Need to Know podcast–Episode 59

In this episode I speak with Clayton Moulynox from Microsoft Australia about the art of the demo. Clayton provides insight based on his experience with doing great demos for customers and resellers about how to generate the most interest in the technology products you are highlighting.

We also speak about Clayton’s new ‘Demo Army’ initiative and why, if you are an SMB IT reseller you should get involved.

You can listen to the complete episode at:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-59-clayton-moulynox/

and find out more about the Demo Army at:

http://aka.ms/thebriefing

http://aka.ms/thebootcamp

You can also subscribe via your favourite app like iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

Remember, if you have a suggestion or want to appear on an episode simply get in contact with me.

SharePoint Online Administration webinar series

As part of Cloud Business Blueprint I’m running a series of webinars around “SharePoint Online Administration for IT Professionals”. You’ll find all the details over at :

http://www.cloudbusinessblueprint.com/business/sharepoint-online-training-webinar/

and I hope to see you on the series.

SharePoint Online migration–Limitations

This is a series of blog posts that I am writing covering migration to SharePoint Online. If you haven’t already, I suggest you read my previous posts:
The classic SharePoint migration mistake
SharePoint Online migration – Pilers and Filers

SharePoint Online migration–Start up is key

What I want to cover in this post are some of the technical limitations around SharePoint Online and tools like OneDrive for Business client app when it comes to migrations.
Every product has it’s limitations and these are changing quite rapidly as the service improves. These however are the most important ones you should know about when it comes to migration I believe:
SharePoint Online can be purchased in a number of different ways, whether by stand alone plans (1 and 2) or via a Suite (P, M or E). The following applies:
Storage
a. Team site storage = 10GB + 0.5GB per user. Thus for 10 users you get 10GB + 10 x 0.5GB = 15GB total storage. Team sites are designed for information shared between team members. This is for all plans that include SharePoint Online.
b. Public web site storage = 5GB. Every plan includes a public web site that is designed to be placed on the Internet and for anonymous users to access. This is for all plans that include SharePoint Online.
c. OneDrive for Business storage = recently upgraded from 25GB per user to 1TB per user. OneDrive for Business storage is designed for personal user storage. Initial storage for the OneDrive for Business cannot be pooled and provided to other users or to the Team Site. Each individual licensed users received 1TB for their own usage. This is for all plans that include SharePoint Online.
So for 10 users you have:
Team site = 15GB
Public Web site = 5GB
OneDrive for Business = 10 x 1TB = 10TB
d. All plans support the ability to purchase additional pooled storage that can be allocated either to the Team Site, the external Public Web Site and/or individual users OneDrive for Business (although with OneDrive for Business going to 1TB this may no longer be possible because site collections are currently limited to 1TB, however until this is enabled you can certainly add pooled storage to the 25GB quota for OneDrive for Business).
Site Collections
A SharePoint Site Collection is basically a grouping of SharePoint sites and subsites into a single container for security and policy reasons.
a. Small Business and Small Business Premiums plans (P1 and P2) are limited to a single Team Site Collection.
b. Mid-sized Business plans (M) are limited to 20 Team Site Collections.
c. Enterprise plans (E) including stand alone SharePoint plans are limited to 10,000 Team Site Collections.
d. You can only create a single Public Web Site Collection on all plans.
e. Individual Site Collections are now limited to a total size of 1TB per Site Collection. This means the maximum space you can allocate to a Team Site in P plans is 1TB (i.e. 1 x Site Collection). In a M plan it is 20TB ( i.e. 20 x Site Collections). In E plans it is 10,000TB ( i.e. 10,000 x 1 TB). Thus, the maximum amount of information you can store in SharePoint Online Team Sites is P plans = 1TB, M plan = 20 TB and E = 10,000TB. Don’t forget, we are only talking about the shared Team Site here for each plan and have no included any personal or web site storage.
