CognitiveGroup

4th April 2011

SharePoint Global Network - Q&A Session

From Benjamin Athawes - SharePoint Architect - UK

1) Aside from the 4 SP2010 exam prerequisites, I would be very interested in understanding what level of experience Spencer recommends candidates should have prior to undertaking the certification.

[Answer] Below are the official core prerequisites alongside the four exams: •Hands-on experience via early adoption programs with Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010: installing, configuring, troubleshooting, and custom development •Three or more years of hands-on experience with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: installing, configuring, troubleshooting, and custom development •Thorough understanding of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Server design and architecture •Thorough understanding of ASP.NET, Windows Server, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), and other core technologies upon which SharePoint depends •Ability to speak, understand, and write in fluent English

In addition to this you really must have broad product experience, and be well versed in both infrastructure and development. Most candidates have a wide exposure to large, enterprise deployments. If you haven’t deployed large scale SharePoint it will be a natural and significant disadvantage. Knowledge and experience of the core technologies is also extremely important, AD, SQL, IIS etc.

You really do need at least 3 years minimum experience with the product. Of course 2010 hasn’t been around for that long, so 2007 experience counts here. But remember the product architecture is very different, hence the first item above currently mentioning early adoption programs. Most candidates have significantly greater experience with SharePoint.

Check out the MCM pre-reading list at http://www.dynamicevents.com/upload/MCM-MCA/MCM/SharePoint/MCMSharePointPre-Reads.pdf for a taster of the type of information candidates are expected to be familiar with.



2) I would also like to understand the types of scenarios in which independents might consider the MCM, as opposed to large corporate where the $18,500 investment isn't so much of an issue?

[Answer] It all depends on motivation. Different candidates have different reasons for doing the certification. However, the bottom line is the primary reason for doing MCM is to learn. You get way more than 18.5k worth of knowledge from MCM. Generally speaking candidates should not focus on tangible “pay off” - i.e. higher rates, larger projects etc. Whilst that is possible in some cases, the MCM is not mature enough for that to the case always. It’s also a poor motivation. If it’s all about money, the chances are MCM is not for you! MCM can be a marketplace differentiator, but it’s not the only one. MCM is not for certification “chasers”!

There are significant non-tangible benefits as well, such as the fantastic MCM community, exposure to the Product Group and other opportunities such as events and conferences. Often underestimated until candidates complete a rotation is the community from the rotation itself.

Independents are rare in MCM for the obvious capital cost reasons. It all comes down to what type of business you are running, and what type of work you do. For some it’s a complete no brainer to do it (even with the cost). But for the run of the mill SharePoint contractor, it’s not likely to be a sensible option.

We hope that the SharePoint MCM in particular matures greatly this year in terms of marketplace awareness. We now have around 20 2010 MCMs which will help this, with more soon I’m sure.

Microsoft Learning will also be publishing a case study on MCM “value” in the next month or so.

3) Does Spence use powershell scripts to automate installs in production environments? (This will be handy in gauging whether we should script deployments to our live servers).

[Answer] Yes, I use Windows PowerShell for all my production installations. I have a large library of scripts from which I will take the appropriate elements for a given deployment. Bear in mind however that a 100% scripted installation and configuration is not possible, there are always some things which need to be performed manually and/or once a corpus is deployed. Also consider that multi-server farms are very poorly serviced by community scripts. You must be 100% confident of your scripts otherwise they are pointless and do not provide the benefits you expect. Hence why I use my own library.

From Jonathan Keen - ERP/CRM Practice Director

4) What connectivity tool has Microsoft built/ is building for using SharePoint in the cloud?

[Answer] There are a number of tools used for the different “cloud” offerings related to SharePoint. For example, Office 365 Enterprise, DirSync is used to sync the company Active Directory with the Office 365 environment. For other aspects, no particular connectivity tools are required.

From Yannis Pantzis - SharePoint Research & Development Manager

5) Architecture-wise, what would be the best practices for securing the IP (Intellectual Property) of solutions built for SharePoint Online as part of Office 365? Building sandboxed solutions is convenient but how can developers protect & license their work, since simply copying WSP files is enough to freely acquire a SharePoint solution? Is there any API that can be used for licensing management or any plans to provide one?

[Answer] 3rd party obfuscation and licensing components should be used to protect these assemblies, in the same manner as other .NET artefacts. There are no specific SharePoint APIs for licensing at present.

6) How is Microsoft planning to enhance the selling of SharePoint solutions for Office 365? E.g. are there any plans to launch a solutions marketplace?

[Answer] An online marketplace, or “app store” (no trademark infringement intended) is likely in the future.

7) How close is Service Pack 1 for Office / SharePoint 2010? (I know the official announcement is between April & October 2011, but something more approximate would be helpful – if you can share this, of course)

[Answer] I cannot share any more detailed timelines for the Service Pack 1 release, sorry!

From Lydia Desmond - Account Manager - Specializing in SharePoint & MS Dynamics CRM 8) What new markets are Microsoft looking to target with SharePoint?

[Answer] Generally speaking, Microsoft doesn’t target any markets with SharePoint from the product perspective. SharePoint is a broad platform, rather than a point solution. As such, Microsoft is targeting pretty much everybody! - It’s all about capability. If you look at the “pie” (of workloads) that is very much the approach taken with the product from an investment point of view. In other words, capabilities, not markets. There are of course always “sectors” in which Microsoft subsidiaries and sales target at any given time. Healthcare, manufacturing and education would be the “hot” markets right now.

From Helen Richards –-Senior Consultant - Specialising in SharePoint & MS Dynamics CRM 9) Are you allowed to tell us any information about SharePoint 2012, any new features / benefits etc?

[Answer] I cannot share any information about the next release of SharePoint at this time, sorry!

From Salman Ahmed - SharePoint Architect 10) How SharePoint Designer works in the picture? What is the best practice to deploy applications developed in SharePoint designer in production environment?

[Answer] It very much depends on the type of SharePoint Designer customizations you have created. Some artefacts, e.g. workflows and site templates can be packaged as WSPs. You should consider that SPD is not an enterprise development tool. If you require ALM controls you should be using Visual Studio to develop your customizations.

11) How to enable Information management retention policy for a content type, add retention stage and set actions for the stage through Object Model? I couldn't find much documentation on it.

[Answer] This is all done through mostly the Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.InformationPolicy namespace. Samples for records management focused areas are being improved all the time. Keep an eye on the SharePoint 2010 SDK for updates. I’m not sure when this exact scenario will be covered.

Could you please provide some code sample? [Answer] I can’t provide source code samples for this as part of a Q&A.