The session outlines why IT operations teams need to be "SharePoint operational ready" by ensuring that when project teams handover solutions built using SharePoint, these can be supported using existing support tools and processes. The session covers IT operational management frameworks and how/why IT teams should plan to add SharePoint to their operational management duties. The session will cover roles, responsibilities and skills required in IT teams to be able to help the business manage and operate a SharePoint platform after "go-live". The session will look at some of the challenges and possible actions to overcome these in order to provide a stable and robust SharePoint operational management platform.

1. SharePoint Operational Management Taking your team from Newbies to Rock Stars

2. Chandima – aka “Chan” @chandimak on twitter Director @ Knowledge Cue from New Zealand Started with SharePoint 2001... SharePoint MVP since 2007 www.chandima.net/blog chandima@knowledgecue.com

3. Quick poll IT Managers? Developers? Business Analysts? Support/Help Desk Analysts? CIOs? Others?

4. Operational Management The managing of ‘stuff’ to keep everyone in a ‘happy’ place

5. Operational Management Characteristics There is work involved to ensure something is working (running) – ex: TimerJobs - Backups Schedule with actions to perform Daily/Weekly tasks Actions performed by ‘technical’ experts Focus is on repeatable and consistent actions Investment in equipment/technology or staff Value of operational actions must outweigh the costs

6. Frameworks… Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) Provides guidelines and process for service management in IT

7. Microsoft Operational Framework (MOF) Framework for delivering IT Service Solutions

8. Operate Phase of MOF

9. We already know that and we are MOF/ITIL/COBIT savvy!

10. Frameworks… and SharePoint Each of these come with their own pros and cons In ‘real world’ these can be very ‘logic’ driven and can be hard to be put into ‘practical’ use Lot’s of acronyms but not much ‘action’ Requires expertise ‘in-house’ or have to be trained and administered to gain measurable success overtime

11. I will shoot the dog if you don’t apply <insert> to my SharePoint!

12. SharePoint – post deployment stress Company XYZ has deployed ‘SharePoint’ Company XYZ has used SharePoint ‘Expert(s)’ company ABC to build an Intranet/DM/RM/Widget etc – or something that no one knows apart from it’s ‘SharePoint’ You are part of a team or ‘the team’ who looks after IT or the designated ‘SharePoint thingamabob’ You get called into a meeting and you are IT! (from tomorrow) You are a manager who has been told by your boss that your team is now responsible for managing ‘SharePoint’! You get called/email by a user with “my sharepoint is broken”

13. THE CHALLENGE

14. Why is SharePoint special? It’s a business enabler Requires ‘business first’ attitude Usually it’s the g33ks who get’s to play with it first and make rules on how to use it… (and manage it) There is shortage of people with experience in business/technical balance People who have ‘skillz’ was already recruited by your competition 

15. PLATFORM

17. What is the core platform? Hardware Network Software Management and Operations

18. Solution Solution Solution Solution Solution Solution Solution Solution Solution SharePoint Platform Development Test Production Production Backup Disaster Recovery

19. Organic PLATFORM

20. Key decision points Learn as you go Up skill your existing team Look for a ‘SharePoint-SomethingSomething’ – call Bob the recruiter Seek external expertise Outsource everything Out source but In Source key knowledge Do nothing..

21. Operational Capability Measurement Process Operational Capability Executed by Capture People Technology Using

22. Easier said than done… The mythical all encompassing ‘Governance’ document! – who wrote that? Fairly new people in SharePoint space People leave.. (after you’ve trained them!) Continuous change.. More solutions.. Shrinking windows for overall SLA’s High complexity..

