Do you wonder what this Microsoft SharePoint means and do you feel it sounds more technical, definitely its not. Everyone can easily understand what is SharePoint and how useful it can be in our day to day personal/business/career. Keep reading this blog, by end of this article you will get answers for all your questions, so lets jump into the topic !
Microsoft SharePoint is a collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft office package like outlook, word,excel,powerpoint etc., We can use this application for storing our data securely, sharing among our community, organizing the data content, providing restrictive access and also we can access this data anywhere in the world with just an internet connection.
Enterprise organizations use SharePoint for creating websites, storing large amount of data, sharing within the organization internally and also collaborating with external vendors or partners.
It also helps organizations to manage their archives, documents, reports, audits and other contents that are important for the businesses. SharePoint are used for creating company intranets to keep the users inside organization informed about what’s happening, regular events and activities.
SharePoint provides a web-based access for the users, where they can upload documents, files at ease and also can share with other people very quickly and with utmost security.
SharePoint was initially launched by Microsoft on 2001 naming it has storage and data management system, as the years progress this product has developed extensively.
SharePoint has multiple editions:
SharePoint Standard (Foundation)
SharePoint Server (OnPremise)
SharePoint Enterprise (large businesses)
SharePoint Online (Cloud Web version)
Lets discuss how to choose the right platform for our Personal and Business outcomes.
There are two major editions in SharePoint
SharePoint OnPremise
SharePoint Online
SharePoint OnPremise
SharePoint OnPremise is when your in-house IT or IT support manages SharePoint in our local premises or environment, i.e. Data centre managed fully by the organization itself.
For On-Premises, there are 2 types of licensing model:
SharePoint Standard CAL
SharePoint Enterprise CAL
*CAL – Client Access License
SharePoint Server software is required for each running instance of the software, and CALs are required for each person or device accessing a SharePoint Server.
SharePoint Standard CAL
The Standard CAL delivers the core capabilities of SharePoint
Sites: a single infrastructure for all your business websites
Communities: an integrated collaboration platform
Content: enterprise content management (ECM) for the masses
Search: people and expertise search, visual previews, visual best bets
SharePoint Enterprise CAL
The Enterprise CAL delivers the full capabilities of SharePoint
Sites: a single infrastructure for all your business websites
Communities: an integrated collaboration platform
Content: ECM for the masses
Search: standard search features plus entity extraction, video search, item recommendations
Business Intelligence for everyone (includes Power Apps, Excel Services, and Visio Services)
SharePoint Online
SharePoint Online is a part of the Microsoft 365 office suite, it is a powerful web-based application used for collaboration and information exchange across a business.
Just like SharePoint On-Premises, SharePoint Online allows users to store, share and manage content seamlessly and it’s a cloud version of SharePoint.
SharePoint Online licensing model:
SharePoint Online is licensed on a per-user basis. We can also purchase a standalone plan or included as part of Microsoft 365 plans.
Below are the licensing plans:
SharePoint Online Plan 1 – Limited features
SharePoint Online Plan 2 – Fully featured with capabilities for enterprise businesses
Microsoft 365 E3, E5 – Fully featured with all Office applications and services
Other plans for SharePoint online include Office365 E3,F3,Microsoft 365 F1, F3
Now, you would have understood about SharePoint basics, lets highlight some key Benefits of Microsoft SharePoint
SharePoint is very secure for data storage
It helps organizations to be more collaborative and communicative
SharePoint is more scalable and customizable
SharePoint integrates with Office365 apps
Sharepoint can automate tasks by using workflows
Developers can use Sharepoint for building powerful UI apps and business intelligence.
Mobile interface feature available giving users a more modern experience
Sharepoint keeps evolving continuously
Next, comes the interesting topic, if you want to choose SharePoint as your career, there are some exciting roles for beginners and experts for this application.
Some Job roles in SharePoint
SharePoint Administrator
SharePoint Developer
SharePoint Architect
SharePoint Consultant
SharePoint Administrator
Depending on the size, scope, and requirements of the user organization, a SharePoint administrator’s role can be a very important role.
Their chief responsibility, however, is to maintain the platform on a day-to-day basis.
This maintenance includes creation, configuring, management, upholding security practices, and setting permissions to enable everyone in the organization to access the data they need without compromising the security policies.
SharePoint Developer
The core role of a SharePoint developer is, to develop and customize the platform by building custom components.
A SharePoint developer should have skills in programming languages such as C#.NET, ASP.NET, Visual Basic .NET, and experience with Microsoft products such as Windows Server and SQL Server.
The bulk of a SharePoint developer’s time will be spent creating UI applications, writing, modifying, and testing code, debugging software, and solving other technical issues.
They should also have an in-depth understanding of SharePoint and its out-of-the-box functionality, so they know where the gaps in SharePoint are that a client may want to patch with customization.
SharePoint Consultant
A SharePoint consultant gather requirements, design solutions, and help clients get the most out of SharePoint. The bridge between the technical expertise of developers and architects and the customer-facing front end of a SharePoint project,
A SharePoint consultant will understand the platform inside-and-out, and will work to show users how it can be used to solve their pain points and help their business run efficiently.
Generally, a consultant is responsible for the design, configuration, deployment, and maintenance of SharePoint technologies, whether that’s an initial deployment or a migration to a new version.
SharePoint Architect
A SharePoint Architect is the head of a SharePoint technical team, defining architecture, infrastructure, frameworks, and the overall layout of the SharePoint solution.
Architects differ from developers, where architects tend to have more responsibility for a project, make decisions, and are generally more concerned with the bigger picture.
The architect often takes a leadership position on a project, working to ensure the coherence of the various aspects of the implementation, and acting a trusted advisor to clients.
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