SharePoint is fundamentally designed for information workers, but it is
designed in such a way that it assists a wide spectrum of users and support
staff. Key stakeholders are:
- business users,
- business administrators,
- IT administrators,
- IT developers.
The true beauty of SharePoint is the way that conduct of tasks can be
devolved to the lowest possible level:
- many tasks can be achieved by business users without IT support;
- if a business user cannot perform a function, then in many cases a business
administrator can assist;
- in the unlikely even that a business administrator cannot perform the task,
then there is a large world-wide community that has developed thousands of
'add-ins' and web-parts that can be easily installed by an IT administrator;
- in the even more unlikely event that a ready-made 'add-in' is not available,
then SharePoint provides a highly structured environment for developers.
SharePoint also provides a framework which is designed to simplify IT
development and ongoing administration, in the first instance developers should
endeavour to:
- develop as a web-part in order to preserve all other site functionality
without losing the ability for business users to maintain the site;
- if the desired functionality cannot be developed as a web-part, then
SharePoint provides a range of other (reversible) development options;
- the option for business users to reset components to the 'site definition'
is invaluable and great caution should be exercised when making changes that
alter components at this level;
- generally, (perhaps only as a last resort) is it rarely necessary to
customise SharePoint in such a way that the full set of default functionality is
altered.
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