Simplified kalmstrom.com User Installations

I am happy to tell you that the kalmstrom.com Solutions will be easier to deploy for many users, thanks to a new possibility to use Active Directory to define the path to the database used with the solution.

Public folders "de-emphasized"
When Microsoft first announced that they wanted to direct users from public folders to SharePoint, I begun researching alternative sharing options for the kalmstrom.com Solutions. I understood that we could not only offer SharePoint instead of public folders. We needed more options, so that all current users would be happy to continue using our software even if they had not implemented SharePoint.

A shared mailbox was an alternative that already existed. It works well for smaller organizations but is not a good options for organizations with many users. We needed a sharing method that could use as well SharePoint as more traditional databases.

New sharing method
I found a method that the kalmstrom.com technicians developed and refined, and it is now used in our knowledge base, KBase, and in Kanban Task Manager for Outlook.

In these solutions the sharing options are a SharePoint site, an SQL Server database and an Access database. No public folder or shared mailbox is necessary, and a network folder is only needed for the Access option.

TimeCard Workgroup also uses the same method, even if the SharePoint option remains to be added, and the new sharing options will eventually be implemented in Folder HelpDesk and Calendar Browser too.

Install on each client
The kalmstrom.com Outlook Solutions should be installed on each PC that will use the solution. This installation can be made centrally via Active Directory for all users but the first one – which is most often the administrator. When the admin installs one of the products that has the new sharing method, he or she also defines what sharing option should be used.

Always correct sharing info
Earlier the sharing options dialog was opened the first time each new user opened our solution, and the user had to give the same sharing option as the admin had defined. From now on, this will only be necessary for the SharePoint option. When a database is used for sharing, the path or connection info can be given for all users via Active Directory before the actual user installation. How this should be done will be described in the manuals.

TimeCard update
We will soon release a new version of TimeCard Workgroup, the kalmstrom.com add-on that lets you report time and expenses from inside the Outlook calendar. It will be the first solution where we have added the new possibility to set sharing option centrally – an important enhancement, especially for some Premium subscribers who have several hundreds of TimeCard users within the organization.

The new version of TimeCard Workgroup will also have another new, sponsored feature, but I will tell you more about it when I announce the release. Or take a look at the Plans page, if you are curious!

By Peter Kalmstrom
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

Create SharePoint Containers With PowerShell Script

In my series of tutorials built on my session at SharePoint Saturday in Stockholm I have now published the last article about file migration into SharePoint in the kalmstrom.com Tips section.

In the Sharepoint Saturday session I shared my experience of planning the move of a huge number of files into SharePoint. This task begun with a  fileshare inventory, and after that old Office files were converted into modern formats.

These two steps have already been described in blog posts and Tips articles, as well as the creation of Site collections with a PowerShell script. Now it is time for the final step, the actual file transfer from folders to SharePoint.

What kind of SharePoint containers?
SharePoint can have a folder system in a document library that resembles the old fileshare. However, SharePoint is a modern platform that gives more and better possibilities, so we should try to think differently and not get stuck in old habits.

Avoid folders
The immidiate answer to the question on how to get files from a folder into SharePoint is perhaps to drag and drop or upload them to different folders in a document library. This is a tedious work if you have many files, but it is also a bad solution even for fewer files. The navigation becomes more difficult the more folders and subfolders you add, and the SharePoint search will work badly.

Better solutions
SharePoint gives better options than folders. You can use site collections or subsites, or a number of document libraries. In any case you should use tags and metadata. It requires some end user training and an agreement on what tags are needed, but in the long run it will make it much easier to find information.

PowerShell scripts
In the article about SharePoint containers in the kalmstrom.com Tips section I am sharing two PowerShell scripts. One is for the creation of different SharePoint containers, specified in a CSV file, and the other one is used to transfer the files into the containers.

You are welcome to download the scripts and use them with your own material. In the demo below I go through the two scripts and explain how the are written. The Tips article also gives a step by step instruction on the process.

By Peter Kalmstrom
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

Create Site Collection With PowerShell

In my series of articles on how to move huge amounts of files into SharePoint I have now published the third Tips article. It contains a demo where I explain the PowerShell script I am using. There is also a download link to the script itself.

Show options to clients
When you are moving many folders and files into SharePoint you often have a client with opinions on how the end result should look. However, sometimes you might want to suggest a better solution, as you probably have more knowledge about the SharePoint possibilities than your client.

Or maybe the client does not know at all and wants to see different options before making a decision? In both cases you need a way to quickly create site collections in which you can implement your ideas and suggestions, to show the client how they work.

PowerShell
To automate the site collection creation I suggest using PowerShell, Microsoft's task automation and configuration management framework. In the demo below I go through my script for site collection creation and explain how it works.

