I am Attending the Pittsburgh SharePoint 2013 Roadshow.  Topics include:

• Building Extranets & Hybrid SharePoint deployments for the enterprise and how do you plan to sell it internally?  What are the project drivers? 
• The Art of SharePoint – Why projects fail – that’s what we plan on exploring this is interactive session.  
• Governance – is your SharePoint environment a mess, unruly, proliferation of uncontrolled sites and content, you’ll walk away with some great ideas and learn how to get your environment ready for upgrade.
• Workflow an interactive walk through on how to take advantage of some very simple concepts to save you a whole bunch of time.  

Notes from Presentations and points of interest?

1. SharePoint 2013 Workflows or workflow engine includes a new server component for managing and processing workflows. Initial conversations around this topic included running this component on its own server.
2. Free (30-day trials) SharePoint 2013 on sharepoint.com.  There are also additional free-like resources available for MSDN users.
3. Building Workflows with Visual Studio and its drag & drop tools
4. Extranets and Hybrid SharePoint Deployments -
   1. Group Discussions on Usage – Client Sites, Client Project Sites, Collaborative BI Solution, Document Transfer (FTP) with Clients and Suppliers, Submission of Materials Request, Data Dashboards (Items on Hand, Forecasts, production amounts), No-Access-To-VPN Workaround, E-mail alternative, Co-author documents, Reduce customer service interactions.
   2. SharePoint 2013 uses claims authentication, SAML 1.1 (AD FS) 2.0.
   3. HyBrid Architecture – Bi-Directional or 1- way
      1. Bi-Directional – Search and BCS can interact with both internal and external farms. This architecture requires the use of a reverse proxy.  The primary goal is that it allows the internal users to work seamlessly between both internal and external farms.
5. Authoring in Place vs. Publishing – where will you create content?  Marketing Material, brochures, etc.. can utilized a publishing approval workflow.
6. Cross-Site Publishing – can create content in one site collection and publish to another collection. Catalogs now use HTML and CSS.  Performance improvements are available, because this features runs off the Search Index.
7. Goal & Success Factors – “EMPOWER YOUR END-USERS” – However – define security, retention policy. Create attractive design – it is a reflection of your company.  Ensure adequate performance.  Content must be current! Content must be relevant and not overwhelming.  Easy to Use!
8. Branding – SP2013 has enhanced Theme Features. “Composed Themes”, allows an end-user to apply some customizations to the branding, but with keeping with an overall – global theme.  Also can switch the master page through “Device Channels” – iPad, Laptop, PC, phone, etc….
9. Single Source – One File & One Truth -
10. SharePoint 2013 extranet licensing – there is a new licensing structure in place, which can make a 2013 extranet less expensive.
11. PM Questions
    1. What are you trying to achieve?
    2. How will we know when we’re done?
    3. Can you quantify your spending on a SharePoint Project?  How expensive will it be, to go without?
12. Information Management – how to handle content, finding policies.
13. Governance & Planning for Governance
    1. Governance uses people, process, technology, and policies to define a service, resolve ambiguity, and mitigate conflict within an organization.
    2. People – roles and responsibilities
    3. Process – how to accomplish common tasks such as creating new site or requesting new business requirements
    4. Technology – leveraging features and tools to enforce policies through technology
    5. Policy – collection of principles – what site owners, designers, developers should/shouldn’t do.
    6. Mistakes: not defining policies on how to use SharePoint
    7. Mistakes: empowering users without appropriate training and guidance
    8. Mistakes: Letting users SharePoint like an enterprise application
    9. Mistakes: not treating information like an enterprise asset
    10. Mistakes: not planning for scale and/or growth
    11. Establish clear decision making authority and escalation procedures
    12. Ensure the solution strategy is aligned with business objectives
    13. ensure that content is retained in compliance with record retention guidelines
    14. ensure that site designers understand best practices
    15. 5 Pillars of Governance Activity Mapping (Slide)
    16. What are the key components of a “Search Center of Excellence”?