f. Each plan supports up to 2,000 subsites per Site Collection. Think of the top of the tree as the Site Collection and any site you create under this as a sub site. Thus, you can create 2,000 of these subsites in any site collection. Thus, the total subsite limit in P plans = 2,000 ( i.e. 1 Site Collection), M plan = 40,000 ( i.e. 20 Site Collections) and E plans 20,000,000 (i.e 10,000 Site Collections).
File limits
a. The maximum file size you can upload to any SharePoint Online plan is 2GB per file.
b. Files that contain detectable viruses and malware will be prevented from being uploaded to SharePoint Online.
c. Certain file types cannot also be uploaded to SharePoint Online. You can see a list of those at: Types of files that cannot be added to a list or library. There are about 20 or so and note that EXEs can be uploaded!
d. File names can have 128 characters
e. Folder names can have up to 250 characters
f. Folder name and file name combinations can have up to 250 characters.
Sync limits
You can use the OneDrive for Business desktop to synchronize from SharePoint Online libraries to a desktop. You can synchronize from Team Sites as well as OneDrive for Business storage to your desktop.
a. You can’t synchronize more than 20,000 items in total across all of your SharePoint Online Team Sites and OneDrive for Business inclusive.
b. You can’t synchronize more than 5,000 items from a single site library including files and folders.
c. Open files can’t be sync’ed.
The ability to synchronize documents in SharePoint Online to a desktop was designed for only a small subset of currently ‘in-use’ files. It was never designed for the bulk synchronization of gigabytes and gigabytes of data to individual desktops let alone local network shares. This, I believe is being changed with upcoming versions of the client sync software, however you will find an upcoming post from me on why you shouldn’t be configuring systems in this manner anyway.
Filenames
All versions of SharePoint (online and on premise) have restrictions on what characters can appear in files and folders. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the time you are working with SharePoint via a web browser and some characters have special meaning there (i.e. *, /,:, etc).
Types of files that cannot be added to a list or library
This means if you try and migrate a file of folder that contains one of these it will fail. In that case you simply need to rename it. The list about what characters are not acceptable in files and folders can be found here:
Information about the character that you cannot use in site names, folders name and file names in SharePoint.
Items in a list
Lists in SharePoint (any version) that display over 5,000 items have difficulty being rendered. This is more about the load on the web server and browser than SharePoint. You can overcome this limitation by creating data ‘views’ in SharePoint to restrict what is displayed at anyone time. For more information about this see:
The number of items in this exceed the list view threshold
Other
There are other limits but you are less likely to come across these but I still strongly recommend you read the following article that contains information about the limits around all SharePoint Online plans:
SharePoint Online: software boundaries and limits
Also, make sure you check back there regularly as the service is upgraded over time.
Conclusion
Yes, SharePoint Online including OneDrive for Business does have some limitations and if you are looking to migrate to it then you should know what these limits are before you start doing a migration. However, remember as with all limits these will change and upgrade over time. My expectation is that the next change we will see is the Team Site initial collection jump from 10GB to 1TB or perhaps even 10TB. I also expect the limits around OneDrive for Business synchronization to dramatically increase as they increase the amount of space available for people.
Hopefully this post will give you a better idea of what the limitations are that you should be looking out for when doing a migration to SharePoint Online.

