Chris Parkes: A PC is not just for Christmas... : Demo Showcase, Mid Market

SharePoint and Search

chrisp — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:49:31 GMT

Here's another screencast I've recorded which shows some of the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server search capabilities including how to search across content including the business data catalog and people.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server - Search

This recording is based on the Demo Showcase virtual images, a resource readily available to Microsoft Gold and Certified partners. Total running time is under four minutes :)

Parkesy

SharePoint, Business Process & Forms

chrisp — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:27:00 GMT

Here's a little screencast I've recorded showing a demonstration of some of the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Forms Services capabilities together with InfoPath forms rendered through a browser and also including simple workflow creation and deployment through SharePoint Designer.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server - Business Process & Forms

Based on the Demo Showcase virtual images, a resource readily available to Microsoft Gold and Certified partners, the demo lasts just a touch over ten minutes, I'd love to know what you think of it!

Parkesy

The Demo Showcase & Office 2007 Launch (Part 2)

chrisp — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:56:00 GMT

There's another fantastic scenario contained with the Demo Showcase which expertly shows off the amazing conditional formatting and newly designed table capabilities of Microsoft Excel 2007.

In the scenario, we assume the character of Patricia Doyle, a Sales Manager with Contoso. Maybe the silicon chip inside her head is switched to overload (but) she don’t like downtime. So, the race is on with regards to just how fast we can get better results faster!

First of all, we're introduced to the concept of galleries and the use of the new live preview capabilities of Office 2007. We also get to understand the benefit of contextual menus and the fantastic charting options available.

By using the blandest of spreadsheets, we are quickly shown how to transform it into a professional looking spreadsheet containing automatically created totals, filters and funky new charts!

Finally, the scenario wraps with a spreadsheet containing data bars, business intelligence style icons and more... All in less than five minutes. So much for that downtime, shame we can't do anything about Mondays!!!

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase & Office 2007 Launch (Part 1)

chrisp — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:13:00 GMT

One of the great things about the Demo Showcase is the Office 2007 content it contains. One of the scenarios let's you assume the role of Julia, the HR Manager at Contoso who needs to publish a HR newsletter on a regular basis. Now, to me, Julia looks more like someone who spends hours and hours in front of the mirror rather than in the Office. How does she manage to find time for this? Easy, she's obviously switched to the 2007 Microsoft Office System (now with workflow!)

In this example, Julia uses the new functionality included in the Ribbon to quickly format a plain looking document and transform it into a HR letter (this obviously then leaves plenty of time to later transform herself into the model pictured above!) She also uses the drop down gallery feature to insert and format graphics that need to be included.

So, the scenario shows how transforming such a bland looking document (pictured left) into the rather swanky looking newsletter (pictured right) is an extremely simple, few click process.

Give it a go if you need to know how...

So this is how it feels to leave early, this is how it feels to us all, this is how it feels when your work takes you no time at all.

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase & Information Retention

chrisp — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:12:00 GMT

One of the more frequent headaches faced by companies in today's marketplace is how do they keep their intellectual property and/or confidential documents within their organisation's. Leaks can be costly and in addition to this, the possibility of staff moving on is also a potential source of information seepage and maybe even data theft.

To help address such issues, Microsoft has a technology known as Windows Rights Management Services which works in conjunction with Microsoft Office System 2003 (also 2007 :) and this can be invaluable when it comes to helping secure and protect and finding, using and sharing information. The following scenario is provided by the Demo Showcase for the People Ready Business.

The accountant at Contoso is automatically notified via email of a new SharePoint Portal Server 2003 (SPS) site for a project and that the CEO has changed the business plan for the fiscal year. The business plan is confidential and protected through Information Rights Management (IRM).

Since the accountant has appropriate access rights, she is able to open the document, check it out from the document library, modify some information and check it back in.

A new document version is automatically created by SharePoint. Also covered is the document archiving process which needs to be carried out in accordance with legal regulations. Documents are archived automatically, and can be found and retrieved very quickly using SPS integrated Full Text Search.

There are three other such scenarios included in the Demo Showcase to show how you can help safeguard digital information from unauthorised use.

The Demo Showcase Team Photo

chrisp — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 15:05:00 GMT

Hopefully, you are all aware of the Demo Showcase team line up - if not, you can review my earlier post here :)

Given that the new season is about to get underway, the people from that fine organisation Contoso got together to have their photo taken, in true football/soccer style.

As well as pictures, you can also find team profiles for each individual (although you'll need to at least be a registered Microsoft partner to access in depth information) such as demographics, work, psychographics, a day in the life and roles and responsibilities on the Demo Showcase home.

Now, is it just me or do others think that Tim Litton, IT Manager at Contoso should have a nice sideline business running as a Tom Hanks lookalike?

Ciao for now :)

PTS-TV, Chris Parkes & Business Scorecard Manager

chrisp — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:35:00 GMT

From the email's I've ben receiving recently, I think this is worth a post. Here's me, via PTS-TV talking about Business Intelligence and in particular scorecarding using Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager.

