This document discusses a presentation given by Jessica Dearie and Donna Rodriguez comparing Drupal and SharePoint. Some key similarities between the platforms include requiring developer knowledge, strong support communities, and allowing for rapid website development. Major differences are in technology (Drupal uses PHP/MySQL while SharePoint uses ASP.NET/MS SQL) and intent (Drupal focuses more on public sites while SharePoint is for internal use). The presenters provide examples of how their organizations use both Drupal and SharePoint together.

1. Drupal and
SharePoint
Can they Coexist?

2. Speakers
Jessica Dearie
• IT Project Manager at
the U.S. EPA
o Led intranet migration of
legacy CMS to Drupal last
spring
• DC ANG Member
o Migration and
implementation of
SharePoint 2010
Donna Rodriguez
● Web Manager at U.S.
Department of Veterans
Affairs
○ Been working with Drupal 7
since Jan. 2013
○ Launched 1st Drupal
Internet Site in VA May
2013
○ Been working with
SharePoint since v2001

3. Drupal vs SharePoint
• Some Similarities
• Significant Differences
When you take a business perspective first....
SharePoint vs
Drupal may be an
erroneous choice

4. Some Similarities
• Require developer knowledge and intervention
• Strong communities of support
• Cloud-based versions
• Both snap parts together
• There will always be features you want that either platform doesn’t offer in-the-box
• Both platforms allow prototyping for rapid website development with minimal custom
programming
• Concepts of centralized content types, using taxonomy to give site content structure,
free-form tagging {folksonomy}
• Control showing / hiding of content with metadata and publishing status
• Delegate content creation and site administration by defining who gets to do what on
your site through permissions
• Architectural, Information Management and Engagement Planning is necessary for
success!
• Migrating/Upgrading to a next version is a lot of work and requires planning!

5. Differences: Technology
Drupal
• PHP/MySQL
• Multiple web servers supported
• Core/Module architecture lends
itself to rapid innovation
• Relatively self-contained
• FREE. Hidden costs to open
source?
SharePoint
• ASP.NET/MS SQL
• Windows only. Supports
interoperability with other
platforms but requires Windows
to run on
• Microsoft IIS
• “App module” relatively new
• Plays well with other apps - other
vendors create connector web
parts
• Costly. Once you put $ into dev
platform this big in an enterprise,
can be difficult to leave

6. Differences: Intent
Drupal
• Web CMS + Community
solution platform
• Greater focus on public-
facing scenarios (though
internal uses are
growing)
• Process of learning
open source and driven
by convention, watch
and learn from running
code and test your ideas
SharePoint
• Enterprise Services
CMS + Portal platform
• Deployed primarily for
internal use (though
some external use as
well)
• Closed proprietary and
you will be reading a lot
of SDK & definitive
guides to get things
done

7. SharePoint Strengths
• Scores tight with MS Suite integration
o Seamlessly integrates with Windows OS/SPDesigner/InfoPath & Office
Products.
o Business Intelligence & Analytics
• Document Management & Collaboration
o Versioning system / check-in/check-out
o Workflows, actions and alerts
o Issue Management and Task Assignment connected to Active Directory
o Drupal slowly emerging as strong competitor with Alfresco integrations? Open
Atrium?
• Familiarity: Management is used to the Microsoft Office look and feel (ribbon)
o Strong “comfort” factor
• Easy to create multiple site collections and subsites hierarchy with permission
inheritance or you can break inheritance
o Plugged into Active Directory (makes permission management easy/efficient!)
• Find-ability: Search, index, and organize content

8. SharePoint Weaknesses
● Open exchange of ideas and comments
○ Drupal excels in ALL social publishing and communities
● Not very intuitive for site managers and users out of the box without training
● Users tend to replace it as file share and can become chaotic if not GOVERNED!
● Solutions may require significant number of third party purchases
● Technology happens so fast. By the time you move an agency to latest/greatest it is
old news!
● Setting up local dev environment is not as easy as setting up local Drupal dev
environment or free
● Sys-Admin/Change Control Board - No longer add web parts or custom solutions
because of arduous internal processes (Goal: 100% in the box solutions/No Visual
Studio)
● Extensive Branding can be more difficult to master. Make copies!
○ Use Firebug and test ridiculously to make sure you did not change wrong css
inadvertently.
● SP 2010 limits browser choices: Firefox and Safari aren’t “first class” browsers.

