Support Models for SharePoint Deployments - Who's responsible for what?

One of the important aspects when a SharePoint project has been initiated and completed (successfully or otherwise) is who supports what in terms of the deployment and various SharePoint related components. Previously I posted about what you would need to do in terms of starting a SharePoint project and what you need to know from a project managers point of view.

This post is about what happens or should ‘ideally’ happen after your core SharePoint deployment has been carried out. Again these are only some example important technical aspects that I am highlighting. Each deployment will be unique so it’s up to your project team and business to identify the approach for your post deployment support and maintenance of SharePoint as well as the supporting core infrastructure.

For example if we take some of my points about core infrastructure required for a SharePoint deployment, these essentially should also be part of your overall support process.

To establish clear lines of responsibility in some cases is somewhat difficult when your organisation has outsourced different aspects of your core infrastructure management to various vendors. I typically classify the following levels of support for the ongoing maintenance and support of a medium (3-6 servers) - large scale (6 or more servers) SharePoint deployment. This can be taken purely from the view of ongoing support for the core technical infrastructure and monitoring point of view to ensuring that your deployment can be used in the longer term to realise business value.

Again the who does what is somewhat confusing. If your SharePoint deployment is mission critical it will pay dividends to chose an on premise or in house staff member to manage the whole process of managing support process. They do not necessarily need to have full blown technical skills but the ability to manage the relationships between various vendors and providers who may potentially be involved in your SharePoint implementation is crucial and an overall Enterprise view of what can be delivered using the platform is of most value. Remember that your business value realisation happens “post” deployment. No matter how good your project team was it’s the ongoing maintenance and nurturing of the SharePoint platform that will give you the ROI.

Feel free to comment and add your thoughts… most interested to hear from the wider community.