SharePoint Reviews

For SharePoint 2013:

• My Sites
• News-feed
• Discussions
• Communities

The Office 365 version shows real promise, although the mobile use of Discussions does not work as expected. Newsfeed does though. Not sure about Communities.

It's providing a social collaboration experience to a culture of heavy email users. They are not used to interacting on our intranet or other internal environments, having a profile to provide others more info about themselves, or searching for experts, information, etc. This is a helpful step to evolve the culture to be more digitally collaborative.

• The linkage between items, such as the blog. It does not integrate into communities or team sites, it's totally separate in its own environment. Tags and @mentions are not connected to them either. They feel very disconnected. Our leaders would like to use blogs but since they aren't connected to anything else they aren't a great solution.
• We are on premise so the mobile experience is also very lacking since users need to use a VPN on their device in order to utilize things.
• There aren't any metrics provided out of the box. I have to ask for just the number of new users each month and it takes days. There should be more data that we can use available to us as admins.

I've used for six to nine months.

We migrated from another company and moved from SP2010 to 2013 during the same time. There were a lot of hurdles, and people have profile problems (most of those issues have not fully migrated).

Stability, even after deployment three months ago, still seems to be an issue. Tagging does not always show up in trending hashtags immediately. When tagging and @mentions work is not consistent from place to place.

We are on two farms so it is not a truly global solution which is frustrating when trying to communicate about global programs and events. Those in the Europe farm cannot follow the majority of our content in the North American farm.

Our SharePoint 2013 platform is hosted at HP and they manage services for us. HP support is getting better just as of the past few weeks. They do not seem to have a great handle on SP2013 social however.

HP has not been great but we've really brought the issues to light over the past few weeks so they are stepping up their game.

This is the first time using it at this company.

IT was not very transparent about providing what the tools can and cannot do. As a user, I had to figure it all out, ask a lot of questions then get them to explain why or why not we could or could not do certain things.

HP does not seem very knowledgeable about SP2013 social.

I believe IT looked at Yammer but felt our culture could just use SP2013 for free first to get our feet wet before investing in another tool. There are no business requirements for an Enterprise Social Network yet so with the pitfalls of using SP2013 out of the box, we are seeing what we actually need vs. what we have.

Perform a controlled pilot first with social advocates in the company first. Nail down the business requirements with management before rolling anything out. Get their buy-in and support. Once that is decided, pilot several other tools to see what else is out there. Yammer isn't the only other solution for SharePoint. Compare costs, etc, select a solution, create a social governance team, train them well, provide guidance templates if needed and create regular training or webinars for people to get on board. Have leaders use the tool to communicate and move away from email.

We just started using it. We use it for collaborating and sharing documents and files internally and externally. We also create sites for each department, and we also create directories. It's basically for collaboration and sharing files. If we need to send something to the entire organization, we send it to SharePoint. So, everybody has access to it.

It allowed us to be more productive in terms of being more organized. Everyone seems to think the organizational thing is the best part of it.

For SharePoint, I believe the most valuable feature is the customization and allowing you to share and edit files and documents. Being able to share externally and the precise administration of the files in terms of giving permissions and controlling who has access to what is a very good feature.

It has worked very well for me. It seems like they've improved everything. I don't have any cons about it as such, but I don't think they have a talk-to-text, speech-to-text, or speech-to-type. That would be cool for accessibility.

I have been using this solution for the past five years. This is a new organization, and in this organization, we've been using it for the past month.

It is very stable. I haven't had any outages or any issues.

Its scalability is very good. We can add as many users as we want. It is designed for high scalability.

We have about 12 employees. We have two HR people, two marketing people, one chief product officer, the CEO, and the head of technology. So, it is a mixture of different departments. It is not that expensive. Right now, it is only $5 per user per month. So, we are definitely going to grow.

Anytime I had a technical issue, their technical support has been pretty good. I haven't had too many technical issues though, but if I do, I just research it.

We've always used Microsoft here, so we didn't use any other solution.

It was straightforward. We have 12 employees, so it didn't take long at all. 

