It’s one thing to be able to build a Hello World application using a new technology. It’s another thing entirely to take the next step and build something that is actually useful. That’s the jump that Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects makes. The authors, Jennifer Mason, Christian Buckley, Brian T. Jackett, and Wes Preston take ten different business scenarios, explain the business requirements, discuss the different architectural options (along with why they chose a particular path), and then proceed to build the solution in a step-by-step fashion. The book isn’t perfect, but I think it has some significant value for SharePoint developers.
Contents:
Introduction; Building a Project Management Solution; Building a Training Registration Management System; Building a Basic FAQ Solution; Building a Learning Center; Building a Help Desk Solution; Building a Remote Teams Activity Site; Building a Team Blog Platform; Building an RFP Response Solution; Building a Contact Management Solution; Building a Resource Scheduling Solution; Resources; About the Authors; Index
SharePoint is flexible in that you can accomplish a task or build a solution in multiple ways. That’s also a problem because you could easily build yourself into a corner without understanding how you got there. Having a real-world solution architecture analyzed by experts is extremely valuable, and you can apply those concepts in many other areas. I also appreciate how the analysis of the business requirements takes place, as it gives you a feel for how SharePoint can be applied to your own organizational needs. The actual solution they build is almost secondary to the value I get from those first two points.
A number of the reviews have mentioned that there are errors when trying to follow the step-by-step instructions on building the solution. That’s unfortunate,as people new to SharePoint will end up getting confused more than they already are. This is a case where I’d recommend getting the e-book version and then bookmarking the errata site. If this was one of many tech books covering the same topic in the same fashion, I would probably recommend bypassing it. But there’s too much value in the overall content here to go that route. I’ll take the value of the analysis and real-world scenarios, and figure that the troubleshooting is just a bonus. 🙂
I’m looking forward to working through all these sites and making them available as demos for my customers. Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects will definitely improve my overall SharePoint skills.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Publisher
Payment: Free
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