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Welcome

Tags: @ 11:30 pm |

Hi. My name is Paul Culmsee of Seven Sigma Business Solutions and welcome to my blog. For my bio, go to my about page. On this site, I discuss mainly SharePoint issues, with particular reference to strategy, governance and return on investment issues, but sometimes I end up writing techno-babble articles too

If you are an IT decision maker, and non propeller-head, or simply interested in topics on the softer side on people and technology, then the articles listed on the right side of this screen are probably for you. For the technical oriented readers, the left side is probably what you are looking for. I do write long posts, I’ll admit, but I try and keep them interesting with some humour.

If you would prefer to view this blog the way your RSS reader sees it (newest posts first), then click here.

SharePoint Branding Series 1 Branding Part 1 – How CSS works with master pages Branding Part 2 – How CSS works with master pages Branding Part 3 – How CSS works with master pages Branding Part 4 – Packaging up your masterpiece into a Feature Branding Part 5 – Feature Improvements and Bugs Branding Part 6 – A "solution" to all issues? Branding Part 7 – The governance of it all SharePoint Branding Series 2 More Branding Part 1 – Customisation using JavaScript More Branding Part 2 – Customisation using JavaScript More Branding Part 3 – Customisation using JavaScript More Branding Part 4 – Customisation using JavaScript More Branding Part 5 – Customisation using JavaScript More Branding Part 6 – Customisation using JavaScript Free MOSS/WSS 2007 Web Part – Hide Controls via JavaScript InfoPath Sack Justin Bieber with SPD2010 and Forms Services – Part 1 Sack Justin Bieber with SPD2010 and Forms Services – Part 2 A tribute to the humble "leave form" A tribute to the humble "leave form" – Part 2 A tribute to the humble "leave form" – Part 3 A tribute to the humble "leave form" – Part 4 A tribute to the humble "leave form" – Part 5 A tribute to the humble "leave form" – Part 6 A tribute to the humble "leave form" – Part 7 A tribute to the humble "leave form" – Part 8 Enterprise Integration SharePoint Webcasts: Reporting Services for the Really Really Good Looking "Ain’t it cool?" – Integrating SharePoint and real-time performance data – Part 1 "Ain’t it cool?" – Integrating SharePoint and real-time performance data – Part 2 New book preview – SharePoint 2007 Developers Guide to the Business Data Catalog  Application Development SPD workflows- “ERROR- request not found in the TrackedRequests” Review – Understanding SharePoint Journal Developers who do a “Russell Crowe” SharePoint Event Handlers – things to look out for Form Services and SPD Workflows… STSDEV – Pure Genius Troubleshooting Troubleshooting SharePoint (People) Search 101 Troubleshooting SPSearch and good practices for moving large files  It’s email integration Captain, but not as we know it (problems with incoming email handling on SharePoint 2010 Un-managed metadata – A couple of gotchas More User Profile Sync issues in SP2010: Certificate Provisioning Fun Consequences of complexity–the evilness of the SharePoint 2010 User Profile Service Why me? Web part errors on new web applications Index index everywhere but not a result in sight. SQL Server oddities SBS 2008, Hewlett Packard, WSS3, Search Server 2008 Express and a UPS – Oh the pain! Missing metadata with Office 2003 – yet another “duh” moment… Cannot restore from recycle bin – nested folders Sometimes Microsoft bashing is justified Good advice hidden in the Infrastructure Update Office Server Search memory leak and stuck on crawling SQL Logins and AD Accounts can bite Darn IIS and Service Packs! Gary Lapointe is a genius (and has good music taste too) DCOM Fun with SharePoint Poor windows explorer view performance in SharePoint- Careful with pre-requisite SharePoint Features Security Using google to find potentially misconfigured SharePoint sites All in the name of "security"… Cisco Series SharePoint for Cisco Fanboys – Part 1 SharePoint for Cisco Fanboys (darn WEBDAV) – Part 2 SharePoint for Cisco Fanboys (and developers) -Part 3 SharePoint for Cisco Fanboys (and more developers) – Part 4 Sharepoint for Cisco Fanboys (beyond TFTP) – Part 5 SharePoint for Cisco FanBoys (final housekeeping) – Part 6\ WIFI Security: Background, Risks and Mitigation Part 1 WIFI Security: Background, Risks and Mitigation Part 2 An annotated IPSEC example Offbeat MOSS World Name Dropping To the company about to make me an offer too good to refuse… Fun with "wicked problems" SharePoint – Helping me become a "kept man" Toddler insights into understanding I bet it seemed logical at the time jQuery- SharePoint Blu-Tack

