Project Name: Contract Management
Challenge/Problem:
•Existence of numerous data islands of contract documents
•Tedious process of correlation between transactions and contracts
•Lack of Standard workflow and collaboration
•Exchange of information via e-mail and fax

Solution Description:
•GSR implemented a workflow solution using SharePoint and BizTalk
•Automatic notifications and alerts
•Multi-Level approvals based on authorization limits

Results:
•Entire Contract lifecycle managed through centralized “Vault”
•Standard and consistent workflow process
•Productivity improvements

Technology:
SQL Server 2000, BizTalk Server, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, .NET Framework 1.x

Project Name: CAM Portal for REITS

Business Need:
•Manage CAM charges for a portfolio of Commercial properties

Solution Description:
•Custom Workflow to approve Vendor Invoices
•Track and Manage CAM charges for Tenants, Properties
•Enable electronic CAM audits for Tenants

Results:
•Complete elimination of paper copies of Lease, Invoices
•Simplified process to track and audit CAM charges
•Overall reduction in disputes and complaints of CAM over-charges

Technology:
•SQL Server 2008, MOSS 2007, .NET Framework 3.5

Project Name:CloudPrint

Business need:
•Remote printing of Construction and Engineering files
•Integration between MOSS and PlanWell© Product

Solution Description:
•Workflow to select files from various document libraries
•Selection of Project files for Print/Plot and Reprography
•Real-time print enablement and fulfillment

Results:
•Ability to print/plot at ARC locations worldwide
•Track Print Orders
•Track Files Published to PlanWell©

Technology:
•SQL Server 2008, MOSS 2007, .NET Framework 3.5

This is why we are here for you. I want to answer any questions you might have about SharePoint obligations-free! You see, we at our company have been doing SharePoint consulting for YEARS.

In fact you can say we eat, breathe and sleep SharePoint. In fact, if it takes you 3 days to find an answer on your own, we can give it to you in just a matter of minutes. All you have to do is pick up the phone, or shoot us an email.

Call us at 415-895-0877 and say you’re from this website, and ask us your question. It’s ok! We assure you. And if you prefer, you can email us your questions by clicking here.

We are SharePoint consultants that believe in giving upfront value to all our clients. So pick up that phone or email now. Just stop wasting time, and solve that problem now.

Here is a snapshot of some of our clients:

Global Software Resources

easysharepoint@gmail.com

415-895-0877

You have figured out that you need SharePoint in your organization. Now you need to know one thing: how much will it cost? Well, this is a complicated question that I will answer using a few paragraphs.

The first thing you should consider is the cost of the licensing for the Windows servers.

Usually you can get this pricing from an authorized partner. Global Software Resources is a gold-certified Microsoft partner, for example. Email us at easysharepoint@gmail.com for more information. The cost structure for this is by server node. Every server in the environment must be licensed by Windows server 2003 or later. You may also look into licensing of database software, i.e. SQL. This is recommended for any mid-size to large installations. Every business is unique though, and needs personal hands-on assessment.

SharePoint Licensing:
Windows SharePoint Services installs as part of the OS. The license can either come in a Standard config or an Enterprise config. You will need to choose the right one depending on the size of your current organization.

Hardware expense:
Microsoft suggests customers to use multi-processor 64 bit servers with 2 GB of RAM. You will probably be able to allocate around 400 users to 1 machine. If you need more scalability, a server farm of 3 servers will probably be able to support 4000 users. We recommend that you create a cluster for redundancy and high-availability. This will require a few more servers. But again hardware costs will always be very unique to your own needs.

Consulting Services:
Microsoft recommends that you choose a well-established partner to help you set up SharePoint in your current environment. My team and I at Global Software Resources (GSR) can come in and give you an evaluation of the software and training after we have helped you implement this. This will be speed up your team’s learning curve and help avoid down-time that may be caused due to lack of experience with the product.

Again to find out the exact cost rather than these “rough” estimates, you can click right here and find out more.

Why is getting sharepoint consultants the right decision for you? Well, let me count the ways…

1) They will know how to solve any problem that comes up, long before it even comes up. Not only have they solved every possible problem, they’ve solved it a dozen times. It means they know the exactly most optimized solution that there could possibly be. Thereby saving you time, money and headaches.

2) If they’re good, they’ll also know how to help all your different teams get used to sharepoint. You see, a really good consultant isn’t just a technical person. A good consultant also knows how to make your current end-users used to using sharepoint, how to get them to love and use the system to its best abilities.

But how do you actally pick any good consultants?

Glad you asked! Because you see, unless you pick a good, high quality consultant, its the same as if you have never actually chosen one. Its really important to choose a highly qualified and experienced consultant if you really want to get the best bang for your buck. To do so, I recommend the following.

