Book Description
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is the next generation of Microsoft SharePoint technologies. These products expand on SharePoint's information-sharing and collaboration capabilities, which allow you to create true enterprise information management, information sharing, and collaboration solutions.
SharePoint 2007 User's Guide: Learning Microsoft's Collaboration and Productivity Platform is the follow-up edition to the successful SharePoint 2003 User's Guide (Apress, 2005). This book provides guidance about the new workflows, interface, and other technologies within SharePoint 2007. Authors Seth Bates and Tony Smith describe SharePoint in a variety of environments, and have the expertise and ability to stand behind this useful guide--catered to anyone who works with SharePoint technologies in any capacity.
Customer Reviews:
Very helpful.......2007-09-21
Recommended for "Power-Users," or those people that are comfortable working in Office, etc. Not for techies, per se, and perhaps a bit much for the average user. Get it for those people that will comfortably read a 300 page book on a computer program and then actually do something with it. Don't get it for those whose permissions you wouldn't dare leave without significant restrictions.
Has been very helpful to me as someone new to SharePoint. Only 4 stars because it's a bit much for the average user that we have in our organization -- I 'm not sold that I could distribute this as a User's Guide and expect increased understanding of how it works from the typical user. Perhaps it takes this much detail to present the information, but the lack of a general "how-to" or "quick-start" section makes me think that most users will be intimidated by the size and scope of the book and never crack it open.
However, from a Power User perspective, this book is excellent. The writing is clear and well-organized. I've been able to find just about everything I've needed to understand and answered most questions that have come to mind. I like how the book presents the different choices available, without shoe-horning you into the author's preferred choice. Comparing it to explanations available online, the information it typically presented better in this book.
Excellent book for various skill-level users........2007-09-07
This book is easy to use both as a learning tool and a reference tool. The many examples provided give good background on the context of the desired function, and explicit, step-by-step instructions. The book has lots of "usage" suggestions.
Decent SharePoint 2007 User's Guide.......2007-08-20
SharePoint 2007 User's Guide definitely touches on the many topics necessary for the end users to learn the MOSS productivity platform.
Overall, the book is very informative. My only complaint is the style that it is written doesn't include any examples/exercises for the user to follow. There are definitely how-tos in this book, however, there are more examples for what can be done and not how to do it especially in the waning chapters of the book. There is very little useful hands on in the chapters regarding Document Management and Collaboration.
Regardless, it is still a good short reading and if you are new to SharePoint you will get much out of it.
If you are interested in a more robust read try Beginning SharePoint 2007 from Wrox. A book on the same topic with much more useful content.
Valuable reference guide to make the most out of SharePoint functionality.......2007-08-05
We have learned our lesson that the more we customize in SharePoint 2003, the harder it is to upgrade to SharePoint 2007. Going forward, we want to leverage more of the out-of-the-box functionality and stay away customizations. This is a great reference book for making the most out of SharePoint. If you know the functionality you want in team-collaboration sites (e.g. project team site, deal site, product site) or information-sharing sites (e.g. research & publication site, HR & benefits site), it is a valuable resource to understand various building blocks and know which tool to use.
I do not recommend this book for developers, but found to be useful for power-users, business analysts, functional analysts, content managers, MsOffice specialists or anyone else who wants to learn what you can do with SharePoint.
A bit of a disapointment.......2007-07-09
For a technology book, it's well below par.
The majority of the content in this book is just a repackaging of the help available in SharePoint; and much of that is pretty well obvious. I knew zero (nothing) about SharePoint before getting this book. I found that the organization and presentation of information in the book didn't parallel any sandbox/tutorial workflow, nor did it approach topics from any broader "good design" perspective. To date, well more than 90% of my SharePoint answers have come from the web, not this book.
The chapter on "list concepts" was helpful, and probably saved me some time and effort. For that alone it was worth the $26. But overall, I was hoping for a better book based on the early reviews I read (Note: only the April-07 reviews were here when I bought the book).
Customer Reviews:
Scottie.......2007-09-26
This is the best book I've found that helps to organize the integration space within the industry. This book has helped to organize my thoughts and communicate with others effectively on how to leverage integration patterns. I highly recommend this book to help obtain a foundational understaning of the integration space.
Excellent patterns book.......2007-08-28
Upon recently changing jobs and focusing on messaging design and architecture, I was steered toward this book by my peers. Without getting into too much detail, before joining my new team, I had never heard of patterns (came from a product support area), much less asynchronous messaging design. Needless to say, this book has been invaluable in my learning process as well as conveying our direction to others.
This book is written in such a way that it is very intuitive. Diagrams help support the concepts and code examples as well.
I would highly recommend this as a must read/reference guide for anyone designing messaging solutions.
Great book for messaging pattern understanding.......2007-08-27
This is a fantastic book if you are looking for patterns to base your messaging designs and architecture around. The way this book goes about explaining some of the asynchronous messaging patterns seemed to provide a great deal of benefit to developers and designers who were stuck in the synchronous way of doing things. Great explanations and illustrations, would recommend to anyone researching EAI or ESB technologies or just a more structured, efficient way of messaging in general.
Enterprise Application Integration .......2007-07-29
I've been using the patterns in this book for several years now. These patterns help me to focus on the problems my customers need solved rather than what technology to use. This has helped to produce numerous successful systems and these patterns have consequently become the basis for many architecural redesign efforts at my company.
The Bible for Enterprise Application Integration.......2007-07-12
As a developer working on application integration for the last 5 years I am so thrilled about this purchase. Just started out reading and though I feel a little overwhelmed I can so much relate to all the patterns being discussed. Its being tough to digest and register the terminologies but I am sure I will get there as I progress. Definitely the best technical books I have ever purchased and is must have for any one who is involved with application integration !
