{"id":2437,"date":"2014-08-10T15:43:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-10T22:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebeagle.itgroove.net\/?p=1696"},"modified":"2023-02-24T21:39:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T21:39:54","slug":"o365a-bumpkins-journeywhat-is-sharepoint-o365-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regroove.ca\/archive\/2014\/08\/10\/o365a-bumpkins-journeywhat-is-sharepoint-o365-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"O365\u2013A Bumpkin\u2019s Journey\u2013What is SharePoint? (O365 \u201cSites\u201d)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are often asked what SharePoint \u201cis<\/em>\u201d and that, frankly, is a loaded question.\u00a0 There are a bunch of technologies that make up SharePoint so it isn\u2019t just one \u201cthing\u201d.\u00a0 In terms of how it fits in O365 I think the best explanation is that it is a \u201chandy-dandy toolbag\u201d collaboration tool!<\/p>\n

\"toolbag\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

= SharePoint!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you think of your organization as a team or a collection of teams then you already know that teams need tools to properly share all of the information that is relevant to the team.\u00a0 SharePoint is the toolbag that provides the needed tools in order for your team (or teams) to collaborate effectively.\u00a0 And just like a tool bag that may have screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches, a hammer and other tools appropriate for specific jobs or tasks, SharePoint also has tools for specific jobs or tasks including lists, libraries, workflows, sites and a whole bunch of other things.\u00a0 And, to take the tool analogy a bit further, just as there are \u201crules\u201d or \u201csafety tips\u201d that you have to learn when using different types of tools \u2013 wear safety goggles when grinding, cut away from yourself, measure twice and cut once \u2013 there are rules and tips you need to learn when using SharePoint.\u00a0 The single biggest tip is to STOP! and give some thought to what it is you want to accomplish with the tools SharePoint provides.\u00a0 The IT world is littered with tales of failed SharePoint projects and most if not all of the failures can be traced back to lack of planning.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s get familiarized with some of the \u201ctools\u201d that we get in O365 SharePoint!<\/p>\n

The single most obvious tool is that of the SharePoint \u201cSite\u201d itself.\u00a0 In O365 there is a default \u201cSites\u201d created as part of your tenancy:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When you click on Sites you\u2019ll get a screen similar to the following:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pretty blank canvas.\u00a0 Most people would be tempted to just click on on the available Sites (Public site or Team Site) and, in fact if you do click on one (I\u2019ll do the Team Site), you get asked for some info:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Right off the bat you need to STOP! and think a little bit about what you want to do, what particular problem do you want to solve.\u00a0 Also, you\u2019ll note that when we clicked into Sites <\/strong>the URL looks this:\u00a0 https:\/\/beagledom-my.sharepoint.com\/personal\/robert_beagledom_ca\/_layouts\/15\/start.aspx#\/Social\/Sites.aspx<\/a> .\u00a0 There is a clue here that you might not want to just start banging away and that clue is the word \u201cpersonal\u201d.\u00a0 More on this in just a bit \u2026<\/p>\n

There is a LOT going on in the backend and as you are an admin on your site you might want to click on the Admin link then click on SharePoint:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wow!\u00a0 There is a lot more going on in the background!\u00a0 Instead of the two \u201csites\u201d I saw under Sites there appears to be four Site Collections, <\/strong>each with their own URL.\u00a0 And this is something important to make note of and to keep in mind.\u00a0 A Site Collection<\/strong> is the very top level in SharePoint; it is the root of all subsequent Sites that may be created and it is the top-level security container.\u00a0 The two \u201cSites\u201d that showed up on the Sites page when I clicked on Sites exist under one of these top-level Site Collections.\u00a0 Reading the URL for the Sites it reads as, \u201cbeagledom-my.sharepoint.com\u201d which implies that those sites live under the site collection https:\/\/beagledom-my.sharepoint.com<\/a>.\u00a0 In fact, sites that show up under the \u201cmy-sharepoint.com\u201d URL are actually what are referred to as \u201cMySites\u201d which can be sites personalized to the individual user (more on this as these blogs progress).\u00a0 Sites that show up under just the \u201csharepoint.com\u201d URL are tied to the organization as a whole.<\/p>\n

Confused?\u00a0 Well, join the crowd as this is a hard one to get your head around.\u00a0 If I go back to the toolbag analogy, think of two big compartments in the bag.\u00a0 One compartment is for everyone to use while the other compartment is all mine.\u00a0 I may or may not give access to my compartment to others but everyone (so long as they have permission to use the tools in the toolbag) has access to the other compartment.\u00a0 MySites or \u201cmy-sharepoint.com\u201d is equivalent to my compartment and \u201csharepoint.com\u201d is equivalent to the compartment that everyone can use.\u00a0 The SharePoint admin can choose to make sites in the \u201csharepoint.com\u201d compartment available to users in their individual compartments (hence the reason why I see the Team Site and the Public Site) when I click on Sites.<\/p>\n

So, a Site\u00a0 is a way (a tool) to aggregate information (and tools) that is relevant to individuals or Teams and it has the capacity to limit who gets access to what (think about the compartments in the toolbag).\u00a0 An overly simplistic explanation, to be sure, but one that works for now.\u00a0 Sites (and specifically,site collections) are the alpha and omega of SharePoint, everything else falls under them.<\/p>\n

You may already be thinking that SharePoint is way <\/em>bigger than you originally thought, and you\u00a0 would be right!\u00a0 The point I want to make is that SharePoint cannot be treated like many other applications where you run some sort of install or setup script, hit \u201cnext, next, enter\u201d and be on your way.\u00a0 You have to really think <\/em>about a number of things before you can start making use of the toolbag.\u00a0 Obviously, you need to think about what Sites you might want to create but, even more importantly, you need to think about your audience.\u00a0 <\/em>What is the make up of your users?\u00a0 What kinds of Teams do they fit into?\u00a0 What types of information are relevant to your Teams?\u00a0 Once you have some of those things clear in your mind you can start to think about your users and about the things that you have to do with your users inside O365 SharePoint before you start working on sites.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ll look at users and user profiles in my next Bumpkin\u2019s Journey blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are often asked what SharePoint \u201cis\u201d and that, frankly, is a loaded question.\u00a0 There are a bunch of technologies that make up SharePoint so it isn\u2019t just one \u201cthing\u201d.\u00a0 In terms of how it fits in O365 I think the best explanation is that it is a \u201chandy-dandy toolbag\u201d collaboration tool!     = … <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,247],"tags":[462,463,557,560],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nO365\u2013A Bumpkin\u2019s Journey\u2013What is SharePoint? 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