Never in my life did I think I'd be downloadable but if you really feel the need, right click and save target as...

http://download.microsoft.com/documents/uk/partner/blog/pts-tv/pts-tv_chrisparkes.wmv

I think I'm the first member of the PTS team to get the fine interviewer (Katie Ledger) to start talking in acronyms before the interviewee :)

If you've a spare 12 minutes 15 seconds, feel free take a look - as an added bonus, you even get to see what kind of award you get for putting in five years service at Microsoft..!

If you like what you see, you can find plenty more on many varied topics on PTS-TV.

The Demo Showcase Team Tactics

chrisp — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 13:07:57 GMT

Right then, Monday morning and my season's kicked off, so time to head back over to the football/soccer analogies...well, if tactics equate to marketing campaigns that is!!!

Find below a list of the market campaigns that the Demo Showcase aligns to when talking to midmarket customers.

Build Customer Connections
Drive Business Performance
Drive Real World Business Processes
Enable Your Mobile Workforce
Find, Use and Share Information
Optimize and Secure Your Core Infrastructure
Optimize Your Application Platform Infrastructure
Optimise Your Business Productivity Infrastructure

And also, a list of campaigns that the Demo Showcase aligns to for the small business specialist.

First Server, Right Server
Financial Management
Mobility
Sales and Marketing

As for my team this weekend? Losing 1-0 at home, we went 2-1 up only to concede a late equalised in a 2-2 draw. Not the worst start to the season on reflection, a fair result I feel...

Ciao for now :)

What Does the Demo Showcase Look Like (in Reality?)

chrisp — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:29:54 GMT

Well, I posted the box shots, so here's the actual goods... Basically, what you get when you pop them there DVD's into your machine is a nice little index...

This is where you could, if you so wished, look to sort out a list of technology demos... Or, if you are smart, you can try to align them by Campaign, Role and Customer (even a combination of) to help understand business pain points within any given organisation...

So, in this example I've chosen Midmarket as the example customer and Finance as the role I'm looking to talk to and as you can see, it filters me down to a few sample demonstration scenario's... Clicking more information is a useful little thing to do next...

Finally, the only other option left is to view the script, here's a sample...

What next, launch the VPC's and run through the scenario, in real time...only another 44 to review...Indeed!!!

In all seriousness, this for me is a fantastic sales aid which can help businesses understand how to approach customers when selling solutions. Note that this is indeed the emphasis here, to help transition from product to solution selling. Interested in selling more, cross selling, upselling??? Tempted to take a look at the Demo Showcase yet?

You bloomin' well should be!!!

If you want to hear first hand evidence from partners around the benefits they have gained from using this during it's pilot phase in the UK, listen to Karen Dallyn from Lynx and Steve Sydee from Touchstone.

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase Line Up

chrisp — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:57:00 GMT

I played football at the weekend (that's possibly known as soccer to any non UK folk listening - hey, what do we know, we only invented the beautiful game! ;)

I play for a Sunday League side, nothing serious, that's run from a local pub called The Holden Bridge Hotel. The team played really well, and we stuck to a rigid 4-4-2 formation throughout.

I don't truly understand the way my brain works and so have no idea why I decided to relate this to the Demo Showcase, but, any good team is always role based so I thought I'd use this as an analogy to introduce you to the Customer Roles we currently have residing in the newest and best People Ready Business sales tool...

In goal, (1) Bookkeeper
Right back (2) Information Technology Services
Left Back (3) Office (player) Manager
Centre Half (5) Human Resources
Centre Half (6) Finance
Right Midfield (7) Marketing
Left Midfield (11) Service Technician
Centre Midfield (4) Operations
Centre Midfield (8) Sales
Centre Forward (9) Chief Executive Officer
Centre Forward (10) Small Business Owner

As you can see, there's a pretty solid back line there, the Bookkeeper has a great safe pair of hands and patrolling the back four, really underpinning the teams' success we have IT Services, the Office (player) Manager, HR and Finance. Keeping the side running in midfield, Sales, Marketing and Operations line up alongside the Service Technician. Then, pushing the team forwards, up front we have the CEO and the Small Business Owner looking to create and take as many opportunities that the midfield can provide whilst also trying to make and take their own chances either solo or by working in partnership...

Finally, for anyone interested, I bagged the first and the third then set up two more in a 6-0 away win in our final pre-season friendly... Season starts next week, might keep you all up to date on the results as we go along...

Ciao for now :)

Whoever heard of the Demo Showcase for the People Ready Business?

chrisp — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:00:00 GMT

Well, I did for sure...hope you were as lucky!

Basically, the "Demo Showcase for the People Ready Business" (really can't be bothered to type that out all the time so from here-on-in it will be referred to as the Demo Showcase) is a unique resource for Microsoft Partners to help them transition from product to solution selling. Aligned by scenario (45 of), role (13 of) and campaign (don't even go there!), this resource provides a consolidated view across 28 Microsoft Products in a rather interesting fashion...

I'll post more soon but for initial insight, take a look here:

https://partner.microsoft.com/demoshowcase