Book Description
In 2000,
Jakob Nielsen, the world’s leading expert on Web usability, published a book that changed how people think about the WebâDesigning Web Usability (New Riders). Many applauded. A few jeered. But everyone listened. The best-selling usability guru is back and has revisited his classic guide, joined forces with Web usability consultant
Hoa Loranger, and created an updated companion book that covers the essential changes to the Web and usability today. Prioritizing Web Usability is the guide for anyone who wants to take their Web site(s) to next level and make usability a priority! Through the authors’ wisdom, experience, and hundreds of real-world user tests and contemporary Web site critiques, you’ll learn about site design, user experience and usability testing, navigation and search capabilities, old guidelines and prioritizing usability issues, page design and layout, content design, and more!
Customer Reviews:
Great book, but a bit US oriented.......2007-03-31
This is a great book (bible?) when it comes to usability issues. Reading is easy if you're not totaly new to using and coding websites.
The only "downside" to this book is that it is very US website oriented. As web design/usability in the US is way behind Europe and especialy Scandinavia many of the design/GUI examples in the book feels "old school".
If you are into improving usability for websites - buy this book!
Phenomenally Useful -- worth its weight in gold.......2007-02-28
Here it is Feb 2007, and I've had a website for my business since Feb of 2002. For five years I've been asking people to visit my site and give me feedback for how to improve it. What I usually got back was "lots of great information, Dan." "Easy-to-use navigation." "Loved it. Great site."
That wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted a REAL critique with REAL suggestions for how to make it better.
When I came across this book it was like an answer to prayer. I devoured it on a cross country flight, and then I followed some of its advice. In the book, they talk about how they worked with people individually, giving them tasks to find or do things online. The people were asked to perform those tasks without any guidance and also while "thinking out loud" ... that is, explaining what their thoughts were re: likes and dislikes, what they expected to see on certain sites, why they were doing what they were doing, etc.
The one piece of advice in this book that they keep suggesting over and over is "do this with your site."
So I did. I instructed some clients on the "think out loud" process, and then gave them the following scenario: "I'm your boss. I just came back from a luncheon and heard Dan Bobinski speak. Here's his card; his website is on there. See if you can find out how much he would charge to come out and work with our managers."
I then sat back and took notes while my clients tried to accomplish that task while they 'thought out loud.'
All I can say is I was devastated. They couldn't find the information. Even when they were on the right track, they couldn't identify the links or the proper info. And when I say I was devastated, I mean I was cut to the core. My website was TERRIBLE.
On the plane ride back I went through the book again, and then made a few changes to my website as soon as I could. I saw improved results almost immediately. I went from getting two or three inquiries from my website each month to getting two or three per week. And, with more changes, it's now up to two or three per day.
My team is now in the final stages of a total (and I mean TOTAL) site redesign based on the suggestions in this book, and it should be ready to launch in a few months. Everyone is excited.
This book retails for $50 ($33 here on Amazon at the time of this writing). That seems steep to some, but I must say, I would gladly pay ten or twenty times that amount for the information it contains. It is probably one of the few books that is literally worth its weight in gold.
If you run a website, or have any say whatsoever in how your website is designed, this book is an absolute must read. That's a "must" with 18" bold Helvetica letters. And get your entire web team to read it, discuss it, and beta test their ideas using Nielsen's and Loranger's suggestions.
If it doesn't pay off for you and you don't think the book was worth it, just get a hold of me and I'll buy the book from you. :-)
Oh -- and the only reason I'm giving it five stars is because I can't give it ten.
Essential.......2007-01-26
This is an essential book to all who design pages for web or work with hipermedia and would like your own work to be easily navigated. The content is very clear and helpful.
Actionable usability wisdom for better customer experiences.......2007-01-05
Jakob Nielsen is the acknowledged guru of web usability. I found this to be one of his most useful books yet, with screen shots of sites to illustrate both good implementations and violations of usability best practices. His reasoning behind prioritizing which usability issues to go after first is sound. While I don't agree with 100% of what he recommends, I agree strongly with about 95% of it. And all his opinions are grounded in years of extensive research. Nielsen's books are always specific and actionable. A great read for anyone who cares about improving the user experience online.
THE best there is.......2007-01-04
If more businesses read this, they'd have better web sites. And the rest of us wouldn't have to put up with their poorly designed, often unusable web site.
If you do business online, hope to do business online, or have any connection with doing business online, you probably need this book. What to do, what not to do, and why.
If you can only afford 1 book, make it this one. It'll save you from making a ton of mistakes, and is worth the price.
Book Description
The post-Ajaxian Web 2.0 world of wikis, folksonomies, and mashups makes well-planned information architecture even more essential. How do you present large volumes of information to people who need to find what they're looking for quickly? This classic primer shows information architects, designers, and web site developers how to build large-scale and maintainable web sites that are appealing and easy to navigate.
The new edition is thoroughly updated to address emerging technologies -- with recent examples, new scenarios, and information on best practices -- while maintaining its focus on fundamentals. With topics that range from aesthetics to mechanics, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web explains how to create interfaces that users can understand right away. Inside, you'll find:
- An overview of information architecture for both newcomers and experienced practitioners
- The fundamental components of an architecture, illustrating the interconnected nature of these systems. Updated, with updates for tagging, folksonomies, social classification, and guided navigation
- Tools, techniques, and methods that take you from research to strategy and design to implementation. This edition discusses blueprints, wireframes and the role of diagrams in the design phase
- A series of short essays that provide practical tips and philosophical advice for those who work on information architecture
- The business context of practicing and promoting information architecture, including recent lessons on how to handle enterprise architecture
- Case studies on the evolution of two large and very different information architectures, illustrating best practices along the way
How do you document the rich interfaces of web applications? How do you design for multiple platforms and mobile devices? With emphasis on goals and approaches over tactics or technologies, this enormously popular book gives you knowledge about information architecture with a framework that allows you to learn new approaches -- and unlearn outmoded ones.