Cloud Computing The cloud is not the problem–Part 1: Has it been here all along? The cloud isn’t the problem–Part 2: When complex technology meets process… The cloud is not the problem–Part 3: When silos strike back… The cloud is not the problem-Part 4: Industry shakeout and playing with the big kids… The cloud isn’t the problem–Part 5: Server huggers and a crisis of identity Dialogue Mapping Australian SharePoint Conference Community Challenge 2011 – How we did it Dialogue Mapping: the Ying to SharePoint Yang The practice of Dialogue Mapping – Part 1 The practice of Dialogue Mapping – Part 2 The practice of Dialogue Mapping – Part 3 The practice of Dialogue Mapping – Part 4 The rationale of a 5 year old Why can’t users find stuff on the intranet? An IBIS synthesis–Part 1 Why can’t users find stuff on the intranet? An IBIS synthesis–Part 2 Why can’t users find stuff on the intranet? An IBIS synthesis–Part 3 Why can’t users find stuff on the intranet? An IBIS synthesis–Part 4   Wicked Problems and Project Management Whatever you do, do not ignore legacy SharePoint Analysts – Stop Analysing! Am I a Business Analyst- What about those calling themselves BAs- The one best practice to rule them all – Part 1 The one best practice to rule them all – Part 2 The one best practice to rule them all – Part 3 The one best practice to rule them all – Part 4 The one best practice to rule them all – Part 5 The one best practice to rule them all – Part 6  Why do SharePoint projects fail? – Part 1 Why do SharePoint projects fail? – Part 2 Why do SharePoint projects fail? – Part 3 Why do SharePoint projects fail? – Part 4 Why do SharePoint projects fail? – Part 5 Why do SharePoint projects fail? – Part 6 Why do SharePoint projects fail? – Part 7 Why do SharePoint projects fail? – Part 8 A warning on “tame” metaphors "Wicked Problem" Best Practice Slides and Demo Materials posted   Book Review – SharePoint for Project Management Book Review – Seamless Teamwork  Root Causes of Communication Fragmentation- Learning styles and behavioural styles Root Causes of Communication Fragmentation- Organisational Culture It’s all in the way you ask the question… How to Sabotage Your (SharePoint) Projects You know you have done a good job when…  Planning, Governance and Assurance How to use Charlie Sheen to improve your estimating A simple way to improve your estimating (and a cool pub trick) – Part 1 A simple way to improve your estimating (and a cool pub trick) – Conclusion Australian SharePoint Conference Community Challenge – How we did it The secret to understanding governance SharePoint Governance – Debategraph Style It’s all Joel’s fault… ‘Governance Man’ has fallen into my trap Boy bands – how to understand the site definition/template debate A warning on “tame” metaphors SharePoint sucks at document management – or does it? A metal perspective  A Critique of the CMS Watch SharePoint Report Book Review – Essential SharePoint 2007  "Fair, Good, Better, Best" or "Crap, Unbearable, Barely Tolerable, Good"? SharePoint External Storage API – Crushing My Dream  Disk and I/O Sizing for MOSS2007 – Part 1 Disk and I/O Sizing for MOSS2007 – Part 2 Review – Balsamiq Mockup Tool (For SharePoint)  Information Architecture and Usability The facets of collaboration Part 1–Meet robot barbie The facets of collaboration Part 2–Enter the matrix! The facets of collaboration Part 3-The feature jigsaw The facets of collaboration Part 4 – BPM vs. HPM The facets of collaboration Part 5 – It’s all Gen-Y’s fault – or is it? Un-Managed Metadata: A couple of gotchas Improve your stakeholders “Crapness Calibration” ™ for SharePoint Information Architecture success Strategy and Management SharePoint Fatigue Syndrome Why SharePoint training sometimes doesn’t deliver (and what to do about it) The problem with sales guys… (a peek into complex adaptive systems) Thinking SharePoint (and Listen to Your Mother) Thinking SharePoint (The unconsciously incompetent Ikea mecca) Thinking SharePoint (A tale of two clients) Thinking SharePoint (Lessons from Kung-fu Panda) Globalisation, Strategy, Technology and Organisational Maturity Mrs CleverWorkarounds – Skills and Competencies of Global Managers IT and the Corporate Immune Mechanism – the "Mother Hen" reflex "You’re not ready" – SharePoint kung fu Selling MOSS – A Choose Your Own Adventure Story Selling MOSS (The moral of the story) Functional consultants vs -great- functional consultants “Folders are bad” and other urban legends…  Return on Investment SharePoint ROI Slide Deck and Sample Scenario Worksheet Learn to talk to your CFO in their language – Part 1 Learn to talk to your CFO in their language – Part 2 Learn to talk to your CFO : Collaboration scenario – Part 3 Learn to talk to your CFO: WCM scenario – Part 4 Learn to talk to your CFO: Web Application Scenario – Part 5 Compliance, Methodology and Risk (ab)using ISO9001 for fun and profit Compliance is about to get worse… More on SOX and subprime Complexity bites: When SharePoint = Risk SQL God? No… I just know how to do a maintenance plan  IT Governance Standards: COBIT, ISO17799/27001, ITIL and PMBOK – Part 1 IT Governance Standards: COBIT, ISO17799/27001, ITIL and PMBOK – Part 2 IT Governance Standards: COBIT, ISO17799/27001, ITIL and PMBOK – Part 3 IT Governance Standards: COBIT, ISO17799/27001, ITIL and PMBOK – Part 4