9. Drupal Strengths
• The quantity and range of available Drupal contributed Modules is its great strength
and a significant advantage over the more monolithic SharePoint
o If a problem exists in a Drupal core module it would be fixed immediately! Have
to find workarounds in SP until it gets upgraded or patched (if fix is “big”
enough to be included in patch - have to write business impact case to MS)
• It’s hard to beat FREE and flexibility
• Extensive eco-system of freely available modules and themes makes it easy to put
together a site that has a stylish look and feel & rich functionality while never (or
almost never) having to cut a line of code
• When you want site users to create content and connect with each other - moving
from “one to many” to “many to many”
• Multi-site Configurations
• Wide-open graphic design possibilities including responsive design

10. Drupal Weaknesses
• Lots of ways to do the similar tasks
• Determining the “best” way for your project can be
difficult
• While formal training teaches the basics, most
learning must be done through networking and trial/
error
• Lack of Document Management and integration
with tools like MS Office and Open Office
• File Management: Uploading files and images
o Detach/Edit & Re-Attach?

11. Learning Process: It Depends
SharePoint:
• Steepest learning curve by far was with Drupal (open
vs. closed)
• Drupal lego-like platform with a wealth of options -
which one?
• Learn what is possible in the SP box before you attempt
to customize (90% is possible in the box!)
Drupal:
• To get SharePoint to level of functionality provided by
Drupal is much harder to learn
• Pro for SP is that there aren’t as many ways to do the
same thing

12. Open source solutions & SharePoint
can coexist
If your agency is mostly a MS shop, deploying
a few open source solutions can introduce the
IT Dept. and your information workers to
alternatives.
The existence of SharePoint does not have to
mean it is the only solution. There are good
arguments for using both.

13. Drupal and SharePoint at the EPA
● Drupal
○ Public website (www.epa.gov) - migrating to Drupal
○ EAP/ORD intranet migrated to Drupal last spring
■ installation profile launching for 7 additional lab
and research center intranet sites
● SharePoint
○ Office 365 selected as new agency collaboration tool
○ Outlook, web office apps, SkyDrive
○ Document collaboration focus
○ Legacy intranet sites

14. Drupal and SharePoint at VHA/Web
and Mobile Solutions
● Drupal
○ New Public website (mobilehealth.va.gov)
○ Integration with Atlassian - JIRA & Confluence
○ Primary solution for public facing websites
● SharePoint 2010
○ Intranet
○ Mainly used for document management
○ Internal communication and collaboration
○ Communication strategy and planning for migration
to SharePoint 2013

15. Top 5 Drupal 7 Favorite Features
1. Developer Community and Support Network
a. People in the community are willing to mentor and show you
how they did things without charging
2. Social & community publishing platform
a. User-generated content
3. Open Source: don’t have to pay for licensing
4. 1000s of contributed modules are available to extend/grow your
site: don’t have to wait for next version of proprietary software to
come out to build latest feature for users
a. No restriction to code available or database
5. Advanced workflows that support detailed processes to create and
approve content workflows

16. Top 5 SharePoint 2010 Favorite
Features
1. Integration with SharePoint Designer and InfoPath to build
solutions
2. Central Content Types and Taxonomies
3. Document Sets to “package” and organize a single related work
product rather than separate documents
4. Calendar Color-coded Overlay/10 Aggregated Calendars
a. Calendars from Microsoft Exchange Server can be merged
with SharePoint Calendars
5. Search with refinement to filter content

17. Drupal and
SharePoint
Yes, We Can Coexist!

18. Conclusion/Summary
Best of both worlds. Deploy Drupal for the community front end and the
familiarity of SharePoint for document management. There is a place
for both Drupal & SharePoint!
● For internal, document management, Office integration, SharePoint
○ Can’t imagine doing without Office internally (Outlook/Excel/
Word/PowerPoint, etc.). What would replace and how much
investment in training would be lost?
● For external sites needing broad range of functionality, Drupal

19. Conclusion/Summary
Challenges:
● Integration of content between solutions.
○ Feeds from Drupal to SharePoint/SharePoint to Drupal
○ SharePoint behind the firewall
● Content strategies to avoid duplication of content and maintenance
● Maintaining expert knowledge when working with both platforms

20. SharePoint doesn’t have to
look like SharePoint! For
inspiration, check out
Top SharePoint Sites and
use jQuery

21. Asked to create
WebMD like
community in
SharePoint. No
viable solution in
the box without
purchasing 3rd
party solution -
NewsGator or
LightningTools

22. Color-coded Overlay
and up to 10
Aggregated Calendars

23. Drupal and
“Filtered”
Calendars

24. Document Sets to
organize a single
related work
product. Subsite
hierarchy that
breaks parent
permission
inheritance.

25. SharePoint
designed to work
well with other
MS products.
SharePoint
integration with
InfoPath forms
can be used
together to make
powerful
streamlined
business process
solutions for the
office and reduce
work.

26. Drupal Integration
with Atlassian
JIRA Issue
Collector Form.

27. Legal Services Corp (.gov multisite!)

28. Department of State, Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs

29. Questions?

30. Sources
1. Real Story Group: www.realstorygroup.comDrupal vs
SharePoint, Tony Byrne
2. Blue Coda: www.bluecoda.comDrupal vs SharePoint
Fact Sheet