When it comes to enterprise information, many want that ‘single source of truth’ and streamlined access to content. Jennifer Mason weighs in on this challenge in the article, “Driving User Behavior within Your SharePoint Solutions.” Mason says that the ‘single source of truth’ end goal is great, but should be approached with the key point in mind of understanding the context of the data. She suggests this when looking for a solution:
Why go to all the trouble of moving your content to a SharePoint solution without taking the time to look at things differently and provide a solution that aligns with the daily needs of the users? Ideally your solutions are going to provide a way for users to work through a process with your solution supplementing and guiding them along the way. Your solution should be a tool that allows them to be guided through the actions required of them for the task at hand.
Mason explains that a major challenge for many large organizations is the lack of central access to information that multiple people and departments are working on. The author suggests that to overcome this challenge, take a bigger look at the problem. She provides a real-world example of how she helped address an issue of central repository with SharePoint, but also using it as an opportunity to streamline the process and provide guidance to users.
The article seems to be a good example of how to step back from a problem and look at larger opportunities for better content management. It is also an example of some gaps in SharePoint when it comes to efficient access to information for all users. Many organizations have overcome such challenges by employing third party solutions, like Semaphore for SharePoint. With four inter-connected modules, Semaphore offers content intelligence from automatic metadata application to a powerful search application framework.
Alice Wilson, June 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search