What You’ll Need to Expect From a Sharepoint Designer

Choosing a SharePoint Designer

A SharePoint designer is needed, in order to create workflows that are in accord with a company requirements and standards. These workflows must be accessible for programmers and non-programmers alike, as it is not expected from all employees to be familiar with coded structures and programming pieces. When choosing a SharePoint designer, make sure that you have all these aspects in mind and that the designer is capable of complying with your company specific set of guidelines.

Creating templates

Designing templates for SharePoint is something that the designer you hire for your company needs has to be able to perform. Templates for various workflows are needed because various tasks must have separate templates. For the same type of task, the employees that are involved in completing it need to become familiar with a certain template that they will be able to complete in a timely manner. Also, the designer may also be required to create stencils for certain conditions and actions within the workflow. This allows for a high standardization of the processes taking place in your organization, and, therefore, for increased productivity.

Working with nodes

Workflows in an organization are rarely independent. For this reason, the designer you choose for your SharePoint system needs to be capable of working with nodes. Nodes can represent workflows on their own as well, and they can be used for approval and request processes. As certain steps need to be followed during requests or approvals, they need to have their own workflow template implemented, which is where the SharePoint designer’s job comes into play.

Logical building blocks

Certain processes will have to operate with the same logical building blocks. There is no need to create a separate building block for each process or workflow. An experienced SharePoint designer will be able to identify the common logical building blocks and create a template for each category, so that employees will have an easy time when using them to complete their tasks.

Correcting errors

A SharePoint designer will also be entrusted with correcting the errors that the system can produce due to technical or human errors. If you have a large organization and errors are quite a seldom occurrence, you may need to employ a SharePoint designer permanently in order to troubleshoot these errors, or have a contract with a specialist that will be available whenever called for correcting the errors resulted from system usage.

Backup

Another area that a SharePoint designer will have to prove their capabilities is managing backups. Once all the templates for workflows have been established and tested, they will also need to be stored in secure backups. These backups can be stored offline, so that, in case something happens and the system has to be restored with all its workflow templates in place, the needed resources can be accessed without a glitch.

Manual checks and tests

You will also need to ask your SharePoint designer to run some manual checks and tests for the workflow templates they have designed, before making them available for use within the company. Such checkups are needed in order to ensure less troubleshooting later on. With proper testing, your system can be up and ready without the fear that it will crash shortly after its release.

Monitoring the publishing process

After checking the system for possible glitches and errors, it is time to publish the new design. The SharePoint designer will have to monitor the publishing process, as well, since errors can occur during this stage, as well.

When choosing a SharePoint designer, ask for references and proofs of their expertise. This way, you will know that you will entrust your SharePoint design in the right hands.