Customer Reviews:
Good enough.......2007-09-19
This is a perfectly good resource, if you're looking for the theoretical underpinnings of how IA should work. I was, however, looking for more specifically technical information, along the lines of algorithms and integration techniques. For this I ended up going with Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications, which is more geared in that direction. Again, if IA is your whole intention, then this is a great resource, but if you're looking for technical detail, look elsewhere.
A lifesaver.......2007-06-22
As project manager, I was in a bind when our contract information architect failed to understand the complexities of our matrixed business model and client base. Rosenfeld's book helped me design a IA for our 700 page HTML site that has since been described as simple, intuitive, a no-brainer. What great compliments!
The book describes basic theories of IA in general (i.e. book indexes and tables of contents, libraries, etc.) and the pros and cons of different organization, labeling, and navigation systems. Then Rosenfeld advises on presenting IA to management, etc., managing expectations (yours and others), and gives detailed examples of IA strategies online.
Intriguing Title (3rdEd).......2007-06-16
In "Part I - Intro to IA," obviously the basics are covered, like what exactly is IA? What does an Information Architect do? After reading this title, I would define an Information Architect as a glorified content manager. Someone that occupies the realm between UI designer and DB engineer.
Google is pretty good at finding information for us on the vast Internet, but there is a long way to go. I believe these authors make a valid point that IA will become increasingly relevant. In fact, I wouldn't doubt that in the future you will actually be able to obtain a BS in IA. Nonetheless, IA is around us everyday when we use technology no matter what we want call it.
The elements that make up IA are covered in "Part II - Basic Principles of IA." The basis of IA is the interaction or retrieval of information in terms of organization systems, labeling systems, navigation systems, search systems, thesauri, controlled vocabularies, and metadata. What this basically means is, how do we categorize our data so that it makes sense, is easy to navigate and search, and is relevant or adaptable according to our users' vocabularies.
"Part III - Process and Methodology" helps one plan a path to your IA goals. For instance, developing a research management team to discuss such goals, your target audiences, functionality/deficiencies of your current IA system, and integrating other software, such as your customer management system (CMS).
My favorite topic here is the detailed discussion of "building vocabularies." This is something everybody needs to constantly perfect. An example of this is, two people can search for the same thing using two different criteria. How can can we build a vocabulary system that recognizes that?
Many research tools are discussed. My favorite technique, and it's so simple, is card sorting. Get some blank cards (20-25) and write on them the headings from categories, subcategories, and content within your site. Ask a user to sort this stack of cards into piles that make sense to him and have him label those cards using post-it notes. Make sure to tell them to think-out-loud and be sure to take notes. This will give you an idea of how one would "travel" through your site, what is relevant, and what should not be on your homepage, etc.
The authors take the reader through the process of the IA development cycle, from concept, to getting managers to buy-in, to the implementation and administration of the system; very thorough.
The hands-on aspects of IA are explained in "Part IV - IA in Practice." One thing I found insightful was how one could pursue an official education in the area of IA, albeit there is no such degree. To gain a competitive advantage, the authors suggest obtaining a degree in Library and Information Science (LIS) or Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
At the end of chapter 15, there is a list of position titles making up an ideal IA team.
This list may prove helpful for potential readers to get a better understanding of what IA is comprised of.
1) Strategy Architect - responsible for overall design goals and integration
2) Thesaurus Designer - develops classification schemes, controlled vocabularies, and thesauri
3) Controlled Vocabulary Manager - manages the evolution of controlled vocabularies and coordinates the indexing specialists team
4) Indexing Specialist - tags content and services with controlled vocabulary metadata
5) Interaction Designer - creates navigation schemes and page layouts with a focus on user interaction
6) IA Software Analyst - links the IA and IT teams, focusing on ways to leverage software to create, manage, and drive the user experience
7) IA Usability Engineer - focuses on intersection of usability and IA by conducting studies that isolate IA elements, such as category labels or metadata.
8) Cartographer - converts patterns in content, structure, and usage into maps, guides, indexes, and other useful navigational tools.
9) Search Analyst - leads the design, improvement, and ongoing analysis of search system.
"PART V - IA in the Organization" was a little dry for my tastes and irrelevant to me. May be very helpful for someone in a large bureaucratic organization that wants to implement their IA concepts.
The moral of the story is that "site builders" must employ multiple info retrieval methods and tightly integrate them. Everyone searches, browses, scans, and finds info differently; accommodate them.
This book is very comprehensive and even deals with the politics of IA. To me, the book gets a little long at times, but if your life evolves around information somehow, this is an essential read.
Excellent reference.......2007-06-12
The topic of the Polar Bear is very defined and focused, and the book reflects this. It's a bit dry - reads much like stereo instructions - but for someone who is dedicated to exploring content and information architecture in depth, there's simply no better reference.
I wouldn't call this a good primer, but I'd definitely recommend it for more advanced reading, and definitely as a reference book.
Very biased book.......2007-06-02
In general, this book contains some useful yet common sense information. This book is more about how to become a talker than a worker. I read through and found the first half confirmed my experience and the second half is a bust. If you want to become an office politician, this is a must have.
Book Description
<>Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is a new Microsoft technology for allowing software to communicate. Superseding earlier technologies, such as COM/DCOM, .NET Remoting, ASP.NET Web Services, and the Web Services Enhancements for .NET, WCF provides a single solution that is designed to always be the best way to exchange data among software entities. It also provides the infrastructure for developing the next generation of Web services, with support for the WS-* family of specifications, and a new serialization system for enhanced performance. For information technology professionals, WCF supplies an impressive array of administration tools that enterprises and software vendors can use to reduce the cost of ownership of their solutions without writing a single line of code. Most important, WCF finally delivers on the long-postponed promise of model-driven software development with the new software factory approach, by which one can iteratively design solutions in a modeling language and generate executables from lower-level class libraries.
