Getting Started with SharePoint 2013 eBook

My final eBook for 2012 is now available in a variety of formats.

This book helps novice users understand the basic usage and operation of SharePoint 2013. It examines the following basic components of SharePoint: Documents, Calendars, Tasks, Picture Libraries, Recycle Bin and Search. The reader will be taken through a tutorial process on how to use each item. Much has changed since previous versions of SharePoint, however there are still some similarities. As such, this book may still provide some insight into the basics of older versions of SharePoint. It will show you how to start interacting with SharePoint 2013 so it can be put to use in your business as well as provide a number of resources for continuing familiarity with SharePoint 2013.

This booked is aimed at users who have never used SharePoint and is only $1.99 and available in PDF, ePub and Kindle formats.

The best place to pick a copy of this and other title from the CIAOPS is at the Publications page at – http://www.ciaops.com/publications, however most titles are also available from Lulu and Amazon.

74-324 Administering Office 365 for SMB Review

I’ve just completed the 74-324 Administering Office 365 for Small Business and I’d thought I’d let people know what it is like.

Firstly, I believe it is a much better exam for SMB Resellers to attempt before doing the full 70-321 Deploying Office 365 or 70-323 Administering Office 365. Unlike the 70-321 and 70-323 the exam is much more ‘SMB’ focused. This means that it doesn’t deal as much with the high end enterprise features and combinations of Office 365 environment, especially where it comes to full blown complex hybrid scenarios. SMB Resellers who have worked with Office 365 should be far more comfortable with the questions on offer.

That however does not mean the 74-324 exam is easy. Much like SBS exams, to pass you are going to need to know ALL the Office 365 components. You simply can’t skate by just knowing Exchange. The biggest challenge I see for most resellers is going to be SharePoint. The SharePoint questions I found to focus more on the core features of SharePoint rather than some of the high end enterprise features but you will still need to know SharePoint well.

I did find it important that you have a good knowledge of the rights and roles in Office 365. Especially, what each role bestowed on the holder. This can become some what complex when you mix Office 365 Administration, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online rights together. My advice is that you need to spend the time mapping all these out and understanding exactly what power each has.

In some ways this exam is more difficult than SBS exams because with SBS the best answer is normally to use a wizard. This is not the case with Office 365, so it is kind of like SBS without the wizards. You’ll need to know how to create users and assign them rights for all the services. However, if you work with the product that shouldn’t be too tough.

Importantly, you are going to need to know some basic Powershell commands. You won’t need to know the breadth or depth you would for the other exams but you will need to know then. Again, if you have been working intelligently with Office 365 you should be very familiar and comfortable with Powershell but make sure you do some review before you attempt the exam.

So, all in all I think this is a fair exam to test Office 365 knowledge for SMB administrators. To pass you are going to need to know each product in some depth, you are going to understand assigning rights, Powershell and some elements of co-existence and hybrid set ups. However, you will not need to focus on the advanced features of Office 365 as you did with the other exams.

Most importantly, the exam will challenge most SMB resellers so don’t take it lightly. Ensure you work your way through the Jumpstart for Office 365 SMB videos and then do some practice questions. Like all Microsoft exams, when you are actually taking the test, read ALL of question TWICE and eliminate the options that don’t make sense first. Simply have general knowledge that is convey by the Jumpstart for Office 365 SMB videos is NOT enough to pass this exam. You REALLY need to do a range of typical questions to give a feel for what is likely to be asked during the exam.

If you have worked with Office 365 for about 6 months, watch the Jumpstart videos, do 8-10 hours study and then some preparation questions I’d be very confident that you’d pass. However, as I said this exam is tougher than any SBS exam you may have done so don’t approach it lightly if you want to pass!

