K2 are running a 3 day training course from 15th-17th October 2008 in Wellington - New Zealand. K2 provides business application modelling software which integrates with SharePoint 2007 when you want to take workflow and business driven process modelling to the next level in an Enterprise SharePoint Deployment. The K2 Blackpearl 101 program is an instructor-led, three-day course that is designed to provide participants with extensive hands-on product practice via lab exercises.  K2 Blackpearl 101 has 27 modules (listed below) that are intended to introduce the basic concepts, features and functions of K2 Blackpearl to a business-knowledgeable technical audience.  This fundamentals course is a prerequisite for all additional training. To book your place and for more information contact Hendrik Venter (hendrik 'at' k2.com) Mobile + ...[Read More]

Mark Orange (SharePoint MVP) will be presenting on Thursday 25th September at the Wellington SharePoint User Group. Compliance is too often approached from a control and punish focus, adding another layer over an already stretched workforce.  Compliance is best achieved when it is the side effect of good business processes and tools, not another burden on end users. MOSS provides many tools and features to support a wide range of compliance issues, and the focus always starts with usability and accessibility to support broad user adoption. When we talk about compliance within organisations today it is very contextual. What compliance means to the marketing and communications team is different than the legal team, which is different than the operations team and so on. So let’s take a look at some scenarios and see what MOSS brings to ...[Read More]

Thanks to everyone who came to the SharePoint sessions at TechED. This year we had some great speakers from overseas and some of the best local SharePoint speakers. You can now download the session slides that I co-presented with Ben and Joel via the below links. OFC 315 - Why Findability Should Be an Organising Principle for Your SharePoint Server 2007 Deployment (ZIP 1MB) OFC 375 - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Governance: From Chaos to Success in Ten Steps (ZIP 4MB) For those of you who missed TechED and want to know more about these sessions I will be presenting these at the NZ SharePoint User Groups in the coming months. You can join one of the regional groups via the link. Be sure to check out Joel's and Ben's blog for more resources. If you are planning SharePoint check out my previous posts on SharePoint Planning ...[Read More]

This month we have Eben Illingworth from Nintex presenting an informative session at the Wellington user group. Session Topic: SharePoint Insight for Everyone SharePoint is fast becoming a central repository of corporate knowledge and information throughout organisations globally. This has lead to a high level of content and activity occurring within Microsoft SharePoint team sites and portals, and for many organisations they have no way of monitoring and auditing this. This informative session will specifically address the issues that are important to you, such: SharePoint adoption Providing customers with a broader understanding of SharePoint ROI The need and value of auditing and compliance monitoring Communicating the value of SharePoint to BDMs Eben will be demonstrating Nintex Reporting 2008 which provides unprecedented ...[Read More]

A few days ago Darryl posted on his blog about the Office System Track being finalised. Essentially the SharePoint tracks get slotted under Office. This year we have some great overseas speakers from the US and Australia as well as some of the best SharePoint experts. Among these is my good buddy and prolific SharePoint blogger Joel Oleson. Joel and I will co-present a session about SharePoint planning and governance. The session is titled "Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Governance: From Chaos to Success in Ten Steps" Ben Curry from Mindsharp will also be in New Zealand. Ben is very highly regarded in the SharePoint technical community and he has been part of three of the must read SharePoint books on best practice and administration. Ben and I will be doing a session titled "Why Findability Should Be an Organ ...[Read More]

I am presenting a session about SharePoint Planning and Governance at the 8th Annual Strategic Intranet Summit held on 21st and 22nd of August 2008 in Wellington, New Zealand. For details and agenda visit the Summit web site. My session is on the second day 22nd of August 2008. From Chaos to Corporate Governance with SharePoint 2007 Find out what comes out of the box with SharePoint 2007 and what you’ll need to create a successful deployment. In addition to architecture, this session will explore the roles, responsibilities, and what you need for a successful consolidated managed SharePoint deployment in your organisation. The major changes of the 2007 edition How to overcome common deployment issues with this version and the pitfalls to avoid Exploring the potential of SharePoint as an application platform Real world exampl ...[Read More]

Big Kudos to Matt Smith for organising the upcoming SharePoint developer tour in New Zealand by SharePoint developer whiz kid Gavin Barron ! Tour dates and venues Auckland: Wednesday, 23 July 2008 Time: Drinks + Snacks from 5:15PM, Talk from 5:30PM to 6:30PM Location: Level 7 Fronde House, 131 Queen Street Join and RSVP: http://www.sharepointusergroup.net.nz/Auckland/ Tauranga: Thursday, 24 July 2008 Time: Drinks + Snacks from 5:30PM, Talk from 6:00PM to 7:00PM Location: EnvisionIT, Level 5 Westpac Building, 2 Devonport Road, Tauranga Join and RSVP:  http://www.sharepointusergroup.net.nz/BayOfPlenty/ Christchurch: Monday, 28 July 2008 Time: Drinks + Snacks from 5:30PM, Talk from 6:00PM to 7:00PM Location: Canterbury Innovation Incubator (CII), 200 Armagh Street (opposite Centennial Leisure Centre) Join and RSVP:  http://www.sharep ...[Read More]

This month we have Craig Carpenter (MCSA, MCSE, MCT) visiting speaker from the UK presenting at the user group. Craig is here in Wellington this week training a SharePoint Administrator class as part of Combined Knowledge Asia Pacific and MindSharp training now offered in New Zealand. Developer training for SharePoint and WCM development will be coming up soon! This months session topic: Best Practices for SharePoint Web Applications. In this session Craig will showcase best practices for deployment of SharePoint web applications. This session is targeted towards all levels of SharePoint enthusiasts. As one of the founders of Combined Knowledge, Craig Carpenter (MCSA, MCSE, MCT) has over ten years experience of training and consulting on Microsoft platforms. Craig started his IT career within the education arena, a start that provid ...[Read More]