Windows Communication Foundation Unleashed is designed to be the best resource for software developers and architects working with WCF. The book guides readers toward a conceptual understanding of all the facilities of WCF and provides step-by-step guides to applying the technology to practical problems.
- Introduces you to WCF and then takes you deep inside the technology
- Gives you nearly 100 best practices for programming with WCF
- Provides detailed coverage on how to version services that you will not find anywhere else
- Delves into using WCF together with Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows CardSpace
- Provides detailed coverage of the new high-performance data contract serializer for .NET
- Walks you through how to do secure, reliable, transacted messaging, and how to understand the options available
- Introduces you to federated, claims-based security, and shows you how to incorporate SAML and WS-Trust security token services into your architecture
- Provides step-by-step instructions for how to customize every aspect of WCF
- Shows you how to add your own behaviors, communication channels, message encoders, and transports
- Gives you options for implementing publish/subscribe solutions
- Walks you through how to do peer-to-peer communications with WCF
As evangelists at Microsoft for WCF, Craig McMurtry, Marc Mercuri, Nigel Watling, and Matt Winkler are uniquely positioned to write this book. They had access to the product as it was being built and to the development team itself. Their work with enterprises and outside software vendors has given them insight into how others see the software, how they want to apply it, and the challenges they face in doing so.
Foreword
Introduction
Part I Introducing the Windows Communication Foundation
2 The Fundamentals
3 Data Representation
4 Sessions, Reliable Sessions, Queues, and Transactions
Part II Introducing the Windows Workflow Foundation
5 Fundamentals of the Windows Workflow Foundation
6 Using the Windows Communication Foundation and the Windows
Part III Security
7 Security Basics
8 Windows CardSpace, Information Cards, and the Identity Metasystem
9 Securing Applications with Information Cards
10 Advanced Security
Part IV Integration and Interoperability
11 Legacy Integration
12 Interoperability
Part V Extending the Windows Communication Foundation
13 Custom Behaviors
14 Custom Channels
15 Custom Transports
Part VI Special Cases
16 Publish/Subscribe Systems
17 Peer Communication
18 Representational State Transfer and Plain XML Services
Part VII The Lifecycle of Windows Communication Foundation Applications
19 Manageability
20 Versioning
Part VIII Guidance
21 Guidance
Index
Customer Reviews:
Sample does not work.......2007-07-18
Code sample provided does not work. The author doesn't seem to know the difference between a client and host! No source code is provided in a cd or by download.
In-depth, comprehensive and complete.......2007-06-27
I haven't finished the entire thing (about 200 pages to go), but so far it has covered up to the most obscure detail you might need to know. I must admit, however, WPF has an incredibly steep learning curve and some of its features are terribly counter-intuitve, but it is an amazing technology. The book shows you the power of the technology with great examples and explanations of the details you thought you knew.
Excellent coverage of the technology!.......2007-05-19
Between the WPF Unleashed book and this one I am thoroughly impressed by the quality of this series. This book is easy to read with in depth information, very relevant. It covers a lot of useful techniques: in particular security, customization and integration with WF. A real step ahead of the other books. A Must have for all serious WCF programmer.
Excellent book for WCF!!!.......2007-05-04
I would definitely recommend this book for someone who is new to WCF and is looking to learn WCF in-depth.
Also if you want to learn Cardspace this is THE book I would say :)
I liked the way the Federated security was explained.
Craig has done a marvellous job!!!
Must read for comprehensive WCF knowledge.......2007-04-10
This book is a must read for anyone wanting to learn WCF in-depth. The coverage of topics is comprehensive and the authors have a very lucid style that makes the material very easy to understand.
Book Description
This 2-in-1 training kit delivers in-depth preparation plus practice for 70-547, an exam for the new MCPD: Web Developer certification. Ace your exam prepand build real-world job skillswith lessons, labs, practice tests, code samples, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Easy to read.......2007-09-19
I like this book because it is easy to read and I believe it has enough information to pass the exam
Ver poor book.......2007-09-09
I wonder if any of the authors of this book have ever written a single meaningful application?! Very poor book, very poor recommendations.
Average customer rating:
- An expert's view on unifying information
- An excellent starting point for tech writers making the move to single sourcing.
- Content reuse, not Enterprise Content Management...,
- Review of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Str
- A must for Content Management projects
|
Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy
Ann Rockley
Manufacturer: New Riders Press
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ASIN: 0735713065 |
Book Description
Today's businesses are overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, cutomized for more customers, and for more media than ever before. Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy provides the concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technological options that will prepare enterprise content managers and authors to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content.
Author Ann Rockley, along with the Rockley Group team, provides techniques that will help you define your content management requirements, build your vision, design your content architecture, pick the right tools, and overcome the hurdles of managing enterprise content. This book will help you visualize the broad spectrum of enterprise content, the requirements for effectively creating, managing, and delivering content, and the value of developing a unified content strategy for your organization.
Customer Reviews:
An expert's view on unifying information.......2007-07-26
Actually implementing a content management solution, even for a small company, is a daunting prospect. Not only do you have to consider a myriad of concrete tasks in order to audit, centralize, and reuse your information. You also have to "sell" a major work-style change to numerous players. Even knowing where to start can be overwhelming, and that's where Ann Rockley's book Managing Enterprise Content comes in.
Authoritative and experienced, Rockley acknowledges that enterprise content management is not for everyone (a refreshing change from those pushing cookie-cutter solutions). In cases where content management could solve business problems, Rockley makes her case with calm conviction, breaking the subject down into logical chunks. In particular, her chapters on designing metadata (the "information about information" that is key to effective and scalable content management) and workflow (the designation of who does what, when) are lucid and comprehensive.
Whether your objective is to get a grasp of the subject, sell an implementation to your organization, or just digest what an impending implementation will mean to you, you'll want Rockley's book on your desk.
An excellent starting point for tech writers making the move to single sourcing........2007-05-25
I came to this book from a very different direction than many (all?) of the other reviewers. I'm a technical writer ("content developer") researching methods and tools for single-sourcing technical documentation. For my purposes, this book was an excellent starting point in recognizing and understanding the considerations that must be taken into account when migrating to a single-source solution (i.e., one tool and set of practices for developing documentation to be delivered in multiple media), defining a new set of practices, and evaluating an authoring tool. I recommend this book strongly to any tech writer/manager who needs help understanding the basics of single-sourcing.
Content reuse, not Enterprise Content Management...,.......2006-11-05
This book's title has probably attracted those interested in Enterprise Content Management. ECM has increasingly become a major buzz in business strategy circles as the information age tidal wave spills over into organizations and floods them with content. We're literally drowning. "Managing Enterprise Content" does not discuss ECM in broad terms, such as structured and unstructured content, email, scanned documents, OCR, ICR, etc. Instead, it focuses on content reuse. To take a simple example, a product brochure, a website, and a press release all include descriptions of a product. Why, the book argues, rewrite that description three separate times for each medium? Why not write it just once, store it in a content management system, and then reuse it over and over again? "Content Modularization" or "Content Reuse" probably describe the goals of this book less confusingly than "Managing Enterprise Content." But, in fairness to the authors, the current title isn't inaccurate, it just lends itself easily to misunderstanding. To reiterate: those looking for a course in Enterprise Content Management conforming to the Association for Information and Image Management's (AIIM) guidelines should look elsewhere.
Nonetheless, those looking for a strategy to manage distributable content throughout an organization should take a look at "Managing Enterprise Content." The focus remains on implementing a "unified content strategy," which translates essentially to an efficient reuse of content. Here the word "content" has a specific sense relating to verbiage authored for a specific use. Product descriptions, mission and vision statements, disclaimers, compliance and regulatory announcements, anything widely distributable qualifies. How does one efficiently manage the creation and the evolution of such content across an organization? This obviously implies some form of centralization (although this pregnant term gets strategically avoided for obvious reasons). And this further implies a software system. But prior to purchasing an expensive application, the business must align itself process-wise to enable content reuse. Otherwise the costly program will sit and rot. The first three parts of the book (I - III), comprising its first twelve chapters, discuss these necessary preparations and walk the reader through to implementation. This progression mirrors, for good reasons, the project management and software development life cycle processes. First, determine the concept or the "why?" of the project (Chapters 1 & 2). Then perform cost benefit analysis (Chapter 3 discusses ROI for content reuse), analyze and prioritize the current content infrastructure, the "As-Is" (Chapters 4 through 6), look to the future by modeling and designing the elements of the system the "To-Be" (Chapters 7 through 11), and finally implement the reusable content infrastructure (Chapter 12). Evaluation of software tools and technology should come before implementation, but the book instead covers these topics in Part IV (Chapters 13 to 18). So it's that easy to implement a unified content strategy? Well, no, not really.
Part V, the book's final section, outlines the inevitable issues that face organizational restructuring. Implementation of a unified content strategy will probably necessitate fundamental changes. Roles will get changes, people moved around, departments will get realigned or reorganized. All of this can sap morale or cause anxiety amongst employees. The author is not an authority on such issues, so this section of the book remains somewhat cursory and high-level. Conflict management gets deferred to a website (the book contains an out of date URL, but the book's website[...] has an updated address), and the advice presented here will probably not surprise anyone. Still, managing change remains an important part of any new implementation and this section, though rudimentary, will at least raise awareness.
Lastly, the appendices contain a grab bag of information. Appendix C, on vendors, has probably suffered from age (these days, a lot can happen in three years), but it may provide some good leads. Appendix B, "Writing for Multiple Media," probably could have appeared in the main body of the book; it contains important details not covered elsewhere.
Overall, the book does give a plausible outline for implementing the proposed strategy. Some of the chapters may seem overly simplistic or overlong to those experienced with system implementations or business process management. At the very least, "Managing Enterprise Content" may introduce some readers to the concept of enterprise content reuse. That concept remains a challenging one that will likely mean different things to different organizations. So this book does not provide the final word on the subject, nor does it intend to. An organization can only use this book as a blueprint or a guidepost for implementing its own unified content strategy.
Review of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Str.......2004-05-21
Are you overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, customized for more customers, and for more media than ever before? Do you consider storing documentation on a server as an effective a content management system? Do you want to learn how content management will empower your organization? The answer to these questions and many more is covered in Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy by Ann Rockley with Pamela Kostur and Steve Manning of The Rockley Group. The Rockley Group is one of the leading providers of content management methodologies.
Managing Enterprise Content provides concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technical options that will prepare you to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content. It describes techniques that will help you define your content management requirements, build your vision, design your content architecture, select tools, and overcome obstacles of managing enterprise content. It will help you to visualize the spectrum of enterprise content, the requirements for effectively creating, managing, and delivering content, and the value of developing a content strategy for your organization. That¡¦s a lot of information for one person to understand. That¡¦s why the book is written for three audiences: content managers, information architects, and authors. Managing Enterprise Content follows the same methodical approach that Rockley uses to teach content management in seminars and workshops.
