Business Scenarios Template

1Introduction

This document contains the business scenarios that were described in interviews with [insert name] team members. Notes for all interviews can be found here [link].

1.1General Requirements

[This section includes guiding principles, or overall requirements, stack ranked. Some common examples are listed below.]

  1. Maintainability: All site functionality should be maintainable by power users.
  2. Ease of navigation: All content should be easily found via site navigation.
  3. Pleasing design: The site should look professional and polished while remaining easily maintainable.
  4. Permissions management: Some areas of the site will be restricted using SharePoint permissions. Permissions should be inherited wherever possible to reduce complexity.

1.2Matrix[This section stake ranks the business scenarios and provides an overview of the level of effort (small, medium, large, extra-large; the corresponding time depends on the project) and the business priority. Each number corresponds to a section below that explains the details for each scenario. Examples are provided below.]

Req. # / Requirement Description / Level of Effort / Business Priority
2 / Content pages for a general audience – what the group does, how and why to engage. / Medium / High
2.1 / Strategic content aimed at executive level visitors / Medium / High
3 / Tactical content around processes and links to external content / Medium / High
4 / News area for announcements, key wins / Low / Medium
5 / Graphical display of a key process / Medium / High
6 / Exception List – enable process to request exceptions / TBD / Medium
7 / Support existing reporting processes / TBD / High
8 / Display of Scorecards / Medium / Medium
9 / Display output of top-level BI report / TBD / High
10 / Calendar showing ROB, planning milestones, business reviews, etc. / Low / High
10.1 / Differing permissions levels for the calendar – external viewers can see some items but not others / Low / Medium
11 / Internal Team Collaboration workspace – notebook, doc library, etc. / Low / High
11.1 / Document version control / Low / High
11.2 / Customized search results / Medium / Low
11.3 / Document template reuse / Medium / Medium
12 / Workspace for v-teams / Low / Medium
13 / Workspace for collaboration between team and vendors / Low / Low
14 / Collaboration with a specific stakeholder / Low / Low
15 / Yammer Integration / TBD / Medium

2Content Pages

What:[provide a general description of the scenario]

  • General information about the activities performed by [group name]. Examples could include:
  • An overview of the engagement process
  • About the team’s activities
  • Team processes
  • Team programs
  • Contact us information
  • Operations activities

Office 365 App:[optional: if creating multiple solutions you can use this to explain the solution area]

  • SharePoint Communications Site

Audience: [Who will use this scenario?]

  • All employees
  • Managers and other people that interact with the team that are unfamiliar with the group
  • Managers and other people that have worked with the team and are looking for specific information

Activities to implement: [helps the client understand what they will need to do to implement this scenario vs. what we will do]

  1. [name] Decide what content pages need to be created
  2. [name] Assign authors and complete content
  3. [SharePoint person] Transform content into visually pleasing SharePoint site pages
  4. [name + SharePoint person] Identify keywords and categorization for pages to enhance navigation and search results
  5. Note: This step also allows pages and related to be maintained dynamically, which decrease the maintenance effort.

Maintainability:[helps people understand what actions will need to be performed, when, if the scenario is implemented]

  • Ideally, a subject matter expert would be assigned to each page and maintain that content on an ongoing basis
  • A team member should review the pages as need to identify and implement updates to the information

2.1Content Specifically Targeted to Executives

What:

  • Strategic information about the team aimed specifically at the executive audience.

Site:

  • Public facing

Audience:

  • GM / VPs

Activities to implement:

  1. [client] Decide what content pages need to be created
  2. [client] Assign authors and complete content
  3. [consultant] Transform content into visually pleasing SharePoint site pages
  4. [client + consultant] Identify keywords and categorization for pages to enhance navigation and search results
  5. Note: This step also allows pages and related to be maintained dynamically, which decrease the maintenance effort.

