[thelist] Sharepoint a database?

Conyers, Dwayne dwayne.conyers at hp.com
Wed Apr 2 12:44:28 CDT 2008


Joel D Canfield [joel at bizba6.com] ink wired:

> what's your reason (other than "it's the right thing") for
> for wanting more than that?

I spent a little over a year with the end users -- observing, questioning, and even going so far as to sit at their desks and learn their jobs -- with the objective of documenting a convoluted, archaic, and largely manual business process that did not exist on paper, only in the minds of employees with 20 or so years on the job (and retirement not so far over the horizon).

Some specifics that the users will need, just off the top of my head, include:

* Group multiple documents (or, doc metadata) into "folders"
* Perform complex searches on individual docs and folders
* Trigger specific actions based upon keywords in subject
* Parse documents for X occurrences of words that match a keyword list
* Create reports listing number of documents with specific criteria
* Create reports listing "folders" that contain doc with specific criteria
* Start typing in a name or keyword and have control prefill
* Prefill other controls based upon control being modified
* Modify docs and specifiy which version(s) are visible in folder "A" vs. folder "B"
* Hook workflow/tracking into MS Exchange and/or Messenger and/or Groove

I created a number of additional documents and Visio flowcharts delineating the architecture for a reengineered (automated) system that would utilize state-of-the-art technologies.  The good news is that many of my suggestions were used (or, rather, taken by the lead and given to another team to develop and implement).  A couple other things were shelved... including my desire to ensure that we have a tight data model.

Granted, MOSS 2007 does a lot of things like document management and workflow.  And, with Visual Studio, can scaled to add addtional functionality.  I can understand that.  However, after nearly a decade in the Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence fields, it strikes me as being *wrong* to allow an application to build and manage back-end data structures without any intervention.

But, I can acquiesce to the possibility that what may be wrong may not be wrong, even if it is wrong (while also being not wrong).

Anyway, all of that is moot...

I am at the point of just keeping my mouth shut and my parachute packed.

--
The generation that used acid to escape reality is now using antacid to deal with reality.
http://dwacon.blogspot.com



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