23. What should a Team do?

24. Operations Planning – solution vs. platform Separating “technical exercise” Identifying the overall process Risk assessment Business impact assessment Business continuity plan

25. Planning Scenarios ABC application is a business application used by all users between the hrs. of 8am and 6pm It is hosted on the SharePoint platform XXX server has gone down and to mitigate the business impact to users of ABC application we need XXX to be operational in N hrs. In order to recover XXX server/system we will opt for YY process. In order to meet this we need ZZ hardware/software etc

26. RTO and RPO Recovery Time Objective The amount of time that can elapse between the occurrence of a ‘disaster’ and the affected system being returned to an ‘agreed’ operational readiness state The time it takes to get up and running again

27. RTO and RPO Recovery Point Objective The amount of time prior to any ‘disaster’ where data loss may (and will) occur Maximum amount of data loss that is deemed acceptable in the event of DR Near – Zero RPO always incurs $$$ and complexity

28. Less critical RPO = 12 Hrs. – Data loss of 12 Hrs. or less RTO = 24 Hrs. – SharePoint is unavailable for 24 Hrs. Disaster declared at 8am Last backup at or after 8pm Fully operational by at 8am next day Time RPO 12 Hrs. RTO 24 Hrs.

29. High critical RPO = 30 Mins. – Data loss of 30 Mins. or less RTO = 1 Hrs. – SharePoint is unavailable for 1 Hrs. Disaster declared at 8am Last backup at or after 7.30am Fully operational by at 9am Time RPO 30 Mins. RTO 1 Hrs.

30. Company ‘Crash n Burn’ Users 200 Distributed to 3 offices (3 locations) No centralized IT team Very re-active to business/user needs Strong focus on ‘new shiny’ technology driven by IT Short lived projects with low budget Unfinished projects DIY mentality

31. What ‘Crash n Burn’ wanted.. And got.. Our users wanted a place to store some documents. We are running out of server space and thought that we should put documents in SharePoint We asked ‘company’ to setup SharePoint and have been using SharePoint to store documents and now we also use it as our Intranet One of our guys want to know how to look after it since we don’t want to keep paying for support

33. MOF/ITIL/COBIT for Gig 1?

34. Company ACME Users 6000+ Distributed to 2 offices Centralized IT team Long term IT strategy and vision with CIO and second and third level management teams Risk averse – prove before move IT spending is managed and aligned to business growth

35. Acme wish list… We want to see if we can provide our teams with the ability to share documents online relating to projects that they need to have access to across the two locations Longer term we have identified that we need to apply document management practices across all our business units – so this can be used as a test bed as it’s in our business plan Before we buy into any technology we’d like to see if it (technology) fits within our current IT framework and if we need to hire new staff or up skill existing staff

36. Finding the ‘Balance’ Soft skills and technical skills Very good business communication skills Spatial awareness of organisation

37. Training… not an afterthought.. There is no point in telling someone else to run with SharePoint if you don’t know how to walk with SharePoint Invest in a balanced mix of out sourced vs. in sourced Ensure you get ROI from vendors/third parties by working with them directly ‘on-site’

38. Daily Tasks Performing Physical Environmental Checks Performing and Monitoring Backups Checking Disk Usage Checking the Event Viewer Monitoring Server Performance Monitoring Network Performance

39. Weekly Tasks Archive Event Logs Check for Security Updates Review SLA Performance Figures Archive Data Environmental Tests Database Maintenance

40. Monthly Tasks Security Checks Capacity Planning Disaster Recovery Test

41. Key Takeaways -Operational Management The managing of stuff to keep everyone in a ‘happy’ place There is NO ‘one size fits all’ What works for me will not work for you Take the ideas and build on them Start Small – Think BIG Consider Office365 > All of the usual operational headaches are taken care of! White paper with ‘Tasks’ and ‘Checklists’ > http://bit.ly/spopschecklist - good learning point…

42. Other sessions Health and Monitoring for the IT Pro – Todd Carter (part 1) 4.15pm – Whittle Room Extending Health and Monitoring – Todd Carter (part 2) Wednesday 3pm Westminister Room Fine Tuning SharePoint 2010 – performance and optimasation – 4.15pm WestministerRoom – Eric Schupps and Rob Foster (Developers)

43. Thanks… chandima@knowledgecue.com http://www.knowledgecue.com/blog