Maintainability:

  • Ideally, a subject matter expert would be assigned to each page and maintain that content on an ongoing basis
  • A team member should review the pages as need to identify and implement updates to the information

3Links to Useful External Content

What:

  • Links to external (non-department) content that is related or may be useful to the department’s audience. Examples could include:
  • Tactical content around the supplier process
  • How to open a purchase order
  • How to select a supplier
  • Useful analyst articles, e.g., Gartner

Site:

  • Public facing

Audience:

  • All of company
  • Managers and other people that purchase supplier services that are unfamiliar with DEPARTMENT
  • Managers and other people that purchase supplier services that have worked with DEPARTMENT and are looking for specific information
  • Executives that would like to learn more about DEPARTMENT and supplier strategy

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Decide what external links should be included (text and link)
  2. [SharePoint person] Enter content into SharePoint and display in a visually pleasing manner
  3. [DEPARTMENT + SharePoint person] Identify keywords and categorization for links to enhance navigation, search results, and allow for dynamic inclusion on site pages

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member should review the links as need to identify and implement updates to the information

4News and Announcements

What:

  • Announcements and news articles of interest to the DEPARTMENT audience

Site:

  • Open to company

Audience:

  • All of Company
  • Anyone who would like to be kept up to date on DEPARTMENT or strategic supplier strategy

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Decide what categories ofnews and announcements should be published to the site. Identify the cadence for publishing new announcements
  2. [DEPARTMENT] Enter announcements and news into the site according to the publishing cadence

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member will need to identify potential news and announcements, gather appropriate information, write the copy and enter the information into the site

5Graphical Display of the Approved Supplier List

What:

  • A visually pleasing display of the approved vendors list that is easy to maintain and allows people to easily absorb the information

Site:

  • Public facing

Audience:

  • All of Company

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Provide the approved supplier list
  2. [SharePoint person] Build a graphical display of this list
  3. [DEPARTMENT] Approve the display of the list

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member will need to update the graphic when any changes have been made

6Exception Request Process

What:

  • An automated way to handle exception requests
  • This level of effort is TBD – We would need to learn more about the process specifics before we could determine if it can be executed using SharePoint Designer workflow and the level of effort

Site:

  • Public facing

Audience:

  • All of DIVISION

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Provide specifics around the exception process
  2. [SharePoint person] Estimate the level of effort to execute the workflow
  3. [SharePoint person] Build the workflow and conduct testing
  4. [DEPARTMENT] Participate in the testing process

Maintainability:

  • Any changes to the workflow would need to executed by a SharePoint Designer workflow expert
  • Processing of the requests can be performed by anyone

7Support Existing Reporting Process

TBD – based on interviews with [name] and [name]

8Supplier Scorecards

Need more information:

  • What is on the scorecard?
  • How is the data captured and tracked?
  • What KPIs are on the scorecard?

9Display of Reports from BI Solution

What:

  • Display of PowerPivot reports from BI solution
  • Note: This functionality is not currently available in Office 365
  • Gap solution: Link to reports from team site

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site

Audience:

  • DEPARTMENT team members
  • Executive vTeam members

Activities to implement:

  1. [EDS] Complete BI Solution
  2. [EDS] Advise on SharePoint components needed for solution
  3. [SharePoint person] Build out site components
  4. [DEPARTMENT] Participate in the testing process

Maintainability:

  • EDS will need to advise on the maintenance of the BI solution
  • Maintenance of SharePoint components will be determined when the solution design is complete

10Calendar Showing ROB and Milestones

What:

  • Display of events in a calendar format in SharePoint
  • The calendar can be synced to exchange and a mobile device
  • The calendar overlay feature will be used to display multiple calendars and / or color code events

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site

Audience:

  • DEPARTMENT team members
  • Executive vTeam members
  • Suppliers

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Decide on categories of events that will be present in the calendar
  2. [DEPARTMENT] Complete a ROB calendar
  3. [SharePoint person] Enter the events into the calendar and set up calendar overlays

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member will need to enter events into the calendar on an ongoing basis
  • Calendar overlays can be managed by a DEPARTMENT team member

10.1Restricted Events

What:

  • Display of restricted events in a calendar format in SharePoint
  • The calendar can be synced to exchange and a mobile device if the user has the correct permissions
  • The calendar overlay feature will be used to display the events in the ROB calendar using a different color. Only those with permission will be able to view the events.

