Abstract. The following are a
compilation of comments from librarians and other business professionals on
their experiences of upgrading
SharePoint to another version. These
comments are generalized individual personal views and were disseminated in a non-conclusive
Asynchronous Conference. The comments
are based on the information submitted through “Your Experiences with Microsoft
SharePoint” questions on the Computer Savviness blog (http://computersavviness.blogspot.com/2015/06/your-experiences-with-microsoft.html).
1 Introduction
Librarians
and other business professionals made comments on their upgrading SharePoint to another version experiences. Their experiences were asked for through the Computer Savviness blog. The following are their business sectors and
their experiences with Microsoft SharePoint.
2 Version of Microsoft
SharePoint
Association libraries were either running SharePoint 2007 or 2013. Educational Institutional libraries were
running SharePoint 2013 and Office 365. Law
Firms, who had commented, tended to have the SharePoint 2003.
Government Agencies were found to be also using SharePoint 2013
with Office 365 on the cloud. Corporate
libraries were using SharePoint 2010.
3 Upgrading
Microsoft SharePoint
Law Firm libraries were found to have SharePoint 2003 due to their IT departments not having the time and resources to upgrade. The firm would have to determine if there was enough of a need to direct the IT department to prioritize this project. A few of the Law Firm libraries, who commented on their experiences, pointed out that there was not a strong need to upgrade to the latest SharePoint since their IT departments had already developed an extensive Intranet. They were all satisfied with what they had working for them. Learning how to use a new version would be quite different (nothing would be already there) so they would have to design all of the web parts needed to keep the library flowing smoothly with the firm. They all acknowledged that their firms seemed to have not realized the benefits of providing formal training for any upgrades to be made in the future.
Government Agencies commented that they were using SharePoint 2013. They migrated all legacy SharePoint sites to SharePoint 2013 with Office 365 in the cloud. If there are any new versions, it will automatically update it.
Association libraries lacked full implementation so key elements of document management and workflows were missing in the system.
Corporate libraries commented that they were using SharePoint 2010. They were planning to move to Office 365 sometime in the coming year (2016).
4 Thoughts
As with the Law Firms with libraries, if the intranet was working
well with SharePoint, upgrading did not seem to be a necessity. Government Agency librarians that had
commented were automatically being upgraded so there was not an apparent debate
about upgrading.
Association librarians, who had commented on upgrades to their
SharePoint, did not know what thee version they were using for SharePoint. They also were unware if there would be any
upgrades. The IT department was in
charge of the upgrades so they did not think that information should have been
shared with the Association librarians.