SharePoint Reviews

Synergy with other applications in the MS Office suite. For example, with a single click from the MS Lync client, you can create an email in the Outlook client and vice-versa, amongst many other similar integrations between applications that previously did not speak to one another.

Collaboration became a lot easier. Meetings happened more frequently between colleagues across different locations sitting at their desks and not in special video conference rooms.

Better mobile optimization and a similar experience level across device types (desktop, tablet and phones). For most applications, MS SharePoint included, users are treated to different experiences across devices. For example, Excel works slightly differently (has fewer features/capabilities) on mobile when compared to the desktop experience. It would be nice to close this gap as much as possible, such that a user may have no qualms transiting between devices.

I have been using SharePoint for over four years.

We did not have any stability issues.

We did not have any scalability issues. It is as easy as adding new licenses for new users.

Technical support was not as good as expected. Sometimes request took upwards of three business days.

We used several single purpose software tools for each area of our need. We switched to MS SharePoint/Office 365 for a number of reasons, including: the seamless integration between the many apps in the suite; colleagues (users) are familiar with the MS office interface from Excel, Outlook, Word and PowerPoint and that shortens the learning curve considerably.

Setup was straightforward.

For non-profits, seek out non-profit licensing.

We evaluated eleven others.

It’s the best in the class, but make sure your existing solution doesn't already meet your needs before making the decision to go the MS SharePoint route.

The ability to create workflows.

Using the workflow as an example, it has helped to transform the conventional paperwork processes into digitized and faster processes.

Document libraries. At the moment, they still lack the flexibility you get in conventional Windows file systems. However, it has lots of features that make it a good replacement.

I have used SharePoint for two years.

The fact that it relies on the Internet and runs in a browser means it is bound to have performance issues.

I didn't encounter any issues with scalability. What I do know is that, when this is required, you will need the right skilled IT specialist to make the change. Often the right skilled specialists are not easy to find.

Microsoft provides both online and phone support. Phone support depends on the plan you are subscribed to.

We did not have a previous solution.

The initial setup is a simple process. However, planning requires more time in order to gather user requirements.

Setup an initial trial account with a pilot group to ascertain what is best for your environment.

We didn’t look at other options.

If your users are already familiar with an existing Windows product such as Office applications, you won't regret jumping in.

I have used SharePoint as an integrated solution with Team Foundation Server.

The most valuable features are the SharePoint lists and the documents feature.

SharePoint integrates well with the Team Foundation Server and provides collaboration features for team members on a TFS Team Project. This has helped developers and project stakeholders in the organization to collaborate better and share information in the form of documents/updates.

Migrating SharePoint sites can be a cumbersome process and it usually results in the incomplete migration of SharePoint sites and data.

I have used SharePoint for three years, mostly as an integrated solution with the Team Foundation Server.

The product is quite stable.

The product is scalable.

We were not using any other solution.

The setup and installation are straightforward. Microsoft provides a good installation wizard for the same.

I was not involved in the pricing and licensing activities.

As both the Team Foundation Server and SharePoint are Microsoft products, they can be easily integrated. Thus, we did not evaluate other options.

SharePoint works very well within a Microsoft ecosystem. Hence, SharePoint would be a good choice if the organization uses the Microsoft technology stack extensively.

The ability to assign an attribute to a library artifact allows the site owner to create the appropriate views based on artifact attributes (category, owner, etc.).

I have updated my project sites with views that apply to specific business uses, such as a project manager looking for a document assigned to a phase in the project (i.e., planning, design, execution) or an engineer looking for a document type (i.e., vendor contract, design build diagram, user acceptance testing worksheet).

Unless you have worked with a SharePoint business analyst, designer or power user, managing individual sites does require training to understand the components of the site settings and content. Folks usually start using SharePoint as a file repository without any structure. It can be overwhelming when you have 1,000's of document that a user has to parse through if just looking for a specific title. Without a consistent framework consisting of a standard nomenclature established in the initial strategy of rolling out SharePoint, using SharePoint as a file share becomes unruly.

I've worked with various SharePoint versions since 2008 but more recently with 2010 and 2013 as a power user in managing artifacts for various project and programs.

Most instances of SharePoint are stable. I have rarely experienced instability. Usually, it’s the management of user names and groups that results in problems.

I am not at the experience level to notice such an issue.

Most of the technical support has come from SME's and internal developers.

I always used Sharepoint.