If you need something like this, you are welcome to visit the Tips article about the PowerShellscript that creates a site collection and download the compressed .ps1 file.



Last article
My next blog post about moving files into SharePoint will be the last one in this series. I will then show how to let PowerShell scripts create SharePoint containers and copy files to them, and I will also discuss different kinds of containers and show how they work in SharePoint.

By Peter Kalmstrom
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

Convert E-mails To SharePoint Kanban Board Tasks

Sometimes subscribers to kalmstrom.com Solutions use more than one product, and often they can enhance each other. Here I will explain how the add-on HelpDesk OSP for Outlook and SharePoint can help you to get more out of Kanban Task Manager for SharePoint.

Kanban Task Manager
Kanban Task Manager is a virtual kanban board that works in Outlook and SharePoint. The kanban tasks are standard Outlook or SharePoint tasks, but we have added dropdowns for selection of tags, for example project and phase. This way the tasks can be categorized, and you can drag and drop them between phases as work proceeds.

Convert e-mails into tasks
Sometimes you get information in an e-mail that you would like to save in a task. To get it to the two Outlook versions of Kanban Task Manager is easy, because you only have to drag the e-mail to the Kanban Task Manager Outlook folder.

If you are using only the SharePoint version, it gets a bit more complicated. You need a way to convert the e-mail to a SharePoint list item – and kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has such a tool for you.

HelpDesk OSP
The kalmstrom.com Outlook add-on HelpDesk OSP converts e-mails into SharePoint list items, manually or automatically. As HelpDesk OSP can place the converted e-mails in any SharePoint list you can also use this add-on for conversion into tasks on the virtual kanban board created in SharePoint by Kanban Task Manager. Should you want to create a new, blank kanban task from Outlook is that also possible with HelpDesk OSP.

Select tag value
By default the Kanban Task Manager SharePoint dropdowns don't require a value, so therefore you must select those in the task you create from an e-mail with HelpDesk OSP before it can be displayed on the kanban board in SharePoint.

This is acceptable if you convert an e-mail manually now and then, but if you use automatic conversion of all incoming e-mails to an Outlook folder it does not work. Then you need a way to see what new tasks have not been properly tagged, and you want to see that directly on the kanban board.

"Not assigned" values
In the Kanban Task Manager Settings, add a new phase "Not assigned" and set it to the first in the phase sequence. Also add "Not assigned" values for the other dropdowns, but as they are sorted automatically you have to call the value "1 Not Assigned" to make sure it is placed first in the dropdown list.

If you now also change the Kanban Task Manager task list setting so that a dropdown value is required, this first "Not assigned" value will be selected – because the first value will be selected automatically. In the demos below I am showing how to make that change in the list settings for both SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013.

Now each new task that has been created from an e-mail with HelpDesk OSP will be placed in the "Not Assigned" phase on the kanban board, and from there you can change the tag values when it is convenient.

Are you using two kalmstrom.com Solutions together in some smart way? Please tell us, so that we can spread the idea to other subscribers.

By Peter Kalmstrom
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions

SharePoint List Items Limit

Sometimes a SharePoint admin might want to limit the number of items allowed in a list. This can be done in various ways, but in my latest kalmstrom.com Tip I am showing how to use the validation settings to stop new items from being added.

Edit but not add
You can of course use SharePoint permissions to prevent users from adding list items, but SharePoint has no permission level that allows users to edit a list but not add items to it. The method I am showing restricts users from adding new items, while they still can edit the existing items.

Booking limit
I made this demo for a client who lets students notify their presence at lectures by booking a seat in the room where the lecture will be held. This client wanted to limit the number of bookings in a classroom, so that each student got a chair to sit on. Only 25 students should be able to book a place in a room with 25 seats.

Validation setting
Each classroom has its own SharePoint list, and the first step is to add the maximum number of items to each classroom list. Then I will use the validation settings to make sure no more than the allowed number of items can be used.

Validation settings are normally used to guarantee that no invalid items will be entered in a SharePoint list. In those cases a formula sets certain conditions that must be true for a new item to be allowed in the list.

To limit the number of items I use the validation the other way around: I set a condition for new items that will never be true, and that way no new items can be added.

The kalmstrom.com Tips section
New tips are added to the Tips section of the kalmstrom.com website almost every week. Now they are so many that we have had to create a new content page. The old content page did not give a good overview anymore, even though we separated the articles into two content pages: one for SharePoint and one for Outlook, Excel and the rest. Now links to all articles are gathered on one page again, and I hope that the new content will make it easier to find what you are looking for.

The Tips articles are financed by advertisements, so they do not burden the kalmstrom.com Solutions – but we know that users of our software often visit the pages and learn from the articles. You are welcome to do so you also!
By Peter Kalmstrom
CEO and Systems Designer
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions