Managed metadata: 5 things that you wish you knew before using term store management tool in SharePoint

My recent posts are more on the darker side. I see the mistakes, issues and flaws in SharePoint, as well as in working with SharePoint.

It doesn't mean that SharePoint is getting worse, it just means I am getting better). I know more, I see more.

Last couple of years, I was working on understanding how to use SharePoint right. Where SharePoint is helpful, what feature is more appropriate for the specific use case. 

Finally, I have figured out where Managed metadata can bring value. 

More on that:

Role of Enterprise Taxonomy in IA

Taxonomy, Folksonomy. What is it and why we should bother?

I have implemented managed metadata, and have used it successfully to improve findability in the portal.

Nevertheless, working with managed metadata in the real world portal highlights some flaws that currently exist in Term Store management implementation.

1. No history, no versioning

There is no way to see changes made in the term store, nor you can't revert changes.

2.No author of the term

The term doesn't have an author field. So, there is now way to know who created or modified and when the term.

3. No usage (where value is used)

Being in the term store you can't trace where the term has been used.

4. No UI to backup\restore

What you can do is to reach out for PowerShell to export term to backup it.

5. No sync options in case of Hybrid Cloud Architecture

There is no way to maintain term store in sync between 2 farms: on-prem and SharePoint Online

These 5 things can be easily significant in the large implementation of the SharePoint. I hope that you know them before making decision. And it doesn't mean that these facts stop you, but you will be better equipped to set the expectations right.

Common mistakes in SharePoint 2013 Arhitecture

I am participating in the upgrade from SharePoint 2007 to  SharePoint 2013 on premises. It is nice to be back in upgrade work since it was my main activity last 6 years). This time it's a little bit different.
First of all, the upgrade is from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2013. We do it through a transitional SharePoint 2010 farm.
And second of all, I wasn't involved in the architecture phase of building the farm. I jumped on the upgrade bandwagon just before the final prod upgrade. So, what I do mainly is  verifying that new farm is in the working conditions and testing once again the content migration.
Along the way I see how people built the farm and streamlined the upgrade process. It's a good experience to have to observe different style of working with SharePoint. I am free of making architectural decisions, but at the same time I am experienced enough to see outcome of decisions that were made by others.
This post is about my observations on common SharePoint 2013 architectural mistakes.

I can get "editing in the browser" feature with no additional configuration
No, you have to have 2 conditions to have Office Web Apps on the farm:
1. Office Web App server
2.  Claim based web application

You need to have OWA server. You can't place OWA on App server. It should be a dedicated server for Office Web App server.Plan for an additional server in the farm.
Office Web Apps can be used only by SharePoint 2013 web applications that use claims-based authentication


OWA server will handle all Excel calculation

Office Web Apps Server enables you to view workbooks that contain Data Models that use native data. However, you can’t explore data in items such as PivotTable reports, PivotChart reports, and timeline controls that use a Data Model as the data source.

(Overview of business intelligence capabilities in Office Web Apps Server and SharePoint Server)

Overview of Excel Services in SharePoint Server 2013

Excel Web App runs in one of two modes:

SharePoint view mode   In this mode, Excel Services is used to view workbooks in the browser.

Office Web Apps Server view mode   In this mode, Excel Web App is used to view workbooks in the browser.

Comparing Excel Online, Excel Services, and Excel Web App

       Excel Services, and Excel Web App all have a lot in common, but they are not exactly the same. These applications can differ in what workbook features are supported for viewing in a browser

More on SharePoint 2013 architectural pain points

SP farm doesn't use SQL alias

 An old and common mistake. I have just recently jumped on the project after the farm was already configured. The first thing that makes me sick in the farm, that there is no alias for SQL.

So, in case you sql server dies and need to make sure that you name the new server the same way as previous one.

User Profile Service: View the management agent run history for details.

Do you still use FIM for User Profiles in SharePoint 2013?
If requirements allow, I highly recommend to switch to SharePoint Active Directory Import

If not, you may be lost with intricacy of FIM configuration. I hope this How to start User Profile Synchronization service post alleviate some configuration pain.

One the Sp2013 uses FIM, and I recently found an error message in the event log:

The management agent "MOSSAD-User Profile Synchronisation" failed on run profile "DS_FULLIMPORT" because of connectivity issues.

 Additional Information
 Discovery Errors       : "0"
 Synchronization Errors : "0"
 Metaverse Retry Errors : "0"
 Export Errors          : "0"
 Warnings               : "0"

 User Action
 View the management agent run history for details.

And was wondering where IS this agent run history.

Here it is:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Synchronization Service\UIShell

Project Server 2013 error: Faulting application name: schedengine.exe

As me moved to Project Server 2013, I have made several posts along the way describing new bugs introduced in the Project Server 2013.

Here is the one that I see pretty regularly:
Can't save or published the project. It's been queued and never finished.
The event log registered an application error:

Faulting application name: schedengine.exe, version: 15.0.4551.1507, time stamp: 0x52700711
Faulting module name: schedengine.exe, version: 15.0.4551.1507, time stamp: 0x52700711
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000048508b
Faulting process id: 0x1e68
Faulting application start time: 0x01cf3eca3fc01ef1
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Bin\schedengine.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Bin\schedengine.exe
Report Id: 6a2866f8-aad9-11e3-9414-00155d52365a
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

This bug is not a new one based on the reply in this thread
In my experience, the common cause of such behavior is wrong dates for task duration.
What I mean by that is the following:
As an example, you have a Task 1 with duration 1 d and dates are: start date: 3/12/2014 and finish date: 3/13/2014. It's 2 working days based on the dates.
That situation is never been reproduced intentionally, but I saw it after the fact. So, I don't know how to reproduced, but it's obvious how to fix it.
You need to open the project in Project Professional and recalculate dates (F9).
In some cases, it might be the other issues related to some wrong data that appeared in the project, that schedengine can't get it straight (which is a whole another discussion)
As a recent example, when I checked the dates and nothing was suspicious about them, I have tried to publish the project through Project Professional, which is really helpful since you have a error message more easily than scanning through event and trace logs. So I have got a Job UI that failed and search by it in the ULS log messages field and found the following error:
Cannot insert duplicate key in object 'pub.MSP_PROJECT_RESOURCES'. 

I have checked the resource values that are not currently in the resource list and select the actual one, saved and published the project successfully.

This is a known bug and acknowledged by MS

I have ran the recommended sql to fix the issue. That ensures that we will not have this issue from now on.

Nevertheless, the inflected projects ARE NOT FIXED AND NEEDED MANUAL ADJUSTMENT.

Almost every project is affected. 

To fix the remain residue:

1.      open the project in the Project Professional ;

2.      re-add missing resource;

3.      re-select the resource in the tasks that shown with numbers instead of resource name

4.      Save and Publish

Simple Concept: List View How to add a link to the column other than Title?

Question: I have a column that is not a default Title. I need to have this column rendered with a link to display form in the list view. How can I do it?
Answer:
You have several options, the old ones are described in Simple Concept: List View How to add context menu to the column?

A new versatile approach - JSLink. It works as a charm on prem , as well as on SharePoint Online.

1. Create a js file to render template for the field

var ebt = ebt || {};

// shows link to list item display form
ebt.displayLinkTemplate = function (ctx) {
    if (ctx == null)
        return '';
    var value = ctx.CurrentItem[ctx.CurrentFieldSchema.Name];
    var url = ctx.displayFormUrl + "&ID=" + ctx.CurrentItem.ID + "&ContentTypeID=" + ctx.CurrentItem.ContentTypeId;
   

    return "<a href='" + url + "'>" + value.Label + "</a>";
};

(function () {
    var context = {};
    context.Templates = {};
    context.Templates.Fields = {
        "Project": { "View": ebt.displayLinkTemplate }        
    };
    
    SPClientTemplates.TemplateManager.RegisterTemplateOverrides(context);
})();

2. Upload the js file into Asset Library and then update the view.JSLink.
I use PowerShell for SharePoint Online By Gary Lapointe

$PrjLst= Get-SPOList -Web "/" -identity "Projects List"
$PrjViews=$PrjLst.GetViews()  
$prjDefaultView = $PrjViews|Where-Object {$_.Title -eq "ProjectView"}
$prjDefaultView.JSLink="~site/SiteAssets/ebt.root.projectlistview.js"
$prjDefaultView.Update()
$PrjLst.Update()

Simple Concept: How to delete Drop Off library in SharePoint Online?

[Question]: In SharePoint Online I have accidentally turned the feature "Content Organizer" on.
Then I have turned it off. But Drop Off library wasn't deleted. There is no "Delete this document library" in Drop Off library settings.
The various blogs suggest to set "AllowDeletion" property to  True. 
Since it's SharePoint online, I can't use Microsoft.SharePoint.dll
How can I remove Drop Off library in SharePoint Online?

[Answer]: To keep it short: you can't. Please let me know if were able to.
The only way to manipulate with SharePoint Online objects is through CSOM, the property "AllowDeletion" is not exposed  in Client.List

At this moment, what I do is to set Drop Off library Hidden.
I use Gary Lapointe module - Lapointe.SharePointOnline.PowerShell.msi to get Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.List and set Hidden=True

 Import-Module -Name Lapointe.SharePointOnline.PowerShell 
 Connect-SPOSite -Url $siteCollectionUrl -Credential $spOnlineCredentials
 $dropofflib= Get-SPOList -Web "/" -identity $fullUrlToDropOffLibrary
 $dropofflib.Hidden=$true
 $dropofflib.Update()

SP24 - The Free 24-hour SharePoint ​Conference

SP24 - The Free 24-hour SharePoint ​Conference

​SP24 is a SharePoint Conference with a difference and if you are interested in SharePoint you are going love it, and here's why :

1. It's entirely on-line - so you won't need to leave the office or home!  
2. Free for all attendees.
3. Takes place on 16th April 10pm GMT.  
4. In the first 4 weeks of registration over 2400 attendees signed up.
5. Lasts for 24 hours.  
6. World famous speakers from all over the world. 
7. Keynote from Bill Baer (Senior Product Manager, Microsoft). 
8. Comprises of 2 tracks, (business and technical).  
9. 48 Live sessions + on-demand sessions. 

WORLD CLASS SESSIONS​​

There will be 48 FREE hour long online sessions for 24 hours and the keynote speech is by Bill Baer, who is the Microsoft Senior Product Manager for SharePoint. I will find out where the industry is heading, the direction of SharePoint and associated products, the best practices and news about upcoming integration across technologies for no cost whatsoever. I will learn about the comprehensive scope of features, functionalities and solutions that SharePoint can offer, and I will bring this information back.

2 'LIVE' TRACKS - 1 BUSINE​​SS AND 1 TECHNICAL 

There are over 50 speakers and over 2500 (and rising) delegates, Microsoft engineers, Microsoft Certified Masters and MVPs will be speaking and viewing the sessions from around the world. On top of having exclusive access to the experts, I will have the opportunity to chat online with speakers and other conference attendees, and get our questions answered while learning how SharePoint can provide solutions for us.

WANT TO REGISTER?

I am already signed up to attend SP24 and I strongly suggest you book your place early by visiting : https://www.sp24conf.com​

WHEN IS IT​​?

The Keynote starts on 16th April 2014 10pm GMT and will last for 24 hours.