Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects Book Review

This book is unique in the library of SharePoint 2010 books I own. It is a recipe book for entire solutions. The recipes take you from compiling the requirements to the implementation and the management of the final solution. The solutions covered in the book include: Building a Project Management Solution Building a Training Registration Management System Building a Basic FAQ Solution Building a Learning Center Building a Help Desk Solution Building a Remote Teams Activity Site Building a Team Blog Platform Building an RFP Response Solution Building a Contact Management Solution Building a Resource Scheduling Solution Although the solutions in the book are good, they are not what I found to be its most valuable asset. The process the authors walk you through and the way they teach you to think about the design of the solutions is the most valuable part of the book. Each solution has the following sections : Identifying the Business Problems, Gathering Information, Designing the Solution, Building the Solution, Managing the Solution, and Reviewing the Platform. In the Identifying the Business Problems the authors provide real world scenarios and problems that exist in them that need real solutions. Gathering Information includes identifying systems users and the data needed for the solution. Designing the Solution includes which platform will be used, SharePoint Foundation or SharePoint Server with enterprise features. Which services will be used. The permissions to be applied. Solution wireframes for the different views to be created. It also include which templates will be used. The Building the Solution section provides step by step instructions for building the solution. These detailed instructions start with creating the site with the Central Admin. They then show you how to customize the look and feel of the site. They include tables that define all the columns in the list and how to create the views for the lists. If workflows are included in the solution, they provide detailed instructions on how to create them. Many of the solutions include using InfoPath and they show you how to create the forms. Managing the Solution includes tips on how to manage permissions and use the actual solution. Reviewing the platform offers tips on how to use the solutions on different platforms including using SharePoint Online with Office 365, SharePoint Server Standard, SharePoint Server Enterprise, and SharePoint Foundation. I found this book to be a really enjoyable read. I liked the way the author's approached the projects and they provided a lot of insight into how to build code free solutions. I found their writing style enjoyable and they made the book very easy to read. Over all I highly recommend this book to anyone using SharePoint in their organization. Even if you are not looking to build any of the specific solutions found in the book, they will help you improve your process when building other solutions.

Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects