Information Technology Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Needs to be better integrated with all Microsoft solutions

How has it helped my organization?

Everyone knows SharePoint. It is very common.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable facet of SharePoint is the content, the ideas, all the information, all in one content management system. But I don't think we have explored or used 100 percent of the capabilities of SharePoint.

What needs improvement?

They need to integrate all the solutions, for example, Office 365, into SharePoint. The idea is to create a workplace for people in the company. There should be only one place - it could be Skype for Business, OneDrive - for the news, for internal information about the company, or new documents. This is the idea, to create an ecosystem for people in the company.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.
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March 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is okay. The performance is great.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is not high. It's medium.

How are customer service and support?

We have support with Microsoft, we pay for support for every year. The support is okay.

How was the initial setup?

You need Microsoft or a partner involved for setup.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are looking for increased functionality on SharePoint or to change to something else. We have a CapEx for content management and I'm looking for the best solution for my company.

The most important criterion in selecting a vendor is that the solution gives me value. It should be very easy to integrate with workflow or BPM. I'm looking for a partner and a solution that gives me value.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user227412 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Writer at a tech company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Automates the version control, change control, and publication processes. I would like to see a more powerful and easily configurable search feature.

What is our primary use case?

We use SharePoint as a document management solution.  It has allowed us to centralise and more efficiently manage our templates, letterheads and other company-branded elements.  Our Document Library is a central repository for our user manuals making it easy for consultants to access the right information for each implementation.  We also use SharePoint to manage our policies and procedures. 

How has it helped my organization?

SharePoint has streamlined our documentation management process by allowing us to automate several functions. The version control function has been particularly useful, helping us keep detailed records of changes to documentation. This has removed the risk of human error and streamlined the process.  The ability to review the notes for each version has and to easily revert to a previous version has proven useful.

SharePoint has also helped us improve the accessibility of official company documentation across our different teams.

In conjunction with SharePoint Designer, we’ve also been able to create a social hub on our SharePoint homepage where we can share news, photos, and company announcements.

What is most valuable?

SharePoint's document management and workflow features have proven to be the valuable. We have been able to implement a reliable, easily accessible document library with version control (previously managed manually) and an announcements workflow that allows us to communicate site specific news easily.

What needs improvement?

I find the search feature in SharePoint foundation to be limited to the basic document properties. This is at odds to the type of customization that you can apply in the library. For example, we added a field to specify the department but found that the field had little or no bearing on the search results. We found it hard to determine how SharePoint uses the document properties in the search, and whether it uses anything beyond the document title.
Once we had a better understanding of Foundation's limitations, we updated our properties accordingly, with a strong focus on the document title property as a search term. This involved an extensive rework of our existing documentation structure and naming conventions to better suit SharePoint. Despite these changes, we still can't seem to get our version of SharePoint to return meaningful results, even when searching an exact document title.
I realize that this is a limitation of the version that we are using but I would like the Foundation search criteria to be more clearly defined so that document managers know what they are working with from the start.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have had no stability issues that I am aware of.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

So far, we have not had any issues with scalability. We are investigating upgrading to the Enterprise edition in the future, so this may change.

How are customer service and technical support?

Our technical support is all in-house, so I can’t really supply a meaningful response.

I have found a wealth of support information (on SharePoint blogs and forums) which has helped me troubleshoot a variety of issues.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

As already mentioned, our previous documentation solution was manual, using a folder structure accessible through Windows Explorer.

The switch to SharePoint was motivated by the desire to improve availability of our documentation and to streamline our document management processes.

How was the initial setup?

Initially, I was only involved in the setup of the document management portion of our site. I found it very user-friendly and easy to configure.

Since then, I have been involved in the setup and maintenance of a second site from scratch. Although certain aspects have been quite easy to configure, I experienced a lot of difficulty when working with user permissions and content types.

The content types were difficult to configure initially. When I need to edit or update certain properties, I could not determine where, or how, to change them. We eventually decided to remove them from our implementation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I’m not able to offer an informed opinion about pricing, but if you are looking for a robust document management system, the Enterprise edition might be the better choice.

The metadata features promise to improve the document search function. The built-in document management workflows seem very promising. These are the features motivating our desire to upgrade.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We considered replacing our SharePoint system with Atlassian Confluence. Although it does offer basic document management, it is not robust enough to meet our document management needs.

SharePoint has built in document management functionality, while Confluence relies on macros and third-party apps. We felt that the risk of relying on potentially unsupported apps outweighed any other benefits.

We still use Confluence as a collaborative work space and will be using the Confluence wikis as our knowledge base solution.

What other advice do I have?

Our implementation could have been improved by a more detailed implementation plan that mapped out the exact use of each area and how to use it.

With this in mind, I would recommend that anyone who is considering SharePoint plan their implementation thoroughly before beginning.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are a registered Microsoft partner.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SharePoint
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about SharePoint. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
768,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Consultant (SharePoint Specialist) at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Consultant
It is a good solution for the enterprise level.

