Microsoft SharePoint: Easier to Set Up Than to Redo

Document imaging guru John Mancini has been running an interesting recurring feature over at the AIIM blog called "8 Things About..." The idea is that contributors would fill in the blank about a certain topic related to Enterprise Content Management.

The "8 Things" entry on June 17 came from Doug Schultz of Access Sciences, and was especially informative. Mr. Schultz chose Microsoft SharePoint as his topic.

Read the whole post here, but what we found particularly compelling was Mr. Shultz's vehement recommendation that organizations establish clear guidelines for SharePoint installation and government before actually installing and governing SharePoint.

The temptation is to simply stuff all imaged documents into folders and let the sharing begin. But over time, this attitude is likely to turn SharePoint into a shared mess.

Mr. Schultz summarizes the argument like this:

"Resist the urge of the IT department to just install it like any other Microsoft application – insert the CD and install with the default settings."

For a small business looking to do SharePoint right the first time around, a third-party records management firm may offer important insights into how to organize scanned documents.