Presented at SPTechCon DC 2017

1. Your Road to Modern Communication Sites
By: D’arce Hess SPTechCon – Washington D.C. 2017

2. Introductions
D’arce Hess, MVP
President | DH Consulting LLC
dhess@dhconsulting.me
https://darcehess.com
@darcehess
https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcehess

3. Where we came from
Intro to Communication Sites
Customization Capabilities
Where we are going
Looking to Migrate?
Agenda

4. Where we came from
2013
• Custom Master Pages
• Composed Looks
• Display Templates
• Custom Page Layouts
• jslink
• Image Renditions
2010
• Sandbox Solutions
• Color Picker Theming
• Custom Master Pages
• Custom Page Layouts
• FAST Search
• Deep IA Structures
2007
• Full Trust Code
Solutions
• Limited theming
capabilities
• Custom Master Pages
• Custom Page Layouts
Office365
• Modern Experiences
• Delve
• Personalized Search
• SharePoint Framework
• New Web Parts
• No more clunky ribbon
• No Subsites
• Mobile Friendly
• SharePoint App

5. Intro to Communication Sites

6. How to create one
SharePoint Home > Create Site
• Self-Service Site Creation: Specified users
have the ability to provision new sites.
• Future Provisioning will allow for themes to
be applied through site script functionality
• Choose an OOTB Template
• Custom site scripting will allow for custom
templating of sites in near future

7. Your options
Start with a blank site and make your
design come to life quickly and easily
Use this design to showcase a
product, team, or event using photos
or images.
Use this design if you have a lot of
information to share such as news,
events, and other content

8. Easy to edit experiences
• Auto Saves your work
• No more clunky ribbon
• Responsive natively
• Easy to adjust
• Consistent experience

10. Customization Capabilities

11. Your Options for Customization
Configure Customize
Extend Fully Custom
Experiences
Level of ComplexityNo Code Full Code

12. • Text
• Image
• File Viewer
• Link
• Embed
• Highlighted Content
• Bing Maps
• Document Library
• Quick Links
• Site Activity
• Yammer Feed
Out of the Box Web Parts – As of Nov. 8
• Text
• Image
• File Viewer
• Link
• Embed
• Highlighted Content
• Bing Maps
• Document Library
• Quick Links
• Site Activity
• Yammer Feed
• Divider
• Events
• Group Calendar
• Hero
• Image Gallery
• List
• News
• Office 365 Video
• People
• PowerBI
• Quick Chart
• Stream
• Spacer
And growing…

13. Change the Look - Themes
Change the color theme to one of eight out-of-
the-box themes.
Site Actions > Change the Look

14. Extensions
SharePoint Framework Extensions allow for
developers to code additional functionality
such as:
1) Custom Navigation
2) Footer
3) List Field Controls.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/extensions/overview-
extensions

15. Deploying a Custom Theme
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/sharepoint/dev/declarative-customization/site-
theming/sharepoint-site-theming-overview
Custom Themes can be created using
the following methods:
• JSON
• Powershell
• CSOM
• REST API

16. SharePoint Framework (SPFx)
Used to create custom webparts that will work in
following versions of SharePoint:
• SharePoint 2016
• SharePoint Online – Classic Sites
• SharePoint Online – Modern Team Sites
• SharePoint Online – Communication Sites
https://github.com/SPShire/sp-dev-
solutions/tree/master/solutions/LinksAndHandlebarsTemplate
Use our web parts from Shire

17. Make a Plan to Migrate

18. The Dream
The Goal
Reality if not
prepared

19. 72%
40%
58%
40% of SharePoint Projects Fail.* Most
common reasons:
• Inadequate user training (67%)
• Hard to use (66%)
• Lack of senior management
support (64%)
Don’t become a Statistic
58% of users report change
management shortcomings*
• What does SharePoint do?
72% lack support for mobile device
use, while 40% say mobile access to
content is “very important”*
* -- AIIM “The Impact of SharePoint” 2016

20. Possibilities are endless
• Don’t pass up the opportunity to make things
better.
• Can processes be simplified?
• Think of what your outcomes should be, not
requirements.
• Set realistic timelines and expectations.
• What can you continue to support?

21. Communication is Key
• Change Management
• Governance through Guidance
• Training when users need it
• IT and Business Stakeholders
• Know your goals
• Understand your constraints – Technology/Resources
• Know your Content
• Understand your audience

22. Governance is a Buzzword not an Outcome
• Guide users to make good decisions – Guidance Site
• Know you can’t control everything
• Will kittens die if ___________ happens?
• Get help
• Know Roles & Responsibilities
• UI/UX – Images, Layouts, mobility
• Development Debt/Maintenance
Know Where to get Help
SharePoint/Office 365 Governance Questions
http://tiny.cc/SharePointGovQuestions
When to Use What in Office 365
http://whentousewhat.com

23. Anticipate Bumps in the Road – a 20/20 reflection
• Spent a week in a room doing kickoff.
• Everyone
• DEV/BA breakout
• Everyone
• Dinners
• Leverage outside talent – technical and diverse
perspective
• Kittens wont die, make decisions aligned with north star,
don’t sweat the compromises
• Development team includes Designers and
Development when building customizations
• See around the corner
• Regret the classic sites – limit the number of short term
compromises you create
• Identify quick when someone is in the wrong role or
needs more role definition
• Know when you won’t make someone happy and cut your
losses
• Easy to lose momentum on formal training and comms
plans. Not a one and done.
• When going early, test your assumptions and expect
some pain
• Search – early
• Analytics -- early
The Good Opportunity to Change

24. Where we are going

25. • Brings together related team sites
and communication sites
• Roll up news and site activity
• Search across related sites
• Cross-site navigation
• Consistent look-and-feel across
sites
• Admins create, users adopt and
use
SharePoint Hub Sites

26. New Web Parts rolling out
• New Web Part Tool Box
• Forms
• Updated People Webpart
• File Viewer – Supporting 270 file types
• Highlighted Content – Additional
filtering capabilities

27. Site usage page
Out-of-box site theming and branding
Custom site themes and site designs
News and pages in Microsoft Teams adds reach
Personalized search in SharePoint Home
Communication sites work with hub sites
Additional insights on site and content usage
Content categorization
More branding options and site design actions
New search experiences across web and mobile
REST API for remote provisioning (available now)
New SharePoint admin UX (preview)
Branding in modern web experiences
Custom site designs and site theming
SharePoint Android for SharePoint 2013 & 2016
SharePoint hub sites
New SharePoint admin UX (GA)
More branding options and site design actions
Roadmap for Communication Site Owners
Roadmap for SharePoint Admins
End 2017 Q1-Q2 2018

28. • Please thank our sponsors and
staff. Without them, this event
would not be possible.
• Please fill out your evaluations. We
want to know what we can do
better.
D’arce Hess, MVP
President | DH Consulting LLC
dhess@dhconsulting.me
https://darcehess.com
@darcehess
https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcehess