Following the completion of testing, server and tool configurations, the first migration has taken place to the live SharePoint 2010 server.
The Secretariat section of the portal has successfully been migrated over to SharePoint 2010. When users access this section on the current portal, they will be redirected to the new site, which is how the migration will be managed. During the migration will be displaying a button to easily get back to the current portal and a button to provide feedback. These will be displayed in the header of the site next to the logged in users name.
Below you will see the Secretariat site on SharePoint 2010.
Migration of other areas will now continue over the coming months with catering and HR moving soon.
Please note functionality, forms, visuals and times may be subject to change.
During a recent meeting with the library department, it was mentioned that they would like the possibility to synchronise their outlook email contacts to SharePoint 2010. From doing various researches it was mentioned that SharePoint 2010 has a built in feature that allows this to be possible.
Before it was possible to synchronise outlook to SharePoint 2010 a list library had to be created to store and hold the newly added contact details. Once the list was created and selected, on the top ribbon under “list” there is an option to connect to outlook.
Once that is selected a series of pop up boxes will appear if “allow” is selected for all of the pop ups you will be presented with your outlook email account open in the contacts section, with a new section on the left hand side bar with the newly created contact list from SharePoint 2010 appearing.
Once at this stage it is a simple drag and drop of the contacts that are going to be stored on SharePoint from the original contact list in outlook to the newly created SharePoint contact list library on the left hand side bar. Once each contact is dragged and dropped in then this will automatically update the contact list within SharePoint 2010. This is a very quick and simple way to upload the contact list and allow users to see the contact detail with ease. The security of this list can also be controlled so if needed the contact details can be hidden to everyone apart from a few people.
If multiple people needed to add contacts as long as they have the permission they can access the contact list and synchronise there account to the list library and drag and drop their contacts in. This means that all the contacts don’t have to be stored on the same computer which frees up a lot of space. This also means that it makes updating the contact list a lot easier as this means there isn’t a reliance’s on one person to maintain the list library.
With the possibility of synchronising to outlook this also allows the contact list library to be accessed within outlook. This means SharePoint 2010 doesn’t actually need to be accessed to alter the contact list. Once files are deleted, added or altered within outlook, SharePoint is automatically altered according to the changes done in outlook.
There may be occasions where you assign tasks to a generic active directory account rather than to one specific person so that anyone within that department can deal with the request.
But for this to function as desired you will need to set the ‘TaskProcessOwner” property of the task process in the workflow generating the task. To do this you should right click on the line that generates the task and then set the ‘TaskProcessOwner” property. You may select an individual user or a SharePoint group. This user or group will then be able to complete tasks on behalf of the assignee.
The current University portal uses a common method of navigation, the breadcrumb trail. In SharePoint 2010, the OOB breadcrumb only shows links within its own site, and does not show higher level sites. With some slight modification to the root master page this can be changed to display links right from the root site.
SharePoint 2010 Breadcrumb Trail
To start you should open Microsoft SharePoint designer, and check out the Master Page that your site is using. You should then add the code below to show a full breadcrumb trail.
If you do not want to have the trail to show all links right up to the root, you can change “-1” (default to show all), to what ever you wish.
You will finally need to add some custom CSS to style your breadcrumb separators. You should create a CSS class to provide space for the background image to be displayed.
.breadcrumbdivider {
backgound-image:url(”www.example.com/image.png’);
background-repeat:no-repeat;
background-position:1px 8px;
margin-left:4px;
margin-right:4px;
padding:5px;
}
You will need to host your chosen image on the server, and then specify the url in the CSS. Once you have done this, you will have something similar to this.
One of our current processes being developed for the new SharePoint is the Staff Training bookings process. Here we have enhanced the current version on SharePoint 2003, by automating the common actions within the process.
We started by creating a list that would act as a database for all the current courses on offer. These are categorised, so that the list can be filtered by users. The list will be maintained by the Staff Learning & Development team, as it currently is. The next part we enhanced using the new functionality in SharePoint 2010. We created an additional list that will hold users bookings. Users will only be able to see their own bookings, while admins will have access to all bookings for easy management. A user will select the conveniently located “Book Course” button, here a simple form will launch where the user will select their desired course, and in addition to the old system the form will also capture the users objectives to help understand their requirements. This will also help Staff Learning & Development when planning courses for the future. The form will also request that the user agrees to terms and conditions regarding cancelations.
The automated processes will then begin, by sending the user confirmation of the request and notify Staff Learning & Development. The team will them make checks to ensure that the course is suitable for the delegate and then either approve the request or deny it. The automatic process will also handle the number of places left on a course, this will stop a course from over booking, and should the minimum number of delegates not be reached a notification will be sent to the team, to enable them to further advertise the course with the aim to fill the remaining places.
Users also have the ability to manage their bookings. If they need to, they can cancel their place on a course. This process will collect the reason of cancellation from the user and this will be sent to the Staff Learning & Development team. Again the number of places left will automatically be recalculated so that someone else can book a place.
Should a course be fully booked, the user can request to go on the reserve list should someone cancel. These are added to the same booking list, but the status is set to reserve. Should a user cancel, Staff Learning & Development will check the reserve list, should there be any people reserved for a course, they will change the status from reserve to offer place and the system will notify that user and offer them the place.
The new Staff Training Development page in early development.