It was basically just giving them a computer and them signing into their accounts. It is included actually in our subscription, so we didn't have to install or do anything. It was there. I, as the IT manager, did have to create the site though and then add the members of the groups and stuff like that.

I did it myself. For its deployment and maintenance, only one person is required. I take care of its deployment and maintenance.

We haven't even been open for a month yet, so we have not really got an ROI.

It is pretty reasonable. It is $5 per month per user. We have 12 users now, so it is about $60 per month.  

There are no additional costs.

From my past experience with Microsoft, I didn't have to evaluate other options.

I would say definitely go with it. I haven't had any issues with it for years, so go with it. SharePoint has always been good. Microsoft has always been great.

I'll rate it a 10 out of 10.

We use the solution for content management and document sharing. It acts as a mini document repository. 

Sharing information is very easy in SharePoint. We use multiple types of documents, like online Excel tools and online content editing, especially for group editing. This allows us to collaborate, even in distributed teams. Despite being geographically spread out, everyone can access the same files online, edit them, and see changes. We also use SharePoint to track all these changes, making our teamwork more collaborative overall. The tool fastens information sharing and collaboration. 

The solution should improve its integration with other project management tools. 

I have been using the product for 15 years. 

I rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten. 

The solution is scalable, and we haven't faced any issues. Its scalability depends on the organization. I rate it a seven out of ten. My company has around 500-2000 users. 

We use Confluence and Jira. 

Since SharePoint moved to the cloud, setting it up has become simpler. In the past, setting it up locally or within an organization was more complex. With it being cloud-based, different teams handle the setup and maintenance. We don’t need to worry much about it ourselves; we report any issues if they arise.

I haven't directly integrated the tool with other systems, but there may have been integrations at the organizational level. In a previous role, we implemented some integration for semi-document management, particularly for approval cycles. When content was created, it would go through an approval process. That's the extent of my experience with integration.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten. 

We primarily use it for multi-user collaboration on documents. It's great for storing and managing documents, and the access control features are essential for protecting sensitive information.

The access control is definitely a good feature. We also appreciate the improvements they've made to the online applications, where multiple users can work on the same documents simultaneously. Everything syncs automatically.

There's a challenge with desktop applications synchronizing with online documents in real-time. If someone is working on a document in the desktop version of Excel, for example, and someone else is editing the same document online, the changes won't sync immediately. That's the only real challenge we've encountered.

I have been using it for three years now. 

It's very stable. We've rarely encountered any challenges, and Microsoft is quick to address any problems that do arise.

It's very scalable. We can have multiple collaboration sites within the same environment, and it's easy to add more users as needed.

We have around 115 users.

We don't get direct support from Microsoft; we get direct support from a local partner. But we've been very satisfied with the support we've received.

It's an online solution, so there's no installation required. Users simply log in to their account to access the application.

There's a return on investment because of the centralization of documents. As the organization grows larger, businesses have more data. So. we try to avoid storing data in multiple places, we use SharePoint for the central data repository. So there's good control of data. 

There is more efficiency in our processes. We get more efficiency and control. We've utilized 70% of SharePoint. The platform still has more to offer, but for our current needs, we're at around 70%.

It comes bundled with the Microsoft 365 pricing plans, which we find to be a bit high, especially as we add more users.

We use a monthly-based license model. As long as you have a license, you get support. So, there are no additional costs to the standard licensing. 

For collaboration, especially with large documents, it's a very good solution. Although, there's a learning curve. So, that's the only challenge. There's a learning curve, especially if you want to integrate with other solutions. Or if you want to make it full of workflows, there's a learning curve.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I have been using SharePoint 2019 and SharePoint Online.

We use SharePoint Online for document management.

The most valuable features of SharePoint Online are content management, document management, and approval processes. Additionally, there are a number of features that provide integration with multiple Office services and external services.

SharePoint Online could improve the user interface and when modifying any of the user interfaces can be challenging. Additionally, there are challenges with the detail in the analytics user interface and the overall customization could improve. 