Here’s a list of training resources that may help:

Administering Office 365 for Small Businesses Exam (74-324) – http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=74-324

Office 365 for SMB Jump Start – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/office-365-for-smb-jump-start-01-office-365-overview-and-infrastructure.aspx

Office 365 Jump Start for IT Pros – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/office-365-jump-start-01-microsoft-office-365-overview-for-it-pros

Microsoft Virtual Academy – http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/Home.aspx

Office 365 Virtual labs – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/hh699847.aspx

Microsoft e-learning – http://learning.microsoft.com/Manager/BrowseResults.aspx?qry=Office+365&nav=trainingtype%3aE-Learning&btn=1

Sharegate is great!

Last year, when I attended the SharePoint Conference I came across the Sharegate product. It is basically a tool that allows you to move SharePoint data. I purchased a license shortly after that but I have also been provided a license as an Office 365 MVP (full disclosure).

Hopefully you know that you can drag and drop files into SharePoint using Windows Explorer. That works fine if you don’t want to copy any history, versions or meta data, which increasingly people do want.

File data is however, only a small part of information saved in SharePoint these days. Most sites have significant amounts of lists. So how can you copy or migrate these? The best way was to export to a desktop application like Excel or Access, there was always the option to save the list as a template and then copy it across and import it into the new location. In short, all very messy.

The problem has been, especially in the SMB space, has been the lack of a single tool to handle all this sort of migration and do so at a reasonable price. That was until Sharegate came along. Since I first started using the product it has added a variety of features, now including the ability to content from one site to another. Best of all the product is compatible with all current versions of SharePoint including SharePoint Online with Office 365.

You can see from the above diagram that the application is well laid out and easy to use. I like the fact that it remembers your sites and many of your actions so you don’t have to go through the whole configuration process over and over. I like how it also allows you to determine what level of interaction and notification you desire. Great for set and forget migrations.

I think that if you are regularly moving SharePoint information whether within sites or with migrations when Sharegate is an indispensible tool.

SharePoint Client Side book released

I am happy to announce the release of my latest publication “SharePoint Client Side”.

It is available in:

Adobe PDF – http://www.lulu.com/shop/robert-crane/sharepoint-client-side/ebook/product-20548580.html

ePub – http://www.lulu.com/shop/robert-crane/sharepoint-client-side/ebook/product-20554957.html

Kindle – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AIBIPZS

The book is focused in detailing how the following desktop applications interface and interact with SharePoint 2010:

– Windows Explorer

– Word

– Excel

– PowerPoint

– Outlook

– InfoPath

– Access

– Project

– Visio

– SharePoint Workspace

– SharePoint Designer

Many people fail to realise the real power of SharePoint is revealed when you start interfacing it to application like those above. This book will show you how that can be done and how you can get more out of SharePoint with applications your probably already have.

You can find a list of all the CIAOPS publications (free and paid) at http://www.ciaops.com/downloads.

Stay tuned for more releases soon.

Office 365 Recipient limits raised

One objection I hear regularly from business who are using their emails incorrectly is that Exchange Online ONLY allows email to 1,500 recipients a day. Many use that as an excuse for staying on premise because they want to bulk email from their own inbox.

Firstly, Microsoft has just raised that limit to 10,000 recipients a day from 1,500.

http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/dd630704.aspx#RecipientLimits

Secondly, you really shouldn’t be using your normal email accounts for bulk email. A much better bet is something like Mailchimp, but if you must (and some MUST) then ensure you follow the guidance provided by Microsoft when it comes to bulk emails and you’ll never reach those limits!

http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/ff381292.aspx#bulkemailstrategies

SharePoint Online backups – when?

What many Office 365 users don’t seem to appreciate is that Microsoft backups up their data. Not only their emails but also their SharePoint data. This is all part of the service.

Now, equally valid questions are how often do they do that and for how long is a backup retained? The answer to these questions can be found in the service descriptions for each service:

Enterprise plans – http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=13602

In there (under SharePoint Online Service Description, P18) you’ll find:

Data Backup

Data protection services are provided to prevent the loss of SharePoint Online data. Backups are performed every 12 hours and retained for 14 days.

It is always good to have multiple backups of any data source in multiple location but part of the Office 365 DOES including automatic backups of that data residing there.