Business

5 Tips When Using SharePoint

Life is crazy, and sometimes it can be hard to keep up with. However, SharePoint was designed to help organize information to store, gather, inquire, monitor, archive, and report with various tools and electronic records.

SharePoint offers a lot of flexibility which makes it the most ideal content management tool.  

 

Now, what is SharePoint?

In short, SharePoint is a cloud-based program that offers your organization the ability to manage their content, track the process, collaborate with team members, manage the business tasks and publish content. 

SharePoint is one of the collaboration tools with Office 365 and integrates easily to work with Exchange Online, Skype for Business, OneDrive, and more.

 

As of now, there are over 190 million SharePoint customers, within 200,000 customer organizations.

Organizations utilize SharePoint in multiple ways including the ability to customize your SharePoint directly to your organization’s needs.

 

Here are 5 key tips when starting out with SharePoint:

1. How to: Upload Files

Uploading files is a very simple task, however through SharePoint it’s a little more complicated, but here’s how:

The Simple Method

  • Start by opening the SharePoint folder where you want to upload your document

  • Open File Explorer on your computer

  • Drag and drop the document from File Explorer over to SharePoint with your mouse

 

The Alternative Method

  • In the SharePoint folder, you’ll see an option to click “upload” where you want to upload your document

  • In the pop up that comes up, click “File” and choose the file(s) you would like to upload and then click “Open”

 

2. How to: Open Documents

Opening a document on SharePoint is easy, you just click on the document name and it’ll automatically open in the Office Online suite.

Once in Word Online, you’ll be able to start editing or you can click from the top menu “EDIT IN WORD” and it’ll open the desktop version.

 

3. How to: Collaborate on a document

With everything being virtual, having the ability to collaborate on a document without having to email the whole document back and forth is crucial. Which is why there needs to be an editing tool. 

SharePoint makes collaboration effortless. In the top right-hand corner of each document you open, there is the option “Share” to allow you to give permission to other colleagues to edit and give feedback. 

 

4. How to: Search for a document

Having the ability to search within a server to look for something is a luxury we didn’t realize we needed, until it became so helpful.

Being able to search for documents in SharePoint makes your efficiency that much faster, and here are the two ways to do it.

 

  • Search the Site: allows you to browse the entire site for the keyword you typed. Search a site is found in the upper right corner of your SharePoint site.

  • Find a File: this allows you to search for specific documents and files in your document library. This option is found above the list of folders and documents.

 

If you want your search results to be as specific as possible, use quotations in your keywords.  There’s an option for a “wildcard search” if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for. Simply type the first few letters then an asterisk (like this: Shar*).

 

5. How to: Copy and Move files and folders

There are several ways to copy and move your files, but it all depends on what version of SharePoint you’re running.

 

Copying Files

  • Choose the items you want to copy and click on “Copy to”

  • Next click “Choose a destination”, you’ll have the option to choose a folder you want the information to copy into. If your destination of choice is not in the first list, click “Browse Sites” and you’ll see the full list

  • Click Copy here to finish the copy

 

Moving Files

In order to move your files, you do the exact same thing as if you were copying them, but instead, click on “Move to”.

SharePoint will help increase your productivity and collaboration skills, maximizing the quality of content you provide for clients. Get started today, by getting in touch with our experts at ISU Corp!

 
 

Top 5 Features to Add When Developing a Dating App

The days of meeting someone special in parks, cafes or shopping malls are gone. The world has never been so connected as it is now. It's the Internet that connects people when the lack of time and dynamic pace of lives push them away from each other. 

Online dating services aim to help users meet new people, but sometimes it is very hard to find the perfect match. The real question is: why is it that so many people haven’t found what they are looking for with so many apps available on the market? 

5 Unique Features

Verified Profiles

People have been experiencing issues with verifying the identity of potential matches on dating apps. Online dating has made it nearly impossible for you to know if the person that just messaged you is, in fact, the person of your dreams, someone trying to scam you, or even someone who poses a potential danger in real life.

