Quick Start
Available to: Faculty, Researchers, Staff, Departments (Requests for student use, e.g., for research or sites for student organizations, must be made by faculty or staff.)
Cost: No charge
- See Getting Started, below.
Microsoft SharePoint is a web-based collaboration service for groups of all sizes. Individuals, groups, and departments may request and then manage their own SharePoint sites. SharePoint is often compared to a Swiss Army knife because it offers many tools for groups to share, manage, and use information. SharePoint is also the standard document sharing platform used by Microsoft Office, and is closely integrated with Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook. Since August 2013 we have created more than 1,000 sites for departments and research groups in SharePoint Online, on the cloud-based Microsoft 365 platform.
Benefits
The BU community and invited external collaborators have web-based access to a secure, centrally maintained information management and collaboration service that is easy to use, rich in features, and customizable. SharePoint provides a single place to find the most current information, documents, and related communication, simplifying your work life and allowing you to stop using email as your document management system.
Key Features
- Information can be managed in many ways, e.g., utilizing document libraries, lists, work flows, discussion boards, web pages, and blogs.
- A rich set of out-of-the-box capabilities makes it easy to organize, view, and use your information in different ways, depending on your needs at the moment.
- Multiple versions of documents and list items can be maintained automatically.
- Information can be found through full-text search or by searches specific to metadata tagged to the information.
- Pre-defined workflows can automate common processes such as collecting feedback and approving documents, and custom workflows can be designed for more complex tasks.
- SharePoint Online offers many additional features, including the following:
- Each faculty and staff member receives a BU OneDrive (an implementation of OneDrive for Business — a SharePoint document library) with 1 terabyte (TB) of space (more can be requested) where you can store files and share them with others. You can synchronize files you store in the cloud to multiple Windows and Mac personal computers, and access these files from mobile devices. You can also share files and folders with people both inside and outside Boston University.
- Social tools are included, e.g., the ability to “follow” sites, documents, and people.
What to Expect
SharePoint Online is provided as part of the cloud-based Microsoft 365 platform, for which Microsoft promises 99.9% uptime. See the Microsoft Trust Center for details and compliance reports. SharePoint 2007 (Research COI) normally will be available 24 by 7 except for standard change windows, as described in IS&T’s standard policies, procedures, and schedules for making changes.
Requirements
- An individual from your group must assume the role of site administrator and take primary responsibility for administering the site and managing access, but may share those responsibilities as appropriate.
- Access by students requires faculty or staff sponsorship.
Getting Started
- Learn more about SharePoint Online at Microsoft’s sites
- SharePoint Overview
- Get started with SharePoint Online
- Microsoft SharePoint Blog – What’s new in SharePoint Online
- What’s new in Microsoft 365
- Find content about SharePoint Online
- External Sharing and Collaboration in OneDrive and SharePoint – Everything you ever wanted to know about sharing, presented by two experts from the Microsoft Team in this video from the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2019.
- SharePoint Online Service Description
- SharePoint Online Service Limits
- Learn how to manage large lists and libraries (those approaching 5,000 items or documents) in SharePoint Online
- Join the Microsoft Tech Community to ask questions and read answers, news, and commentary by Microsoft program managers and MVPs.
- Session recordings from Microsoft Ignite, M365 Marathon, and the SharePoint Conference
- Video recordings of 350 sessions from Microsoft 365 Virtual Marathon in May 2020
- Recordings of over a thousand sessions at Microsoft Ignite in November 2019 – Two ways to view the same recordings:
- In YouTube
- Via the Session Catalog
- Video recordings of 1,289 sessions at Microsoft Ignite in September 2018
- Recordings of 857 sessions at Microsoft Ignite in September 2017
- Recordings of 746 sessions at Microsoft Ignite in September 2016
- Recordings of 705 sessions at Microsoft Ignite in May 2015
- Recordings of 265 sessions at the SharePoint conference in March 2014
- Other events, world-wide
- Take advantage of free online learning
- Free SharePoint training from Microsoft through our Enterprise Agreement
- BU faculty and staff (only): read about Microsoft’s E-learning site.
- Microsoft Learn – “Whether you’re just starting or an experienced professional, our hands-on approach helps you arrive at your goals faster, with more confidence and at your own pace.”
- Microsoft: SharePoint Online Video Training
- Microsoft: SharePoint Online Admin
- Microsoft: SharePoint Help & Learning
- Microsoft Docs – “docs.microsoft.com is the home for Microsoft documentation for end users, developers, and IT professionals. Check out our quickstarts, tutorials, API reference, and code examples.”
- Free SharePoint training from Microsoft through our Enterprise Agreement
- Learn more about security in Microsoft 365
- Visit Microsoft’s Microsoft Trust Center
- Related Microsoft tools (not officially supported by IS&T, but we will provide what help we can)
- Microsoft Stream – “Engage and inform with intelligent video.” Microsoft Stream is the recommended way to store and access video from SharePoint sites and Microsoft Teams. See also Microsoft Stream Docs.
- Contact us for more information or to request a site collection.