2008 Meetings
January
Introduction and Announcements - Presented by Matt Passannante, Director of Implementations for SharePoint Experts
Architecting the Network for a Highly Available, Scalable, and High Performance SharePoint Deployment - Presented by Ryan Korock, Solutions Architect, and Jeff Bellamy, Sr. Business Development Manager for F5
Usability and SharePoint Branding Strategies - Presented by Tim Hjellum, Creative Director for Seven User Experience
Tim Hjellum of Seven User Experience will be presenting on the user experience of SharePoint to include usability and SharePoint branding strategies. Tim's presentation will include SharePoint Site Customization, SharePoint Branding/Skinning Strategies, Benefits of a User-centric Design, and Tons of User-Interface Tips-and-Tricks. Tim will even have various master.page and CSS code samples to hand out.
February
Introduction and Announcements – Presented by Matt Passannante, Director of Implementations for SharePoint Experts, Inc.
Excel Services Overview – Presented by Todd Baginski, Vice President of SharePoint Experts, Inc.
During this session Todd will cover what Excel Services are, the functionality Excel Services provides and how to implement both out of the box and custom solutions that leverage Excel Services. First, Todd will demonstrate how to publish data from Excel Workbooks to Excel Services and surface the data inside a web browser and also inside of SharePoint Sites with the Excel Web Access Web Part. Then the session will dive deeper and cover how the functions inside an Excel Workbook may be reused inside of a custom Web Part after the functions have been published via Excel Services. Have you ever thought of using your Excel Workbooks as a business object layer? You might after seeing Excel Services in action. This session has something for both Information Workers and Developers, so don't miss it!
SharePoint Licensing – Into the Great Unknown! – Presented by Steve Todd, Solution Specialist for Microsoft Corporation.
Steve Todd, Microsoft Solution Specialist, will spend a half hour going over licensing basics for SharePoint. He will cover the different types of SharePoint Server licenses available, as well as the functionality delivered by the SharePoint Standard and Enterprise Client Access Licenses. While Steve is not a Microsoft Licensing expert (is there such a thing?), he probably know a little bit more than most and will try to help demystify this confounding subject.
March
Introduction and Announcements – Presented by Matt Passannante, Director of Implementations for SharePoint Experts, Inc.
An Overview of Microsoft Search Technologies - Presented by Scott Davis, Microsoft SharePoint Technology Specialist for Microsoft Corporation
Have you seen everything Search can do and are you getting your value out of Search? Don't miss out on this great opportunity to come and hear directly from Scott Davis, Microsoft SharePoint Technology Specialist, on the business-ready search capabilities that this robust platform can provide. This presentation will help you understand the different capabilities provided by Microsoft Search Server 2008, Microsoft Search Server Express 2008, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
We'll explore how to implement some basic configurations that will help reduce the time information workers spend looking for information, deliver relevant actionable results and drive higher levels of productivity. In addition, we'll explore some new capabilities around Search Federation, Business Data integration, and Faceted Search.
According to IDC estimates, information workers spend 15% to 30% of their work time just looking for information. So, providing the people in an organization the ability to quickly find, use and share the right information is critical to helping them make better business decisions, be more productive, and achieve greater business success
STSADM Overview & Customization - Presented by Gary Lapointe, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server MVP and SR. Consultant for STATERA
SharePoint provides a great, user-friendly interface for configuring and managing the product. What do you do when you need to go beyond what the browser interface provides you or when you want to script the configurations (perhaps you want to automate your install)?
To accommodate these needs Microsoft has provided an updated version of STSADM. Previous versions of STSADM were very limited in scope and use. The new version contains over 184 new commands which allows you to administer numerous aspects of the product via the command line which is ideal for batch processing. Some of the configurations that STSADM supports cannot even be done via the Out of the box web interface. If you're unable to find a command that suits you, you can easily extend the tool by creating your own command which can work seamlessly with the built-in commands. This presentation will discuss the details of what STSADM is and some tips for using it, some common commands that demonstrate the power of the tool, and how to build your own custom STSADM extensions
April
Introduction and Announcements – Presented by Matt Passannante, Director of Implementations for SharePoint Experts, Inc.