I have no experience with rolling out templates or actual new instances.

Get training for IT and training for your base user. Developing a framework (nomenclature, categorization and user needs).

I have found team sites offer much value to our organization. As a consulting company, it allows multiple consultants to collaborate on a team project for a customer.

We use SharePoint for companywide document management.

Although workflow is limited in SharePoint, we have used it for many onboarding processes, PTO requests, etc.

SharePoint has streamlined many processes and provided additional organization for our company. It has become a central location for both documents and productivity.

I would love to see a more robust workflow. There are 3rd party products such as Nintex and K2 that can be used, however I would like to see it built-in.

I’ve used SharePoint for 2 years.

Stability issues have been found with the database. From the infrastructure side, most people use dedicated databases for SharePoint so a simple reboot usually fixes the communication issues.

SharePoint is extremely scalable but requires planning ahead of time. You must answer some questions about your environment to determine how many servers and what SharePoint function(s) they will serve to meet the demands of your organization.

I have never used Microsoft technical support for SharePoint in particular, but Microsoft support is very good.

We used to use simple file shares and emails.

SharePoint can be very complex to setup initially (both infrastructure and back end design and implementation). The more scalable the environment, the more complex the setup will be. Generally speaking, a 3rd party consultant will be needed to implement the solution.

There are two options with SharePoint. They have an on premises and a cloud solution.

We did not look at alternatives.

Hire and communicate with a 3rd party consultant.

The valuable features are:

• MS-Office integration
• Workflow and approval process
• Security

We use this solution as central repository for all the corporate information systems. It is a point of reference in our organization.

Administration is still very complex.

We have been using this solution since 2005.

I did not encounter any issues with stability.

I did not encounter any issues with scalability, although our installation is a small one and doesn't have that problem.

The solution is a strategic product for Microsoft, and the technical support is very good.

Prior to this solution, we used shared files provided by the operating system.

The installation was very complex. Since our initial implementation, that process has been improved dramatically.

We considered open source products like Alfresco. We decided to purchase a commercially supported product.

It is a complex product that should be implemented carefully. Take into account the organization’s details.

I find that SharePoint when used for the right purpose, lends itself to be a fantastic collaboration and workflow service.

It is very easy to store documents, collaborate and archive documents with versioning and custom workflows.

SharePoint provides a simple way to store documents and we created lots of subsites to contain the courses and materials for our students.

We found that applying permissions were very easy, due to the integration with the Active Directory.

It was a shame to see the SharePoint Design being deprecated, as this was a great way to create very customizable workflows.

I have used SharePoint since the 2003 release, back in the year 2007. We initially used it as a Virtually Learning Environment and a business platform for our college.

We found it simple enough to manage and were able to integrate it with third parties.

There were very few stability issues. The issues are usually related to problems with the related Microsoft stack such as Windows Server/ SQL/ IIS.

When you set it up as a single server, you will quickly outgrow it. If deployed correctly SharePoint scales very well with the ability to provision multiple web front ends, dedicated reporting servers and SQL clusters. This all helps to remove a single point of failure.

As this is a Microsoft product, it can be difficult to obtain direct support. That being said, there is a thriving partner community around this product.

Before SharePoint, we used internally designed websites, WordPress and Drupal. We found that they did not provide the collaboration features and integration that we would have liked.

As we were new to SharePoint, we found that the initial process was complex. So, we hired a partner to perform the installation. Over the years, this experience has improved drastically.

As a an education institution, we had a very favourable pricing policy.

Read and research this subject area thoroughly. Reach out to the large community and visit others that have adopted this solution.

It has a lot of flexibility to store various document and lists. There are integrated workflows and it helps to improve the end user's ability to be more efficient.

Automating the basic approval processes is an easy win. You are no longer required to do the work in emails, but instead using the email as a conduit, you can facilitate the work in the work flow.

The rock solid central document storage makes it very easy for all business departments to have a standard location for their documents.

The user interface should improve. It is still a bit clunky for the new user to navigate around.

I have used this product for three years as an administrator and twelve years as an end user.

For the enterprise environment, I did not encounter any stability issues.

There were no scalability issues as such. However, the 500 items limit in views can be limiting in some instances.

I would rate the technical support a 7/10, i.e., by using the internal support teams with various level of knowledge.

We were not using any other solution previously.

For a medium to large scale business, it is excellent.

For a small business, there may be too much overhead costs and a steep learning curve for the solution to be adding any value.