SharePoint 2013 - Introduction, Features, and Roles

Introduction

Welcome to the world of SharePoint 2013. SharePoint 2013 Production version is released & Live implementations are going on. In this article I would like to re-iterate the features of SharePoint as a whole & advantages of going with it.

What is SharePoint?

In short, SharePoint is a browser-based collaboration, content management, and extensible platform from Microsoft. The latest release of the product is SharePoint 2013.

What are the previous versions of SharePoint 2013?

The previous two versions are MOSS 2007 and SharePoint 2010.

What are the features of SharePoint?

Depending on the business perspective the features of SharePoint are many:

How to Install SharePoint 2013?

As SharePoint is a server side software, it requires the Windows Server operating system. You can start with a new installation or use a Virtual Machine. Once you have the Operating System ready, you can download and install SharePoint 2013 from the following link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh973397.aspx.

Hardware Requirements

Following are the core hardware requirements:

1. CPU 64-bit
2. RAM 8 GB
3. HDD 80 GB

Software Requirements

Following are the software requirements:

1. Windows Server 2012
2. Microsoft SQL Server 2012 64-bit
3. Internet Information Services 7.5
4. Microsoft .NET 4.5

More detailed information can be found here:http://technet.microsoft.com/library/cc262485(office.15).aspx#reqOtherCap

SharePoint Roles

In this article I would like to discuss the various SharePoint Roles. SharePoint Roles and Assignment to people is an essential step towards SharePoint project analysis and implementation.

Following are the most important Roles, I could identify here:

• SharePoint Architect
• SharePoint Developer
• SharePoint Designer
• SharePoint Administrator
• SharePoint Trainer
• SharePoint Power User
• SharePoint User

The role involvement is depicted below:

Now let us explore what each Role performs.

SharePoint Architect

Following are the responsibilities of Architect:

• Should be an expert in SharePoint, .NET, and SQL Server
• Analyze requirements and gain business objectives
• Collaborate with Customer
• Define and implement Governance Plan
• Architectural decisions on number of servers, capacity planning, taxonomy, etc.
• Direct developers in building custom solutions
• Direct administrator on SharePoint infrastructure usage
• Configure search center, business intelligence
• Decide on Hold, Retention policies
• Ensure performance and monitoring mechanisms of the implementation

SharePoint Developer

Following are the responsibilities of Developer:

• Develop custom solutions for SharePoint involving Web Parts, Workflows, Object Model
• Submit Deployment Package to administrator
• Should have a good knowledge with SharePoint Out of Box features and programming in .NET
• Responsible for running unit tests, memory tests involved in development

SharePoint Designer

Following are the responsibilities of Designer:

• Expert in HTML, CSS, XML, Master Pages with good understanding of SharePoint features
• Provides customization of SharePoint Site Pages
• Implementation of branding
• Responsible for the non-programming customizations of SharePoint

SharePoint Administrator

Following are the responsibilities of Administrator:

• Expert in SharePoint Out of the Box features, Active Directory, with good amount of networking skills
• Setup Windows Server, SharePoint Servers, Services, Active Directory, IIS etc.
• Monitor the health of Servers, implement retention policies
• Performs Site Collection setup, DNS mapping, users, and Permissions setup
• Assigns new users to groups and sets access to sites based on requirement
• Coordinates with network administrator
• Deploy new solutions, components to SharePoint server
• Executes PowerShell scripts
• Performs backup of content database

SharePoint Trainer

Following are the responsibilities of Trainer:

• Expert in SharePoint from user point of view
• Well knowledge with SharePoint compatible browser, Office applications
• Train customers to a good amount of confidence with implementation
• Train customers in creating Sites, Libraries, Lists and using Office Integration, Search

SharePoint Power User

Following are the responsibilities of Power User:

• Power User is a User with a good amount of knowledge in SharePoint features
• Should be guiding other users during times of difficulties

SharePoint User

Following are the responsibilities of User:

• Should be expert in business functionality and knowledgeable with SharePoint implementation.
• Performs his/her activities through SharePoint.

Please note that Power User and User are scoped from the Customer side. SharePoint Administrator can be from the customer side if it is a customer maintained implementation. In specific scenarios the customer might rely on third party companies to administer SharePoint implementation, where the Administrator will be external to customer premises.