                      

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Comments (46)

46 Responses to “Welcome”

1. Harish Mathanan says:
   April 3rd, 2008 at 3:55 pm |

   Hi Paul, this is just amazing. I’ve been spending the last month or so looking for blogs related to WSS and MOSS. And what do you know, I find yours today, and realise that you’re based in PERTH as well!!! I’m new to the MOSS world, and would definitely be coming here everyday. Please keep up the excellent work

2. Brad Saide says:
   April 8th, 2008 at 3:31 pm |

   Hi Paul. Does your site have an rss feed hidden somewhere? I’d love to keep up to date with content you write… Thanks
   Brad

3. admin says:
   April 8th, 2008 at 7:57 pm |

   yes mate this ought to do it

   http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/feed

4. James says:
   May 8th, 2008 at 3:39 pm |

   Excellent site from another Perth inhabitant

5. Andy Dale says:
   June 16th, 2008 at 7:00 pm |

   Very useful and entertaining SharePoint posts in this blog.

   [Have you viewed Andy’s SharePoint Blog : http://andydalesharepoint.blogspot.com/

   Regards,
   Andy Dale
   Officetalk
   Tel 01386 833 535
   Email : andy.dale@office-talk.com
   Blog : http://andydalesharepoint.blogspot.com/

6. adwooley2 says:
   August 14th, 2008 at 3:37 pm |

   Whoops – Paul, hit submit a little too early. Please delete out my previous post and use this:

   Paul, you wouldn’t believe how your site saved our project in several ways here in Tokyo, Japan.
   Very keen approach in finding solutions. Trial and error scenarios building up to the punchline, true knowledge-sharing, and giving credit where it’s due. Excellent site – Thanks from Japan!!

   PS – so what’s with Perth, anyhow? Is that some big IT Mecca that I don’t know about?

   Regards,
   Alan Wooley
   E-Mail: adwooley2@yahoo.com

7. Shirley says:
   January 13th, 2009 at 4:55 pm |

   nSynergy SharePoint Document management and collaboration software architectures allow organisations to centralise and better manage all electronic information with its seamless integration of Microsoft SharePoint into the Microsoft Office suite of products in intranet, extranet and internet.

   There is more information at nSynergy International or mail to info@nsynergy.com.

8. Alex Jim says:
   January 27th, 2009 at 11:59 pm |

   Dear Paul,

   Hope you are best of your health, My Manager would like to about sharepoint, i would really appreciate if you send me your contact details and give us date and time so he may call you.

   Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

   Regards,

   Alex Jim
   +1 609 439 4967
   alex.jim@visionetsystems.com

9. Jason Hall says:
   June 16th, 2009 at 1:51 am |

   Would be great to obtain your professional feedback regarding a mobile development framework for SharePoint that we just launched.

   Mobile Entrée(TM) is the first ever SharePoint mobile application framework.

   The full featured code is available for download with a 30 day trial. Natively our solution supports iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Palm webOS devices.

   http://www.mobileentree.com/default.aspx

   Along with the developer SDK and Install are video tutorials that will walk through the solution. Additionally, if you are interested, I can arrange a personal demonstration via LiveMeeting.

