SharePoint Training & Planning Services
Whether you are new to SharePoint or an experienced client looking to move to the latest version of SharePoint, TrueTandem’s SharePoint Training & Planning Services is the place to start. We begin with any pre-paid or no-cost training and planning engagements that may be available to you, and only move to paid engagements once those resources are exhausted.
TrueTandem has the capabilities, certifications and experience to provide our clients the full range of SharePoint Training and Planning Services.
Learn more about our engagement offerings:
- Pre-Paid or No-Cost SharePoint Training & Planning Services
- TrueTandem SharePoint Training & Planning Services
Pre-Paid or No-Cost SharePoint Training & Planning Services
Our organization understands the financial constraints of commercial, government, and nonprofit organizations, so we start all of our SharePoint Training and Planning conversations with an assessment of what services we or Microsoft can provide at no additional or incremental cost.
Fortunately, the TrueTandem / Microsoft Partnership offers SharePoint customers several attractive pre-paid or no-cost alternatives:
- Software Assurance – SharePoint Deployment Planning Service (SDPS) (pre-paid through your SA Agreement w/ Microsoft)
- Microsoft Technology Center – Strategy Briefing (No cost for qualifying customers)
- TrueTandem – “Day in the Life” Session (No cost for qualifying customers)
- Microsoft Technology Center – Architecture Design Session (ADS) (No cost for qualifying customers)
- Microsoft Technology Center – Proof of Concept (No cost or nominal cost for qualifying customers)
Software Assurance – SharePoint Deployment Planning Service (SDPS)
TrueTandem is an authorized provider of the Microsoft SharePoint Deployment Planning Service, or SDPS. SDPS is a standardized packaged service offering that is designed to help customers understand the business value of deploying SharePoint Products and Technologies in conjunction with Microsoft Office 2010. SDPS also provides customers with a better understanding of the tools, technologies, and framework that will help them to successfully deploy a collaborative system that is based on SharePoint 2010 into their environment.
SDPS is offered in different engagement lengths: one, three, five, ten, or fifteen days. The duration of the engagement depends on the customer’s level of Software Assurance on Microsoft Office products. Most importantly, if you are a Microsoft Software Assurance customer, your SDPS engagement is already paid for, so all you need to do is contact TrueTandem to take advantage of your SDPS Benefits.
Contact TrueTandem to take advantage of your Software Assurance SDPS Benefits
If you are a client that is not currently a Microsoft Software Assurance customer, but would like to take advantage of SharePoint planning engagements similar to those offered in SDPS, TrueTandem can deliver, or partner with Microsoft to deliver, the following set of engagements:
Microsoft Technology Center – Strategy Briefing
As a Microsoft managed partner, TrueTandem can work with your Microsoft Account Team to schedule an appropriate Strategy Briefing at one of the twelve Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) locations in the U.S. This one-day briefing starts by examining your current IT environment and business objectives. Then it moves into the Envisioning Center, where you’ll see Microsoft solutions in action, through powerful demos and scenarios customized to meet your needs. The day includes mutual discovery, tailored product and technology drill-downs, and expert presentations. It culminates with the delivery of a clear and actionable picture of how Microsoft, TrueTandem and partner technologies can help you reach your business goals.
Out of the ten packaged Strategy Briefing offerings, three focus on SharePoint technologies and capabilities:
- Application Platform Optimization Strategy Briefing
- Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization Strategy Briefing
- Collaboration and Communication Strategy Briefing
Contact TrueTandem to schedule your SharePoint focused Strategy Briefing
If you are a client that does not meet the criteria for an MTC Strategy Briefing, then TrueTandem does offer a one-time, one-day “Day in the Life” session at no cost for qualifying customers.
TrueTandem “Day in the Life” Session
Within the one-day “Day in the Life” session, our SharePoint consultants spend time talking to your business leaders and users about what they do every day and the best way to get things done. We walk through your existing processes by literally following a business process as it travels through the organization. This insight allows us to understand the how and why of your existing process as well as uncover potential opportunities for improvements available through the use of your SharePoint licenses.
By asking questions and listening to how people do their jobs, we can capture the “story” behind the functions, often providing better ways of using technology in a solution, as well as a more user-friendly system because we understand the meaning behind the work.
