SharePoint admin

Question

are been running our corporate intranet on SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Next year we will move the MOSS 2007. I have been administering the site in addition to my other responsibilities. I would like to make the business case for a dedicated SharePoint admin. What should a job description for this position include? What would a good SPS admin do for me?

Answer 1

Based on my experiences with MOSS, a good MOSS admin is going to be a hybrid of all the other types of admin: some IIS, some Windows, some SQL, some dev, some networking, some ops, plus the Sharepoint-specific stuff.

Managing the interactions between these various roles is the hard part. What databases get created, when, and why? What does a sharepoint "site" consist of (iis site(s), database(s), shared service providers). What's a shared service provider? When something isn't right, where is the best place to fix it (code? machine config? MOSS config?) Where are permissions set for X (this one will kill you)? Who's going to design/write environment-specific utilities?

That's how you cost-justify the position. You aren't hiring a "MOSS administrator", you're hiring someone who effectively specializes in integration of Microsoft technologies. The promise of MOSS is that you don't have to do that, but if it used in any depth it only becomes more important.

The alternative is to designate people from across the specialties, and design everything by committee, with the usual results.

This person's (or part of a person's) role is to co-ordinate between the relevant parties, and help them come to the best decision from a MOSS-specific point of view.

If the nature of the role isn't recognized, it isn't much fun.

To be honest, most any CMS administrator has the same role. MOSS seems like it can be a bit more of a pain at times, but it has its strengths, too.

Answer 2

Sharepoint can be a great "glue" to keep information flowing between departments. If you've been with this company a while, and know the pain points of communication between the different entities, I'd spend some time on various sites related to sharepoint features, addins, and custom coding. You should be able to create a case for solving half a dozen aggrivating problems with sharepoint.

Downside is you'll probably have to provide time estimates of how long the list would take you in order to demonstrate the need for a fulltime job. The alternative is that sharepoint gets installed, neglected, and eventually falls into disuse.

Hopefully we have a real sharepoint admin around who can provide something other than generalities. ;)