SharePoint Reviews

Collaboration and document sharing are the primary reasons for using SharePoint. We have used the product in many government agencies for documents management, workflow, enterprise search, departmental solutions, Intranet, etc.

SharePoint is a big product with many features including customization flexibilities. We have deployed it in many government agencies which were in much need of process and automation improvements.

The product makes it easy to manage lists, forms, searching, and security. One of the most valuable features is its integration with Active Directory.

• Processing data from multiple site collections is not easy as they reside in different databases. 
• The management of the product/back-end is complex.

We have purchased add-ons to handle multiple site collections, form creation, and design. 

The use case is based on internal processes. We want a central place for storing data, documents, and user processes, to automate processes.

In this case, it's a financial program. All customers starting our financial program are automatically created on SharePoint. From there, all the documents that are related to each customer will be stored on SharePoint, and we then use it as a kind of a black box. You put everything in, you do not know where it is. Then we have other applications around it that give you information that you need. Or you can save it and, based on customer information or the kind of document, it knows where to store it on SharePoint.

It manages processes. I personally think a very strong point is that we use it in combination with OneDrive. Now that we have been handed the GDPR law enforcement, in combination with OneDrive, we can synchronize documents or part of a customer's information to a laptop. If they make changes it will automatically be synchronized back. In the case of a lost or defective device, you always have the information. I think this is a very strong point.

It's stable. It's very widely used by companies. Also, the knowledge of the product has improved over the years, and by other companies that support it or are Microsoft SharePoint partners. So if there are problems, there's always a user or company that knows the information or can help you; even with very uncommon problems.

Another strong feature is the search engine. It can search all documents. It can find everything.

We also have our own developers. What we want with SharePoint, we can program it and create many reports, every kind of information needed. Developers can easily create an application for it and display this information.

We are mainly using third-party tools for it, at the moment, for automating processes. In the new version, for 2019, I know that some of the processes are finally in SharePoint. They are a now using third-party tools for it.

Also, the integration with Outlook could be improved.

It's fairly easy to scale. You can just add front-ends to it. Just a little installation and it's done. It's very easy to expand.

Technical support is very good.

The switch was handed to our default supplier of software, in this case, Microsoft. The whole platform we used was based on Microsoft.

It's not a vendor we select, we select a product. After that, we look at the vendor. If the product looks good, promising, and it looks stable - and of course we test it before we go any further with it - then we look at the vendor, especially the support. Then we find other cases, where they have implemented a similar product or feature and ask for their feedback.

A partner initially installed it. That was the start of our use of SharePoint. I believe there was a lack of information or a lack of knowledge on the part of the external party that initiated this project. As our internal IT department has improved, the setup of SharePoint - we migrated to a new version - has improved.

My advice would depend on the use case. SharePoint, for us, is the most suitable because we use mainly Microsoft products. So for us, it's the way to go because the integration is solid. If colleagues have other products, it depends on what they're asking. Look at the best option. It's not that I'm saying, "You have to use this product because it's the greatest." Consider what you need, what you want.

It's very stable. I don't call it a document management system, I call it a multifunctional document system. You can do a lot of things with it. It's just incredible how much. I really like that we have been able to automate a few steps that people had to do. Also, this process was only possible with SharePoint, because of the integration of other Office products. We're using the basic Microsoft suite and integration was a very big part of it.

I have found SharePoint team sites to produce much more 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 company-wide document management.

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

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

SharePoint has workflow built into the software however it is very simplistic. Third party applications integrate with SharePoint to provide a more feature full workflow. For example, if I wanted to create a workflow for new employee onboarding process I could use SharePoint built in workflow. Doing so would provide me limited configuration options, no version control, only attach to one list, sequential workflow only, and not very customizable.

Using a third party you can create intuitive workflows, customize branding with CSS, easy drag and drop implementation, comprehensive workflows actions (loops, foreach, parallel actions, variables), and maintain retention history.

I would like to see it built-in the product itself.

I have used this solution for two years.

Some 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 in order to determine the number of servers and also as to what SharePoint function(s) they will serve for meeting the demands of your organization.

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

Initially, we were using simple file shares and emails for this purpose.

SharePoint can be very complex to set up initially both in terms of the infrastructure as well as the backend design and implementation. The more scalable the environment, the more complex the setup will be. Generally, third-party consultants will be needed to implement the solution.

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

We have not evaluated any other solution before this one.

You will need to hire and communicate with a third-party consultant.

From my perspective as a developer I would say that the most valuable features are :

• the wide variety of data source connections
• completeness of features
• strong query possibilities (customisation, SQL, MDX, macros)

Each year, managers have to take important decisions about the future based on voluminous reports which took several weeks to produce. Now, these reports have been replaced by a dashboard which is maintained on a daily basis.

• The suite is complicated to set up, complicated to maintain, complicated to work with. Cognos requires a bigger and more skilled centralized BI team.
• Cognos Insight, the self-service, desktop dashboarding and analysis tool designed is not quite at the same level of the competition like Tableau or Qlikview.

We have been using the solution for 19 years.

We have not encountered any stability issues. The version 10.2 we use is very stable.

We have not encountered any scalability issues. The contract between IBM and the organisation covers all the needs we have.

I would rate the technical support at 8/10. I had very few technical support needs but they answer correctly when required.

I am not aware of any previous solutions. I always use Cognos solutions for my BI needs.

The setup was complex. As I work for a large financial organisation, the security matters are very important. For that reason, we had to deploy the different components on many servers in different zones, separated by firewalls. We also had to support the needs for several tens of users for data analysis and a few hundred more users for data consumption.