   Kindest regards,
   Jason
   +1 703 386 5425

10. Estrella says:
    June 17th, 2009 at 5:55 am |

    Hi Paul. When are you releasing Part 8 of Leave Workflow? I enjoyed reading it and following the instructions. Now we need you to finish the workflow so we can finish ours as well. I’m new to MOSS. I found so many helpful info on your blogs. Keep up the good work.

    Regards,
    Estrella

11. admin says:
    June 17th, 2009 at 8:54 am |

    Hi Estrella

    So sorry this has taken a back seat. I will get back to it soon as I have the whole series mapped out. Just a little pushed for time at the moment

    Stay tuned

    Paul

12. MrWhite says:
    August 21st, 2009 at 1:27 pm |

    Hi from the East side

13. Wayne says:
    September 18th, 2009 at 5:01 pm |

    Hi Paul,

    When will ‘A tribute to the humble “leave form” – Part 8′ be published?
    It has been 7 months since Part 7 was published.

    Regards

    Wayne

14. admin says:
    September 18th, 2009 at 9:50 pm |

    Oh man, I am getting some hassle about this! October

15. Lara says:
    November 12th, 2009 at 7:25 am |

    Paul you are a god sent!!! Keep up the good work!

16. Raoul says:
    November 24th, 2009 at 6:57 am |

    Hi Paul,

    How is part 8 of the leave form article coming along? Keep up the great work.

    Cheers,
    Raoul

17. Kelly M says:
    January 26th, 2010 at 10:27 pm |

    Hey Paul, first time caller, love the “Leave Form” article series…but you have me hanging on like a cliffhanger tv show…are you still planning on releasing article #8? I’m really interested to see how you handle the workflow part of the process. If you have moved on and aren’t planning on publishing #8, please just let us know…release us Thx, Kelly M

18. admin says:
    January 27th, 2010 at 7:00 pm |

    Hi Kelly

    Part 8 is half done and has been for a long long time. I am seriously thinking of rebooting the entire series for SharePoint 2010. Right now, other priorities make this very hard to devote time to. Sorry I can’t give you an ETA. I am stupidly busy all the way through till April.

19. Stefanie says:
    January 29th, 2010 at 11:09 pm |

    Hi Paul – you’ve got some pretty amazing information on your blog and I’m finding your laid back style of writing about somewhat mind boggling issues truely inspiring! Great stuff. Greetings from bloody cold Europe..

20. dread73 says:
    February 16th, 2010 at 2:41 pm |

    Don’t reboot the ‘Leave Form’ Series to 2010!! I’m running MOSS 2007 and don’t plan on upgrading to 2010 for while yet Went right through the series today as I am trying to get my people here to start using Sharepoint more and was looking for something simply that they could see the benefit of using…and your Leave Form series has been perfect so far! We still use a manual fill out a piece of paper form and dumping this could be a great ‘first step’ and getting more of them used to Sharepoint. Look forward to the rest of the article when you get a bit of spare time to finish it off.

21. dave chennault says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 10:02 am |

    Check out my new book on Deploying and Managing SharePoint using COBiT 4.1. I cover SharePoint 2007 and 2010, on prem and in the cloud

    Here is the link on the Isaca web site bookstore
    http://www.isaca.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=55584&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm

    Cheers

    Dave Chennault

22. dave chennault says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 10:03 am |

    http://www.isaca.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=55584&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm

23. Virendra says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 1:04 pm |

    Hi Paul,
    I am just start learning about this.And looking for blogs related to WSS and MOSS. And I find yours today, and realise that what i want i can get here.I’m new to the MOSS world, and would definitely be coming here everyday. Please keep up the excellent work

24. Mike says:
    May 6th, 2010 at 4:34 am |

    Hi Paul – Great series on the leave form. Any word on when/if you’ll be continuing it? PLEASE?!?

25. Randy says:
    July 13th, 2010 at 1:56 pm |

    Looks like the http://rule.fm is gonna include complete document repository in competition with share point. They also have suite of online applications to centralize business management in one place. Anyone have 411 on it?

26. Cornelius J. van Dyk says:
    August 19th, 2010 at 4:43 am |

    It doesn’t really matter what Rule.fm does in competition with SharePoint. Google’s been trying with Google Sites to compete for a while now. I think SharePoint has reached critical mass and is not about to lose ground to competitors easily.

27. Bruce says:
    August 24th, 2010 at 1:21 am |

    So…did the “Humble Leave Form” make it past Part 7???

