An introduction to the SharePoint Patterns and Practices (PnP) library – discover how how it can be used to power remote site provisioning.

With many organisations now moving, fully or partly, to Office 365, the way solutions are developed is evolving rapidly. In this series of blog posts, I’m going to share some of the more innovative tools available in Office 365, and the support Microsoft offers those who want to work at the cutting edge.

In this post, I’ll look at a very common requirement – SharePoint site provisioning. Site provisioning is the software-assisted creation of SharePoint sites, with certain elements already set based on default values. The business benefits to providing a site provisioning toolset include:

• Helps prevent site sprawl, ensuring sites are only created when and where they are needed.
• Users can create sites in a more consistent manner. This includes consistency in Permissions, List, library, and Folder names, Navigation and Metadata.

With an on-premise set-up, developers have multiple options available to them for provisioning new sites – site definitions, web templates, features (with feature receivers), web services, and so on.

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An introduction to how Azure’s Shared Access Signatures let web apps share the load of downloading large files.

I recently found a subtle problem in a third-party Azure utility – it was giving access to rather more data than I had expected!

Shared Access Signatures

First a bit of background. Azure Storage has a powerful mechanism for securing access by end users to resources, called Shared Access Signatures (SAS). A common scenario is to use it to let end users directly download files from Azure Blob Storage, without having to go through an associated application.

Imagine that Alice and Bob are both using an Azure web application that stores large data files or videos. These files are private, so we don’t want Alice to be able to access Bob’s files and vice versa. We also don’t want anyone to be able to modify these files other than through the web application.

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By investing in the right equipment and software, going paperless is not only possible but affordable, and will significantly change the way you work for the better.

Look at the piles of paper on your desk. If you’re at work, most of it is probably annotated print-outs, handwritten notes and ‘important documents’ you haven’t had time to file (and maybe never will). There is a better way of working. The most forward-thinking businesses are embracing the digital workplace and going paperless – leading to more efficient workplaces that collaborate more closely (even when they’re geographically far apart).

Going paperless isn’t just a buzzword – it’s something you can achieve right now by investing in the right equipment and adjusting your working patterns. The convenience of having all your notes and documents wherever you are, and the liberating feeling of a clutter-free desk alone make it a worthwhile change. But there are lots of additional benefits you might not have considered.

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In the second part of a look at document management in Office 365, James Mackerness explains how to minimise cloud storage costs when keeping documents online.

In my last blog, I discussed the lifecycle of document management using OneDrive and SharePoint Online, from the perspective of mapping them to your natural working patterns. In this post, I’ll look at the storage cost advantages to working this way – as well as other tips for minimising your storage costs on Office 365.

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Photo by Nicola Kenny

Despite the worst of what Storm Doris could throw at them on arrival, some 264 delegates turned up for the Digital Transformation Conference 2017, held at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh, last week.

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If you’re just starting your move to Office 365, you might expect it to take several months. But with the support of FastTrack it can take as little as a few weeks – even taking into account data migration.

What is FastTrack?

FastTrack is a service from Microsoft which is designed to help businesses investing Office 365 to move their existing systems and data to the cloud.

The service provides a smooth transition, with Microsoft engineers and partners working alongside your team. Microsoft provides a suite of best practices, tools, remote assistance and resources to help get the job done.

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Scottish Water provides vital infrastructure on a national scale. We take a look at how, as part of their digital transformation, they are taking control of a major asset: information.

The Loup of Fintry Waterfall, used under Creative Commons

Water is one of our most vital assets. As a publicly-owned company, answerable to the Scottish Parliament and the people of Scotland, Scottish Water is responsible for providing 1.34 billion litres of drinking water and taking away 847 million litres of waste water every day.

Scottish Water has long recognised the value of its physical assets, which are instrumental in discharging its responsibilities to Parliament and the people. Of pumps, plants or reservoirs, and the people who operate and maintain them.

But it’s only more recently that Scottish Water began to fully realise the intrinsic value of its information as an asset.

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