The process of planning the appropriate combination
of lists and libraries to meet the needs of different business units and
groups can be very simple or very complex, depending on the general
philosophies surrounding the SharePoint project and the needs of the
organization. Some organizations spend a minimal amount of time
planning, build one or more SharePoint site collections with sites
defined for business units, departments, or groups, and then allow end
users to customize these environments with the lists and libraries that
they deem best suited to their needs. Other organizations create sites
and site collections using carefully crafted templates that have
specific combinations of preconfigured lists and libraries, and
carefully weigh the pros and cons of the different types of lists and
libraries and related features that can be provided. And then there are
other permutations. For the sake of discussion, it is posited here that
four primary strategies can be employed:
1. | Minimal planning and testing; minimal restrictions on list and library use and configuration
|
2. | Minimal planning and testing; more restrictions on list and library use and configuration
|
3. | More extensive planning and testing; minimal restrictions on list and library use and configuration
|
4. | More extensive planning and testing; more restrictions on list and library use and configuration
|
By using the
minimal planning and testing approach, the organization shortens the
time frame of the implementation, which generally controls the costs of
the project. In general, the risks of “missing the mark” are higher in
the minimal planning and testing approach. This can manifest, from the
author’s experience, in sluggish adoption of the lists and libraries,
unless end users are already experienced with, and even clamoring for,
SharePoint technologies, or have training made readily available.
Alternatively, assuming end users adopt the technology, this “blank
slate” approach encourages end users to modify the tools to meet their
specific needs. Combine this minimal planning approach with minimal
restriction on the types of lists and libraries that can be used, and
empower certain users to configure these lists to meet their needs, and
the results can be positive. Tightly control the range of lists and
libraries that can be used and restrict end users’ ability to change the
configuration of lists and libraries, and IT stays integrated in the
adoption cycle, learns what the end users are requesting in terms of
functionality, and can develop best practices along the way.
On the other hand, more
extensive planning and testing requires more time and resource
involvement and can add to the overall costs of the project. Pilots,
prototypes, and proof of concepts can be executed and managed, with
specific decisions made along the way of which lists and libraries will
be made available and which tools enabled in the lists and libraries.
Following the implementation, end users can be more or less empowered to
create new libraries and lists and customize the configurations.
Every organization has its own
processes and methodologies for planning and testing, so those topics
won’t be addressed in detail, but the topics revolving around list and
library use and configuration will be looked at in detail to help
readers better understand the capabilities of the lists, libraries, and
related tools provided by SharePoint 2010, and then decide which are
appropriate for the implementations.
Understanding the Range of List and Library Options
This section delves into more detail on the different options and
provides some guidance on how they should be used from a high level. Due
to the sheer number of lists and libraries as shown in Table 1,
a detailed overview of each one is beyond the scope .
This table clarifies whether the template will create a list or a
library, whether the template is available in SharePoint Foundation 2010
or SharePoint Server 2010 Standard or Enterprise, and provides notes on
what the list or library is designed by Microsoft to be used for, and
key tidbits of information about effectively using the list or library.
