Ask a Trainer: Free resources to help you learn SharePoint

FAST university has free webcasts on Enterprise Search and other SharePoint topics

At the MCT Summit in October, I had a chance to chat with Larry Kaye, a Microsoft Certified Trainer. Larry works with FAST University. I hadn’t heard of that organization before, so I asked Larry to fill me in on what they do. I’ll summarize the key offerings here, but if you don’t feel like reading, just watch my interview with Larry below (apologies for the camera shake, I am prone to that, I think I should get a tripod)

FAST University offers training and resources on SharePoint for administrators and developers. Although they cover other topics as well, they offer a lot of training on search features. They have classroom training, and just in case there are no classroom dates or locations convenient for you, they also offer virtual and e-learning courses.

If you register at their website, you can see a full list of the resources, and access a number of free webcasts! Including the following which I thought might be of interest to SharePoint developers:

• Architecture of Search in SharePoint 2010 – learn the architecture of search in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.
• Business Connectivity Services – Creating a .NET Connectivity Assembly in Visual Studio – learn how to connect SharePoint to external data sources such as SQL Server databases, SAP applications and Web services.
• FAST Search for SharePoint 2010 – Property Extraction – Learn about the property extraction feature that identifies information such as person names, company names, and geographic names and locations in documents. These properties help you find the “who”, “what”,”when”, and “where” of each document.
• Fast Search Server for Internet Sites (FSIS) with Content Transformation Services (CTS) – Learn about Content Transformation Services, how to build flows and sub-flows and tips and techniques for building flows in Visual Studio.
• Search Reporting and Analytics with FAST Search Server – An introduction to Search Reporting and the Search administration tools.

Here’s Larry talking about FAST University and their courses.

This blog is also posted on the Canadian Solution Developer

Thank You Thank You Sam I Am! I do so like this ALM!

It’s fall and that means back to school for kids, it also means time to start up and really get rolling on new projects, which means it’s a good time to think about the big picture: Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). Developing an application is about much more than just writing code.  You have to collect requirements, you have to determine which requirements you will develop in each phase or sprint, you have to develop the code, you have to test the code, you have to deploy the code, you have to support the code, you have to update the code and add additional features in each phase or sprint. This involves a lot of work and a lot of different people! You need a way to help the teams collaborate, you need a way to send feedback, you want to follow best practices, and ideally you don’t want all the teams using different tools! That’s where Application Lifecycle Management tools come into play.

Any application lifecycle management tool has to support the flow through the different phases of the projects and the flow from one team to another. The truth is most of us think of Visual Studio as a tool for editing and deploying code and nothing more, but that copy of Visual Studio installed on your PC right now may be capable of more than you realize. You may have an ALM tool sitting in front of you already. The best part is, it’s an ALM tool you already know. Yes, learning how to use the ALM features will take a bit of effort but many of the interfaces will be familiar and will integrate well with the code editor we know and love (btw – yes I do love the Visual studio code editor) . Visual Studio 2010 lets you track requirements, manage source control, and connects Quality Assurance (QA) with development and even supports the Eclipse development environment so its not just for .NET developers. Visual Studio vNext will take it even further with easier tracking and assignment of requirements in each sprint, a new code review feature, and more!

One of our goals this year is to help you understand the full potential of Visual Studio as an ALM tool and learn how to leverage that potential to help your next project. If you prefer self study you can check out the Visual Studio Roadmap, a great read with links to whitepapers and videos to help you understand all that Visual Studio has to offer as an ALM tool. If you prefer to have someone walk you through it, join us in a series of online webcasts over the course of the year. Starting with a series to help you make your testing more efficient.

Today’s Top 5 is all about helping you get up to speed on testing features

5 Free Webinars to help you improve your testing

1. Getting Agile with Testing, Sept 21st 1PM Eastern
2. Manual Testing Evolved, Sept 28th 1PM Eastern
3. Automating Virtual QA Environments, October 5th 1PM Eastern
4. Raising Your Technical Debt Ceiling…Or Not? October 12th 1PM Eastern
5. Quality Assurance in Mixed Technology Environments, Oct 19th 1PM Eastern

You definitely want to catch the first session featuring none other than Sam “ALM” Guckenheimer, Sam is the Product Planner at Microsoft for Visual Studio Team System and an authority on software testing and ALM. He literally wrote the book (Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System). This is an amazing opportunity to hear directly from the source. We are also bringing Sam to visit Canada as a keynote speaker at TesTrek in Toronto.

So register today for the Getting Agile with Testing seminar, September 21st with Sam “ALM” Guckenheimer and more great sessions to help you with your testing!

It struck me that if Dr Seuss was learning ALM from Sam “ALM” Guckenheimer it might have gone something like this:

That Sam A LM! That Sam A LM
I do not like that Sam A LM
Do you like your A L M?
I do not like it, Sam A LM
I do not like that A L M
Would you like it here or there?
I would not like it here or there
I would not like it anywhere?
Would you like them when you test?
That is when they’re at their best!
You should try it when you code
It will keep you on the road
When I test? is that best?
When I code? Keep to road?
I did not know this A L M
I am not sure now SAM A LM
Would you like it when you’re live?
Your ops team will surely thrive.
Would you like it to track need?
Help your project to succeed!
When I test that is best.
When I code Stay to road.
Sure to thrive when we’re live
Help succeed meet user need!
I did not know this A L M
I am not sure now Sam A LM
Would you like it when you plan
know if deadlines meet you can?
Would you like code source control
It will help most every role
When I test that is best.
When I code Stay to road.
Sure to thrive when we’re live
Help succeed meet user need!
When I Plan? Know I can?
Code Control? Help each role?
I did not know this A L M
I am not sure now Sam A LM
You do not like it, so you say
Try it, try it, and you may
Try it and you may, I say
Sam! If you will let me be,
I will try it, you will see…
Say! I like this A L M
I do! I Like it Sam A LM
I will use it when I test
I will use it that is best
I will use it when I code
That will keep us on the road
I will use it when we’re live
It will help my ops team thrive
I will track each users need
Then my project will succeed!
I will use it when I plan!
Deadlines meet, I know I can!
I will do my source control
It will help in every role!
I will use it here and there
I will use it EVERYWHERE!
I do so like this A L M
THANK YOU THANK YOU SAM A LM!

with apologies to to Dr. Theodor Seuss Geisel whose original Green Eggs and Ham is far superior to my attempts at prose!

(By the way I was going to  have a verse that said Do you like them in a cubicle but i couldn’t find a rhyme)