Automating SharePoint Site Provisioning with K2 [blackpearl] - Codi Kaji and Holly Anderson of K2P
This session will show how easy it is to design a project site provisioning application using the K2 wizards and integration with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and InfoPath Forms Services. You will learn about K2 SmartObjects and how to use data from Line of Business systems within your K2 processes.
SharePoint Office Integration – Practical Applications for Business - Greg DeRoeck, SharePoint Admin Programmer for Air Methods Corporation.
SharePoint administration is not only about installation, server management and configuration; it also involves, to some extent, communication and public relations. As the designated SharePoint expert for your particular company, you may receive questions regarding how SharePoint and its marriage with MS Office will improve daily business processes. Regardless of the version of MS Office your company uses, SharePoint offers a variety of features designed to help users with their everyday needs. This presentation will address some of the most common SharePoint and Office integration tools that users can utilize to help them work more efficiently and effectively.
May
Introduction and Announcements – Presented by Matt Passannante, Director of Implementations for SharePoint Experts, Inc.
ISA Server 2006 - Part 1: Introduction and Overview - Presented by Matt Passannante, Director of Implementation Services for Sharepoint Experts, Inc.
Microsoft ISA Server is a complete firewall, caching, and security solution for your network and SharePoint environment. In Part 1 of this series, you will be provided with an overview of ISA Server 2006. You will learn how to install ISA Server, understand the different options for deployment, and see how to configure the firewall.
Future installments in this series will examine the SharePoint integration, along with add-ons, and built-in wizards.
SharePoint Security for Developers - Presented by Daniel Larson, "Software Minion" for NewsGator Technologies
Security is an important topic when designing and implementing a business solution with SharePoint Services (WSS) or SharePoint Server (MOSS). You don't want users who haven't been granted the proper permissions to be able to view or edit sensitive pages, items, or documents. At the same time, you need to ensure that users with the proper permissions can access what they need. Although WSS goes a long way toward providing out-of-the-box security features that allow site owners to configure access rights within a site collection, a SharePoint developer should know how WSS security works behind the scenes as well as how to extend the WSS security model with custom code.
In this talk, we'll cover the basics of Code Access Security, the content security model using the ISecurableObject interface, impersonation and elevated privileges. We'll cover not just how, but why and why not, and I'll include real world experience from an ISV (Independent Software Vendor), consultant and customer perspective.
About Daniel Larson
Daniel Larson is an MVP for MOSS, a software minion at NewsGator Technologies, and an author for Microsoft Press. His last book with Ted Pattison, Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is one of the best developer books available for the WSS platform. Dan has talked at conferences like Developer Connections and SharePoint Connections, and is currently working on his second book for Microsoft Press, Developing Service-Oriented AJAX Applications on the Microsoft® Platform. Keep up with Dan at daniellarson.spaces.live.com.
SharePoint Security Q & A Roundtable
Bring your SharePoint Security-related questions and you can get help from the group!
June
Every year the Rocky Mountain SharePoint User Group takes a moment to show its appreciation for the outstanding support it receives from the community by taking a month off.
July
Introduction and Announcements – Presented by Matt Passannante, Director of Implementations for SharePoint Experts, Inc.
Mastering Migrations to SharePoint – Presented by Curtis Kelly, Solutions Architect for Quest Software.
SharePoint is a logical location to move documents and information, because it has document management features for many data types. To take advantage of these features, moving information from traditional data repositories to a SharePoint 2007 environment makes sense. Join us for this presentation to learn how Quest’s tools can help you migrate your information from file shares, SharePoint 2003/2007, Lotus Notes and Exchange Public Folders into SharePoint. The presentation will include a demo of Quest’s Migration Manager for SharePoint, which helps users migrate from SharePoint 2003/2007 to SharePoint 2007.
SharePoint Migration Q & A Roundtable
Bring your SharePoint Migration questions and you can get help from the group!
November
The meeting was held on November 20, 2007.
