SharePoint Thomas

How to enable Audit functionality for a Site Collection

2021-12-29T16:53:00.008-08:00

How to enable audit functionality for a Site Collection in SharePoint

Applicable to

SharePoint Server Subscription Edition
SharePoint Server 2019
SharePoint Server 2016
SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise

Click here for details.

Four things to consider when implementing a Records Management solution in SharePoint

2017-03-14T12:18:00.003-07:00

Seamless integrated and hidden from users

Managing records is typically not every employee’s accountability. Putting obligations on users to do records management’s tasks will in most cases lead to failure. Users will find other – frictionless - ways of working with their content, resulting in unmanaged content.
Aim to implement a records management solution within your SharePoint environment that is providing automatic records classification, auto-declaring documents as records (based on rules), enriching your content automatically with additional metadata, and performing other records management tasks automatically. The OOTB records management capabilities in SharePoint will not do this for you, so you need to use a third party tools or develop a solution (the “Records Management feature”) to provide this type of functionality.

Extendable Content Type schema

Create your content type schema with the goal of having as few content types as possible. The number of content types needed should be driven by retention policies, and/or by other business drivers you have identified in your organization.
For example; instead of creating a content type for each document type, e.g. Cheque, Invoice, Requisition, Budget, Statement, etc. - create one content type named “Finance”. Instead of Minutes of Meeting, Letter, Newsletter, Notice, Policy, etc. – create one content type named “Administrative”. The result is a set of few, more generic, content types.
Designing an extendable content type schema will help you meet future needs. Also, make sure you have functionality available to provision your content types cross your SharePoint sites (e.g. using the Content Type Hub).
Example of a simple content type hierarchy:

Content Type	Parent	Description
Document	Item	OOTB content type.
Basis	Document	Contains common fields, which is inherited by child content types as well. Content type is created for manageability purposes only, and will not be provisioned to sites and available for users to choose from.
Finance	Basis	Enable in applicable document libraries only.
Administrative	Basis	Enable in applicable document libraries only.

If necessary, use additional fields to categorize the content further. Use the term store to host the values for these fields when possible.
Example of fields added to the Basis content type (and inherited by child content types):

Site Column	Part of Content Type	Description
Title	Item	OOTB
Created by	Item	OOTB
Modified by	Item	OOTB
Created date	Item	OOTB
Modified date	Item	OOTB
Document type	Basis	Values provided by the term store.
Document owner	Basis	People picker.
Record Classification	Basis	Values provided by your Records Management feature (via the term store). The Records management tool must manage the file plan, retention policies and other records management functionality. This field is the connection between your content and the Records management tool.
Year	Finance	Values provided by the term store.
Vendor name	Finance, Administrative	Unique field to child content types.
Section	Administrative	Unique field to child content type.

NOTE: Only add columns to your content types that will meet your business and/or records management needs. Promote values to these fields automatically if possible (via your Records Management feature, leveraging default column settings pr. Document library, etc.).

Redesign your File Plan

Do not import your existing file plan if it was designed for physical records. SharePoint will associate your content with a content type, and with content types comes fields/properties (as described in the tables above). This will allow you to categorize your content in a new way, and most likely, you should be able to design a much simpler file plan. By the way, SharePoint OOTB is only allowing you to create policies (in forms of workflows associated with e.g. content types) so you should probably not heading down that path. I highly recommend you purchasing a third party tool to help you managing your file plan in an enterprise fashion.
Design an information architecture in SharePoint to allow for automatic records classification. Also, make sure it is easy and straightforward for users add their content. For someone in the Finance department, it might be important to separate the content on a more refined level than the content type “Finance” (see above table), so you might end up creating multiple document libraries for that purpose. For each document library you can configure default Content type (Finance), default (unique) Document Type, and default (unique) Records Classification values. The retention policy is defined in the file plan and mapped via the record classification value applied to the content.
Example of retention period for finance related record classifications:

Record Classification	Retention Period
Finance general	CY+2; 6y; D
Accounting general	CY+2; 6y; D
Accounting receivable	CY+2; 6y; D
Financial Statements	CY+2, 6y, P
Salaries and wages - Payroll	CY+2; 6y; D
Agreements	SO; nil; P

Approach

Implementing an enterprise level records management solution is a daunting task. If possible, make it an iterative process that allows you to engage with a single department, a single function, or another grouping of people - one at a time.
Pick a records management tool that allows you to manage your file plan (add, modify, and delete records categories, retention schedules and other parts of your file plan) in a user-friendly way - without depending on developers.
Having an iterative process + a records management tool that allows you to modify your file plan as you go + an extendable content type schema = engaging and fun records management project. It allows you to configure your solution, present it early to users, and make changes quickly based on feedback from your stakeholders. This “show and tell” approach allows you to gather meaningful feedback from your stakeholders, produce better value for your stakeholders, and eliminate creating unengaging documentation (waste).
I hope the above considerations are of help and “food for thought” in your records management journey/project.

How to enable Audit functionality in SharePoint 2010

2015-11-12T10:55:00.000-08:00

“Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 includes four information management policy features to help you manage your content: expiration, auditing, document labels, and document bar codes. - msdn.microsoft.com”

In this post I will focus on the audit capabilities in SharePoint 2010, more specifically how to enable the audit functionality.
When the audit functionally is enabled it will automatically log events and activities that is done on your content. The content could be documents, records and other items, such as task list and calendars.

Why

Why would you enable auditing in SharePoint? There could be different reasons, and they often depend on which vertical (e.g. Public/Government) you are located in.

Meet Regulatory and Legal requirements.
Track how documents (and items) are used.
Keep track of document history if documents are sent to the Content Organizer. When using the Content Organizer, the document’s version history is deleted. The audit log will be your source to the document history.

How

An Administrator has access to configure auditing, but a developer can also create custom code that read and write to the audit log. More details here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms441917.aspx.
What’s available for the administrator? The audit functionality can be enabled on different levels in SharePoint’s containment hierarchy. Specifically, you can enable auditing on these levels: site collection, library/list, folder, and content type.

Site Collection

Go to Site Actions –> Site Settings –> Site Collection Administration –> Site Collection audit settings.
Under the Document and Items section you can enable the events you would like to audit:

On the same page you also have the option to enable audit logging for Lists, Libraries and Sites:

Library/list

Go to [yourlibrary] –> Library Tools/Library –> Library Settings –> Permissions and Management –> Information management policy settings.
Under the Content Types Policies section you can define a new policy or choose an existing policy (created in the site collection).

More about how to create site collection policies later… In this example a choose “Define a policy…”
Scroll down to Auditing where you will be able to choose the events you want to add to the audit log:

Hey, wait a minute! This is not enabling auditing of all documents in this library.
True. It is more about being able to apply different events to audit, to different libraries, even when those libraries are using the same content types. Which leads us to how to apply auditing on the content type.

Content Type

Go to Site Actions –> Site Settings –> Galleries –> Site Content Type.
Scroll down to Document Content Types and click on Document.
Under Settings click on Information management policy settings:

Click on Enable Auditing and then select the events you would like to be written to the audit log.
Hmmm…. what happens if I have applied auditing on a content type, and now are trying to apply different rules at the library level?

Following the example above, I have enabled the “Edit items” events on the Content Type level. Going back to my library and into my library settings I find that I can’t apply specific policy settings because the library inherits the settings from the Content Type:

So, if you need to differentiate audit settings between libraries you cannot configure audit settings on the Content Type level.

Folder
A folder (in a library) is just another content type. See details above on how to configure auditing on content types.

Site Collection policies

You can predefine information management policies, and make them available for use within your site collection

Go to Site Actions –> Site Settings –> Site Collection Administration –> Site Collection policies.
Click Create.
A new page will let you predefine policies that also include more than the auditing. E.g you can create a policy for your Contracts that include both audit and retention settings. Having the policy predefined may make it easier for administrators to apply the correct policy to their content types.

Other things to consider…

Audit log trimming
By enabling auditing in a SharePoint environment with a large number of events, you will potentially end up with a large audit log which can affect the over all performance. It is recommended to enable audit log trimming for site collections with extensive auditing.

Go to Site Actions –> Site Settings –> Site Collection Administration –> Site Collection audit settings.

As you can see, the number of days of audit log data to retain is an optional field. If you don’t set this value the trimming will follow settings on the Farm level. This is done by the Farm Administrator using Central Admin.

Limit the size of the audit log
Only audit the events required to meet your needs. Which one of these events do you really need to log?

Audit log reports

Ok, I have enabled auditing.. how do I access my audit log?
I recommend you to check out this page for details: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/view-audit-log-reports-HA102039795.aspx

Resources

Configure audit settings for site collection	http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/configure-audit-settings-for-a-site-collection-HA010099726.aspx
Version history erased when using Content Organizer	http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff453933.aspx#Auditing
SPAudit Class	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms441917.aspx
View audit log reports	http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/view-audit-log-reports-HA102039795.aspx

Web Parts in SharePoint

2015-11-11T18:14:00.000-08:00

This is a list of OOTB web parts in SharePoint. At this point the list does not indicate which edition of SharePoint and which feature the web part belongs to.

Category	Web Part	About
Lists and Libraries	n/a	Available web parts depends on created lists and libraries in the site.
Business Data	Business Data Actions	Displays a list of actions from Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data	Business Data Connectivity Filter	Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values from the Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data	Business Data Item	Displays one item from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data	Business Data Item Builder	Creates a Business Data item from parameters in the query string and provides it to other Web Parts.
Business Data	Business Data List	Displays a list of items from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data	Business Data Related List	Displays a list of items related to one or more parent items from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.
Business Data	Chart Web Part	Helps you to visualize your data on SharePoint sites and portals.
Business Data	Excel Web Access	Use the Excel Web Access Web Part to interact with an Excel workbook as a Web page.
Business Data	Indicator Details	Displays the details of a single Status Indicator. Status Indicators display an important measure for an organization and may be obtained from other data sources including SharePoint lists, Excel workbooks, and SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services KPIs.
Business Data	Status List	Shows a list of Status Indicators. Status Indicators display important measures for your organization, and show how your organization is performing with respect to your goals.
Business Data	Visio Web Access	Enables viewing and refreshing of Visio Web Drawings.
Content Rollup	Categories	Displays categories from the Site Directory.
Content Rollup	Content Query	Displays a dynamic view of content from your site.
Content Rollup	Relevant Documents	Displays documents that are relevant to the current user.
Content Rollup	RSS Viewer	Displays an RSS feed.
Content Rollup	Site Aggregator	Displays sites of your choice.
Content Rollup	Sites in Category	Displays sites from the Site Directory within a specific category.
Content Rollup	Summary Links	Allows authors to create links that can be grouped and styled.
Content Rollup	Table Of Contents	Displays the navigation hierarchy of your site.
Content Rollup	Web Analytics Web Part	Displays the most viewed content, most frequent search queries from a site, or most frequent search queries from a search center.
Content Rollup	WSRP Viewer	Displays portlets from web sites using WSRP 1.1.
Content Rollup	XML Viewer	Transforms XML data using XSL and shows the results.
Document Sets	Document Set Contents	Displays the contents of the Document Set.
Document Sets	Document Set Properties	Displays the properties of the Document Set.
Filters	Choice Filter	Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values entered by the page author
Filters	Current User Filter	Filters the contents of Web Parts by using properties of the current user.
Filters	Date Filter	Filter the contents of Web Parts by allowing users to enter or pick a date.
Filters	Filter Actions	Use the Filter Actions Web Part when you have two or more filter Web Parts on one Web Part Page, and you want to synchronize the display of the filter results.
Filters	Page Field Filter	Filters the contents of Web Parts using information about the current page.
Filters	Query String (URL) Filter	Filters the contents of Web Parts using values passed via the query string.
Filters	SharePoint List Filter	Filters the contents of Web Parts by using a list of values.
Filters	SQL Server Analysis Services Filter	Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values from SQL Server Analysis Services cubes.
Filters	Text Filter	Filters the contents of Web Parts by allowing users to enter a text value.
Forms	HTML Form Web Part	Connects simple form controls to other Web Parts.
Forms	InfoPath Form Web Part	Use this Web Part to display an InfoPath browser-enabled form.
Media and Content	Content Editor	Allows authors to enter rich text content.
Media and Content	Image Viewer	Displays a specified image.
Media and Content	Media Web Part	Use to embed media clips (video and audio) in a web page.
Media and Content	Page Viewer	Displays another Web page on this Web page. The other Web page is presented in an IFrame.
Media and Content	Picture Library Slideshow	Web Part Use to display a slideshow of images and photos from a picture library.
Media and Content	Silverlight Web Part	A web part to display a Silverlight application.
Outlook Web App	My Calendar	Displays your calendar using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.
Outlook Web App	My Contacts	Displays your contacts using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.
Outlook Web App	My Inbox	Displays your inbox using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.
Outlook Web App	My Mail Folder	Displays your mail folder using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2000.
Outlook Web App	My Tasks	Displays your tasks using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.
PerformancePoint	PerformancePoint Filter	This web part displays PerformancePoint filters. Filters may be linked to other web parts to provide an interactive dashboard experience. Filter types include lists and trees based on a variety of data sources.
PerformancePoint	PerformancePoint Report	This web part displays PerformancePoint reports. Reports may be linked to other web parts to create an interactive dashboard experience. Report types include: Analytic charts & grids, Strategy Maps, Excel Services, Reporting Services, Predictive Trend charts, and web pages.
PerformancePoint	PerformancePoint Scorecard	This web part displays a PerformancePoint scorecard. Scorecards may be linked to other web parts, such as filters and reports, to create an interactive dashboard experience.
PerformancePoint	PerformancePoint Stack Selector	This web part displays a PerformancePoint Stack Selector. All PerformancePoint web parts, such as filters and reports, contained in the same zone will be automatically stacked and selectable using this web part.
Search	Advanced Search Box	Displays parameterized search options based on properties and combinations of words.
Search	Dual Chinese Search	Used to search Dual Chinese document and items at the same time.
Search	Federated Results	Displays search results from a configured location
Search	Find by Document ID	Finds a document by its Document ID.
Search	People Refinement Panel	This web part helps the users to refine people search results
Search	People Search Box	Presents a search box that allows users to search for people.
Search	People Search Core Results	Displays the people search results and the properties associated with them.
Search	Refinement Panel	This web part helps the users to refine search results
Search	Related Queries	This web part displays related queries to a user query.
Search	Search Action Links	Displays the search action links on the search results page.
Search	Search Best Bets	Displays high-confidence results on a search results page.
Search	Search Box	Displays a search box that allows users to search for information.
Search	Search Core Results	Displays the search results and the properties associated with them.
Search	Search Paging	Display links for navigating pages containing search results.
Search	Search Statistics	Displays the search statistics such as the number of results shown on the current page, total number of results and time taken to perform the search.
Search	Search Summary	Displays suggestions for current search query.
Search	Search Visual Best Bet	Displays Visual Best Bet
Search	Top Federated Results	Displays the Top Federated result from the configured location.
Social Collaboration	Contact Details	Displays details about a contact for this page or site.
Social Collaboration	Note Board	Enable users to leave short, publicly-viewable notes about this page.
Social Collaboration	Organization Browser	This Web Part displays each person in the reporting chain in an interactive view optimized for browsing organization charts.
Social Collaboration	Site Users	Use the Site Users Web Part to see a list of the site users and their online status.
Social Collaboration	Tag Cloud	Displays the most popular subjects being tagged inside your organization.
Social Collaboration	User Tasks	Displays tasks that are assigned to the current user.
SQL Server Reporting	SQL Server Reporting Services Report Viewer	Use the Report Viewer to view SQL Server Reporting Services reports.

Term based navigation in SharePoint 2013

2013-02-24T15:49:00.001-08:00

An exciting new feature in SharePoint 2013 is Managed Navigation. This feature allows us to design a site navigation that is driven by terms/topics rather than (site) structure.

In some scenarios it makes sense to navigate to content based on topics/terms - instead of structure. Imagine being a new employee in a large telecom company and trying to find knowledge about 4G technologies. How would you start navigating a structure to find such knowledge? By business unit? By teams? By technology?
The managed navigation feature allows you to keep up with changes and trends and provide great navigation around important business concepts without changing the structure of the site.
The new navigation feature also provides a way to implement user- and SEO friendly URL’s.
You still have to organize your content in site structures in SharePoint but think of the managed navigation as an layer on top (of the site structure) that allows you to create links directly to content that could be hosted deep in the structure.
This post is a quick introduction to how to configure managed navigation and peek into some of the possibilities this new feature provides.

Enable Managed Navigation

Under Site Settings / Look and Feel click on Navigation.
This page allows you select managed navigation for your global and current navigation. Note that you still have the option to run in “classic” mode (structural navigation):

Other settings on this page allows you define the term set that will be used for navigation terms and if new pages created should be added to the term set automatically. You can also specify if friendly url’s should be created automatically.

Edit navigation

When managed navigation is enabled you can easily manage the terms (or menu items), their relationship to each other and other properties e.g. friendly URL, using the Term store management tool.
A new term set is created within the site collection term store to host all terms associated with the navigation. When clicking on one of the terms additional tabs are visible (on the top of the page) allowing you to configure the terms according to your needs:

I have created a simple navigation structure to demonstrate some of the new capabilities. The navigation items are Home, HR and Ops. Home also has a sub item (News). This is how the navigation shows up for the users:

This is how the sub item shows up:

This is how the navigation items shows up in the Term Store Management Tool (Site settings / Site Administration / Term store management):

My navigation consists of both simple links and term-driven pages with friendly URL.
Simple links:
The HR node is configured with a link to a page the user will be taken to when clicking on the menu item:

Term-driven pages:
The Ops node is configured as a “Term driven page with Friendly URL”, and the details about which page to load and how the URL should be presented are configured the following way:

As you can see the Ops page is actually hosted in a page library in a site named /ops/ which is a sub site of /hr/ ; thus the navigation structure is different than the site structure.
The absolute url to this page is /hr/ops/Pages/home.aspx but the friendly URL is presented as expected:

References

MSDN	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj163978.aspx
TechNet – What’s new in WCM in SP 2013	http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219688.aspx

Cross published from
http://habaneroconsulting.com/Blog/Posts/Term_based_navigation_in_SharePoint_2013.aspx

Access Services in SharePoint 2013

2012-11-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Access is a 20 year old product and there have been multiple attempts to integrate Access features in earlier versions of SharePoint. Is it better now?

This post will provide you with insight about changes and capabilities — and maybe you will consider using Access Services to manage structured data when creating your next solution. Simply put, Simply put, SharePoint 2013’s Access Services allows us to host relational databases within SharePoint. The Access client is still used to create and design tables, views, macros, and more. End-users will use a browser when interacting with the Access App. Access Services is available in Office 365 (depending on your plan) and on-premise (see Resources at the bottom of this post).

App model

"Everything" is an App in SharePoint 2013, and Access Apps are no different. These apps are self-contained pieces of functionality, and are easy to install, use, manage, upgrade, and remove. Users discover and download apps from their company’s App Catalogue or the SharePoint store.

Easy to create an Access App

An Access App can be added to your site in three steps;

Add
Design (database schema and logic)
Publish

To add an Access App, go to Site Action and click "Add an App"

Find and select Access App:

Give it a name and click "Create".
The next step is to create and design your database schema:
The Access Client 2013 is required when designing your Access App.
When you have finished database design, Publish it and the App will be part of your site content: In my example, I chose a pre-defined schema (customer) to be part of my Access App. The form (user interface) was automatically generated and the necessary artifacts created in SQL Azure (because I am on Office 365). You also have the option to import data from Access databases, CSV files, Excel, ODBC data and SharePoint List when creating your tables (database schema). When the Access App is added to your site, other users can navigate and manipulate the data using the browser:

SQL

All Access data is now stored in SQL Server, which makes it easier to manage the Access data and scale the environment appropriately. Note that Access services requires SQL Server 2012, and a separate SQL server is recommended to host the Access databases. Do the necessary capacity-, performance- and other planning before you enable Access services in your on-premise SharePoint farm. Take a look at this whitepaper for details and other requirements. When using Office 365, the SQL databases are created in SQL Azure.

Security

When an Access App is created a SQL database is automatically created to store the data. Each Access App will generate a new SQL database, and databases are not shared between Access Apps. The relationship between the Access App and the SQL database is transparent for the end users, and there is no need for the user to authenticate (again) when using the Access App. Permissions to the Access App are managed by adding people (and/or AD groups) to the SharePoint security groups (e.g. Visitor, Member, and Owner) in the site that hosts the Access App. See this whitepaper for necessary configuration steps on on-premise hosting.

Reporting

Because all data is now stored in SQL Server you can use a tool of your preference to create reports. You are able to connect to the SQL database using ODBC and can take advantage of existing skillsets you might have in e.g. Crystal Reports, Excel, and Power View.

Search

Access Services is leveraging the full-text search capabilities within SQL 2012 and is used when people are searching for information using the Access App. The search service in SharePoint is not aware of the content that is hosted within Access services, so consider creating a content source to crawl, process and add Access content to the search index.

Resources

White paper – Office 2013 – Access Services Setup for an On-Premises installation: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30445 Microsoft Access blog: http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-access/ Access for developers: http://msdn.microsoft.com/access

Cross published from http://habaneroconsulting.com/Blog/Posts/Access_Services_in_SharePoint_2013.aspx

Permission Level

2012-01-30T13:01:00.001-08:00

Here is a cheat sheet of the OOTB Permission Levels in SharePoint 2010:
(Click here to download the pdf version)

		Permission Level
Type	Permission	Full Control	Design	Contribute	Read	Limited Access	Approve	Manage Hierarchy	Restricted Read	View Only
List	Manage Lists - Create and delete lists, add or remove columns in a list, and add or remove public views of a list.	x	x					x
List	Override Check Out - Discard or check in a document which is checked out to another user.	x	x				x	x
List	Add Items - Add items to lists and add documents to document libraries.	x	x	x			x	x
List	Edit Items - Edit items in lists, edit documents in document libraries, and customize Web Part Pages in document libraries.	x	x	x			x	x
List	Delete Items - Delete items from a list and documents from a document library.	x	x	x			x	x
List	View Items - View items in lists and documents in document libraries.	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x
List	Approve Items - Approve a minor version of a list item or document.	x	x				x
List	Open Items - View the source of documents with server-side file handlers.	x	x	x	x		x	x	x
List	View Versions - View past versions of a list item or document.	x	x	x	x		x	x		x
List	Delete Versions - Delete past versions of a list item or document.	x	x	x			x	x
List	Create Alerts - Create alerts.	x	x	x	x		x	x		x
List	View Application Pages - View forms, views, and application pages. Enumerate lists.	x	x	x	x		x	x		x
Site	Manage Permissions - Create and change permission levels on the Web site and assign permissions to users and groups.	x						x
Site	View Web Analytics Data - View reports on Web site usage.	x						x
Site	Create Subsites - Create subsites such as team sites, Meeting Workspace sites, and Document Workspace sites.	x						x
Site	Manage Web Site - Grants the ability to perform all administration tasks for the Web site as well as manage content.	x						x
Site	Add and Customize Pages - Add, change, or delete HTML pages or Web Part Pages, and edit the Web site using a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation-compatible editor.	x	x					x
Site	Apply Themes and Borders - Apply a theme or borders to the entire Web site.	x	x
Site	Apply Style Sheets - Apply a style sheet (.CSS file) to the Web site.	x	x
Site	Create Groups - Create a group of users that can be used anywhere within the site collection.	x
Site	Browse Directories - Enumerate files and folders in a Web site using SharePoint Designer and Web DAV interfaces.	x	x	x			x	x
Site	View Pages - View pages in a Web site.	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x
Site	Enumerate Permissions - Enumerate permissions on the Web site, list, folder, document, or list item.	x						x
Site	Browse User Information - View information about users of the Web site.	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x
Site	Manage Alerts - Manage alerts for all users of the Web site.	x						x
Site	Use Remote Interfaces - Use SOAP, Web DAV, the Client Object Model or SharePoint Designer interfaces to access the Web site.	x	x	x	x		x	x		x
Site	Use Client Integration Features - Use features which launch client applications. Without this permission, users will have to work on documents locally and upload their changes.	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x
Site	Open - Allows users to open a Web site, list, or folder in order to access items inside that container.	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Site	Edit Personal User Information - Allows a user to change his or her own user information, such as adding a picture.	x	x	x			x	x
Personal	Manage Personal Views - Create, change, and delete personal views of lists.	x	x	x			x	x
Personal	Add/Remove Personal Web Parts - Add or remove personal Web Parts on a Web Part Page.	x	x	x			x	x
Personal	Update Personal Web Parts - Update Web Parts to display personalized information.	x	x	x			x	x

Introduction to Document Management in SharePoint 2010

2011-09-28T12:43:00.001-07:00

This blog post will cover the basic DM functionality available in SharePoint 2010 and tap into some of the more advanced features you might consider using to control your documents.
Hopefully this post will give you a quick intro to the DM functionality that is available out of the box (OOTB) and how you can configure SharePoint to meet your requirements.
Ok, let’s go ahead and look into the following areas:

Basic DM
Version control
Check in/out
Adding Metadata
Views

Basic Document Management

Documents are stored in document libraries within a SharePoint site. You can think of document libraries as locations (hard drives, shares) where files can be stored and organized (using folders and meta data) and permission applied.
To create a document library, click on the Site Action menu and choose “New Document Library”:

In this example I created a document library named “Shared Documents”, and left all other values as is:

Click “Create” to create the document library.

The document library is now created and because I left the value Yes in the Navigation section (in the screenshot above), we will have a link to the library in the Quick Launch (see screen shot below).

When clicking on the “Shared Documents” link in the Quick Launch, available functionality will present itself in the Ribbon. Available functionality is based on your permission level, if you have selected document(s), enabled features, etc.

Our newly created document library does not contain any documents at this point, thus the Ribbon presents minimal functionality (when clicking on Library Tools/Documents):

When clicking on Library Tools/Library (above the Ribbon) you will see we have more functionality available:

You will also get access to functionality by clicking on the drop-down menu for each document (more about this further down).

In addition to functionality available on the Ribbon, there is the “Add document” link that will give you the option to upload documents. Click on the “Add document” link, then click Browse, select a file, and click OK to upload the file to the document library:

Now, when checking the box to the left of the document, you will have access to more functionality on the Ribbon:

You will also have access to functionality by clicking on the document’s drop-down menu:

At this point there is one document in the document library, and users (based on permission level) are able to view, delete and edit the document, plus adding additional documents.

It’s pretty straight forward to create and start using OOTB document libraries, but it doesn’t necessarily provide the control you are looking for. The following paragraphs describe how you can enable functionality to get more control of your documents.

Version control

Version control provides functionality to save multiple instances (versions) of the same document, and keep the document history, without visually add more documents to the document library. In a file share, for instance, you have to create multiple files if you want to store the document history, and you often end up naming each file something like this; Contract_customer_version_1.2.docx. Someone else might use a different name convention when updating the document and soon it will be a challenge to identify which document is current.
In SharePoint, the user will have access to the current version of the document but also a view into the version history including details about who changed the document and the metadata between versions (more about metadata later).
When creating a document library (using OOTB templates) version control is not enabled. This is how you enable version control on a document library:
Click on Library Tools/Library and select Library Settings on the Ribbon:

Then, under General Settings, click on Versioning settings:

Scroll down to Document Version History to see available versioning options for you to choose:

Note: Versions are complete copies of the document and will have an effect on storage space in your SharePoint farm. As you can see, you will have the option to limit the number of versions to keep.

In this example I chose to “Create major versions”, and I left all other options as is:

When versioning is enabled, a new option appears on the document’s drop down menu (and Ribbon):

The version history let you see what metadata that have changed, who made the changes, but also give you functionality to view, restore and delete versions:

Check in/out

The check in/out functionality prevents multiple people to work on the same document at the same time. When the check in/out functionality is enabled, SharePoint will require a check out of the document before you can edit the document..
Note: When working with certain file types, e.g. OneNote files, you should not enable check in/out on the document library.

Here are the steps to enable check in/out on the document library:
First, select Library Tools/Library, then click on Library Settings:

Under General Settings, click on Versioning settings:

Scroll down to Require Check Out and click on Yes:

Click OK to save.

When opening the document, SharePoint will give you the option to Check Out and Edit:

Adding Metadata

Metadata is “data about the document”. Typical examples of metadata are Author, Title, File Name and Created Date. In SharePoint you will find concepts like “properties”, “columns”, “tagging” which basically are used to define metadata.
By default, SharePoint stores information like; File Name, Title, Version, Created Date and Created By as metadata. None of these are mandatory, and the user is not prompted to give additional metadata when uploading a document, and values are applied automatically.

Click on the document’s drop down menu, and click on View Properties:

Here you will see the metadata with its values:

Let say we want to store status information to the document. We have to create a new column in the document library for this to happen.

First, select Library Tools/Library, then click on Library Settings:

In this example I will add an existing column to the library.
Under Columns, click on Add from existing site columns:

Then, select Core Document Columns, and choose “Status” from the available site columns:

Click OK to save.
Now, I would like to update my document by setting the correct status.
I go back to my document library and click Edit Properties:

A dialog will be presented because we enabled the “Check out” functionality (see above):

Click OK to check out the document.
The new column is available where we can choose the status of the document:

Click Save.

The last step would be to Check in the document:

When checking in, a new window will give you the option to save version comments (this is because we enabled versioning):

Click OK to save and check in.

This was a quick intro on how metadata can be configured. Metadata in SharePoint can do so much more and be of great support during the whole document lifecycle – and findability. More about this is future blog posts.

Views

You can take advantage of the metadata and present the document within a document library in different ways.
A document library can have multiple views defined and available for users to choose from.
Both public and private views can be created.
Here is an example on how to create a view that group the documents based on the new column we created.

From the bread crumb, click on the drop down menu after “All Documents”

Here you will have the option to modify and create new views.
Click on Create View:

I used “All Documents” (which is the one view available) as a basis for my new view.

Give the new view a name:
Next, pick the columns (and the order) you would like to present in the view:

Then, scroll down to “Group By” and select the column to group by:

Note: Filtering, sorting and other functionality is also available and can be used when creating a view.
Click OK to save.

You will now have two different ways (views) at looking at your documents; “All documents” and “Status”:

That’s it for now.

Related posts:
Document Management in SharePoint 2010
How to add Content Types to a Document Set
How to enable Audit functionality in SharePoint 2010

How to add Content Types to a Document Set

2011-04-02T18:23:00.001-07:00

After enabling use of Document Sets to your site and document library you will see that within the Document Set, only the default Document content type is available.

Here are the necessary steps you have to take to enable other content types to the Document Set

Under the Site Actions menu, select Site Settings.
Under the Galleries section, select Site Content Types
Then, click on the Document Set you want to change.
Under the section Settings, click on Document Set settings

Under the Allowed Content Types, select the content types you would like to have available in this Document Set. In this example I have selected Dublin Core Columns in addition to the default Document content type:

Go back to you document library, open the Document Set and you are presented by a message saying you have to update the Document Set:

After you have updated the Document Set, the new Content Type will be available when updating or uploading new files to the Document Set:

Description of Features in SharePoint

2011-02-27T14:03:00.001-08:00

Here is the list of features shipped with SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise edition.

Site Collection Features

Name	Description
Advanced Web Analytics	This feature comprises advanced Web Analytics reports, data-driven workflows, workflow for scheduling reports, the Web Analytics Web Part and customize reports functionality(for Enterprise SKU) at the site collection level.
Content Type Syndication Hub	Provisions a site to be Enterprise Metadata hub site.
Custom Site Collection Help	Creates a Help library that can be used to store custom help for this site collection.
Disposition Approval Workflow	Manages document expiration and retention by allowing participants to decide whether to retain or delete expired documents.
Document ID Service	Assigns IDs to documents in the Site Collection, which can be used to retrieve items independent of their current location.
Document Sets	Provides the content types required for creating and using document sets. Create a document set when you want to manage multiple documents as a single work product.
In Place Records Management	Enable the definition and declaration of records in place.
Library and Folder Based Retention	Allows list administrators to override content type retention schedules and set schedules on libraries and folders.
Open Documents in Client Applications by Default	Configures links to documents so they open in client applications instead of Web applications, by default.
PerformancePoint Services Site Collection Features	Features enabling the PerformancePoint Services site including content types and site definitions for this site collection.
Publishing Approval Workflow	Routes a page for approval. Approvers can approve or reject the page, reassign the approval task, or request changes to the page. This workflow can be edited in SharePoint Designer.
Report Server Integration Feature	Enables rich reporting using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services.
Reporting	Creates reports about information in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.
Search Server Web Parts	This feature uploads all web parts required for Search Center.
SharePoint 2007 Workflows	Aggregated set of out-of-box workflow features provided by SharePoint 2007.
SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Collection features	Features such as InfoPath Forms Services, Visio Services, Access Services, and Excel Services Application, included in the SharePoint Server Enterprise License.
SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure	Provides centralized libraries, content types, master pages and page layouts and enables page scheduling and other publishing functionality for a site collection.
SharePoint Server Standard Site Collection features	Features such as user profiles and search, included in the SharePoint Server Standard License.
Three-state workflow	Use this workflow to track items in a list.
Workflows	Aggregated set of out-of-box workflow features provided by SharePoint.

Site Features

Name	Description
Content Organizer	Create metadata based rules that move content submitted to this site to the correct library or folder.
E-mail Integration with Content Organizer	Enable a site's content organizer to accept and organize email messages. This feature should be used only in a highly managed store, like a Records Center.
Group Work Lists	Provides Calendars with added functionality for team and resource scheduling.
Hold and eDiscovery	This feature is used to track external actions like litigations, investigations, or audits that require you to suspend the disposition of documents.
Metadata Navigation and Filtering	Provides each list in the site with a settings pages for configuring that list to use metadata tree view hierarchies and filter controls to improve navigation and filtering of the contained items.
Offline Synchronization for External Lists	Enables offline synchronization for external lists with Outlook and SharePoint Workspace.
PerformancePoint Services Site Features	Features enabling the PerformancePoint Services list and document library templates.
Report Server File Sync	Synchronizes Report Server files (.rdl, .rsds, .smdl, .rsd, .rsc) from a SharePoint document library to the report server when files are added or updated in the document library.
SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features	Features such as Visio Services, Access Services, and Excel Services Application, included in the SharePoint Server Enterprise License.
SharePoint Server Publishing	Create a Web page library as well as supporting libraries to create and publish pages based on page layouts.
SharePoint Server Standard Site features	Features such as user profiles and search, included in the SharePoint Server Standard License.
Team Collaboration Lists	Provides team collaboration capabilities for a site by making standard lists, such as document libraries and issues, available.
Wiki Page Home Page	This site feature will create a wiki page and set it as your site home page.

Site templates (definitions) in SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Ed.

2011-02-27T13:44:00.001-08:00

Here is a list of the site templates/definitions shipped with SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Edition. I have also added a column describing which features that are enabled by default.

