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 examined the expectations from the business perspective, and in Part 5, I’ll share my solution on how we can all fix this problem.

Part 5: My Proposed Solution

This is my final installment in this series. I have spent weeks discussing why SharePoint implementations fail, and it is time for me to provide you with my solution. Up until this point, I’ve explained that in order to implement SharePoint effectively, you MUST take a business-focused approach.

It is detrimental to implement SharePoint into your organization based solely upon a limited number of exciting features or functionalities. The most effective way to implement SharePoint into your organization is to evaluate the current state of the business as a whole (e.g. existing processes, requested improvements, collaborative needs) and implement SharePoint-based solutions to support and enhance those critical business processes.

You do not bring SharePoint into your organization because you want to utilize one or two features or functionalities for your personal or departmental gain. You bring SharePoint into your organization because you want to solve critical business problems throughout your entire organization.

The facts of the matter are as follows:

• For years, companies have been implementing SharePoint solutions without thinking of the business first. Real-world experience tells me that I should plot my course BEFORE I run my race.
  
• For years, the qualifications for playing the role of the SharePoint administrator have gone undocumented. Apparently all it takes is an employee’s enthusiasm to learn the technology combined with the business’ desire to launch the technology. Unfortunately, sometimes the business is unable to, or doesn’t recognize the need to hire qualified resources. We all know that just because you WANT TO BE a professional football player in the NFL, doesn’t mean that you WILL BE good at it.

For years, our SharePoint Implementations have been undersupported, understaffed, and ineffective in solving critical business problems. It is time to reset expectations for what is required to properly implement SharePoint within an organization.

My Proposed Solution: ADEQUATE Resources to Support the Implementation

I propose a team of individuals working together to “effectively bring SharePoint into the organization.” This team is made up of three very important roles:

For you business owners out there, I’ve created a visual diagram to communicate the distribution of skill sets that I believe are required for the SharePoint team members. For each role, a series of skill sets are represented as 3-D blocks. The depth and breadth of that team member’s skill set will be represented by the length and width of the block.

Each of these individuals will have a specific focus within the SharePoint arena, yet they will work together as a team to “effectively bring SharePoint into the Organization.” The days of a single SharePoint administrator tasked with carrying the unattainable expectations of the business on their back must come to an end.

In Conclusion

This is the solution I am proposing. If you know me, you know that I am a very passionate person when it comes to SharePoint. I am so passionate about this message, that you will see me support it in every classroom I teach, and every presentation that I deliver. We have suffered too long from inadequate resources to support our implementations. It is time for all of us to make a change.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog posts on this topic. Please visit the SharePoint Bootcamp website to learn more about me, my training, and my company

Matt