1) Don’t be afraid of grilling them on their past experience. Ask for references, inquire about previous problems they have solved and what companies they worked for. Ask to schedule a group phone meeting with a previous client and them. If they’re a good consultant, they’re bound to find at least a few previous clients to invest the time and speak on the phone with you.

2) Look at their attitude and personality in relation to your team’s personalities. If the consultant’s personality clashes with say the IT manager or some of the teams, its a no-go. It doesn’t matter that a consultant is amazing, if they can’t communicate with the teams without ripping each other apart.

But really there should be no reason you are confused by this. If you haven’t asked your question to me yet, click here to ask it.

The way sharepoint achieves that is through integrating itself into other microsoft and windows applications, basically becoming a framework around your current work enviroment. What it does for example is add menus, buttons and toolbars inside the ms-office suite. This way, if you want to share a document with someone else, (let’s say you want a document approved) you simply press the appropriate button inside of ms word.

You press the users button on the toolbar, choose the user you want to share this document with, and then if you want, add a task for them, regarding this document. You can for example set the workflow of “approve or reject document”. What happens next is that sharepoint emails the user, and you are immediatelly notified when they open the document (commence the task). When they approve or reject the document, you are also immediatelly emailed the approval or rejection, as well as any comments they might have.

If you view the document in word now, after the approval (or rejection), you will actually see their notes and comments right there in the document, and this makes sharepoint almost the ideal platform for collaboration. Now, just because I used the example of word and approval/rejection, don’t assume that’s the extent of its collaboration abilities. In fact, there are literally millions of possible combinations, especially if you design your custom workflows using the sharepoint designer. My advice would be to simply hire a sharepoint consultant who can customize and fit the sharepoint implementation to your exact needs.

Still a little confused? No need to worry. Click here to get your specific question answered right away. There’s no need to worry about sharepoint.

What’s sharepoint help with? Well sharepoint is a great platform for document collaboration. This includes power-points, excels, word docs, videos, templates, images, and everything in between. In the storage world, this is referred to as “unstructured data.” This is why it’s a great platform for web content management. There are many people that consider use this and this only to build out their webpages.

Let’s move on to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This is referred to as “structured data” in the storage world. Because of the structured data content, its pretty easy to create things like strategic workflows in Dynamics.

Let’s say you want to integrate these two. Why? Well maybe you have a workflow from your site based on sharepoint that’s customer facing. Maybe you would want to store the data this site is collecting straight into your Dynamics. That is after all what CRM is for right? There is no need to create this same data again when you can just extend the functionality and reach of your sharepoint data’s reach.

To see some simple customizations, open the dynamics suite. On the left hand side, hit the “customization” link. Then you can click on “users.” Then you can navigate to “forms and views” On the right there is a button called “Add an IFRAME.” This actually has a source url property that can update dynamically. You can edit this code pretty easily by clicking on the url that you would like to update from sharepoint.

This is a pretty simple example about how an IFRAME works. Now you can just imagine the possibilities? What if you want to integrate videos view with Microsoft Dynamics CRM? You can easily do this with the IFRAMEs.

Are you a little bit confused? If so we can walk you through this process. Click here to learn more about this.

Well Sharepoint!

Sharepoint makes your job easier with BI because it actually integrates with other services such as Oracle, SAP, etc. You can easily access this information, learn from it, and make the appropriate changes all in real time. To find if your particular business integration will be feasible with sharepoint, click this link here.

Sharepoint BI gives you access the following features:

Reporting almost on-demand- you get a central dashboard displaying all your custom metrics. This is displayed a webpage and information can be gathered from many various sources. Users have access to sharpeoint search functionality in case they are trying to find a key metric.

End User Investment – To determine the real ROI of your sharepoint implementation, sharepoint allows you to monitor how the business-users are using the platform.

Environment status information- Using sharepoint BI you can actually monitor the health of your servers and other hardware technology.

Microsoft Excel – This feature actually allows users to store excel documents on a server and then publish it on-demand as a web-page. For example, let’s say you have a sales-team and they are selling a IT hardware solution. The client wants to see what the costs will be of the hardware solution in their custom environment. You can simply publish a excel document that allows the salespeople to show a client a power and performance management calculator. They can input the data from the client and get a calculation without being able to edit the formulas that you have created for them.

Performance monitoring- Lets say your company has a goal. Sharepoint BI will give a performance indictor that can automatically calculate the progress toward that goal.

If you want to learn more about how this solution will work you environment, you can click here and see more.

Thanks!

Andy M

EasySharepoint@gmail.com