What is most valuable?

  • Team sites
  • Reporting services
  • Power pivot
  • Excel services
  • Search services.

What needs improvement?

  • E-forms
  • Workflows
  • BPMN

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used SharePoint for 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We did not have stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We did not have scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support rates a 3.5/5.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not have a previous solution.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was complex. As an IT techie, it is setting up a farm that includes five servers.

What other advice do I have?

It is a good solution for the enterprise level.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user75573 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Architect at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
It can be used from a .NET programming environment.

What is most valuable?

  • Ability to be used from a .NET programming environment

How has it helped my organization?

We were able to introduce a CMS, which had never been implemented before.

What needs improvement?

For sure, it should offer customisation of data grids, which is not possible, as it seems to use some proprietary OCX control.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used it for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not encountered that many stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not encountered any scalability issues so far.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I did not previously use a different solution.

How was the initial setup?

As with any other product, initial setup is a bit complex to understand how/what is happening, but with a good background and understanding, how it works it is very easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

For simple solutions, I recommend this solution. But going large scale, you might consider going with an open-source solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing this product, I did not evaluate other options.

What other advice do I have?

Look at alternatives, and understand your goals and possible future implementations.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user326337 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user326337Customer Success Manager at PeerSpot
Consultant

What would customized data grids enable you do that you currently cannot?

it_user848442 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at ARICAN Proje Merkezi
User
It is very expensive.​ It arranges all our documents on one platform so we can view changes and edits.
Pros and Cons
  • "We can arrange all our documents on one platform and see the document's changes and edits."
  • "Using SharePoint is difficult."
  • "It will fully use your system resources."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use of SharePoint is document management and collaboration from our team. It is very important for us.

How has it helped my organization?

We can arrange all our documents on one platform and see the document's changes and edits. We can arrange all the document archives.

What is most valuable?

Office 365 integration is most valuable thing in SharePoint. It is so much easier to create documents. 

What needs improvement?

Using SharePoint is difficult. It will fully use your system resources. 

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is very expensive.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Tech Support Staff at a government with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Top 10
Great application but I would like to see co-authoring be real time

Valuable Features

Alerts and co-authoring

Improvements to My Organization

So far our HR department has seen the benefits in terms of having a central calendar where everybody in the department can be updated regarding meetings and appointments, creating discussion forums regarding important topics affecting the agency or the department. Having a central repository for documents (rather than at different locations creating storage issues)

Room for Improvement

Co-authoring needs to be real time.

Use of Solution

2 months

Deployment Issues

no

Stability Issues

no

Scalability Issues

no

Customer Service and Technical Support

Customer Service: okTechnical Support: ok

Implementation Team

In-house

Other Advice

I would recommend it. Good software to help:
  • Centralized management and editing of documents
  • Team brainstorming and exchange through discussion forums
  • Synchronization and centralization of appointments and meetings
  • The provision of one portal or web site to access documents, calendars, forums etc.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user880446 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Engineer at AVENCOM
User
Its functionality is enormous, but the product is too heavy
Pros and Cons
  • "It has good integration with other MS products."
  • "It is well supported by Microsoft."
  • "Its functionality is enormous."
  • "It is too heavy. MS should not have paid foreign coders dollars per each row of code. They wasted the stability and reliability in the end."

What is our primary use case?

We are a middle-sized company with around 200 users. 

We use SharePoint for some basic business processes: CRM, ECM, etc. Our maturity reached a certain level and it allowed for some further improvement.

How has it helped my organization?

Company portal was finally set up. The CRM system for the commercial department went into production and opened the door for further improvements, KPIs, and metrics.

What is most valuable?

  • Its functionality is enormous. 
  • It looks nice. 
  • It has good integration with other MS products. 
  • It is well supported by Microsoft.

What needs improvement?

It is too heavy. MS should not have paid foreign coders dollars per each row of code. They wasted the stability and reliability in the end.

For how long have I used the solution?

Still implementing.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Cloud Solution Architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
Its cloud-based technology is more accessible, but we would like to see more security features
Pros and Cons
  • "SharePoint is already moving to cloud, if you are using SharePoint online, which is cloud-based technology, it is more accessible."
  • "We would like more security features, like automating."
  • "There are some limitations on storage."

What is our primary use case?

Compared to other products, SharePoint is not only a content manager, but a wider product, like enterprise content management. You can use multiple components in SharePoint. Moreover, SharePoint is already moving to cloud, if you are using SharePoint online, which is cloud-based technology, it is more accessible. 

What is most valuable?

  • Data classification
  • Search

These two elements are cheap.

What needs improvement?

We would like more security features, like automating. 

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are some limitations on storage. 

How is customer service and technical support?

The product and technical support teams are really good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The replacement costs for it are cheaper if you use only SharePoint.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SharePoint Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SharePoint Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.