The Nuts and Bolts of SharePoint Intranet Development
Introduction
SharePoint is a powerful platform that allows organizations to create intranet websites for their employees. Intranets provide a centralized hub for employees to access important information, collaborate on projects, and communicate with each other. SharePoint intranet development involves designing and building these intranet websites using SharePoint’s features and capabilities.
Benefits of SharePoint Intranet Development
There are several benefits to developing a SharePoint intranet for your organization:
- Centralized Information: SharePoint intranets provide a centralized location for employees to access important information such as company policies, procedures, and documents. This ensures that everyone has access to the most up-to-date information.
- Improved Collaboration: SharePoint intranets facilitate collaboration among employees by providing tools for document sharing, version control, and real-time co-authoring. This allows teams to work together more efficiently and effectively.
- Enhanced Communication: SharePoint intranets include features such as news feeds, discussion boards, and employee directories, which promote communication and engagement among employees.
- Customization: SharePoint intranets can be customized to fit the specific needs and branding of your organization. This allows you to create a unique and tailored intranet experience for your employees.
- Integration with Other Systems: SharePoint intranets can be integrated with other systems and applications, such as Microsoft Office 365, to provide a seamless user experience and increase productivity.
Outsourcing SharePoint Development
Many organizations choose to outsource their SharePoint development to a SharePoint development agency. Outsourcing SharePoint development offers several advantages:
- Expertise: SharePoint development agencies have specialized knowledge and experience in developing SharePoint intranets. They can provide expert guidance and ensure that your intranet is designed and built to best practices.
- Cost Savings: Outsourcing SharePoint development can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house development team. You can save on recruitment, training, and infrastructure costs.
- Time Savings: SharePoint development agencies have streamlined processes and can deliver your intranet more quickly than an in-house team. This allows you to start reaping the benefits of your intranet sooner.
- Flexibility: Outsourcing SharePoint development allows you to scale your development resources up or down as needed. You can easily add or remove developers from your project based on your requirements.
- Support and Maintenance: SharePoint development agencies often provide ongoing support and maintenance services for your intranet. This ensures that your intranet remains up-to-date and functioning properly.
Custom SharePoint Development Process
The process of custom SharePoint development typically involves the following steps:
- Requirements Gathering: The first step is to gather requirements from key stakeholders in your organization. This involves understanding the goals and objectives of your intranet and identifying the features and functionality that are required.
- Design: Once the requirements are gathered, the next step is to design the intranet. This includes creating wireframes and mockups to visualize the layout and structure of the intranet.
- Development: After the design is finalized, the development phase begins. This involves building the intranet using SharePoint’s features and capabilities, as well as any custom development that may be required.
- Testing: Once the intranet is developed, it undergoes rigorous testing to ensure that it functions as intended and meets the requirements. This includes testing for usability, performance, and security.
- Deployment: After testing is complete, the intranet is deployed to the production environment. This involves configuring SharePoint and migrating any existing content to the new intranet.
- Training and Adoption: The final step is to provide training to employees on how to use the intranet and promote its adoption within the organization. This may include creating user guides, conducting training sessions, and providing ongoing support.
Managed SharePoint Services
In addition to custom SharePoint development, there are also managed SharePoint services available. Managed SharePoint services provide ongoing support and maintenance for your intranet, ensuring that it remains up-to-date and functioning properly. Some of the services offered by managed SharePoint service providers include:
- Monitoring and Performance Optimization: Managed SharePoint service providers monitor the performance of your intranet and optimize it for maximum efficiency.
- Security and Compliance: Managed SharePoint service providers ensure that your intranet is secure and compliant with industry regulations and best practices.
- Backup and Disaster Recovery: Managed SharePoint service providers perform regular backups of your intranet and have disaster recovery plans in place to minimize downtime in the event of a failure.
- Upgrades and Updates: Managed SharePoint service providers handle upgrades and updates to SharePoint, ensuring that your intranet is always running on the latest version.
- User Support: Managed SharePoint service providers offer user support for your intranet, helping employees with any issues or questions they may have.
Conclusion
SharePoint intranet development is a complex process that involves designing and building intranet websites using SharePoint’s features and capabilities. Developing a SharePoint intranet offers several benefits, including centralized information, improved collaboration, enhanced communication, customization, and integration with other systems. Many organizations choose to outsource their SharePoint development to a SharePoint development agency to take advantage of their expertise, cost savings, time savings, flexibility, and support and maintenance services. The custom SharePoint development process typically involves requirements gathering, design, development, testing, deployment, and training and adoption. In addition to custom development, managed SharePoint services are also available to provide ongoing support and maintenance for your intranet.