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SharePoint use in extranets
January, 2012
Collaboration is one of the main reasons why organizations install SharePoint. But is it the best solution for working with external partners and experts? Depending on the application, the answer may be no. In this Member Q&A article we look at the characteristics of some common external collaboration use cases, compare the wiki collaboration features of SharePoint with those of a cloud-based service called PBWorks, summarize comments from some users, and summarize the cost/benefit equation for both types of products.
Extranet use cases The need for collaboration with external partners is common to:
A typical extranet use case has the following characteristics:
• Project focus. In a law firm, this might be preparation for a court case. In a creative agency, it might be development of an ad or PR campaign. In a business firm, it might be production of a client report, a magazine issue, or a market research analysis. At minimum, teams need a central document repository, but many projects also require workflow features (e.g. schedules, task lists, calendars), communications options (e.g. instant messaging, chat, conference calls), and collaborative document editing. • Flexible access model. Participants can be expected to use multiple devices and work from geographically dispersed locations. Teams can consist of employees with IT-assigned logon credentials as well as external members who do not have internal user accounts. Different levels of security are needed. • Permanent or long-term duration. With permanent projects (e.g. magazine production) or long-term collaboration (e.g. a multi-year consulting project or court case), it's easier to amortize collaboration setup, customization, and training costs. For short term and/or simple projects, it may be more cost effective to use email and FTP.
• Project focus. In a law firm, this might be preparation for a court case. In a creative agency, it might be development of an ad or PR campaign. In a business firm, it might be production of a client report, a magazine issue, or a market research analysis. At minimum, teams need a central document repository, but many projects also require workflow features (e.g. schedules, task lists, calendars), communications options (e.g. instant messaging, chat, conference calls), and collaborative document editing.
• Flexible access model. Participants can be expected to use multiple devices and work from geographically dispersed locations. Teams can consist of employees with IT-assigned logon credentials as well as external members who do not have internal user accounts. Different levels of security are needed.
• Permanent or long-term duration. With permanent projects (e.g. magazine production) or long-term collaboration (e.g. a multi-year consulting project or court case), it's easier to amortize collaboration setup, customization, and training costs. For short term and/or simple projects, it may be more cost effective to use email and FTP.
Technology implications Technology features needed to handle the needs of long term, workflow-oriented extranet collaboration include the following:
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Created on 12/26/2012 l Updated on January 30, 2012