28. admin says:
    August 24th, 2010 at 4:35 pm |

    Part 8 got mostly finished but other priorities got in the way. Who knows, if I could have a decent break I’d finish it (or reboot it for SP2010)

29. Alokseowgc says:
    October 15th, 2010 at 1:16 pm |

    I think the articles you provided are really very helpful as it contains all the informative stuff for not only decision makers but also for technical oriented persons.This post, itself is an easy source of getting knowledge.

30. Sharath says:
    October 22nd, 2010 at 1:44 pm |

    hi…waiting for your 8th part leave series.Please launch it soon.will be helpful for many.

    Thanks in advance.

    sharath

31. DTost says:
    October 22nd, 2010 at 9:50 pm |

    Great series on the time and Leave….Hopefully Part 8 is near completion, looks like a lot of people are looking forward to it. I want to see how it unfolds in 2007 as most of us are.

32. Swarna Kumar T.S says:
    November 12th, 2010 at 3:51 pm |

    Really an amazing work!!! I find lot of information on this site which is very handy and every concept is explained in
    a simple flow that any subject matter expertise, all the concepts can be understood as a layman. Kindly keep up the
    good work as it helps in every facets of IT / Web publishing life cycle.

33. Swarna Kumar T.S says:
    November 12th, 2010 at 3:54 pm |

    Not sure if similar kind of sites are available for other WCM products like Fatwire, Interwoven, Day, etc…
    if yes please share url’s of those sites. thanks in advance.

34. Steven Brier says:
    November 20th, 2010 at 8:32 pm |

    Hey.. Thanks a lot for sharing this informative list.. This was not only important for me but also for other users…

35. Ces says:
    February 11th, 2011 at 4:53 am |

    Hello,

    I’m hoping to see the the part 8 of the Info Path workflow. I would like to present and add it to our intranet. If not it’ll be a fail I really hope to see it complete.

36. orange county says:
    March 23rd, 2011 at 4:40 am |

    This is very useful information. I use to be involved with SharePoint implementations. I wish I had these articles related to “SharePoint issues, with particular reference to strategy, governance and return on investment issues” when I was in the game.

37. huahin says:
    May 30th, 2011 at 5:54 pm |

    I think the articles you provided are really very helpful as it contains all the informative stuff for not only decision makers but also for technical oriented persons.This post, itself is an easy source of getting knowledge.

    I will try with my Blog

38. Luminous Solutions says:
    June 6th, 2011 at 12:11 pm |

    Hi Paul – you’ve got some pretty amazing information on your blog and I’m finding your laid back style of writing about somewhat mind boggling issues truely inspiring! Great stuff. Greetings from bloody cold Europe..

39. Cody Felton says:
    June 9th, 2011 at 4:27 pm |

    Great post Paul! I am an IT professional and accidentally landed on your page. I can see that you have posted lots of useful and informative references to read. Hope to read all of them. Thanks!

    Cody Felton

40. Michelle says:
    July 13th, 2011 at 1:16 am |

    Hey Paul, I just want to show my appreciation on your blog, that I find so unique. Your clean collection of article links is a smart idea that surely drives readers to read the content. I like your posts on Strategy and Management. I’ve taken some ideas from them, to your credit of course, I hope you don’t mind.

41. Anthony says:
    September 8th, 2011 at 6:32 pm |

    Hi Paul,

    Great blog! Are you planning on publishing A tribute to the humble “leave form” – Part 8? I’ve found all of it so far really really helpful!

42. samual says:
    September 27th, 2011 at 2:55 pm |

    This is very useful information. I personally use to be associated with SharePoint implementations. I wish I’d these articles associated with “SharePoint issues, with particular mention of the strategy, governance and roi issues” when I is at the game.

43. Graham says:
    December 7th, 2011 at 3:17 am |

    Hi Paul
    Thanks for the information! Really great! Please can you help out with the rest of the Leave Form process?
    Many thanks again!

44. Rose says:
    December 23rd, 2011 at 1:33 pm |

    Hi Paul
    Brilliant articles and very useful! Would like to see the rest of “A tribute to the humble leave form” – Part 8 to completion?? Where do i find that?

45. Francisco d'Anconia says:
    January 17th, 2012 at 1:09 pm |

    The leave form part 8 Cant wait to see it. Brilliant post love everything about it ! Excellent

    Joomla Real Estate

46. SNSD says:
    January 20th, 2012 at 4:21 pm |

    I would really love to see leave form part 8(and subsequent parts, if there are any). Its really great and I understood everything! Excellent Work!

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