Notes of Wisdom when Talking with IT about SharePoint
Paul Grenier, moderator of Stump the Panel, has a nice give-and-take going with Brian about requesting SharePoint help from IT. Here are his little pearls of wisdom. Check out the entire exchange if this sounds familiar.
From Paul Grenier
First, a lot of IT departments are overworked and constantly responding to fires. They can’t possibly learn new technologies, like MOSS, to the depth needed for application development without dropping all maintenance issues (fires) and concentrating on MOSS. Frankly, it’s just really rare. Successful implementations understand there needs to be at least one dedicated MOSS administrator who has the time and skill to understand MOSS.
Since your IT dept probably doesn’t “know” MOSS, use terms that they do understand and frameworks that they are comfortable with.
- SPD=Front Page.
- MOSS is a configurable and customizable application.
- Customization can take the form of web code (HTML, javascript, XSLT), configuration (XML), or programming (C#, .NET).
- Web code (like modifying a web part’s XSL) uses the existing programming but changes the way data is rendered. Therefore, no security holes are created–the existing programming is secure.
- SharePoint alone can not change the data’s rendering pattern beyond simple table/row schemas but IT WAS DESIGNED FOR FLEXIBILITY.
- Nothing I described changes warranties, or support agreements.
- Once complete, the new web part can be placed into the web part gallery for use elsewhere–LIKE a sort of code repository (just be careful with the terminology, MOSS is not a good code repository).
- A “sandbox” subsite is best practice for testing local changes (like web parts). Try to get them to create one. No global settings are touched by anything I’ve described.
- Explain that security settings can be relaxed on a site-by-site basis to allow SPD access to the sandbox but not the larger site collection.
Submit yourself to any training they want to provide or recommend. I tell people I consult to only allow SPD access to the people who have gone through admin training. As Spider-Man would say, “With great power comes great responsibility.” If your IT folks will not help you by doing these customizations, show your IT folks that you can be responsible.
