What about backing up and restoring SharePoint databases? I've heard
that the restore, especially, can be tricky.
Yeah, the restore is a little harder. I've found that the best way
to do it is to restore to a different server. You basically make a clone of
your server and get the data you need off that, instead of restoring directly
to your live server. The process is a little tedious. [Editor's note: Several
vendors, such as CommVault and Symantec, offer agents specifically for backing
up and restoring SharePoint databases.]
What type of SharePoint training did you provide for your end users?
Training was definitely a requirement. For our initial SharePoint deployment, we had a couple of 4- or 5-hour training sessions, one for the program managers and management users and another for developers. We created a presentation that walked them through clicking on the Web site and showed them where things are on the site.
SharePoint isn't something you can just throw in front of someone and tell them to use it. A new user really should have at least an hour or so with somebody who knows how it works. The good thing about SharePoint, though, is that as long as the administrator has set permissions right, you really can't break it.
So has the move to SharePoint been worthwhile for InterKnowlogy?
I think overall SharePoint has saved everyone in the company a lot of time. We don't have to fish around for stuff. It lets you actually find the information you need when you need it; you don't have to ask everybody what happened to this or where that is. SharePoint is fairly inexpensive [$3995 per server plus CALs] relative to the amount of beneficial information our users get from it.