It's not the least expensive solution in the market but if your needs are great in terms of functionality, number of users and amount of data, it is worth purchasing it.

We evaluated the solutions available at the time. Among others, these were Micro-Level, Business Objects and Hyperion.

I do not think it is possible to implement a solution to the scale of the one we had without the help of knowledgeable Cognos BI resources. Ideally, it is best to hire an expert or one or more good Cognos consultants.

The document library feature in this product is most valuable.

This product does a good job of maintaining an easy, searchable knowledge base, which is the key for supporting applications and business teams.

I personally don't use this product. However, my clients find it useful for locating documents in a format, that is easy to navigate.

Submitting document changes function needs to be improved.

It is hard to identify deltas in documents especially ones with drawings.

The process of updating a document on the fly takes a while to download and update.I am used to robust versions of management systems and hence end up using Apache Subversion (SVN) rather than SharePoint for version management.

I would also like to see who makes the changes inside the documents, that are managed.

I have used this product on and off for 10 years.

I have encountered stability issues when connecting to TFS 2013 for reporting.

I have not yet encountered any scalability issues.

I have not used any technical support.

Previously, I have used HP document solutions. I made the switch to SharePoint as it was what the client was using.

The initial setup for me was fairly simple.

I don't know since I did not source the production and used existing licenses.

I did not evaluate other options as I have not purchased this product.

It is best to ensure that all configuration options are explored when connecting
to other solutions.

SharePoint’s most valuable feature is its use for community building. It turns large scores of people into a more cohesive group by creating a central working environment for documents, conversations, knowledge sharing, processes, tasks and content.

We have a variety of use cases internally, but an easy one for everyone to understand is the creation of the “company meeting” slide show. Every two weeks, everyone in our company gets together to hear from each other about the “goings on” in the company. Each area of the business gets the opportunity to present a few slides. In the past, these slides were emailed to a central point and some poor person had to collate it before all staff arrived. Now, with SharePoint and Office 365, all the business areas are able to edit their part of the PowerPoint file at any time, from anywhere. This saves plenty of time, removes embarrassing copy and paste errors, and also gives staff a central reference point after the meeting to catch up on what was presented.

The user interface, although extensible, leaves much to the imagination when compared to modern websites. Companies, like ourselves, are able to transform the front end into anything, but this consulting process sometimes scares off would be clients. Adoption remains a challenge (not really a product fault). Lastly, the workflow remains a kind of ugly sister. Improvements have been made in the form of “flow” (only available on Office 365). But, all in all, companies normally have to invest in third-party tools, such as K2 / Nintex, if they really want to create enterprise-grade workflow processes.

I have been using this solution for 13 years.

We did not encounter any stability issues. In most cases, instability is caused by client or vendor implementation errors.

We did not encounter any issues with scalability. SharePoint actually scales really well as you’re able to add roles and servers to your heart’s content. Office 365 also has a number of clever resource throttling capabilities, which allows administrators to prioritize certain areas over others.

We received excellent technical support. We have no complaints there.

We never tried to implement a solution other than SharePoint.

In the early days 2003, the initial setup of SharePoint was highly complex, but nowadays it has been streamlined a lot. The challenge, however, is not the basic installations. It is creating something that is ready to take advantage of the scalability and other platform benefits without revising the architecture.

More than 75% of our interactions now are with clients that already have Office 365 (which includes SharePoint), so the pricing is normally bundled with that. We do discuss specifics when it comes to the amount of storage included. For on site deployments, clients need to license each server, as well as each client access license (CAL).

As a vendor, our typical scenario is that the product was already chosen, and we are just implementing it. As SharePoint is a platform with many capabilities, plenty of products compete with specific areas of SharePoint, but hardly anyone can offer everything that SharePoint does.

Before starting the project, it’s critical to understand what you want to achieve. Just installing it because IT owns it, will not accomplish your goals. If you have well-defined use case for it, and the solution is geared toward delivering on that ROI, SharePoint is a great fit. Special attention must be given to ongoing adoption and training and it’s critical that you choose your vendor very carefully. Many vendors understand a bit, but only a handful have walked the walk and know the many pitfalls of splash and dash deployments.

• DMS
• ECM
• Collaboration
• Portals
• Search
• BI
• Mobile support
• Business process management
• LOB integration

Global accessibility over O365 increased the collaboration within the organization.

I have used it for more than 11 years.

I have not encountered any stability issues, as such.

There were scalability issues with SP 2013, but MS made some improvements in SP 2016.

Technical support from MS is great, especially in the cloud area.

We were previously using a custom solution that was hard to maintain and there was also lack of user adoption. With SP, we were able to see great improvement in those areas.

Initial setup was straightforward.

Go for O365 plans that have different pricing as per business needs.

From the beginning, I was in favour of SharePoint. However, for customers, we have evaluated solutions such as Liferay, Sitecore, Drupal, etc.

For enterprise global collaboration, DMS, and ECM needs, this is the right platform.

Our primary use cases are for 

• Central repository for document integrated with a core application.
• The integration through web service with Oracle ERP and Oracle CCB 
• In addition, we use SharePoint two build a library for different projects for collaboration and sharing propose.

It has improved my organization in the following ways:

• Gave us the ability to integrate with other systems that need a lot of customization.
• Offers alignment between user permissions in SharePoint and other systems is not exist.

The most valuable features are collaboration and sharing.

• Workflow engine
• Video streaming and huge file retrieving and uploading
• It does not support video streaming and huge file retrieving and uploading
• The workflow engine cannot support business needs.

I have used SharePoint for six years.

It's not expensive.

We did evaluate other options.