Forrester warns of SharePoint limitations

Organisations must recognise the limitations of Microsoft's SharePoint for various content and processes if they are to implement and use the product successfully, according to new research by Forrester.

The analyst firm's Identifying When To SharePoint, Or Not, For Business Content Needs report argued that the popular content management tool does not fully support structured workflows, or offer complete support for non-Office file types.

The software also has limited repository scalability, and features restricted enterprise information lifecycle management, the report said.

Forrester recommends that firms focus SharePoint on lower-value and lower-volume business content, ideally Microsoft Office files.

"Use SharePoint for collaborative, team-based content creation and management rather than structured and repetitive processes," the report said.

"Similarly, SharePoint workflow works well for ad-hoc content flows between members of a specific team or department, but less so for workflows that cross folders, teams and applications."

The report also encourages information professionals to understand the IT and security risks of allowing SharePoint to flourish in the organisation, as it always runs the risk of "taking over your IT garden".