Back in the day, SharePoint developers reveled in the ability to craft pixel-perfect intranets and websites, wielding full control over branding assets. However, this era of limitless customization came at a cost - considerable technical debt. If you built an intranet with custom branding, you had to account for every web part, how it was used, and how it was branded, often at the expense of performance. The good news is all that changes in the new modern brand center as it is slowly giving us back customization options.
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Microsoft 365 SharePoint Brand Center
Recorded live on Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 12:30:00 pm ET
Changes to home and start experiences in Microsoft 365
Recorded live on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at 12:30:00 pm ET
In this episode of Ask Sympraxis we begin by looking at the home and start page experiences in Microsoft 365 through the lens of the Maturity Model. The journey begins at level 100, where some users have isolated site collections. These site collections lack interconnectedness. At level 200, this could include the utilization of the Microsoft Viva Connections Home Experience, which consolidates news and conversations from various sites, along with surfacing the SharePoint app bar navigation. At level 300, we witness the adoption of hub sites. Level 400 sees the usage of Home Site capability, declaring a site as the home site and surfacing it in Viva Connections. At level 500, multiple home sites emerge, catering to diverse task-based requirements and accommodating audience targeting.
Ask Sympraxis Anything - June 2023
Recorded live on Wednesday, June 28, 2023 at 12:30:00 pm ET
Is having employees complete their Microsoft 365 profiles the most effective method to enable a searchable “area of expertise” property in our employee directory?
There are multiple approaches to achieve this, and your decision should depend on your long-term goals and platform extension capabilities. The simplest solution is to utilize the existing “skills” and/or “you can ask me” sections in SharePoint User Profiles. To enhance this solution, you can map the values from the skills section to a refinable string managed property, enabling the use of PnP Modern Search for a user interface with filtering capabilities. Another option is to leverage Azure Active Directory (AD) to store skills and expertise values, which can be displayed by any application consuming Azure AD. Alternatively, you can consider using a third-party solution like LiveTiles Directory or developing a custom solution tailored to your specific needs.
Managing your organization's Quick Links in your intranet
Recorded live on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 12:30:00 pm ET
This week on Ask Sympraxis we are focusing on managing links to external resources or tools in your intranet. Join us as we dive into the current state and limitations, the Maturity Model approach, and a few customizable solutions.
Current state and limitations
New(s) Years Resolution: SharePoint News to improve your communication
Recorded live on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 12:30:00 pm ET
As with many people at the start of a new year, we decided to begin 2023 with a new year’s resolution. However, we tailored ours a bit. We like to call it a New(s) year’s resolution as our goal is to teach you about SharePoint News and how it can improve your communication this year!
Business Cases for Viva Connections
Recorded live on Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 12:30:00 pm ET
As announced in September at Microsoft IGNITE, Microsoft Viva Connections will have new capabilities including Viva home. This new Viva home experience will surface all the Viva modules you’re licensed for, all the adaptive cards you’ve added to your dashboard, Yammer conversations, SharePoint news and navigation through the SharePoint app bar, frequent sites, and followed sites etc. One of the best parts is that all of this will be accessible through Microsoft Teams with minimal configuration. Viva home is an excellent place to begin your intranet journey, especially if you have had not had the time or skill set to make a SharePoint Communication Site to centralize your content across the tenant.
Microsoft Ignite Recap - Fall 2022
Recorded live on Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at 12:30:00 pm ET
It is impossible to condense all of Ignite into a 30-minute session so we have rounded up these highlights. For more robust details and further explanation on the announcements, please check our resources. In this session, we focus on the three main areas that correlate best with the common work we do at Sympraxis: Administration, Intranet & Employee Experience, and Customization, Integration, & Extension.
Microsoft 365 Conference Recap - April 2022
Recorded live on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at 12:30:00 pm ET
Announcements at the conference
Feature | Status | Roadmap ID |
---|---|---|
Graph connectors for Confluence, Jira, ServiceNow | General availability | 86516 & 86517 |
SharePoint tenant rename | Public preview (with tenants under 5,000 sites) | 82162 |
New app catalog experience | General availability | 88844 |
Viva Topics integrated with Yammer topics | In preview | 72184 |
Lists Android App | General availability | 70704 |
Learning Pathways & Viva Learning integration | H2 2022 | N/A |
Adaptive Card Extension Design Gallery | General availability | N/A |
“memberOf” rule for dynamic groups | “Coming soon” | N/A |
Adaptive Card Extensions Design Gallery
Newly launched is an Adaptive Card Extensions Design Gallery that is available in the Microsoft Store to install to your tenant. It includes 12 design samples of adaptive card extensions that can all go on the new Microsoft Viva Connections dashboard. They are designed to showcase the art of the possible for demo purposes only with static or demo-based data. This enables users to visualize custom solutions to meet their business needs.
Recent Microsoft 365 Changes We Love: What's New in 2022
Recorded live on Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at 12:30:00 pm ET
Site Scripts/Site Designs Templates
Site Templates are incredibly useful. They allow users to establish information architecture on new sites. These templates don’t have to be the whole site, rather simply componentry. It’s a very powerful engine and a lot can be done with it.
Content Hub Sync Site Script Action
This feature was added into Site Templates, and grants users the ability to work with the content type hub.
Microsoft Viva Overview
Recorded live on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 12:30:00 pm ET
What is Viva?
Microsoft Viva is an employee experience platform with 4 components: Viva Connections, Viva Insights, Viva Topics, and Viva Learning.
What is employee experience?
“Employee experience is the sum of all interactions an employee has with their employer. It is the structure and culture of the organization and how the employee perceives the company overall” (Source: https://www.inc.com/elizabeth-dukes/the-employee-experience-what-it-is-and-why-it-matt.html). This may be things like the physical environment where an employee works, tools and technology the employer provides, and how the employer demonstrates commitment to health and success of the employees.