Contact TrueTandem to learn more about the “Day in the Life” offering for SharePoint
Microsoft Technology Center – Architecture Design Session (ADS)
As a Microsoft managed partner, TrueTandem can also work with your Microsoft Account Team to schedule an appropriate ADS at one of the twelve Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) locations in the U.S. This intensive, two-day session delivers in-depth technical information on integrating data from across your entire organization and delivering it in an analysis-ready form. Presentations, demonstrations, and whiteboard discussions are customized to address your organization’s needs.
Out of the ten packaged ADS offerings, three focus on SharePoint technologies and capabilities:
- Application Platform Optimization ADS
- Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization ADS
- Collaboration and Communication ADS
Contact TrueTandem to schedule your SharePoint focused ADS
Microsoft Technology Center – Proof of Concept (POC)
Finally, as a Microsoft managed partner, TrueTandem can also work with your Microsoft Account Team to schedule a SharePoint focused ADS at one of the twelve Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) locations in the U.S. The POC workshop at the MTC is a one-week to three-week engagement that provides a means of validating a proposed architecture. The session will help mitigate the risk around new deployments and the impact to the current environment; our architects work with your team to validate the riskiest parts of a solution. It’s also a mechanism for transferring knowledge about the latest Microsoft technologies to your technical team, who will be actively engaged in scoping, planning and execution.
Out of the ten packaged POC offerings, three focus on SharePoint technologies and capabilities:
- Application Platform Optimization POC
- Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization POC
- Collaboration and Communication POC
See http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mtc/default.aspx for more information.
TrueTandem SharePoint Training & Planning Services
If you do not qualify to take advantage of any of the above pre-paid or no-cost services, then the TrueTandem “Make It Real” (MIR) process that is leveraged for all of our paid consulting and development engagements can and will meet all of your SharePoint Training and Planning needs. We have Microsoft Certified IT Professionals, Developers and Trainers on staff to meet our clients’ on-the-job, just-in-time, online and classroom training needs.
Leveraging a combination of Microsoft’s published SharePoint best practices, planning tools, the Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF), the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF), and TrueTandem’s “Make It Real” process, we will work with you in tandem to ensure that you have an optimized training and planning solution that will ensure the success of your SharePoint efforts.
TrueTandem SharePoint Training Services
Our team knows from experience that with knowledge comes power. That is where we start with our clients – helping operations, content authors, managers and end-users gain the understanding that they need to meet business needs within the SharePoint environment. Our team plans for the type and extent of training during the planning phase of an engagement. The training plan includes a collaborative decision between TrueTandem and the client regarding when to perform the training: before, during, or after installation, along with who requires training and what will be the most effective training delivery method for each group. SharePoint administrators, content managers and developers are trained throughout the engagement, primarily through knowledge transfer supplemented by whatever formal training is deemed necessary, based on the client staff’s skillset and comfort level. We recommend training users just before they are granted access to the technology. If users are trained more than a day or two before they can access the system, there is an increase in the likelihood that they will forget their training. We offer end-user training mechanisms that span from online training sessions (both live and recorded), formal classroom training, to “White Glove” training services for senior managers and executives.
TrueTandem SharePoint Planning Services
During this phase of a TrueTandem SharePoint engagement, the project team creates a high-level architecture and design. During the infrastructure planning, the components, services, and technologies of the SharePoint solution are defined. Our team reviews the solution management architecture in tandem with key business data points, such as the features used in SharePoint, storage capacity, anticipated user traffic, performance goals and any SLAs based on the Governance plan. This information is compiled to establish a baseline projection for the infrastructure requirements.
We then perform an analysis on any existing infrastructure to evaluate whether or not the current environment supports the planned solution’s requirements within the client’s agreed tolerances. We review aspects of the environment, such as operating system compatibility, server specifications, available storage, network perimeter, storage management and disaster recovery. Based on this information gathered, the team creates implementation-ready designs and architecture.
These designs show exactly where everything will be placed and take into account:
- Farm Topology for each environment
- Network
- Software
- Server Hardware
- Load Balancing
- Name resolution
- Database design
- Profile management
- Software updates
- Service level agreements
- Security
- Performance and scalability
- Redundancy
- Disaster Recovery
- Logging and Reporting
- Anit-virus