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site

Audience:

  • DEPARTMENT team members
  • Executive vTeam members
  • Suppliers

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Decide on categories of events that will be present in the calendar
  2. [DEPARTMENT] Complete a list of upcoming events
  3. [SharePoint person] Enter the events into the calendar and set up calendar overlays
  4. [SharePoint person] Complete permissions structure

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member will need to enter events into the calendar on an ongoing basis
  • Calendar overlays can be managed by a DEPARTMENT team member

11Internal DEPARTMENT Collaboration Workspace

What:

  • A collaboration team site focused on document management
  • A focus on information architecture when building the structure of the team site
  • The calendar overlay feature will be used to display multiple calendars and / or color code events

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site

Audience:

  • DEPARTMENT team members
  • Executive vTeam members
  • Suppliers

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Define the categories of information that will be managed in the team site
  2. [DEPARTMENT + SharePoint person] Create an information architecture for the team site information
  3. [SharePoint person] Execute on the information architecture
  4. [SharePoint person] Execute the permissions structure (if any)
  5. [SharePoint person] Provide training on how to use the document management and collaboration solutions

Maintainability:

  • DEPARTMENT team members will need to commit to using the solution rather than email
  • If a new category of information is added a DEPARTMENT team member will need to create the appropriate workspace according to instructions

11.1Document Version Control and Lifecycle Management

What:

  • Automatic versioning of documents provided by SharePoint
  • Automatic disposition or archive of document provided by SharePoint

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site

Audience:

  • DEPARTMENT team members
  • Supplier Workspaces
  • vTeam workspaces

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Decide on how many version of document to keep
  2. [DEPARTMENT] Decide on disposition criteria, e.g., if documents haven’t been modified in three years
  3. [SharePoint person] Configure document versioning and disposition

Maintainability:

  • DEPARTMENT team member will need to decide whether to keep, achieve or delete old documents as requested

11.2Customized Search Results

What:

  • Configure search results to bring frequently accessed content to the top of the page

Site:

  • Public site
  • DEPARTMENT Team site
  • vTeam site
  • Supplier workspace

Audience:

  • All of Company
  • DEPARTMENT team members
  • Executive vTeam members
  • Suppliers

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Confirm categories of content that were decided in other scenarios, and what content should be displayed for a given category
  2. [SharePoint person] Configure search results accordingly

Maintainability:

  • If new content categories are added a person familiar with configuring SharePoint search will need to add them

11.3Document Template Reuse

What:

  • The ability to have a centralized document library containing common team templates that can be reused across document libraries in the site.
  • These templates will be packaged into content types that can be added to any library.

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site
  • vTeam site
  • Supplier workspace

Audience:

  • All of Company
  • DEPARTMENT team members
  • Executive vTeam members
  • Suppliers

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Provide templates
  2. [SharePoint person] Build content types
  3. [SharePoint person] Author instructions for modifying a template and adding a content type to a library

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member will be able to modify templates and add templates to new libraries
  • Anyone with site management knowledge of SharePoint will be able to build new reusable templates

12Workspace for DEPARTMENT Driven vTeams

What:

  • A restricted team workspace for vTeam activities
  • Contains all information related to the vTeam so that it can be easily accessed

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site

Audience:

  • DEPARTMENT team members (as appropriate)
  • Executive vTeam members

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Define what content should be present in a vTeam site
  2. [DEPARTMENT] Define permission for each vTeam workspace
  3. [SharePoint person] Create a vTeam site template
  4. [SharePoint person] Execute permissions structure

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member will need to
  • Create a new site using the template for each vTeam meeting
  • Add content to the site as appropriate
  • Manage any permissions changes

13Workspace for DEPARTMENT and Core Suppliers

What:

  • A restricted team workspace for supplier collaboration
  • Contains all information related to the supplier so that it can be easily accessed

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site

Audience:

  • DEPARTMENT team members (as appropriate)
  • Suppliers

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Define what content should be present in a Supplier site
  2. [DEPARTMENT] Define permission for each Supplier workspace
  3. [SharePoint person] Create a Supplier site template
  4. [SharePoint person] Execute permissions structure

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member will need to
  • Create a new site using the template for each new supplier
  • Add content to the site as appropriate
  • Manage any permissions changes

14Collaboration with a Specific Stakeholder

What:

  • A restricted workspace for stakeholder collaboration
  • Contains all information related to the stakeholder so that it can be easily accessed

Site:

  • DEPARTMENT Team site

Audience:

  • DEPARTMENT team members (as appropriate)
  • Stakeholders

Activities to implement:

  1. [DEPARTMENT] Define what content should be present in a Stakeholder site
  2. [SharePoint person] Create a Stakeholder site template

Maintainability:

  • A DEPARTMENT team member will need to
  • Create a new site using the template for each new stakeholder
  • Add content to the site as appropriate
  • Manage any permissions changes

15Yammer Integration

Options TBD pending investigation.