In the next release of the solution, they need to fix the user interface. It is not user-friendly for a generic user. It should be easier because in some of the applications it's quite easy to assign the permission, you only need to use the right click of the mouse and select the permission that we need to assign. However, in SharePoint, it's a bit complex.

I have been using SharePoint Online for approximately six years.

SharePoint Online is stable. We are using the out-of-box options only, and it has been stable.

The scalability of SharePoint Online is good.

We have opened Microsoft support tickets. The learning materials are good for all the solutions from Microsoft, they have multiple videos and documentation available.

The initial setup of SharePoint Online was straightforward.

For a general user, the documentation could improve. The assigning of unique permissions can be difficult for a beginner.

We have joint support for the applications and the SharePoint Online version, Microsoft is managing everything from the cloud and we are supporting it at the application level. There are not many resources that are required for their support and maintenance.

The licensing model for SharePoint Online is based on per user, and it is monthly. The price of the solution overall is good.

There can be additional costs depending on the features that we are going to use. If we are using any third-party integration or third-party connector, then in this scenario we need premium licensing.

My advice is SharePoint Online is good, but Microsoft does not recommend doing a lot of customization management. It is a good document manager, and content management system if they are using the out-of-the-box approach only. The out-of-the-box options are very good, but if we try to customize it a lot, then it's not recommended.

I rate SharePoint Online seven out of ten.

We have created some applications in SharePoint using Power Apps. We have also done some workflow automation with Power Automate. The solution can be used for document management purposes.

The search feature is valuable. The solution is useful for document management and collaboration.

The limitations and boundaries must be extended. Often, the documents pile up and reach the limit provided, and we need to archive them. It would be good if the capacity were increased.

I have been using the solution since 2004.

The tool is very stable. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.

The tool is scalable to any extent. We have to pay for it. We have around 20,000 users.

The technical support is good. There are different channels based on the priority. We have a premium subscription, so we get solutions within a day.

Positive

The initial setup is easy. We must go through some process if we need to utilize some features. For example, if we want to use co-authoring or set up a workflow on top of the document management system, we should be aware of some technical aspects. We must study and gain some technical knowledge.

SharePoint is a SaaS product. I rate the ease of initial setup a nine out of ten. It is easy to deploy. Sometimes, the deployment is done through the DevOps process via a CI/CD pipeline. Sometimes, it is done manually. It can be deployed within an hour.

The pricing is competitive. That's why almost all the companies are using SharePoint. I rate the pricing a ten out of ten. When we buy the license, the person buying must be well-educated on how the pricing model works.

We get some bundles for free. We can get Power Apps, Microsoft Exchange, and E1 and E2 licenses for free. We must know what our organization needs. It will cost us more if we want to increase the space or customize solutions. The standard features are free.

We provide solutions based on SharePoint for our clients. I'm managing a team that provides support. I am using SharePoint Online. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

The collaboration features of SharePoint 2013 are probably the best I have seen in an enterprise product out of the box. Along with the integration of Office and other enterprise solutions, this product cannot be beat in the market currently for what it brings to the table.

There are times you may want to alter how SharePoint works using custom code. This is very important as I have seen developers who are here one day and gone the next with bad code that was based on .NET, recreating what SharePoint does naturally, no acceptable documentation left behind to work from and will not accept calls accept for a fee.

So think before implementing customizations using code, you leave room for error in the code and a gaps in business processes that may need to be updated later. If the code is not using best practices for development on the SharePoint platform Microsoft updates to the server could also effect the successful implementation of these updates as well. If you can bare with using out-of-the-box tools this gives you a stable environment, where Microsoft updates these features and the foundation of the product for you.

There are third party solutions that would be a better fit for the platform that are tested and vetted by Microsoft for a price and maintenance fee. These are better suited for a SharePoint platform than custom code because you know what you are getting and you have someone to call on when things go wrong. I am not saying these are going to fit your every need but most of the time they do help get you a lot closer then where you are out-of-the-box.

