network shares vs sharepoint

[e_g_r]

Anybody out there using share point for storing pupil data as opposed to network shares?

[jdoyle]

moved staff data from network shares to Sharepoint at the start of this academic year. Yet to do student data.

[e_g_r]

moved staff data from network shares to Sharepoint at the start of this academic year. Yet to do student data.

 

What was your reason/argument?

[jdoyle]

reasons were :

 

1. main push was that the staff shared folders were in chaos and needed a review

2. Sharepoint folders would be accessible by staff logging in remotely

3. search mechanism in Sharepoint

4. ability to put email alerts on folders and documents in Sharepoint

5. document revision feature in Sharepoint

6. workflows

[e_g_r]

reasons were :

 

1. main push was that the staff shared folders were in chaos and needed a review

2. Sharepoint folders would be accessible by staff logging in remotely

3. search mechanism in Sharepoint

4. ability to put email alerts on folders and documents in Sharepoint

5. document revision feature in Sharepoint

6. workflows

 

Thanks!

 

Does the same apply for pupil data though? (sorry for all the questions)

[jdoyle]

no prob re the questions. I think points 2 to 6 apply for us with regards student data.

 

We currently use a mix of shared folders and Fronter for student work. I would like to collapse both into Sharepoint and to then make use of the survey, wiki, blog features of Sharepoint. Sharepoint will then be our Intranet, VLE and Extranet after which I'll be looking into making it our website too. Time, training, other projects/tasks and getting staff to change are all issues.

[jcollings]

We are getting staff and students to use Sharepoint's My Site for document storage. Shared Areas will move that way soon for many of the reasons listed.

[RobFuller]

The only downside I could see was a small performance hit, esp if there loading videos etc, but also managing the very large databases.

Jdoyle; do you have these split into a number of small more manageable databases, also what are you doing for backup?

[plexer]

This is an onsite sharepoint install?

 

Ben

[jdoyle]

The only downside I could see was a small performance hit, esp if there loading videos etc, but also managing the very large databases.

Jdoyle; do you have these split into a number of small more manageable databases, also what are you doing for backup?

 

We put videos in eStream rather than Sharepoint.

 

We've one farm with the standard databases for SSP, MySites etc via a SQL 2008 box hooked up to a SAN. Backup is to disc and then to tape via a Sharepoint module in Backup Exec.

 

All hardware on site.

[deano]

How does this work in terms of backup and restore. I know you have a sharepoint recycle bin, but what about going back further that a month or two compared to long term backups and/or Previous Versions?