In Part 1 of my series titled Inadequate Resources to Support the Implementation, I spoke about the large amount of risk that companies are taking on due to the ease of entry into the SharePoint Administrator’s role. In Parts 2 and 3, I explained how the SharePoint Administrator’s role was never clearly defined and that most of us lack a true identity. In Part 4 of this series, I’ll examine these expectations from the business perspective and uncover just how outrageous this role really is.
Part4: “SharePoint Administrators are NOT Superheroes!”
I really want to emphasize the outlandish expectations that the business has historically held for SharePoint Administrators.
A Business Analyst:
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of a Business Analyst by planning your implementation. This means gathering requirements for feature specific functionality. You have to be able to look at a business problem, and propose a solution using a specific technology. You also need to be able to create and deliver professional looking documentation such as proposals, project plans, presentations, and often training material. Most likely, you’ll be asked to facilitate meetings with Business Owners in order to present that material.
A Solutions Developer:
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of a Solutions Developer when growing your SharePoint implementation. This would entail the understanding of the roles played by the current applications within your organization. You may be asked to evaluate an existing set of applications for a possible integration into SharePoint.
A SharePoint Architect:
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of an Architect when planning your implementation. This may involve the knowledge to properly define the logical topology of your SharePoint Implementation. Planning the appropriate Sites, Site Collections, Web Applications, and Shared Services Providers with an eye towards the big picture will allow you to evaluate the future effects of decisions made today. This will be extremely important in your success as a SharePoint Administrator, because often times, it is your recommendation that gets implemented.
A Hardware Administrator
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of a Hardware Administrator when building out your implementation. Though you may or may not be the one ordering the hardware, or even setting it up, it is important to understand the hardware options to support your implementation. You have to understand the SharePoint server roles, and the opportunity costs associated with selecting specific chipset architectures and other hardware components such as memory, disc space, and storage.
A Security Administrator
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of a Security Administrator when setting up and installing your implementation. You’ll need to understand how SharePoint secures information at the farm, site collection, site, list, and item level. Depending upon the complexity or scope of your implementation, you may need to understand the different security protocols and possible risks within your network. You may need to institute multiple authentication methods across your implementation and interface with multiple back-end credential stores.
A Network Administrator
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of a Network Administrator when planning your implementation. You may be the one called upon to suggest an appropriate server topology to support your implementation. When you get beyond the single box, or sandbox implementation, you’ll need to learn about intranet, extranet, and internet options. You’ll need to understand DMZ configurations and additional hardware components that interface with, and protect your implementation. You’ll need to learn how to setup and even troubleshoot network connectivity issues. This can be a tall task for anyone new to network administration.
A Database Administrator
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of a Database Administrator. You may have to understand proper SQL Server setup and disc configuration. You could be responsible for the backup and restore processes, and the evaluation of database logs and performance tuning. In the event of a disaster, you need to have the processes in place to recover your data within predefined service-level agreements.
A .NET Developer
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of a .NET developer. In many cases, you may not be the one doing the development, but it is important that you understand what functionality is available out of the box, what is configurable through the UI, and what would have to be developed using the object model. You’ll need to understand when to deploy features , a custom web part, or a custom configuration.
A SharePoint Evangelist
As a SharePoint Administrator, you may be asked to take on the role of an Evangelist throughout the lifespan of your implementation. You’ll be challenged with the task of evangelizing the capabilities of MOSS 2007 throughout your organization. You’ll need to be able to handle a multitude of technical and non-technical questions about your SharePoint implementation. You’ll need to understand available features and functionalities, and communicate effectively to all types of personalities. As an evangelist, you may be asked to assist in gathering requirements, leading training sessions, ensuring governance practices are followed, or providing demos. You’ll also need to understand the current status of your implementation.
Ok… take a breath. What you just read were 9 separate roles that when combined, commonly equate to the SharePoint Administrator’s role.
It is overwhelming.
It is daunting.
For 99% of SharePoint Administrators out there, it is unattainable.
Because the title of our role has the word “Administrator” at the end of it, the business often looks at SharePoint Administrators and sees the glass half empty. “If the portal is down, you’d better understand why it is down, and you’d better know how to fix it. If the portal is up, you’d better be available to handle anything we can throw at you.” It may sound harsh, but many SharePoint Administrators feel this way towards the business they serve. We walk around with this badge… or shield… or curse that reminds us somehow, we need to dawn a cape and save the world when the business is in distress.
I’ve been on this Super hero kick as of late, so please allow me to indulge myself. If you’re old school, then you know that even the Green Lantern, who held power; limited only by the imagination, was powerless against something so simple as the color Yellow! If you consider yourself new school, you’ve read Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN and you know that even if superheroes did exist, they’d just be ordinary people, with ordinary problems, and our lives wouldn’t have turned out any better or worse than they already did.
Note to Alan Moore: Please do not be offended by Matt Passannante’s one sentence description of one of the greatest texts ever written by man.
SharePoint Administrators are NOT superheroes! Superheroes do not exist.
The business has to stop seeing the SharePoint administrator role as an endless well of expectations and abilities. At the same time, SharePoint administrators need to understand their limits and work effectively within them.
This has been a very intense series of posts for me to author. I promise that my next post in this series will offer up a solution and level-set expectations for both Administrators and Business Owners.
Thank you for reading.
Matt
mpassannante
Matt, great articles on Inadequate Resources to Support…! I’m involved in implementing Sharepoint at my office. I am attempting to document technical support roles and responsibilities involved in the problem resolution cycle. Everything from responsibilities of the End-Users in various departments through those of the Sharepoint Administrators in IT. Have you written on this subject?
Hi Claire, I have not written on this subject, but I expect to very soon.