What SharePoint 2010 terms do you use?

September 10, 2010 at 8:15 am | Posted in governance, intranet, SharePoint 2010 | 11 Comments
Tags: bt intranet, governance, sharepoint 2010

I have been finding out more about SharePoint 2010 and how BT could put it to good use improving our intranet. Someone described SP 2010 as “the best sweetie shop in town” but I feel as the BT Intranet manager that I’m at the front door reminding everyone they still need to eat a healthy diet.

Having asked people for their view on SharePoint 2010 and how to make it a success I’m trying to clarity what terms people are finding are best to explain the many features and roles of SP 2010.

I realise that terms I used to use for other publishing tools like ‘template’ have a different meaning when I talk about SP 2010. So I wonder what are you using that is simple, easy to understand, and non-technical to build a common understanding when talking about SP 2010.

SP 2010 features

What does site collection, site (as opposed to a site collection), workspace, master page, permissions, web part, My Site, My Profile, site definitions, features, themes, containers mean in simple terms

SP 2010 roles

What is a site collection administrator, site owner, workspace owner in simple terms?

It would be great to build up a common set of terms we are all familiar with when talking about SP 2010.

11 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Mark

Have you come across the glossary developed by Richard Harbridge at http://www.rharbridge.com/?page_id=60?

Comment by Martin White— September 10, 2010 #

Reply
- Martin,
  
  No I haven’t come across Richard’s glossary. This is very helpful and useful to me and probably many other people involved in any way with SP 2010.
  
  Thanks for the link.
  
  Mark
  
  Comment by markmorrell— September 11, 2010 #
  
  Reply
Unfortunately, you can’t escape technical jargon when talking about SharePoint – even for endusers. So what I did was breaking it down to the most common terms: Site, List, Library, View, Web Part. After people get a grasp of these terms and what they mean, they’re usually good to go. Of course with SP 2010 and its many additonal features, you might need to expand that list a little bit.

Quite frankly, even SharePoint admins sometimes get confused with all these terms

Comment by Mark Simon— September 11, 2010 #

Reply
- Mark,
  
  Yes, I agree it is unavoidable but I have found some terms can have very different meanings and can cause confusion over what people are talking about.
  
  Have you seen Martin’s link in his comment below to Richard Harbridge’s list? It expands on your list once people have a better grasp of SP 2010.
  
  Mark
  
  Comment by markmorrell— September 11, 2010 #
  
  Reply
  - I have seen the list and agree, these are terms that a power user sooner or later encounters.
    
    Apart from that, no one is holding you back if you prefer to introduce your own terms for a SharePoint rollout. This especially works well for step-by-step approaches that don’t try to make use of everything SP offers, but instead focus on business-related use cases (I think in of the other comment threads there was a mention of specific Team Sites for Project Management, this would be a prime example).
    
    Personally, I think that relates what you want to accomplish with SP, is it an intranet portal, social collaboration, workflows, or one of the other things SP can do more or less well.
    
    Comment by Mark Simon— September 11, 2010 #
Mark,

That’s right. The deployment of SP 2010 in BT will decide the extent of the terms used. It’s always good to have something that has been used such as your short list of common terms.

Thanks again for your help.

Mark

Comment by markmorrell— September 13, 2010 #

Reply
[...] Mark Morrell An insight into how intranets are managed « What SharePoint 2010 terms do you use? [...]

Pingback by Always get the basics right « Mark Morrell— September 16, 2010 #

Reply
What SharePoint 2010 terms do you use? « Mark Morrell…

This article has been submitted to IntranetLounge, a website with a collection of links to the best articles about intranets…

Trackback by IntranetLounge— September 17, 2010 #

Reply
[...] customer. Mark Morrell, the prolific BT intranet manager, has blogged a fair bit about SharePoint. This one quote will help you avoid confusion even though Microsoft insists on coming up with their own terminology: I realise that terms I used [...]

Pingback by 10 quotes on what SharePoint really is | J. Boye— November 23, 2010 #

Reply
Hi Janus,

Thanks for the quote and link. I hope you are well and relaxing after Aarhus 10.

Just to say I expect to blog a lot more about how BT is rolling out SharePoint 2010 to make sharing knowledge easier for everyone.

It’s been a good, sometimes ‘interesting’, journey so far.

Mark

Comment by markmorrell— November 23, 2010 #

Reply
[...] will start with the benefits and drawbacks of restricting use of key SP2010 features such as SP Designer and site administration [...]

Pingback by Strategic benefits and drawbacks of SharePoint 2010 « Mark Morrell— January 12, 2011 #

Reply

Mark Morrell Intranet Pioneer