A guide to novice SharePoint-ers on what constitutes a SharePoint ecosystem from a Geological perspective

1. Journey to the
center of
SharePoint
Voyage au centre de la SharePoint
Vasu Srinivasan, NIC, Texas.gov
Austin SharePoint Users Group (ASPUG)

2. about:me
Vasu Srinivasan
M.S. Computer Science, Russia (c. 1990s)
Senior Technology Consultant, Texas NIC (Texas.gov)
SharePoint sites contributed to:
texas.gov, oregon.gov, pa.gov and a few intranet/extranet
sites
Twitter & LinkedIn: vasya10
Tech Blog: vasya10.wordpress.com
#AustinSPUG-ger since Jan 2012

3. What can you learn about SharePoint in
10 minutes?
SharePoint is
• a product
• a platform
• a cloud
• an ecosystem
Take a tour of the vibrant SharePoint
eco-system in 10 minutes

4. Journey begins…
from a volcano
not far from Redmond

5. Earth’s Layers
Continental Crust
Oceanic Crust
Mantle
Outer Core
Inner Core
 Earth consists of many layers.
 So does SharePoint.

6. Continental Crust
The SharePoint continental crust
consists of many continents
• Content Management
• Document Management
• Records Management
• Identity Management
• Business Intelligence and BCS
• Search
• Office365
• Workflow
Several continents are still forming
• Social
• eDiscovery
Creatures that fly over this surface
• MVPs, MCPs, MCAs
• SharePoint Architects
• Bloggers and Tweeters
• Podcasters
• Keynote Speakers
Tools they use
• PowerPoint
• Social Networks
• Surface
 Earth’s Continental Crust: Layer of igneous and metamorphic rocks
 SharePoint Continental Crust: Layer of ingenious rockstars

7. Oceanic Crust
The SharePoint oceanic crust is also
known as The Farm
Deep under the sea, mostly invisible to
the outside world
Creatures that roam this layer
• SharePoint Admins
• SQL Server Admins
• IIS Admins
• Network Engineers
Primarily composed of several servers
known as DB Servers, App Servers, Web
Front Ends, Search Index Servers etc.
Trespassers
• Developers
Tools used
• PowerShell
• Central Admin
• and many weird tools
 Earth’s Oceanic Crust: Part of lithosphere that surfaces in oceanic basins. Primarly composed of
sima, thinner but denser than continental crust.
 SharePoint Oceanic Crust: The fundamental crust that supports the ecosystem

8. Mantle
The layer where the SharePoint
solutions reside, and usually are
classified as ootb, 3rd-party, codeplex
and customized
Creatures that roam in this
depth
• Developers
• Designers
Just as an unstable mantle can cause
earthquakes, a poorly formed solution
with unplanned governance and
untested usability can cause
SharePoint-quakes
Tools they use
• Visual Studio
• SharePoint Designer
• NAPA
 Earth’s Mantle: Layer between crust and outer-core. Predominantly solid, but behaves like
viscous liquid over a large timeframe.
 SharePoint Mantle People: Predominantly nerdy, but behavior-wise very social

9. Outer Core
Right below the Mantle, lies the Outer
core, what in SharePoint world, consists
of site
collections, sites, pages, lists, libraries, d
ocuments etc.
This is the layer where Business Users
have the ability to create sites and
content without having to ask IT Staff
Savvy business users also create their
own workflows and keep IT service out
of their way
Creatures that permeate the
Outer Core
• Power Users
Frequent visitors
• DevOps
Aliens and Occasional visitors
• PowerShell Gurus
• Information Architects
 Earth Outercore: Without the outercore, life on Earth would be very different.
 SharePoint Outercore: Without the PowerUsers, life on planet SharePoint would be very
different.

10. Inner Core
Most people dwell on the surface of
SharePoint and never realize how
important the inner core is
At the inner core of SharePoint, that is
the most important part of the
SharePoint eco-system, reside the Users
A CMS designed and built keeping the
end-users at the core has a better
chance surviving and appreciated
Creatures of the Inner Core
•
•
•
•
End Users
Your Customers
Your Partners
Your Clients
Creatures that should visit this area
• Everyone
 Earth’s inner core: Though appearing homogenous, is not completely uniform.
 SharePoint inner core: Though appearing homogenous, is the most varied part of the ecosystem

11. Are we there yet?
The more you learn about
Earth, the more you realize that
it is really such a
wonderful, unique planet in all
the known Universe.
The more you learn about
SharePoint, the more you
realize that it is such a
wonderful, unique Content
Management System, among
many CMS.
Welcome to World of SharePoint

12. References
Images and Geological information – thanks to wikipedia.org