I was expecting the book to jump into the technologies to implement a content management system. But that¡¦s not how Rockley presents content management. She begins with The basis of a unified content strategy and describes how content is created, who creates it, why authors work in isolation, and the consequences of isolation and centralizing content. The solution is to consolidate content in a definitive source, and a process that encourage authors to work collaboratively. The next step is to assess opportunities for content reuse. If you have never heard the term ¡¥reusing content,¡¦ you may know it as single sourcing. You probably already reuse content (i.e. copy and paste), which works well until the information, and everywhere that it appears, must be updated. Content reuse involves using existing content components (e.g. paragraphs, sections, and chapters) to develop new documents. Implementing a unified content strategy is a costly investment: tools, technologies, and training are not cheap. Investment costs are incurred in technology, training and consulting, and lost productivity.
Examples are given to calculate the cost of authoring tools, content management systems, training and consulting¡Xa content management system is not a plug and play, one size fits all solution. The return on investment is achieved by reduced time to market, reduced cost of product content development, improved accuracy and quality of content, and reduced manufacturing defects. The examples are especially helpful because you will need to create a proposal to convince budget holders and management on the return on investment of a content management solution.
Are you ready to buy a content management system? Not yet, read further. ¡§Performing a substantive audit: Determining business requirements¡¨ begins with an introduction on how to determine goals that you want a unified content strategy to solve, for example:
h Reduce the time to plan, write, review, approve, and publish
h Create flexible content that is easily reused to create information products for multiple products and multiple media
h Reduce the cost of translation by reusing existing translations.
h Make content more accessible; separating content from format makes it possible for content to be displayed automatically in a format appropriate to the disability.
Rockley describes how to identify opportunities where a unified approach of content management (i.e. planning, design, authoring and revision, version control, access control, publication and delivery to its audiences) is beneficial.
You are probably wondering how this all fits together, and Rockley explains how. ¡§Design¡¨ describes information modeling and metadata, how to personalize content, how to design a workflow, and how to implement your design.
An information model is critical for a unified content strategy because it provides a framework for documentation. It's the 80/20 rule: 80% of your effort is planning and analysis, and 20% of your effort is implementing the solution with whatever tools are selected to accomplish the goals the organization has set for itself. The level of detail of your information model depends on the level of reuse you want to achieve.
Many desktop publishing tools can dynamically publish personalized letters and forms by matching elements such as names and address¡Xa content management system can do the same. I was confused why design is given so much attention. Why not conduct the audit, buy the tools, and worry about design later? You can¡¦t. The design of information, reuse models/maps, meta data and workflow are all tool independent tasks. Regardless of the tools selected, you must first analyse and then design a content or information model so that it can be presented to IT staff and software vendors. Doing this in advance makes it possible for you to ask vendors to respond to a request for proposal and document how their tools can help you satisfy your specific challenges. Analysis provides an opportunity to collect metrics. From your information models, you can identify how much of your content could be reusable and where.
Educated on how content is used, where and how, you are better prepared to match the tools and technology to the origination¡¦s goals to deliver a unified content management solution. ¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ offers guidelines for evaluating tools. With so many tools and technologies to choose from, selecting the one that best satisfies your goals and budget is a challenge. Your best advantage is to be an educated consumer before you shop around. Rockley recommends that you identify your needs, and criteria for evaluating product options in terms of usability, training provided, supporting documentation provided, technical support, upgrades and enhancements, implementation time, cost, vendor viability, partnerships the vendor has to provide an expanded solution, and references. Where do you being looking?
Some good sources are conferences where vendors present authoring solutions such as the annual STC conference, electronic mailing lists, technology magazines, Web sites and online discussion boards and newsgroups. A supplement to ¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ is Appendix C, ¡§Vendors,¡¨ which is an overview of products, features and vendors. Appendix D, ¡§Tools Checklist,¡¨ which lists sample questions to ask a vendor. When you have narrowed your list of potential vendors, Rockley suggests that you either contact the vendors and request onsite demonstrations or send vendors an RFP (request for proposal).
¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ covers XML because it provides interoperability between applications. XML is not a set of tags that you apply to documents; it is a specification that sets rules for the creation of tag sets that you apply to documents. For instance, if you selected tools first and then designed your content, you might find that some of the content does not behave the way you expect it to. One solution would be to use XSLT to transform the content and move it around where you want it. While this may be an acceptable solution, it¡¦s not. The conversion costs time, money, and resources. There is no need to convert or transform content if it¡¦s modelled in XML from the start.
Rockley describes strategies for collaborative authoring, how to separate content from format, how to manage change and transition. An example is given to illustrate how the same product description is reused effectively to create a show catalog, brochure, press release and Web site. It¡¦s easy to understand that people find it hard to believe that content somebody else created could possibly meet their needs. After all, Rockley notes, it was written for a different purpose and media, and the author could not have known their customers/audience/requirements. However, if content is written for a different purpose, audience, or media without considering how the content can be reused, it¡¦ won¡¦t work.
Don¡¦t be optimistic that everybody will be willing to convert to a better way of authoring and managing content. Rockley presents issues to consider when planning your change management strategy such as overcoming resistance from opponents and descriptions of new and modified roles. She recommends creating a role for an enterprise project coordinator and information technologist; a change to existing roles business owners or analysts and information architects; and new skill sets (p. 413-415). Unintentionally overlooked are system administrators to maintain the content management system and to ensure that users adhere to standards.
Don¡¦t be overly optimistic that everybody will want morph into new roles and change their authoring habits. An XML system is best suited and ideal for a large documentation department for all content authoring or an organization where every author uses the XML authoring tool. A team of ten or fewer will be constrained to balance XML implementation and documentation project duties, and learn how to use the (new) content management system. Even if you assign the complex task of XML implementation and creation of information models, workflows and DTDs to a consultant, the consultant will require guidance from the team. These are only a few of the constraints to overcome to assure a successful unified content strategy that Rockley expertly describes how to overcome.
Managing Enterprise Content concludes with a checklist for implementing a unified content strategy, suggestions for writing for multiple media, sample questions to ask vendors, a checklist for the tools required to implement a unified content strategy, and the importance of content relationships in version control. Pay close attention to usability. The rollout of a content management system, authoring tools, and authoring standards affects every member of the organization. If it¡¦s not easy to learn, easy to use, easy to support, and easy to maintain, authors will revert to the traditional way of writing and managing content.