The use of the document management features such as versioning, check in and check out, search, managed metadata and other out-of-the-box features help you organize and manage documents easily. Finding documents and being able to track documents wherever they are in your site makes this tool easy to use and cuts down on an employee’s time looking for documents, using email to manage documents and knowing they have the right version of the document because it’s in a centralized location.

There are training aspects in using the tool effectively, but do not take long to grasp and understand. Workflow is also improved in this version of SharePoint. Workflow lets you create a business solution using the combination of functionality within lists and workflow actions to create a business process that flows through an easy or more complex process. SharePoint Designer 2013 allows you to create these flows within the tool once the SharePoint farm is configured to host the integration of the tool.

From my experience, it’s not the product needing improvement, but the way organizations deploy the enterprise solution. When 2007 SharePoint came around, there was no documentation and information given by Microsoft on their website. You were on your own, basically, looking at blogs and relying on others' failures. Now, there is no excuse to have a badly configured SharePoint farm and or using best practices to make sure your configuration is solid.

There are organizations who deploy this solution enterprise-wide with no training for users or administrative IT support, which is also a big area that needs improvement. Although SharePoint is fairly easy to use, you still want to get total buy-in on the product, so training helps bridge the gap to get that buy-in to use the product going forward. It also helps to show how users can make the most of the solutions and services SharePoint has to offer. Coming up with a couple of how-to demonstrations and even a site with some bells and whistles the users can play with always helps with getting support of the new solutions and services.

Organizations are also not providing governance as to how the user community will use the solution within the organization. Governance is the most important aspect of getting the solution configured for your organizations use. Providing rules for everyone who plans to use the services of SharePoint 2013 is the key to success. Also, bringing representatives from all departments as stakeholders into a working group to meet, vote and share information about what they would like to do with the new tools is also key. You can avoid duplicate efforts for development and other pitfalls that may fall outside of your governance plan by including other departments. This way, your new SharePoint farm does not get the wild, wild west treatment where everyone is doing their own thing.

After working and supporting over 100 companies, I can honestly say only two companies had governance documents in place at their organization, with working stakeholder groups to support the solutions and services. Remember, governance helps with looking at restricted and accepted practices within the solutions and services provided by, in this case, SharePoint 2013. It's just like going to the Office 365 site and looking at exactly what I can and cannot do within the cloud offering, which could be based on data sizing and other parameters I might be looking for to support my organization.

The governance document is used for on-premise implementations, so you can design, install and configure your internal farm based on those configuration parameters laid out in your governance documentation. After you get the governance rules in place, you then create a design document that will capture all configurations within the farm. This will layout how the SharePoint farm should be configured based on SQL, SharePoint, backup, restore, DR and any other third-party tools and configurations.

The next document would then be your installation guide, which is based off of the design document. This shows how all the components mentioned in the design document will be installed and configured based on the design document's configuration parameters. This is just a quick summary of what needs to be done before you do anything with installation of software. Following best practices and other Microsoft documentation for all these documents and the installation of the software is the key to success with this enterprise solution.

I have used this version for 3 1/2 years (15 years overall with SharePoint).

In some very rare cases, you might see that Windows updates can interrupt your service, but Microsoft is very quick to fix the issue. Other than that, it’s the users’ empowerment that is in play in this environment overall. You are providing a platform that empowers the users of the product to manage themselves. For example, instead of a call to the help desk, you have what are known as site collection administrators and owners. These power users manage the security of the site. So, instead of having a call to the help desk, the group’s power user can manage these calls themselves, which takes a load off of the help desk. This is one of many examples.

SharePoint 2013 is very scalable. The problem is IT departments that don't understand the solution start in the wrong direction, which can lead to reinstalls and other interruptions because of the initial configuration. Again, following best practices and building a good solid foundation is how you avoid complications later with growth and other scalability issues.

Microsoft has great support for this product, as well as the SharePoint user community, where there are sites with information you can search from any search engine. Microsoft also has technical support pages that give you insights to installation, configuration and troubleshooting the product. You can also call 24/7 and get support from technicians from all aspects the product uses, such as SQL Server, Visual Studio, SharePoint Designer, PowerPivot and other integrations. There are also many third-party solutions out there to help with all aspects of the product from functionality, usability, 508 compliance, BLOB storage, backup and recovery, and a host of other areas in this version of the software.

