management projects, leading PM and consulting teams to deploy solutions at some of the world’s largest high-tech companies.

Brian T. Jackett is a Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft specializing in SharePoint, Project Server, and PowerShell. He is involved in organizing community conferences as well as user groups. He also holds several Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications for SharePoint-related technologies.

Wes Preston, MVP, Microsoft SharePoint, is a consultant who has worked with SharePoint since 2003. He works primarily as a platform specialist and solution designer, helping organizations with platform strategy, aligning business needs with platform capabilities, and guiding organizations through the use of best practices.

Product Details

• Paperback: 438 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (March 9, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735662827
• ISBN-13: 978-0735662827
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Was this book edited June 7, 2012

By BillP

Format:Paperback

I was very excited when this book first came out because it appeared to contain step by step instructions to create compelling business solutions using SharePoint. When I began to build out the solutions I was struck by how poorly the book was edited. Many of the steps in buildout would use completely different syntax several times in the steps to represent the same word that needed to be entered to create columns or write rules. Other examples of rule writing were completely invalid and would not work. I am a SharePoint certified professional and still had to wrack my brain to try to figure out how to make certain suggestions work. Whoever edited this book definitely did not try to follow the instructions step by step and must have had no experience using SharePoint. These technology books are quite expensive and it is absurd that the publisher let it go to market in such poor condition. If you are a novice to SharePoint, purchase another book or wait for Microsoft Press to realize this slopiness and release a new version!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The real-world analysis is what makes this valuable to me... October 14, 2012

By Thomas Duff HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

It's one thing to be able to build a Hello World application using a new technology. It's another thing entirely to take the next step and build something that is actually useful. That's the jump that Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects makes. The authors, Jennifer Mason, Christian Buckley, Brian T. Jackett, and Wes Preston take ten different business scenarios, explain the business requirements, discuss the different architectural options (along with why they chose a particular path), and then proceed to build the solution in a step-by-step fashion. The book isn't perfect, but I think it has some significant value for SharePoint developers.

Contents:
Introduction; Building a Project Management Solution; Building a Training Registration Management System; Building a Basic FAQ Solution; Building a Learning Center; Building a Help Desk Solution; Building a Remote Teams Activity Site; Building a Team Blog Platform; Building an RFP Response Solution; Building a Contact Management Solution; Building a Resource Scheduling Solution; Resources; About the Authors; Index

SharePoint is flexible in that you can accomplish a task or build a solution in multiple ways. That's also a problem because you could easily build yourself into a corner without understanding how you got there. Having a real-world solution architecture analyzed by experts is extremely valuable, and you can apply those concepts in many other areas. I also appreciate how the analysis of the business requirements takes place, as it gives you a feel for how SharePoint can be applied to your own organizational needs. The actual solution they build is almost secondary to the value I get from those first two points....

A number of the reviews have mentioned that there are errors when trying to follow the step-by-step instructions on building the solution. That's unfortunate,as people new to SharePoint will end up getting confused more than they already are. This is a case where I'd recommend getting the e-book version and then bookmarking the errata site. If this was one of many tech books covering the same topic in the same fashion, I would probably recommend bypassing it. But there's too much value in the overall content here to go that route. I'll take the value of the analysis and real-world scenarios, and figure that the troubleshooting is just a bonus. :)

I'm looking forward to working through all these sites and making them available as demos for my customers. Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects will definitely improve my overall SharePoint skills.

Disclosure:
Obtained From: Publisher
Payment: Free Read more ›

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book with Practical Out of the Box SharePoint Projects March 22, 2012

By Will Kelly

Format:Kindle Edition

I am a sucker for practical technology books especially about Microsoft SharePoint so Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real World Projects hits my sweet spot with its well paced projects that take readers through all the stages to create and implement a SharePoint project using out of the box features. It puts me in my mind of the excellent SharePoint 2010 for Project Management book by Dux Raymond Sy.

The projects based approach to this book is a real selling point especially since you don't even need to be a fully trained SharePoint developer/administrator in order to follow them and the create the projects. The book's projects run the gamut from a project management solution, a basic FAQ solution, to a resource scheduling solution. Project complexity grows as the book progresses but each project sticks to the format of Identifying the Business Problems; Gathering Information; Designing the Solution; Building the Solution; and Managing the Solution.

In fact, I could see arming a technical user who may not necessarily be a SharePoint developer or administrator with this book and have them work through and implement the projects themselves. The projects also take the various SharePoint versions available including SharePoint Online (part of the new Office 365) into account which is a nice touch.

Another selling point is the attention that the authors pay to the planning stages in each of the book's projects. I've often said that SharePoint isn't it's the implementation that makes it bad and the planning section of each of the book is in itself a great tutorial in SharePoint Project planning best practices.... The planning and gathering information sections of each project include some of the strongest material in the book with some great lessons for readers brand new to SharePoint site development.

I recommend this book highly especially to readers who are seeking to get more out of SharePoint right out of the box without having an expensive professional services engagement. There is so much that can be done with SharePoint out of the box that organizations never seem to tap into so they can get maximum returns on their SharePoint investment. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate infomation November 14, 2012

By MarquessaX ^_^

Format:Paperback

waste of money and time - missing information/steps, lack of clarity, no error checking. Some of the information appears to be correct in theory but does not actually work properly in SharePoint due to the way SP handles certain things, such as lookup columns.

Bad book! No Cookie!

Get something else.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Error After Error September 19, 2012

By MotoFan

Format:Paperback

Spent more time reviewing errors, correcting them and making sense out of it more than what I was able to follow through instructions. Should have come in workbook format so you can have room to scribble notes all over...very poor editing adds frustration.