Read Managing Enterprise Content before you invest in a content management system and consulting fees. You will be an educated and informed customer and user when you begin shopping for a content management solution of your own.
A must for Content Management projects.......2004-02-02
This book is an absolute must for Content Management projects. It touches all of the important aspects: Technical, functional and process. There is something for all stakeholders in a EMS/CMS project.
Especially good about this book is that the parts that are not your direct job are still very readable, understandable and interesting. It provides valuable insights in other peoples jobs and reasoning.
Coming from the technical side and with a lot of experience in setting up systems and also information architecture and DTD design, for me this book contained several new insights and some very helpfull checklists.
I am in the middel of a CMS project now, but I wish I had read it sooner.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book with excellent examples.......2007-06-22
You come across very few people in life
a) who know what they are doing
b) who can teach others with good examples
c) who do not have any vested interest in sharing the knowledge.
The authors of this book come under this category. Not only they seem to have worked on many best of breed SOA projects, they have a very good ability to impart this knowledge. They discuss the pros and cons of all the options and let reader choose what is best for his/her situation.
This book seems to have the right mix of technical, management and business knowledge about SOA. Like many business oriented books it does not limit itself to discussing the organizational challenges and project management aspects. Like technical books, it does not limit itself to web services. This book opens your mind to the real IT landscape in today's organizations, particularly its heterogeneity. It opens your mind to thinking how SOA can connect these heterogeneous systems and make them productive. I have really enjoyed reading this book after completing my architect certification.
Useful at an architectural level but not at a development level.......2007-01-10
May be I was expecting too much out of this book, it provides good categorization of different types of services and the roadmap - however I feel it lacks some details on the technical implementation part as to what tools/technologies/standards are ideal to implement this architecture.
Again, may be my expectation was not realistic.
No nonsense, practical advice.......2006-11-03
Frankly, I thought SOA was just a bunch of marketing hype until I read this book. The authors begin by clearly explaining of the kinds of problems SOA is trying to solve, and how other architectures tried and failed (or partially succeeded) to solve these problems. In fact, you don't get a definition of SOA until chapter 4, which is a good thing. The advice and strategies are well-reasoned and practical. The organizational roadmap seems to be unique among SOA books, and is clearly derived from experience. The case studies highlight the kinds of tradeoffs each organization had to deal with, along with lessons learned. Finally, I found this book to be very readable and interesting.
Honest and insightfull.......2006-05-31
This is a great introduction to SOA. The authors focus on the fundamentals of SOA, displaying both wisdom and honesty as they discuss the structure of an SOA, its essential and optional elements, strategies for SOA introduction (from technical and organizational points of view), SOA oriented project management techniques, success (and failure stories), etc.
The book is refreshing in the way that it avoids the vendor induced hysteria associated with new technologies choosing instead to calmly and objectively discuss the fundamental forces driving SOA adoption: federation, heterogeneity, agility, reuse.
Additionally, the authors display a healthy dose of independence as they discuss the merits and lack thereof of over-hyped technologies such as Enterprise Service Buses and BEPL systems. This is clearly a book written by people who have actually built SOAs, as opposed to sit on WS-* committees or implement SOA related junkware.
Excellent overview.......2006-04-19
This book was an excellent broad overview of the technology related items associated with an SOA adoption. It is a good read for an IT manager or architect that is more concerned with the bigger picture. This book, combined with a book that has more of a business oriented slant, such as Service Orient or Be Doomed or Service Blueprint make a great combination for enterprise architects interested in the potential of SOA.
Product Description
Get deep insights into Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with this hands-on guide. This book focuses on developing Windows SharePoint Services applications for the enterprise with Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 and the Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML). A Windows SharePoint Services expert provides technical explanations of the platform architecture and how the technology works, including concise information on key topics including Web Parts, pages, workflow, and security. With this bottom-up view of the platform architecture and task-oriented guidance, Microsoft Windows developers will learn how to embrace Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as a first-class development platform. Experienced developers will learn how to build robust, feature-rich applications, including enterprise content management (ECM) systems. In addition, this guide includes C# and XML code samples to help developers get up and running as quickly as possible.
Delivers concise information on Web Parts, pages, workflow, security, and other key topics
Provides deep architectural insights, practical advice, and solutions for Windows developers
Features extensive code samples in Visual C# and XML; assumes prior knowledge of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed!! (No CD/DVD).......2007-10-07
The major thing that disappoints me is that there is no CD/DVD with the book. There are lots of code snippets (rather than complete listings) and it is hard to understand if you can't see everything. An E-book version would also be nice (like every other MS Press book).
Other than that, it is excellent.
This is my manifesto for SharePoint *Development* (as opposed to customization).......2007-09-24
In what I think of as my "pre-Pattison" era I was beating my head against SharePoint. The projects I'd inherited seemed unmanageable and deployment was a nightmare. For the project I was going to be starting from scratch, I was frantically coming up with excuses to not use SharePoint, although there was external pressure to use it.
Ted's book explains the key difference between SharePoint customization and SharePoint development, and focuses on best practices for the later. After reading it, I had a game plan for future development using SharePoint and also for bringing my two legacy apps under control.
A hands on book .......2007-07-23
I agree with the other reviewers this is a book that is worth reading if you are working with Sharepoint development...
By far, mandatory for all Sharepoint developers..........2007-07-23
I had a chance to take Ted's class on the subject matter of this book and found him to be extremely knowledgeable, insightful and practical with regard to developing for Sharepoint. Taking the class and having his book really took me to the next level understanding how WSS 3.0 work and can be extended. This book is a must read from cover to cover if you are new or want to get more acquainted with Sharepoint Services development.
