The AKS Kit 1.0 is a set of samples and building blocks that can be used in your new SharePoint deployments. The AKS Kit can be now downloaded from CodePlex.   The Accessibility Kit for SharePoint (AKS) provides templates, master pages, controls, and web parts along with technical documentation that enable designers and developers to advance the accessibility of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 based web sites and applications for people with disabilities, especially those who are vision impaired. It is up to partner integrators to download the samples and provide solutions based on the Kit. This is not a full end to end solution for making your site compliant by just installing this kit. Technorati Tags: MOSS, WSS, AKS, Administration, Accessibility, Solutions, SharePoint, ...[Read More]

I was recently called into do some reviews of several server farm deployments. As part of our services we offer server health checks for current deployments of SharePoint. In some situations I have had the very unfortunate task of telling system administrators that their server farm is either in a unsupported scenario or have to be re-installed. The latter is mostly due to lack of planning while the former is a combination of customisations done to SharePoint by using unsupported development methods. For example all SharePoint installations should be version 12.0.0.6039. Update 21 March 2008: Note that MOSS SP1 and WSS SP1 installes should be: 12.0.0.6219. You can check if your server farm has been applied with the latest updates released in October 2007. Go to Central Administration > Operations > "Topology and Services ...[Read More]

This is one of the busiest web sites in New Zealand and our team worked on designing and deploying this brand new site using MOSS over the last 7 weeks. Check it out at : http://www.flybuys.co.nz Fly Buys is a loyalty program which provides members to collect points from participating stores. The web site provides functionality to login and view points balance and redeem from a selection of rewards available. The site provides a data maintenance interface which uses a combination of lists and content types to manage and edit reward details which are maintained by the Fly Buys team. A more detailed technical blog post will follow as part of a how we did it. This is testament to what MOSS can do in terms of WCM on MOSS. Ari will also be doing a Technical blog post as he was the Development Lead on the project. Technorati Tag ...[Read More]

Microsoft New Zealand is running the following event series which will showcase the New Zealand Public Records Act feature pack for MOSS. PRA Briefings Microsoft New Zealand will be hosting a series of PRA briefings in November. This will be an opportunity for you to learn more about using MOSS 2007 as a PRA solution. Please check the dates below for a suitable session, please note that we will only be running one session in Christchurch and 2 in both Auckland and Wellington: For event venues and RSVP details please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/nz/events/discovery/pra.mspx Technorati Tags: MOSS, New Zealand, PRA, NZPRA, Records, Records Management, ECM, SharePoint, MSFT ...[Read More]

Some time ago I highlighted the Records Management capability of MOSS and my thoughts on how MOSS can be leveraged for compliance with the New Zealand Public Records Act in a post titled "SharePoint DoD 5015.2 and what it means to New Zealand public agencies who are looking at PRA compliance" MSFT NZ and a local partner has created a framework and a starter pack which will allow a public organisations to start using MOSS for achieving PRA compliance. I can't state specific details but the good thing is you will be able to see a demo and see the "Feature" pack developed at the next Wellington SharePoint User Group event on 22nd November. Details of the event are listed on the Wellington SharePoint User Group site. This month’s topic is New Zealand Public Records Act and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. This s ...[Read More]

Microsoft unveiled it's latest offering for Search within the enterprise by offering "Search Server Express" Search Server Express can be downloaded for free from here: http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/serverproducts/searchserverexpress/default.aspx   Yes this is a free product that you don't need to pay a license for. You'll need Windows Server and all other pre-requisites which of course you'll need to pay.   Feature blurb from MS Go from downloading to searching in minutes with a streamlined installation experience, making it easy to get an enterprise search infrastructure running in your environment quickly. Review common administrative tasks, status, and settings in a single view using a unified administrative dashboard. Manage content sources, search scopes, authoritative sources, key words, best bet ...[Read More]

The Wellington SharePoint User Group has the following upcoming events in November, December and January 2008. November November date is tentatively booked for the 22nd Thursday and will be held at Microsoft New Zealand. The topic for this event is New Zealand Public Records act and MOSS. This event will showcase new features and how MOSS will enable public sector organisations to implement a MOSS solution for Documents and Records Management. Speakers are Mark Orange from Intergen, Jonathan Stuckey from MSFT and Chandima (me) from Provoke.  December Business Workflow in SharePoint and how third party solutions such as K2 BlackPearl can be integrated to provide end users with the capability of building rich workflow enhancements. Tamlyn Kemp from Intergen will showcase lesson learnt from the field about the integration of K2 and Sh ...[Read More]