I was a FileNet administrator but switched to SharePoint because of the integration of the Office products. I know that FileNet is a great product as well, but Microsoft has done a great job of integrating SharePoint with the Office suite. This drove my decision to move to SharePoint as a support engineer.

The initial setup as explained is complex. You need to understand what you’re doing as an IT engineer and also where this product will be in five years, as far as it being part of your enterprise. If you set up the wrong version of the product or the wrong version of SQL Server, you will not get the features you might be looking for. It’s best to see how the product will be used by your organization, and the bells and whistles your management is looking for to solve issues within your company.

When choosing a platform, just be aware there are choices. The choice you make in the beginning can make or break your installation and your goals for your organization. Think clearly and meet with other departments. Don't let IT do it alone. You want the buy-in and input from all parts of your organization.

In choosing options for services we looked at eRoom. eRoom’s interface was primitive and did not provide the functionality we were looking for and integration with Office. It also was not easy to use and it was not easy to empower users to create sites and manage their own security easily. I also believe that the training would have been more in depth with this product, as with Microsoft they have a way of making interfaces similar so you know where to look to find information and menus.

Find a certified person or company that can help you get started. This might cost a little up front, but your return on investment will be great. Do not go it alone. Again, the initial implementation is everything to the foundation of the product working for you. The version of software you choose can also determine what services you can make use of and can save you money.

We use the product for creating department-specific sites within our organization. Each department has its dedicated site, named accordingly, with a designated owner responsible for managing the specific department's site.

SharePoint's most valuable feature is the permission. It allows users to add and edit the data but can't delete anything. Some users prefer deleting the files when they leave an organization. Here, the product helps us save the data.

There are challenges related to permissions and file visibility within SharePoint, particularly when less experienced users are managing sites. One issue is that when users mistakenly hide files or set permissions incorrectly, it can lead to files becoming inaccessible, requiring intervention from Microsoft support to resolve. It takes a long time, sometimes around two months, to resolve the query. Instead, they could provide enough background information on how to use the product for beginners to improve this area.

We have been using SharePoint for two to three years. It is 100% a cloud service.

Compared to OneDrive, SharePoint has been a more stable product. Many times, the systems crash due to accidental sign-ups. Managing these crashes involved unlinking the files, sometimes causing them to be associated with personal accounts instead of the organization's email, leading to numerous challenges.

We have 100 SharePoint users in our organization. We encountered challenges with the default storage limitations, which initially provided one terabyte. However, we have found a solution by learning how to extract additional storage, expanding it up to five terabytes for certain customers. This enhancement is facilitated through an add-on extra storage feature, allowing users to surpass the initial limitations and manage storage more effectively. Users must understand that each line typically grants ten gigabytes, and when deleted, this allocated storage decreases. Adding extra storage ensures scalability and enables users to accommodate increased data requirements efficiently.

The technical support team takes a long time to reply. However, I don't have any problem with it, as I can understand the complexities of the work.

Positive

The initial setup is easy. You can download it on the desktop by clicking the synchronization command and ensuring appropriate licensing.

SharePoint generates a return on investment in streamlining control across various departments. From HR to design to IT policies, it allows the creation of dedicated sites for policies, incident reports, and general announcements. This centralized platform facilitates easy sharing and access, ensuring that every new employee receives access to essential files.

The platform has medium pricing.

SharePoint is much easier to use than OneDrive. We encountered challenges with OneDrive due to permissions and accidental sign-ins, leading to crashes. It connects through email, preventing such issues.

I advise others to learn about the product through simple videos on Microsoft's website. They might take two months to discover the files if they are accidentally hidden. Thus, it is crucial to access these resources before creating sites as they help in understanding the three types of sites available within SharePoint: communication, team, and hub.

I recommend SharePoint to others and rate it an eight out of ten.