Table 1. Library and List Options in SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 Standard and Enterprise
| Template Name | List or Library? | Available in SharePoint Foundation 2010? | Available in SharePoint Server 2010 Standard? | Available in SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise? | Functionality and Notes |
|---|
| Document Library | Library | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed for general document storage. |
| Form Library | Library | Yes | Yes | Yes | Intended
for storage of InfoPath Forms. Requires InfoPath 2007 or 2010 on the
desktop for end users or SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise and
Enterprise CALs for end users. |
| Wiki Page Library | Library | Yes | Yes | Yes | Manage wiki pages in one library. |
| Picture Library | Library | Yes | Yes | Yes | General graphical file managements. Microsoft Picture Manager needs to be installed on the desktop to upload multiple files. |
| Asset Library | Library | No | Yes | Yes | Designed to store Image, Audio, or Video files. Has Image, Audio, and Video content types enabled by default. |
| Slide Library | Library | No | Yes | Yes | Store PowerPoint slides. Must be published from PowerPoint 2007 or 2010. |
| Data Connection Library | Library | No | No | Yes | Store
Office Data Connection (ODC) file or a Universal Data Connection (UDC)
file. InfoPath 2010 is recommended for use in creating ODC or UDC files. |
| Report Library | Library | No | No | Yes | Designed to store reports. Has the Report and Web Part Page with Status List content types available. |
| Announcements | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed to store announcements with title, body, and expiration date information. |
| Contacts | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed
to store contact information. If Connect to Outlook is used, will be
recognized as Outlook 2007 or 2010 Contacts list and can be edited. |
| Discussion Board | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed to store threaded discussions. |
| Links | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed to store links with URL and Notes. |
| Calendar | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed
to store items with start and end date and times. Has the Event content
type available. If Connect to Outlook is used, will be recognized as
Outlook 2007 or 2010 calendar, and can be edited. |
| Tasks | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed
to store task items assigned to a single person and have start date and
due dates assigned to them along with other data. The Task and Summary
Task content types are available by default. If Connect to Outlook is
used, will be recognized as Outlook 2007 or 2010 task list and can be
edited. |
| Project Tasks | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | An
extension of the standard Tasks list, the Project Tasks list includes a
Gantt style visualization feature. Can also be connected to Outlook
2007 or 2010. |
| Issue Tracking | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed
to store items assigned to a single person, and includes description,
category, and other data. Can have related issues. |
| Survey | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designed
for soliciting input from users. Input can have usernames visible or by
anonymous. Branching logic can be used. Ratings scale and Likert scale
are available. |
| Custom List | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Blank list that contains the Title field and can be customized to add additional fields as needed. |
| Custom List in Datasheet View | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Same
as Custom List, but uses a Datasheet view for the default view. The
client configuration must support Datasheet view or user won’t be able
to use the Datasheet view. |
| External List | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | This requires that an External content type has been defined by the farm administrator. |
| Import Spreadsheet | List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Creates a list from an Excel spreadsheet and translates Excel columns to SharePoint columns. |
| Status List | List | No | No | Yes | Allows
the creation of Indicators that access a view within a list or library,
and then calculate the number or percentage of items that meet certain
criteria. Values can then be defined for Red (warning value reached),
Yellow (between warning value and goal value), and Green (goal exceeded)
values. |
Although this list is
certainly not enough to make the final decision about which lists and
libraries the organization will support and make available to specific
sets of users, it can serve as a starting point, and the grid can be
expanded for use during the planning process. The design team can simply
review the lists and libraries, make decisions about whether to use
each one, and determine whether specific lists or libraries meet the
needs of a subset of users, groups, or divisions and verify that they
are all included in the version of SharePoint that the organization has
chosen. If an older version of Office is being used by the organization,
such as Office 2003, certain libraries will have limited functionality,
such as the Slide Library, which can only have slides published to it
from PowerPoint 2007 or 2010. Likewise, InfoPath is required to publish
forms to a form library and recommended to create ODC or UDC files in a
data connection library.
Leveraging the Team Site Template for Standardized Lists and Libraries
Organizations that want to
minimize the design and planning process can of course choose to use the
team site template and stick to the default lists and libraries
provided in it, rather than spend time discussing the merits of the
range of lists and libraries. The team site template contains the
following lists and libraries:
Shared Documents document library
Site Assets document library
Site Pages wiki library
Announcements announcements list
Calendar calendar list
Links links list
Tasks tasks list
Team Discussion discussion board
The team site template has
evolved over several editions of SharePoint and so represents a great
deal of thought and review of which lists and libraries are of the most
interest to typical user groups.
Tip
Add
a picture library and a contacts list to departmental or team sites
created from the Team Site template. The picture library is better
suited to storing images than the Site Assets document library that is
provided by default, and the contacts list is a very useful way of
listing key internal or external contacts that are pertinent to site
users.
