MOSS Gathers Brand and Function into One - Kate Kirby, Copywriter

February 15, 2008

These days you can’t buy a latte without running into another research study proving the power of brand. And it’s no secret that for a brand to ring true to discriminating consumers, it must live in the very DNA of the company. This may explain why Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) is already becoming a popular way to build a highly functional and richly branded web experience.

And it’s not just for intranets anymore.

MOSS Revolution
When Microsoft SharePoint 2003 came out, many acknowledged that it offered an impressive set of features to support collaboration, but with a face only its mother could love. However, this perception began to change when the new MOSS launched last year.

What used to be your out-of-the-box company intranet site now empowers enterprises as an internal and external platform for collaboration—designed to integrate with a variety of systems to facilitate information sharing and reporting.

MOSS features are richer and more robust, including:

  • Search function – Tools that are more relevant and easier to use
  • Content management – Functionality for document versioning, check-in/check-out, role-based access, workflow and more
  • Dynamic forms - XML-based electronic forms that integrate smoothly with existing systems
  • Business intelligence – Ability to create dashboards and access published Microsoft Excel spreadsheets

Heading Out to the World Wide Web
Many people don’t realize that MOSS can easily serve as an external web platform as well. Increasing numbers of companies and organizations are taking it out of its role as intranet and FTP site and using it for extranets and public websites.

Web content management is an out-of-the-box feature of MOSS. Because most companies find they want to customize their websites beyond the standard capabilities, Microsoft says the content management features are designed to be extensible.

“The product has advanced significantly since it first hit the marketplace,” says Amanda Napolitano, vice president of the southeast region of Idea Interactive. “The designer tools in MOSS make it possible to design websites that truly reflect a company’s brand. It’s now possible to create websites running on the MOSS platform that are indistinguishable from ones that are running on another platform.”

Breaking the Trail to Branded Features
Idea Interactive is one of the few Microsoft partners that have experience with implementing brands on MOSS. We have established a framework specifically for MOSS projects, based on our standard process, and internal staff are trained and experienced in working a brand onto the MOSS platform. Napolitano explains, “To keep the rich feature set found in MOSS intact, the design team needs to work carefully within certain parameters.”

Sunshine Connections
The Sunshine Connections website, featured in the newsletter’s project of the month section, is a product a partnership between the Florida Department of Education and Microsoft, providing Florida teachers with information and resources to facilitate student achievement. Idea Interactive partnered with Microsoft and the Florida Department of Education last year to launch their MOSS solution.  Shifting from the site’s old SharePoint 2003 platform to MOSS, Idea Interactive “reskinned” the site to enhance the brand and user experience.  The Idea team spoke with stakeholders and leveraged existing brand guidelines to create a site that offers a fresh look and retains the SharePoint functionality that was important to the Sunshine Connections team.  Idea Interactive continues to support the user interface needs for Sunshine Connections, with a new Business Intelligence solution scheduled to launch soon.

Method for MOSS
The Idea Interactive MOSS Branding Framework 2008 is a proven approach and methodology to establishing or extending an organization’s brand to the MOSS technology. The framework is designed to augment a technical implementation and deployment of MOSS to:

  • Enhance the brand identity
  • Ensure a consistent look and feel throughout the solution
  • Ensure the look and feel of the solution promotes the customer’s overall branding and ties in with other print and electronic communications vehicles
  • Ensure the user interface design does not diminish SharePoint functionality and the ability to easily pull in new features and functions without impacting the overarching design

Like any successful web solution, implementation of MOSS requires forethought and planning. But when there’s no need to choose between brand and functionality, the hours of preparation are worth it. MOSS lets businesses take their brand into a new and deeper realm of online collaboration.