SharePoint Projects

Question

Hi All

I have been getting into SharePoint recently, I have bought the Ted Pattison book, which is great. However I am after some 'real life' projects/problems to solve.

So this question is really to all you SP devs out there. What are the most common requests from clients? Is it creating Web Parts, Workflow, or Content Types etc?

If you are unable to provide any of the above information for one reason or another, could anyone suggest any project ideas? I'm know the std answer is do something your interested in, but I would rather concentrate on a project that is as close to a real world one as possible.

Thanks
Jason

Answer 1

Good start is to get a Site from the SharePoint Showcase and try building something similar to it and Read the Case Studies Microsoft.

Here are the few links to get started.

1. Microsoft Case Studies
2. How they did SharePoint.Microsoft.com
3. More How we did it
4. SharePoint Case Studies

Answer 2

You could look at some of the How We Did it Articles (not the same as the link provided by kusek above) to get some ideas. Some of those get fairly technical.

At the risk of it sounding like a sales pitch, our website describes a lot of the types of projects we work on: http://www.threewill.com/.

We have done work in several areas, here's a sample off the top of my head:

• Integration between of products with SharePoint which tends to include web parts, workflows, application pages, maybe HTTP Handlers, search integration, etc.
• Enterprise applications such as a custom budget outlook system or a service request site (InfoPath Forms Services). These may also include custom web parts.
• Consulting on how to make the most use of the out-of-the-box features of SharePoint which may include tweaking the Data Form web part, creating a bunch of custom lists and views, etc.
• Consulting on where to start including Business Value Planning Services, SharePoint Deployment Planning Services, and SharePoint Governance.

Answer 3

WSS is huge, so it will host different type of projects I have done intranets, workflows, webparts, integration, platform for custom web dev, so, it all depends on your client's needs;

In my experience, intranets and document Management systems are two of the most common usages I've been asked to do.

Answer 4

Just kill yourself now. I've been an SP dev for 4 years and hate my life...

edit: If you work around SharePoint enough, and love sanity; then this is not the road for you.

Answer 5

I think web parts are good starting place. Try creating a web part that aggregates data from a couple of different lists and displays that data in a nice dashboard view.