SharePoint environment should be grown with caution. Proactive behaviour, good dialog with partners, transparency and clear division of responsibilities ensure the quality of the end result.
Timo Pitkäranta
Grow with caution. Add elements to your SharePoint environment systematically and advisedly, as hastily and carelessly added features have a negative impact on overall performance of the system. Modular application development helps to maintain the quality of the environment; minimal amount of code is needed and the system can be limited to include only truly necessary features.
Engage in dialogue. We aim to create a close and consultative relationship with our clients. This means, among other things, that we review all the preliminary ideas carefully and present several options to tackle the challenges. For example, some requested customizations might turn out to be very expensive in the long run if it is necessary to rebuild them every single time the system version is updated.
Be proactive. Proactive and preventative work pays off, always. We check our client’s server environment on a monthly basis, as we want to address possible problems before they become real problems. Dealing with the issues proactively is much better than addressing them reactively when something has already happened.
Share the responsibilities in a clear manner. Especially when working in a multi-vendor environment, it is a prerequisite to focus on sharp documentation and share responsibilities in a clear manner. If a problem arises, the customer should not have to spend time and money figuring out who can take care of it. The advice may sound obvious, but in real-life these principles are ignored way too often.
Ensure the transparency of all the processes. When all the documentation can be found from shared workspace, all parties can review open projects and their statuses in real time, and problems can be addressed quickly, professionally and transparently.
Timo Pitkäranta
Service manager, senior consultant
Published: 24.8.2016
