Moving to Microsoft SharePoint
What is SharePoint?
Microsoft SharePoint is a collaboration platform, with a focus on document management and storage. It provides a centralised place for files to be stored and accessed by a team of people.
Within SharePoint you have sites. A site is an area of SharePoint for a team to collaborate and share documents. So, for example, you could have a Finance site where the Finance team can communicate and share documents between themselves, or you could have a Company site where everyone in the organisation can work collaboratively.
Why are we moving to SharePoint?
There are many reasons why you might be moving to SharePoint, but the most common reasons are:
• Improved data security – Rather than depending solely on a single physical server onsite to safeguard your documents, you can leverage Microsoft’s secure cloud environment for greater protection and control of your data.
• Flexible working – Because your documents are now in SharePoint, you can access them from anywhere (without the need for a VPN) and from multiple devices. You also gain access to features like Version History, allowing you to go back to a previous version of the document in just a few clicks.
• More cost effective and efficient – Hosting services on-site is often more expensive and resource intensive than using a cloud platform. Not only have you got to purchase and maintain physical hardware, but you have running costs on top of that, like energy bills, warranties, support costs, and more.
• Get access to the latest features and security controls – Technology providers have been shifting their focus and resources into building out their cloud services. Microsoft is putting all the latest technologies into its cloud services and gradually moving away from the on- site versions we’ve been used to. Your organisations end goal is likely to migrate as much IT infrastructure to the cloud, so moving your documents to SharePoint is one part of that journey.
How to access SharePoint documents
The bzb IT team will migrate the documents you collaboratively work on with your colleagues to SharePoint.
You would have likely accessed your company documents previously in File Explorer via Network Drives, like below:
Once migrated, you will instead need to access those same files and folders via Shortcuts in your
OneDrive folder, like below:
Shortcuts in OneDrive are denoted by the link icon:
Wherever you log into your OneDrive account from, you will always be able to access your
OneDrive Shortcuts.
OneDrive Shortcuts are live links to the documents stored in that SharePoint site.