One of the things we wanted to do in our new SharePoint 2013 environment was create a more user friendly environment and increase adoption by giving users the ability to learn "how-tos" without the need of a training class or a guided tour by the SharePoint person (aka me). My first thought when we began planning for the upgrade was that built-in help would be excellent, but would also be a monumental task to create. Having used many of SharePoint-Videos.com videos for my own learning needs, I turned to their site for ideas. Enter VisualSP. Obviously, I'm not the only person who desired in-context help for the end users.
We purchased VisualSP for SharePoint 2013. Once our environment was configured properly, installation was not difficult. The installation procedures were straight forward and easy to follow.
I am not replicating that information here, but will hit the highlights. For full details and screenshots, see the link above.
Installation must be completed as a SharePoint Server Administrator.
To begin, make sure you have purchased the system or acquired the trial version.
Create a new site collection (URL: VisualSPFarmHub , Title: VisualSP Farm Hub, Site Template: Team Site)
Next run the Installer. The installer checks to be sure that SharePoint is configured, needed services are running, and the current user is a Farm Administrator. Follow the steps in the installation procedures referenced above and you should be ready to go quickly.
The only "gotcha" I experienced in the process was that the site collection did not by default give any users other than the farm administrators access to view the content (Read/View permissions to the VisualSP Farm Hub site collection is needed for users to see the Help tab and related content.) This was a gotcha due to our farm configuration, not Visual SP. I admit we spent a good bit of time trying to figure out what was wrong there. What this problem did show me, however, is that we could easily restrict help content to only those who need to see it.
Once installed and properly permissioned, the users will see a HELP tab on the various pages, libraries, and lists where you have allowed the solution to run. (if they don't have permissions, they will not see the HELP tab at all).
The really neat thing about this solution is that your users have documents and videos to show them how to complete basic tasks in SharePoint 2013 available at their fingertips. In addition, you can add your own content to assist your users in completing their work/tasks.
For our environment, the first thing users need to know how to do after accessing SharePoint is filling out forms. We have several InfoPath forms and custom lists that our users interact with on a regular basis. For a user who has never seen SharePoint, some of these can be a bit intimidating. A short video sequence showing how to fill out a form (or for managers, how to approve it), reduces the number of helpdesk tickets received and helps users be productive quickly.
VisualSP allows you to add your own content only in the places where it needs to be. So for our site, a how to submit a form category on our Forms site collection and separate category for managers only on how to approve forms is in the works.
Additionally, we can add instructional materials for new employees on how to perform other actions (not necessarily SharePoint related) thus increasing the amount of information that newly hired employees can access to make the on-boarding process more efficient.
If you're looking for an in-context help system for your SharePoint end users, I would highly recommend VisualSP.
We purchased VisualSP for SharePoint 2013. Once our environment was configured properly, installation was not difficult. The installation procedures were straight forward and easy to follow.
I am not replicating that information here, but will hit the highlights. For full details and screenshots, see the link above.
Installation must be completed as a SharePoint Server Administrator.
To begin, make sure you have purchased the system or acquired the trial version.
Create a new site collection (URL: VisualSPFarmHub , Title: VisualSP Farm Hub, Site Template: Team Site)
Next run the Installer. The installer checks to be sure that SharePoint is configured, needed services are running, and the current user is a Farm Administrator. Follow the steps in the installation procedures referenced above and you should be ready to go quickly.
The only "gotcha" I experienced in the process was that the site collection did not by default give any users other than the farm administrators access to view the content (Read/View permissions to the VisualSP Farm Hub site collection is needed for users to see the Help tab and related content.) This was a gotcha due to our farm configuration, not Visual SP. I admit we spent a good bit of time trying to figure out what was wrong there. What this problem did show me, however, is that we could easily restrict help content to only those who need to see it.
Once installed and properly permissioned, the users will see a HELP tab on the various pages, libraries, and lists where you have allowed the solution to run. (if they don't have permissions, they will not see the HELP tab at all).
The really neat thing about this solution is that your users have documents and videos to show them how to complete basic tasks in SharePoint 2013 available at their fingertips. In addition, you can add your own content to assist your users in completing their work/tasks.
For our environment, the first thing users need to know how to do after accessing SharePoint is filling out forms. We have several InfoPath forms and custom lists that our users interact with on a regular basis. For a user who has never seen SharePoint, some of these can be a bit intimidating. A short video sequence showing how to fill out a form (or for managers, how to approve it), reduces the number of helpdesk tickets received and helps users be productive quickly.
VisualSP allows you to add your own content only in the places where it needs to be. So for our site, a how to submit a form category on our Forms site collection and separate category for managers only on how to approve forms is in the works.
Additionally, we can add instructional materials for new employees on how to perform other actions (not necessarily SharePoint related) thus increasing the amount of information that newly hired employees can access to make the on-boarding process more efficient.
If you're looking for an in-context help system for your SharePoint end users, I would highly recommend VisualSP.
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