Office 365 and Office 2013 launched!

Office 365 and Office 2013 launched!

Office is definitely the topic of the moment and below is some information about this great new release along with details about the consumer and community support offerings now available. 

Yesterday Microsoft reached another very exciting milestone on our journey to a devices and services company, with the launch of the new Office to consumers.

This is the biggest and most ambitious release of Office yet, and builds on a fantastic launch year for the company.  Steve Ballmer made a blog post detailing four important announcements:

  • Office 365 Home Premium is available worldwide
  • Office 365 University is now available worldwide
  • Retail availability of Office 2013

     


 

Additional Information:

 

Office 365 Home Premium

Also, Office 365 Home Premium is a great new option for consumers and the benefits include:

  • All the Office Professional applications
  • A household license for up to 5 PCs/Macs/mobile devices
  • An extra 20GB of SkyDrive Storage
  • 60 minutes of Skype calling each month
  • A service that is always up to date.
Planning Worksheets for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013

Planning Worksheets for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013

The following downloads are worksheets designed to help plan aspects of a SharePoint 2010 or a SharePoint 2013 implementation, and at the same time ensure that decisions in the design are captured.So, you should use these in conjunction with the development of the following documents:

1: SharePoint User Requirements – these define SharePoint collaborative environments for the users based on their requirements, and provides a fundamental understanding of interconnected tools and applications the organization uses in conjunction with the platform. SharePoint User Requirements also identify where content should be consolidated, reduce and improve data management; reduce duplication and boost productivity as defined by the clients’ vision of SharePoint.

2: SharePoint System Specification (also known as SharePoint Solution Specification) – expands the User Requirements, Planning and Decisions concerning SharePoint as technical requirements. The system specification is a clear, complete and unambiguous set of documentation, describing the SharePoint for the organization in terms of its function, performance, interfaces and design constraints.

The below is divided as follows:

  • Area – Specific SharePoint area
  • Link – where the document can be downloaded from
  • Type – the kind of information captured and which document is more associated with its output. UR = User Requirements, SS = System Specifications

Where it helps – describes the context and areas of SharePoint design gathering these documents can be used. Note that I have also indicated whether the worksheet is for SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2013.

Area Link Plan Type Where it helps
Backup and Recovery http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=184385 Planning SS SharePoint 2010. Help you plan strategies for backup and recovery.
Content deployment http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167835 Content Deployment SS SharePoint 2010 / 2013. .Plan the export and import servers in the   farms in your content deployment topology, and to plan the content deployment   paths and jobs.
Document management http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=165871 Stakeholders UR SharePoint 2010 / 2013. .Identify document management planning   stakeholders and record document management practices.
Document management http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=165873 Usage UR SharePoint 2010 / 2013. Record information gathered when analyzing   document usage.
Document management http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=165874 Document Libraries UR SharePoint 2010 / 2013. Plan libraries based on sites and on document   types.
Document management http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=165883 Policy UR SharePoint 2010 / 2013. Plan information management policies for   content types.
Managed metadata http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=163486 Term Sets UR SharePoint 2010 / 2013. Determine basic taxonomy, including term,   usage, owner, and group.
Managed metadata http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=163487 Term Sets UR SharePoint 2010 / 2013. .Determine taxonomy including detailed   identifying characteristics such as measurements.
Managed metadata http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=164578 Managed Metadata Service UR / SS SharePoint 2010 / 2013. .Plan to share metadata information using   managed metadata services and connections.
Metadata-based routing and storage planning http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=189018&clcid=0x409 Content Organizer Settings SS SharePoint 2010 / 2013. .Determine and record how the content   organizer settings in your site can be an effective part of your   metadata-based content routing and storage solution.
Metadata-based routing and storage planning http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=189019&clcid=0x409 Content Organizer Rule SS SharePoint 2010 / 2013. .Plan rules that will be an effective part of   your metadata-based routing and storage solution.
Prepare for upgrade http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=179928 Upgrade SS SharePoint 2010.Record information about your environment while you   prepare for upgrade.
Records management http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=185011 In Place Records UR SharePoint 2010.Identify record types and content types to be stored   in normal document libraries.
Sites and site collections, Navigation, Themes http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167837 Site UR / SS SharePoint 2010.Plan top level site collections and sites, and record   decisions about site themes and navigation.
Backup and Recovery http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=256660 Planning SS SharePoint 2013. Help you plan strategies for backup and recovery.
Service   Deployment http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=256658 Planning SS SharePoint 2013: Plan for an indicate the services that will run on   farm servers
Prepare for upgrade http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/LinkId=256659 Upgrade SS SharePoint 2010.Record information about your environment while you   prepare for upgrade.
e-Discovery http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/LinkID=254840 Usage: UR SharePoint 2013: Record the decisions that you make as you plan to implement eDiscovery in your SharePoint environment, including decisions about eDiscovery Centers and permissions
Email http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=267990 Planning:SS SharePoint 2013: Plan for incoming email for your   SharePoint farm

I’m going to add some more documents to aid gathering of information relevant to other areas of SharePoint user requirements and system specification. You should also take a look at my user requirements article – that can help you determine the format of those documents and how the above can link.

Some Guiding Principles for SharePoint Service Delivery

Some Guiding Principles for SharePoint Service Delivery

SharePoint Service Delivery concerns itself with capability, and the methods used to ensure that the clients SharePoint vision and goals align with the users, and includes focusing how those responsible for managing the platform (the technical teams) fit and provide that service through guiding principles. These, if followed will ensure that your SharePoint environment can be managed in a structured and measured way.

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