Introduction and Announcements - Presented by Matt Passannante, Senior Trainer for SharePoint Experts
SharePoint Administration Products - Presented by Marc Van Kralingen of Quest Software
Mark will provide an overview of many useful and groundbreaking tools used to help SharePoint Administrators manage their MOSS 2007 environments. Learn how Quest Software provides solutions for Site Administration, Data Recovery, and Data Migrations.
Data Reporting and Analytics within MOSS 2007 - Presented by Travis Burns, Business Solutions Architect for IHS.
This presentation will cover usage statistics and analytics for MOSS 2007, which go beyond the prepackaged statistics, in order to enhance the user's SharePoint experience. These analytics indicate such things as: queries which produce no usable results (augmentation), popular queries which have no best bets (candidates), popular best bet clicks that may be candidates for homepage links (organization), etc.
October
The agenda at the October 16, 2007 meeting:
Introduction and Announcements - Presented by Matt Passannante, Senior Trainer for SharePoint Experts
Windows Rights Management and SharePoint - Presented by Leon Harris, Technical Solutions Professional for Microsoft
This presentation and demonstration will cover the Windows Rights Management Services which is a flexible and customizable technology that inter-operates well with your existing applications and is easy to use. Windows Rights Management Services extends SharePoint to protect, on download, SharePoint rights instead of roles. Windows Rights Management supports Active Directory group expansion, and enables an organization to recover rights-protected files in the event an employee leaves the organization.
The DNA for a Successful MOSS 2007 Solution - Presented by Michael Ellis, Information Worker Solution Specialist for STATERA
This presentation covers best practices for non-technical subjects such as Project Management, Information Architecture, Governance, Production Support, Training, and Communications in order to ensure a successful MOSS 2007 solution.
September
The agenda at the September 18, 2007 meeting:
Introduction and Announcements - Presented by Faraz Khan (stepping in for Matt). Get your finger on the pulse of everything SharePoint in Colorado!
Migrating from SharePoint 2003 to MOSS 2007 - Presented by Faraz Khan, Mike Dockery, and Jim Falgout of IHS.
IHS is one of the leading global providers of critical technical information, decision-support tools, and related services to customers in the energy, defense, aerospace, construction, electronics, and automotive industries. Faraz, Mike, and Jim will share with you the Do's and Don'ts of migrating a SharePoint Environment from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. Faraz will walk through the feasibility, planning, and implementation phases of the migration and let you know first-hand, what worked well, and what didn't work at all. If you are thinking about migrating your content from SPS 2003 into SPS 2007, this presentation is for you. Don't reinvent the wheel! Learn from their mistakes!
Rebranding your Sites in MOSS 2007 - Presented by Faraz Khan, Senior IT Specialist for IHS
We know you can't get enough of SharePoint branding, so we're bringing the topic back and putting an entirely different spin on it. This time, we are looking at it from the direction of the real-world implementation. In this presentation, Faraz Khan will walk through the real-world experiences of IHS as they rebranded their sites after their content was migrated from SPS 2003 to MOSS 2007. You won't want to miss this.
Round Table Discussion - Presented by Everyone... from everywhere!
Have an off the wall question about SharePoint? Go ahead and ask the community! This is your opportunity to obtain some great information for FREE!
August
Here is the information that was presented at the August 21, 2007 meeting:
Real World SharePoint Implementations: Microsoft Corporation - Presented by Scott Davis, SharePoint Technology Specialist for Microsoft Corporation
Scott presented a 100-level Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 overview. With thedemonstration Scott highlighted how Microsoft uses SharePoint internally. It was a great sneak peek into Microsoft's best internal SharePoint Portals.
Microsoft Office Unified Communications and SharePoint - Presented by Steve Todd, Information Worker Solutions Specialist for Microsoft Corporation
SharePoint is an important part of Microsoft's Unified Communication strategy. Unified Communications bridge the gap between telephony and computing to deliver real-time, messaging, voice and conferencing to the desktop environment. This presentation l explored the future of Microsoft Unified Communications and what it means to your organization. Steve showed some entertaining videos and a live demonstration of the latest Unified Communications capabilities, including presence, real-time collaboration and unified messaging.