The Law Firm Intranet

The third webinar in our five-part series called “Creating a Successful Law Firm Intranet” has been successfully completed!  This latest session focused on developing with users, and we covered some key issues such as:

• Should you build your own law firm’s intranet, buy an external product, or a combination of both?
• Definitions of portal vs. intranet
• Vendor technologies (like SharePoint, Handshake, XMLAW, and LawPort)
• Pitfalls to avoid during development
• Creating a test plan and test environment

It was a full session but we did have time for just a few questions before we concluded.  In particular, there was one attendee question that I’d like to further expand on, and that was the difference between WSS and MOSS.  Aside from the very basic differences I covered in my slides (WSS is free to create customizable websites, MOSS is paid version for Office server suite with more functionality and enterprise search), I found a few other resources that help explain the differences in more detail.

• Which SharePoint technology is right for you? (from the Microsoft website)
• Windows SharePoint Services Version Comparison (from Microsoft TechNet)
• MOSS 2007 vs. WSS 3.0 (from Miles Consulting Group – Microsoft Certified Experts)

I also mentioned in the session that when you hear “SharePoint” it can mean many different things.  To reiterate this point, I found a SharePoint Blogs posting that talks more about the broad label of SharePoint.

We still have two more sessions in our series coming up, one on intranet rollout, and the final one on intranet measurement and maintenance.  Registration details will be posted soon, but for now mark your calendars to attend:

Webinar 4: You built it, now will they come? Plan the successful intranet rollout. 
Wednesday, August 20  Noon -1:00 PM Central Time   

Webinar 5: Measure & Maintain: Planning for your Intranet’s future.
Wednesday, September 24  Noon -1:00 PM Central Time

We hope you can join us!

~ Amy Witt