Adding Project Online to existing tenant

One of the big opportunities with the Microsoft cloud offerings I have always maintained is Project Online. However, a good question was asked as to whether you could roll a purchase of Project Online into say a small business (P) or Mid-sized Business (M) plan?
It is hard to test directly so all I can do is rely on what I can dig up up. I believe the answer is NO. Project Online is a Enterprise (E) product and therefore can only be combined with other Enterprise plans. The reference for this is at:
Office 365 Plan Options
Where it says down the bottom of the page:
The following online services are available on their own, as standalone plans. They can also be added to Enterprise service family plans that don’t already include them
and in the list below you’ll find Project Online.
Thus, you can always purchase Project Online if you have an M or P plan but it will be in a different tenant with different logins.
As I say, this is why E plans are worth the additional cost!

SharePoint Online migration–Start up is key

This post is part of an on going series covering migration to SharePoint Online. If you haven’t already I suggest you read the previous posts:
The classic SharePoint migration mistake
SharePoint Online migration – Pilers and Filers
In this post I’m going to focus on the area that is most important post-information upload to SharePoint Online.

As way of an analogy take a look at this clip from UK Top Gear. Ensure you watch the section from 2:06 to 3:45 and take note.
What it illustrates is that a high performance track day car like the KTM X-bow and many other such high performance cars don’t have a very ‘standard’ starting procedure. It is all very simple when you know but left to your own devices (like James May in the video) you’ll get nowhere but utterly frustrated.
The same applies to a SharePoint Online migration. Why? Because moving to SharePoint Online is a very different environment from traditional files and folders. Things are different (and better) for a number of reasons but if you don’t know how to at least start using SharePoint Online you are going to get pretty frustrated pretty quickly just like if you’d bought a KTM X-bow and no one had shown you how to start it!
In my initial post in this series I noted how that if you want things to stay the way they are with your files and folders in the cloud then SharePoint Online may not be for you. What I also noted was that I believe this to be a very small minority of businesses since most want to receive the productivity benefits of true collaboration and are willing to invest the time to get the most from SharePoint Online.
However, there is nothing more frustrating that buying something new and then not even being able to use it. Imagine you where lucky enough to afford something like a Ferrari 458 Speciale and then you couldn’t even start it. Even though there is whole lot more to ownership than just starting the car, initially after purchase getting some usage out of what you bought is a huge aspect of the experience you will have with it going forward. Having a good experience (i.e. being able to fire the beast up and drive it immediately) makes things more positive, even if you have a few set backs (say curbing the rims) down the track. However, if you have bad experience immediately at the start (i.e. you can’t work out how to make it go) you’ll remember that far more and have a much greater challenging overcoming that initial negative impression. It is simple human nature really but understanding this is also the key to a successful SharePoint Online migration.
In essence what I am saying is that even after all the data has been copied across and categorized the most important part for the success of the project comes immediately after this – getting the users over the initial usage hurdle as quickly as possible (i.e. a few quick wins go a long way). Most users will be apprehensive about things changing. Most don’t trust technology and believe all machines ‘conspire’ against them constantly. This is the challenge the migrator needs to overcome. In short this means training.
Once the data is over and users are about to be unleashed on SharePoint Online you need to make that transition as smooth and easy as possible. If you don’t, chances are the customer will always have a negative opinion about SharePoint Online and you will be starting from behind. You want to ensure the best possible experience. You want to ensure users get up and running quickly. You MUST ensure they can do their jobs better, quicker and easier than before. As with any new technology, that first hill is the largest but once you are over that it is generally all downhill from there.
Like I have said in previous posts, this means the process of migration is NOT complete after merely copying the data across. The migration process is only complete once everyone is HAPPILY using SharePoint.
This means you need to need to develop processes and material around the critical element of user adoption as much as the technical process of actually copying data. In so many instances I have seen, data gets copied but users then get abandoned to work it out for themselves. The chances of that ending with a good experience are almost zero. However, with a bit of planning and TLC the chances of a positive result are very high. Unfortunately, I just don’t see it a lot.
As you will hear me say over and over again, SharePoint is more than cloud storage and should be treated as so. Like any other Office tool you need to learn how to work it, even the basics, so you can help those you are selling it to. Thus, if you are selling SharePoint migration services then you need to incorporating into that site design and adoption training. For most people selling SharePoint this means extending their skill set.
Don’t just drag and drop and run away. Don’t be afraid of it. Invest a little bit of time to reap the rewards. With so much implementation of SharePoint Online being done currently it leaves a HUGE opportunity for those who do it right. Getting the user started is the key and never overlook the fact that making that as painless and simple as possible sets the stage for adoption of the more advanced features of SharePoint as well the deeper integration into the business and that spells business opportunity for those to take it up. As the Top Gear clip illustrates, having a key doesn’t always mean you can start the car!
p.s. I believe in this adoption process so heavily that I created many publications around exactly that. They are not deep dive, they are not aimed at IT Professionals. They are aimed at end users who want to get on the gas with products as soon as they can. I created these because I saw no others in the market.
You can find these at:
http://www.ciaops.com/publications
and any purchase supports the work I do and allow me to create more such guides.

SharePoint Online migration–Pilers and Filers

A while back I wrote the first in a series of articles about migration to SharePoint Online. If you haven’t already, I suggest you go back and read the article:
The classic SharePoint migration mistake
What I want to cover in this article are the two styles of existing file storage systems you’ll find already in place at businesses – ‘piling’ and ‘filing’ – both of which have different challenges when it comes to migration to SharePoint Online.