This book fills in the gaps in the SDK.......2007-07-11
Finally, there is a book that provides all the basic information that a developer needs to get started with WSS 3.0. Almost all that information that a developer would expect to find in the SDK documentation is finally available. If this trend continues, it seems that in the future, there will be no SDK documentation, only books to purchase, if you needed documentation.
Very well written, like all books in the 'Inside...' series!
Book Description
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âThis book clearly shows how today’s industry pressures and business challenges mandate renewal of the contract between organizations and their IT assets and people–and it illustrates how a service-oriented approach to IT can help organizations go through the necessary transformation. The role of governance in bringing IT and business closer together is particularly well explained, and the book is worth reading for that alone.â
–Neil Ward-Dutton, Research Director, Macehiter Ward-Dutton
âIt’s easy to pay lip service to the concept of business/IT alignment, but in The New Language of Business, Sandy Carter walks the walk. Few treatments of SOA ground this admittedly difficult topic in the world of business as thoroughly as Sandy has here. I’d recommend this book to any business reader who wants to leverage IT to make their business more agile and innovative, and to any technical reader who wishes to understand how to place SOA in the business context where it belongs.â
–Jason Bloomberg, Senior Analyst and Principal, ZapThink LLC
âA very valuable read. In today’s globally connected marketplace profitable growth requires business flexibility and continuous innovation, both of which are increasingly proving to be impossible without business modularity and the new table-stakes technology SOA.â
–Ron Williams, Professor, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
âSandy has provided a pragmatic and holistic perspective on Service Oriented Architectures. She adds credibility by sharing IBM’s in-depth customer research as well as case studies to support the findings. The book is a strong source book for those wanting to get started with SOA.â
–Judith Hurwitz, President & CEO, Hurwitz & Associates, coauthor,
Service Oriented Architectures for Dummies
âFew people have thought as long or as hard about SOA as Sandy Carter. This book embodies her invaluable work and the work of many at IBM to research, define, deploy and make SOA happen. Useful not just from a SOA perspective, but also as a concise articulation of the contemporary concepts fundamental to understanding where business and IT are heading.â
–Carol Baroudi, coauthor Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies, Senior Analyst, Aberdeen Group
âThe New Language of Business: SOA & Web 2.0 is based on the collective feedback from industry leaders at organizations of all sizes, in more than 50 countries, who shared their views, experiences, and challenges of aligning technology with business goals.â
–From the foreword by Steve Mills, Senior Vice President and Group Executive, IBM Software Group
There is now a direct, provable link between an organization’s flexibility and business performance. To optimize flexibility, companies must achieve unprecedented levels of integration and automation of key processes and infrastructure, both internally and externally. At the same time, they must learn to manage their processes far more dynamically and responsively.
They must become flex-pon-sive*.
Until recently, technology stood in the way of achieving these goals. Thanks to the emergence of service oriented architecture (SOA), Web 2.0, and open standards, technology now enables companies to achieve those goals. In The New Language of Business, one of IBM’s top SOA strategist demonstrates how business leaders can use innovations in technology to drive dramatic process improvements and support accelerating change.
Sandy Carter shows how to deconstruct your business into a âcomponentizedâ business model, then support that model with linked, repeatable IT services that can adapt quickly, easily, and economically. These techniques will help both IT professionals and business leaders reach new levels of operational excellence to deliver the market-focused innovations that matter most.
Drive competitive advantage through Service Oriented Architecture
Leverage the value of business process components and IT services
Achieve one version of the truth–finally!
Use information as a service to improve business insight and reduce risk
Master SOA governance and the service lifecycle
Manage IT infrastructure for business results, both short-term and long-term
Start fast: choose from three winning approaches
Get quick wins with business process management, collaboration or information
Implement on demand: what works–and what doesn’t
Discover key success factors–and ten critical mistakes to avoid
Create the flex-pon-sive* business!
•Learn the secrets of success from industry leaders at organizations of all sizes, from over 50 countries–and why SOA was unanimously chosen as the best way to address their challenges
•Leverage the IBM roadmap for SOA and Web 2.0 deployment, plus proven best practices learned in the field
•Understand what it means to be flex-pon-sive*–and how your organization can get there
In The New Language of Business, senior IBM executive Sandy Carter demonstrates how to leverage SOA, Web 2.0, and related technologies to drive new levels of operational excellence and business innovation.
Writing for executives and business leaders inside and outside IT, Carter explains why flexibility and responsiveness are now even more crucial to success–and why services-based strategies offer the greatest promise for achieving them.
You’ll learn how to organize your business into reusable process components–and support them with cost-effective IT services that adapt quickly and easily to change. Then, using extensive examples–including a detailed case study describing IBM’s own experience–Carter identifies best practices, pitfalls, and practical starting points for success.
Build the flex-pon-sive* business
* Flex-pon-sive* companies respond with lightning speed and agility to rapidly changing business needs. Flex-pon-sive* companies are focused on processes that are enabled for change through IT.
Foreword
Part I: Start at the Beginning–The Business
Chapter 1: The Innovation Imperative
Chapter 2: What Is Flex-pon-sive*?
Chapter 3: Deconstructing Your Business: Component Business Model
Part II: A Flexible Business Requires Flexible IT
Chapter 4: SOA as the DNA of a Flex-pon-sive* and Innovative Company
Chapter 5: SOA Key Concepts
Chapter 6: SOA Governance and Service Lifecycle
Chapter 7: Three Business-Centric SOA Entry Points
Chapter 8: W
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Administrator's Companion
Microsoft SharePoint 2007 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Workflow in the 2007 Microsoft Office System
Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Unleashed
Microsoft SharePoint: Building Office 2007 Solutions in C# 2005 (Expert's Voice in Sharepoint)