When creating a dating app, the feature of verifying profiles is extremely important. Once the new account is set up, the app verifies the user's social media and email accounts and this is very helpful for the user’s safety in order to prevent fake profiles on the app. 

Icebreakers

One of the greatest pains when it comes to online dating is how to start a conversation with someone you have never met before. This is where the “icebreakers” feature comes into play. 

That initial first impression speaks volumes about a connection. In order to help users have a meaningful conversation with their matches, many apps decided to introduce a feature called Topics, which helps people break the tension in a clever way. 

Discover Events and Meetups

Dating apps are not only for people that are looking for their perfect match, but also to bring people from the same community together. The dating apps like Her (LGBTQ) and Clover app have recently implemented on their apps a new feature that allows you to discover events such as pride parades. 

Clover app allows users to organize group meetups such as “Game of Thrones night” and with their “Mixers” feature you can get together with people that have the same lifestyle as you. 

Profile Performance Analysis 

It is very easy to know how your dating scene in real life is going but it can be different when it comes to online dating. The profile performance analysis should be the main feature when creating a dating app. This feature helps users understand if there is anything that needs to be improved on their profile and it would essentially help users to get better matches. 

Filter

Finding the perfect match on dating apps that meet your “must have” criteria has become a lot easier when you are able to set your own set of requirements. People have different intentions on dating apps, some are looking for a casual fling, some are looking for something more serious, and some people just want to make new friends online. 

With the filter feature you can match with people with the same preferences as you in terms of age, gender, education, political leaning, religion, astrological sign, and others. 


How the Online Dating Segment is Performing in the Market 

  • In 2019, Online Dating apps have accumulated a revenue of US$1.677m according to statista.com. 

  • By 2023, these numbers are expected to grow with an annual rate of 4.2%, generating a total revenue of US$1.968m.

  • Each user generates an amount of $4.90 in revenue. 

It’s a Date! 

If you are interested in learning more, contact us today!

 
 

Top 15 Productivity Agile Metrics for Scrum and Kanban

When planning out software development, it is important to include Agile Metrics into your process. This is because they can help with the quality of your software as well as help with monitoring the productivity throughout every stage. 

With the introduction of Agile metrics into the software development process, it will also give a clearer understanding of the process. Agile metrics also make it easier for a scrum master to manage their teams’ progress. 

It’s no surprise that there are multiple different kinds of metrics, however the most useful metrics for software quality, productivity, performance/well-being and general project metrics are agile metrics.  

With that being said, the main 3 types of agile metrics are:

  • Scrum Metrics - the most common

  • Kanban Metrics - this is an agile software development structure similar to the scrum methodology

  • Lean Metrics - used to streamline the manufacturing process of both the kanban and scrum metrics. 


Agile Quality Metrics

A group of agile software development metrics that will help you monitor the software development process. This will help determine if the target audience will approve. 

Escaped Defects:

These will help you identify bugs that are within the software after it is in production. This metric allows your team to access the quality of your software in a raw format.

Failed Deployments: 

These will assist with determining the amount of deployments to testing and production.  Failed deployments will shed light on how reliable the software is.

Release Net Promoter Score (NPS) 

This will measure the reaction of users to a given release.

  • This metric will help determine who will recommend the software product 

  • Net Promoter Score is also known as a customer satisfaction metric


Agile Productivity Metrics

With agile productivity, it helps with keeping your team on track when completing stories, and tasks. Agile productivity also has the ability to make predictions for future projects so your team can try to avoid any unexpected changes. 

Lead Time: 

This allows for constant monitoring on a project, from backlog to release.

  • The goal is to ensure the lead time is low, because that means it is more effective.

  • Lead time is an agile metric that allows for an overarching view on the various productivity methods


Cycle time (Control Chart):

This helps you measure the average time needed to complete a task.