Let’s start with the more common ‘system’ of file storage in a business – ‘piling’. In essence a business that ‘piles’ simply uses existing network shares or local hard disks as nothing more than dumping ground for files. There is no structure, no naming convention and stuff is basically all over the place without any rhyme or reason.
When you see this style of storage ‘implementation’ you should appreciate that the business has not put any time into developing standards for itself. It has all generally been about hast and once the document has been completed it is generally lost forever amongst all the other flotsam and jetsam on the network share.
Therefore, the most appealing aspect to a ‘piler’ is the ability to locate documents and content using search. This is what SharePoint Online is great at. This therefore should be the major aspect in which you use to sell SharePoint to a ‘piler’. Where you are going to struggle is trying to put structure around the existing files.
My initial post on SharePoint migration pointed out what a BAD IDEA simply dumping the files into a single document library is. In the case of ‘pilers’ this means you are going to have to put some structure in place to get their files under control. My advice is to start but dividing things into a couple of big chunks. Maybe one document library for each customer or perhaps some by function or project. Whatever it is don’t get too ambitious with the structure, just break it up enough so it fits comfortably into a couple of document libraries or sub sites. It is important that the structure you create is clear to the customer. That means keeping the naming convention simple and short.
Once you have done that make sure that the customer understands that their data is still there but they can either look in one of the ‘chunked’ document libraries or sites you used or they can use the search function. For ‘pilers’ you REALLY need to emphasize and demonstrate the search abilities of SharePoint Online and ensure that all staff know how to use it to find what they want.
Most importantly, you can’t just leave a ‘piler’ here because what are they going to do? That’s right, they are again simply going to ‘pile’ information into places inside SharePoint Online that you never imagined. The long game here is that you want to start moving ‘pilers’ towards being ‘filers’. You don’t however want to convert them totally, you simply balance out their tendencies.

‘Filers’ are at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. What ‘filers’ love to do is create endless directory structures full of nothing but sub-directories and put files at the bottom of these, layers and layers down.
‘Filers’ too also have a significant need to search for information but they have the advantage that they have already started categorizing the information. You can therefore use this structure and mimic it using document libraries, sub-sites and meta data. It will again mean you have to step back and look at what structure works best but the flatter the better.
So can you see what the desired outcome is for ‘filers’? Yes, that’s right, you want to move them towards being more of a ‘piler’ and letting SharePoint Online search, filtering and sorting do all the hard work they used to implement with complex and static directory structures. The important thing when working with ‘filers’ is to show them how although much of their information is now contained in a single document library, they can use filtering, sorting and views to quickly navigate to the information they want. The good thing is that unlike ‘pilers’ they have already created the structure outline for you. All you need to do is map that into appropriate locations within SharePoint Online.
If you leave ‘filers’ to their own devices with SharePoint Online, what they’ll do is start creating more and more sub directories in document libraries. You really want to discourage this as it hides information and that structure usually only makes sense to a very small subset of people in a business. To prevent this happening with ‘filers’ you need to continue to demonstrate how SharePoint Online filtering, sorting and the use of multiple libraries provides a much better and more flexible filing system than what they used to have.
Again, you don’t want to covert ‘filers’ fully into ‘pilers’, you simply want to balance out their tendencies to move too far to one side of the ‘storage’ spectrum.
Thus, in summary, the first determination you need to make when you are speaking to a customer about migrating to SharePoint Online is how much of a ‘piler’ or ‘filer’ they are. Where are they situated in the spectrum? All customers will fall somewhere between the two extremes, however the approach you should be taking is independent of this fact. The approach you should be taking is that you should be aiming to get them to 50% ‘piling’ and 50% ‘filing’ within SharePoint Online. That’s the sweet spot where the product can really work its full magic.
Most importantly, is that any initial migration is just the start of the process and the opportunity if you are a reseller. To achieve the most optimal results continued work is going to be required in order to achieve ‘storage nirvana’ through all the features of SharePoint Online. Migration is therefore not a one shot deal, it is a process that continues to develop and evolve over time as you move a customer from the ‘simple’ storage to full collaboration with SharePoint Online.
Hopefully this second post in my series about migrating to SharePoint Online has given you a simple method to evaluate your customers and secondly given you a direction in which to move with them (i.e. a 50/50 balance for everyone) when considering your migration strategy. I’ll be diving into more specifics in future posts so stay tuned.