Name	Type	Category	Description	Features activated
Assets Web Database	Site	Web Databases	Create an asset database to keep track of assets, including asset details and owners.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists
Basic Meeting Workspace	Site	Meetings	A site to plan, organize and capture the results of a meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda, meeting attendees, and documents.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Basic Search Center	Site	Search	A site for delivering the search experience. The site includes pages for search results and advanced searches.	Offline Synchronization for External Lists Team Collaboration Lists
Blank Meeting Workspace	Site	Meetings	A blank meeting site for you to customize based on your requirements.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Blank Site	Site	Blank and Custom	A blank site for you to customize based on your requirements.	Offline Synchronization for External Lists Team Collaboration Lists
Blog	Site	Content	A site for a person or a team to post ideas, observations, and expertise that site visitors can comment on.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Business Intelligence Center	Site	Data	A site for presenting Business Intelligence Center.	Offline Synchronization for External Lists PerformancePoint Services Site Features SharePoint Server Standard Site features
Charitable Contributions Web Database	Site	Web Databases	Create a database to track information about fundraising campaigns including donations made by contributors, campaign related events, and pending tasks.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists
Contacts Web Database	Site	Web Databases	Create a contracts database to manage information about people that your team works with, such as customers and partners.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists
Decision Meeting Workspace	Site	Meetings	A site for meetings that track status or make decisions. It provide lists for creating tasks, storing documents, and recording decisions.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Document Center	Site	Content	A site to centrally manage documents in your enterprise.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Document Workspace	Site	Content, Collaboration	A site for colleagues to work together on a document. It provides a document library for storing the primary document and supporting files, a task list for assigning to-do items, and a link list for resource related to the document.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Enterprise Search Center	Site	Search	A site for delivering the search experience. The welcome page includes a search box with two tabs: one for general searches, and another for searches for information about people. You can add and customize tabs to focus on other search scopes or result types.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Publishing SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Enterprise Wiki	Site	Collaboration, Content	A site for publishing knowledge that you capture and want to share across the enterprise. It provides an easy content editing experience in a single location for co-authoring content, discussions, and project management.	Offline Synchronization for External Lists Team Collaboration Lists
FAST Search Centre	Site	Search	A site for delivering the FAST search experience. The welcome page includes a search box with two tabs: one for general searches, and another for searches for information about people. You can add and customize tabs to focus on other search scopes or result types.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists Team Collaboration Lists
Group Work Site	Site	Collaboration	This template provides a groupware solution that enables teams to create, organize, and share information quickly and easily. It includes Group Calendar, Circulation, Phone-call Memo, the Document Library and the other basic lists.	Group Work Lists Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Issues Web Database	Site	Web Databases	Create an issue database to manage a set of issues or problems. You can assign, prioritize, and follow the progress of issues from start to finish.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists
Multipage Meeting Workspace	Site	Meetings	A site to plan, organize, and capture the results of a meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda and meeting attendees in addition to two blank pages for you to customize based on your requirements.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
My Site Host		Central Admin	A site used for hosting personal sites (My Sites) and the public People Profile page. This template needs to be provisioned only once per User Profile Service Application, please consult the documentation for details.
Personalization Site	Site	Blank & Custom	A site for delivering personalized views, data, and navigation from this site collection into My Site. It includes personalization specific Web Parts and navigation that is optimized for My Site sites.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Projects Web Database	Site	Web Databases	Create a project tracking database to track multiple projects, and assign tasks to different people.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists
Publishing Portal		Central Admin	A starter site hierarchy for an Internet-facing site or a large intranet portal. This site can be customized easily with distinctive branding. It includes a home page, a sample press releases subsite, a Search Center, and a login page. Typically, this site has many more readers than contributors, and it is used to publish Web pages with approval workflows.
Publishing Site	Site	Content	A blank site for expanding your Web site and quickly publishing Web pages. Contributors can work on draft versions of pages and publish them to make them visible to readers. The site includes document and image libraries for storing Web publishing assets.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Publishing SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Publishing Site with Workflow	Site	Content	A site for publishing Web pages on a schedule by using approval workflows. It includes document and image libraries for storing Web publishing assets. By default, only sites with this template can be created under this site.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Publishing
Records Center	Site	Data	This template creates a site design for records management. Records managers can configure the routing table to direct incoming files to specific locations. The site also lets you manage whether records can be deleted or modified after they are added to the repository.	Content Organizer E-mail Integration with Content Organizer Hold and eDiscovery Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Social Meeting Workspace	Site	Meetings	A site to plan social occasion. It provides lists for tracking attendees, providing directions, and storing pictures of the event.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists
Team Site	Site	Collaboration	A site for teams to quickly organize, author, and share information. It provides a document library, and lists for managing announcements, calendar items, tasks, and discussions.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists Wiki Page Home Page
Visio Process Repository	Site	Content	A site for teams to quickly view, share, and store Visio process diagrams. It provides a versioned document library for storing process diagrams, and lists for managing announcements, tasks, and review discussions.	Metadata Navigation and Filtering Offline Synchronization for External Lists SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features SharePoint Server Standard Site features Team Collaboration Lists

My subsite templates are missing

2011-01-30T12:32:00.001-08:00

After you have created a root site based on the Publishing template, make sure you enable which templates that might be used to create subsites.

Open the http://<yourportal>/_Layouts/AreaTemplateSettings.aspx page and choose which templates that should be available when creating a subsite:

In the above example I am now able to create subsites of the following type: Publishing site with workflow, Enterprise Wiki and Enterprise Search Center.

Navigation is missing in Search Center

2011-01-18T14:48:00.001-08:00

Check out Randy Drisgill’s excellent blog post explaining how to create a master page which includes navigation:

http://blog.drisgill.com/2010/09/converting-custom-sharepoint-2010.html

Mr. Drisgill also have a starter master page available on CodePlex: http://startermasterpages.codeplex.com/

OneNote and SharePoint

2010-06-09T16:38:00.001-07:00

OneNote is a hidden gem in the Office suite. I use OneNote for all my notes during meetings, workshops etc.

As described on Office Online “Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 is a digital notebook that provides a flexible way to gather notes and information, powerful search capabilities so users can find what they are looking for quickly, and easy-to-use shared notebooks that help teams work together more effectively.”
SharePoint can be used to host OneNote Notebooks, and make sharing of information very easy for e.g. project members. The OneNote client will synchronize content with SharePoint and let end users work with OneNote Notebooks when offline.
This post will explain:

How to create a shared Notebook
How to access a shared Notebook in SharePoint
How is the OneNote file structure within the SharePoint document library
How to configure SharePoint to search OneNote 2007 content on SharePoint sites

How to create a shared Notebook

From the Share menu in OneNote, select “Create Shared Notebook”.
1. give your new notebook a name:

2. select the option to store the notebook in a SharePoint document library:

4. select an existing document library in SharePoint:

5. your new notebook is now created and the sync indicator is available in the notebooks pane.

By clicking on the sync icon, you will be able to change the sync properties for your notebook:

How to access a shared Notebook in SharePoint

The built in security mechanism in SharePoint control who have access to a document library. As long as the user has access to the document library (and the files within the library), he can simply navigate to the document library and click to open one of the OneNote files.
The OneNote client will give the user an option to open the file or the whole Notebook:

By selecting “Open Notebook”, the OneNote client will establish sync relations with the shared Notebook.

How is the OneNote file structure inside a SharePoint document library?

The OneNote structure is divided into Notebooks, Section, Section Group, Page and Subpage. This structure is also mirrored in the SharePoint document library.
On the left side you see the SharePoint document library, and it’s pretty similar to how OneNote is presenting the elements to the user.

How to configure SharePoint to search OneNote 2007 content on SharePoint sites

Take a look at this page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925765 for how to configure SharePoint.

Records Management in SharePoint 2010

2009-11-05T08:34:00.001-08:00

SharePoint 2010 introduces new capabilities regarding Records Management. The most interesting feature, I think, is In-Place Records management (info at the end of this post) which makes it possible to declare documents as records without moving them to a Records Center. Records and documents live side by side in the site they were created in, and SharePoint 2010 makes it possible to apply different policies (i.e. retention schedules) depending if the item is a record or a document.
The Record Center site template is still available. It utilizes some new functionality like the Content Organizer to route incoming documents to the libraries of your preference. A new “dashboard” gives a record manager faster access to common tasks and to-do actions.
Holds (with discovery), audit and file-plan reports are also new or improved functionality to better control your records.
Other items than documents can also be declared as records in SharePoint 2010; wiki pages, blog posts, article pages among others.
This post gives an overview of two capabilities; Records Center and In-place Record Management. Functionality like Holds, File-plan and other Records management features will be covered in later posts.

The functionality described in this blog post may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release of SharePoint 2010.

Create a Records Center site

Simply create a Records Center by selecting the correct site template:

When creating a Records Center in SharePoint 2010, the following features are enabled:

Content Organizer
E-mail Integration with Content Organizer
Hold and eDiscovery
Metadata Navigation and Filtering
Offline Synchronization for External Lists
SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features
SharePoint Server Standard Site features
Team Collaboration Lists

The new look of the SharePoint 2010 Records Center:

The “Submit a Record” button let users upload (and add metadata to) documents. The documents will be added to the “Drop Off Library” and then moved to the correct library/folder according to the rules added by the records manager.
Note: Activate the “In Place Records Management” feature on the Site Collection level to fully take advantage of the Records Center. The feature has to be activated to mark incoming documents as records:

Create / enable Content Types

The Content Organizer uses Content Types (and related metadata) as criteria for where to move incoming documents. Content Types must therefore be created (or enabled) before routing functionality are enabled.

Create libraries for storing Records

I created a document library; “Contracts 2009” and added a rule “Contract” to the Content Organizer. When documents are submitted, the Content Organizer will move any documents related to the Content Type “Document” into the “Contracts 2009” library. You can create as many libraries/folders and content organizer rules you need to best control your records.
In my “Contracts 2009” document library, I went to Library Settings and enabled “Automatically Declaration”. Now, all documents added to the library are automatically flagged as records.:

Create Content Organizer rules

I added rules by selecting: Site Settings / Site Settings / Site Administration / Content Organizer Rules:

What happens if my target library doesn’t have the necessary Content Type enabled? I tried to create a rule which is using the Content Type “Dublin Core” as a criteria. I wanted all documents related to “Dublin Core” to be moved to the “Contracts 2009” library. As you can see from the message below, all target libraries also need necessary Content Types enabled for the Content Organizer to be able to move documents into the library.

Retention Schedule

Retention Schedule is, per default, enforced on the Content Types, but it is possible to define retention schedules on library/folder level too.

Retention schedule using Content Types

I went to Site Action / Site Settings / Galleries / Site content types (on Site Collection level), then I clicked on the content type “Document”.

Then i clicked on “Information management policy settings”, checked the “Enable Retention” and was given the choice of running different retention schedules on Non-Records and Records:

I chose to use a different retention schedule, and clicked “Add a retention stage for records…”. I was given the choice of setting different actions when the event fires.

It’s possible to add multiple actions, and each stage will occur one after the other in the order they appear on the page:

Retention schedule using Library/folder

Retention schedules are possible to configure directly on a document library. I went to my “Contracts 2009” library and selected “Document Library Settings. Under “Permission and Management” I clicked “Information management policy settings”. Here, I changed the source of retention by clicking on the “Change source”.
When choosing a different source a message will pop up, that basically says that you’re overriding the retention schedule at the Content Type level:

Then a form was presented, where I added my retention events and actions.

In-Place Records Management

A new capability in SharePoint 2010 is In-Place Records management. Instead of moving a document to a specific Records Center, you declare the document as a record and it will be handled as a record in the site it was created in. After the the document is declared as a record, it can have policies and restrictions different than when it was a document. The policies are added to either the Content Types or directly on the document libraries (see the Retention Schedule paragraph above).
Documents can be declared as records either manually or automatically.
Manual record declaration can be configures on Site Collection level and overridden in each document library. In Site Collection settings you have the following options on how declarations of records should be done:

When Record Declaration Availability is set to “Available in all location by default”, a new icon appears on the Ribbon:

A document will get a padlock added to its icon when declared as a record:

Again, you can override the record declaration availability on the document library level:

Automatically declarations of records is possible by checking the “Automatic Declaration” option in the document library settings.

Document Management in SharePoint 2010

2009-11-05T08:29:00.000-08:00

SharePoint 2010 has extended its Document Management (and Records Management) capabilities considerably. I have looked into the new capabilities and will give you a quick overview about some of them. This post explains the following functionality:

Document ID
Rating, Tag/Notes
Rule Based Submission

The functionality described in this blog post may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release of SharePoint 2010.

Document ID

At the Site Collection level you can enable use of Document ID’s:

Each document in the Site Collection will get their unique document number (see next screenshot). A document is addressable using the unique document id via a document redirector page (/DocIdRedir.aspx?ID=uniquedocid), and the unique document id can also be used as a property when searching.

Rating, Tag/Notes

I have enabled both versioning and forced check-out on my document library. Rating and adding Tag/Notes does not require a check-out, and users are able to easily rate and add notes to the document.
Just hover over the stars to add rating:

To add Notes, select the document and then click on the Ribbon:

Save the notes by clicking “Post”.

Rule Based Submission

SharePoint 2010 let you define rules on a folder for further routing of the document. Documents uploaded to the folder will be moved to the correct library/folder based on the rules you apply. The rules are depended on the metadata you have available on the document.
The Content Organizer feature must first be enabled on the Site:

The feature creates a document library named “Drop off Library”:

After enabling the feature, go to Site Administration and click on “Content Organizer Rules”. A form pop’s up and this is where you add the routing criteria. I made a rule called “Contracts” and it will move all documents with the Content Type “Dublin Core” to my Contracts document library.
Page 1:

Page 2:

Additional settings are available under Site Administration / Content Organizer Settings:

(Note: the screenshot above doesn’t list all settings)
When users add a document to the “Drop Off Library”, the routing rules kicks in and move the document to the correct location.
I have uploaded a document into the Drop Off Library and the metadata form is presented. I select Dublin Core and fill in necessary metadata:

Then I select “Check In”, and the following pop-up is presented:

The routing rule then moves the document into the correct folder.

Other DMS capabilities

I will blog about the following capabilities later:

Document Sets
In Place Records Management
Hold and eDiscovery
Library and Folder Based Retention
Validate meta data upon submission of documents
Column default value settings
Office Web Apps
Term Store and Managed Metadata