  • The shorter the better


Sprint Burndown:

This is one of the most effective agile productivity metrics.

  • It allows you to monitor the process of task

  • It provides you with data on how agile your team actually is


Epic and Release Burndown:

  • The biggest benefit to the Epic and release burndown, is the ability to track and manage the scope creep - the addition of new requirements after project scope is established. 

  • This metric will assist you and your team to make sure you won’t fall behind in productivity 


Velocity:

This allows you to check on the average number of finished points on past sprints.

  • Benefits of velocity include:

    • Easy to measure

    • Showing a concise result immediately

    • Lower velocity may be a sign of emerging sprint inefficiencies 

Agile Project Metrics

This is a cool addition to the previous metrics, because it gives you a chance to grab the information that involves action, and apply it to your development processes. 

Cumulative Flow:

This is one of the most powerful agile project metrics for kanban. It offers an overhead view of the status of every task that’s being completed.


Code Coverage:

This will help you measure the amount of your product’s code that is monitored by unit tests.  This metric does not measure other types of testing. 

Health Metrics for Agile Teams and Agile Performance Metrics

Agile software development metrics is typically geared toward monitoring software quality and team productivity at each stage. 

Happiness:

Individually we don’t specifically go by a way to monitor happiness in a software development team. The easiest way to do this is just to ask each team member to rate how they are feeling. 


Team Morale:

This allows for a subtle approach for sudden mood swings that may occur within the team. 

Core Lean and Kanban Metrics

Exploring the lean key metrics and kanban methods that are common for both software development and goods manufacturing.


Story Lead and Cycle Time - (SLT):

This helps you track the amount of time passed from when a task is started to when it is finished. The ultimate goal for SLT is to assist teams in checking and reducing the speed of the value chain. Story Cycle Time (SCT) is a part of Story Lead Time, however it only assesses the time of a task. This helps track and reduce the hours spent on it. 

Feature Lead and Cycle Time - (FLT) and (FCT):

Similar to Story lead and cycle time, feature lead time is the same concept, except instead of being for the overall story/task it's for the major features. Feature cycle time is also identical to story cycle time, just for features. 

Story Wait Time - (SWT):

Another component that is linked to Story lead time. This metric helps you manage the resting time of a task. Each team should aim to reduce the SWT as much as possible. 


Story Throughput - (ST):

This is a similar concept to Sprint Velocity in a sense that it helps count the number of stories finished in a sprint. Story throughput works best when it works with smaller stories. 


Created to Finished Ratio:

This means that too many projects are on backlog and not enough have been finished. This metric is helpful because it helps control the number of project bottlenecks, ensuring there’s a balanced number between projects started and projects finished. 


Measuring Software Quality in Agile 

In today’s world everyone expects things to happen instantly, and that’s no exception to the software industry. Using Agile metrics to measure the software quality makes the process just that much quicker. With that being said, despite the fact agile helps quicken the process, it is inseparable from security.

When preparing code for agile metrics, it is crucial to be as comprehensive as possible. There are 2 code analysis systems and one comprehensive approach to help streamline the process of quality assurance. 


Here they are listed: 

Static Code Analysis:

Allows you to check on the source code without having to run the software. It detects bugs, security issues and other shortcomings before they become bigger problems. This allows time for your team to create a product with clean code. 

Dynamic Code Analysis:

This is the opposite to what static code offers, where it lets you evaluate the code when it is running. Static code analysis takes dominance when analyzing code, but dynamic code allows the quality assurance team to detect different problems from static. 

Neither Static Code analysis or dynamic code should be a step that is skipped; they work best as a team. 



Quality Intelligence tools provide a plan for helping teams retrieve information from the whole software development process, and then analyze it and improve how it functions. 

This selection of Agile Software Development metrics will help you create a software that will function for years. If you’re confused on how any of it works, reach out to one of our experts at ISU Corp today!