Adding Google Gadgets to your Sharepoint site

“How do to get users to buy in to SharePoint and start using it?”

Getting users to switch to using any new application can be tough. To get your user’s to visit your portal, there has to be content there that the user needs or wants. I recommend starting with content that everyone in the organization can use. Begin migrating the functional areas that all employees interact with, for example Human Resources and Company Wide Calendars.

This type of content engages the user and will keep them coming to the site as you continue to add more business related content. One quick and easy way to add user catching content is to use Google Gadgets. Not only can Google Gadgets can help you attract users to your site, they can also keep users from navigating away from the intranet into the World Wide Web.

Google has hundreds of gadgets that you can be added to any web page. Many of these can be integrated into SharePoint using the Content Editor Web Part or the XML Web Part. Many of the Gadgets can allow users to access information from the web without leaving the comfort of your intranet page.

The example below shows how to use the Content Editor Web Part to add a weather gadget to a page.

1. Browse and find a Google Gadget for your page. Enter the settings for the Gadget. Click the Get the Code button. Copy the code in the box

   

2. Add a Content Editor Web Part to your homepage and modify the web part.
3. Click on the Source Editor and paste the code from the Google Gadget into the box.
4. Save the Changes to the web part. When you reload the page the weather gadget will appear on your page.

Google Gadgets can be an easy way to add external content to your SharePoint site. Be wary and selective when choosing your Gadgets. Not all Google Gadgets are appropriate for use on company portals and using too many gadgets can clutter and make your site less user friendly. Remember the goal is to add content that the users want or need. Some of the Google Gadgets that I think could be useful in a SharePoint environment are the weather gadget, the Count Down gadget (This could be used to countdown to a company event or deadline.), and Google Mini Web gadget.

Happy Gadgeting!

Explore Office SharePoint Server 2007

Top ten benefits of Sharepoint 2007

	Provide a simple, familiar, and consistent user experience.Office SharePoint Server 2007 is tightly integrated with familiar client desktop applications, e-mail, and Web browsers to provide a consistent user experience that simplifies how people interact with content, processes, and business data. This tight integration, coupled with robust out-of-the-box functionality, helps you employ services themselves and facilitates product adoption.
	Boost employee productivity by simplifying everyday business activities.Take advantage of out-of-the-box workflows for initiating, tracking, and reporting common business activities such as document review and approval, issue tracking, and signature collection. You can complete these activities without any coding. Tight integration with familiar client applications, e-mail, and Web browsers provide you with a simple, consistent experience. Modifying and extending these out-of-the-box workflow processes is made easy through tools like Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 (the next release of Microsoft Office FrontPage).
	Help meet regulatory requirements through comprehensive control over content.By specifying security settings, storage policies, auditing policies, and expiration actions for business records in accordance with compliance regulations, you can help ensure your sensitive business information can be controlled and managed effectively. And you can reduce litigation risk for your organization. Tight integration of Office SharePoint Server 2007 with familiar desktop applications means that policy settings are rendered onto client applications in the Microsoft Office system, making it simpler for employees to be aware of and comply with regulatory requirements.
	Effectively manage and repurpose content to gain increased business value.Business users and content authors can create and submit content for approval and scheduled deployment to intranet or Internet sites. Managing multilingual content is simplified through new document library templates that are specifically designed to maintain a relationship between the original version and different translations of a document.
	Simplify organization-wide access to both structured and unstructured information across disparate systems.Give your users access to business data found in common line-of-business systems like SAP and Siebel through Office SharePoint Server 2007. Users can also create personalized views and interactions with business systems through a browser by dragging configurable back-end connections. Enterprise-wide Managed Document Repositories help your organizations store and organize business documents in one central location.
	Connect people with information and expertise.Enterprise Search in Office SharePoint Server 2007 incorporates business data along with information about documents, people, and Web pages to produce comprehensive, relevant results. Features like duplicate collapsing, spelling correction, and alerts improve the relevance of the results, so you can easily find what you need.
	Accelerate shared business processes across organizational boundaries.Without coding any custom applications, you can use smart, electronic forms–driven solutions to collect critical business information from customers, partners, and suppliers through a Web browser. Built-in data validation rules help you gather accurate and consistent data that can be directly integrated into back-end systems to avoid redundancy and errors that result from manual data re-entry.
	Share business data without divulging sensitive information.Give your employees access to real-time, interactive Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets from a Web browser through Excel Services running on Office SharePoint Server 2007. Use these spreadsheets to maintain and efficiently share one central and up-to-date version while helping to protect any proprietary information embedded in the documents (such as financial models).
	Enable people to make better-informed decisions by presenting business-critical information in one central location.Office SharePoint Server 2007 makes it easy to create live, interactive business intelligence (BI) portals that assemble and display business-critical information from disparate sources, using integrated BI capabilities such as dashboards, Web Parts, scorecards, key performance indicators (KPIs), and business data connectivity technologies. Centralized Report Center sites give users a single place for locating the latest reports, spreadsheets, or KPIs.
	Provide a single, integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet, and Internet applications across the enterprise.Office SharePoint Server 2007 is built on an open, scalable architecture, with support for Web services and interoperability standards including XML and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). The server has rich, open application programming interfaces (APIs) and event handlers for lists and documents. These features provide integration with existing systems and the flexibility to incorporate new non-Microsoft IT investments.

Explore Office SharePoint Server 2007 with training from Microsoft experts, right from your desktop. Download a simple file to get the proper tour of the latest features, including automated workflows to track approval cycles, business dashboards showing how well you are performing on your goals, and syncing documents to Outlook. The training, which includes articles, videos, and interactive tutorials, will lead you step-by-step through the rich features of Office SharePoint Server.

Download now direct from Microsoft

Install on your desktop

Being positive all the times

It is not only the physical stature that matters but also the strength of your mind and the willingness in your soul that can lead to continuous development of your career and personal abilities. In every human being are present circles of energy known as chakras which have a great involvement in the determination of your personality. These chakras cab be said to be the links between your inner and outer self.

These points in your body help you to channelize your inner strengths into actual performance to help you attain the results you want. But even your inner strength can form rust if there is no regular development or timely refreshment and clearing chakras is a process that renovates your energies to bring out a new you.

Since each chakra in our body has relevance with various aspects we need to understand and ensure that all of them are paid adequate attention, the seven chakras in your body lie between the bottom of your spine and the head.

While you are clearing the chakras you get away the negativity from the body and bring in positive energy, stabilizing it in the body.

Certain moves in the clockwise direction help to get in the positive energies while opposite movements are required in order to get rid of the negativity.

On most occasions people can feel pain at various points however it should not be concerning as it only proves that energy flows in and out.

It is believed that the circles or the chakras in your body derive energy from the planets and the heavenly bodies and allow the human mind, body and soul to function in the right direction.

Once your chakras are cleared you will find a newer self in front of you, while many practise this on a regular basis, the intervals do vary as per the need and intent of individuals.

It is often seen that once you have performed the act of clearing chakras, your response to situations not only becomes quicker and wiser but you also tend to come up better options and ideas. You will realise that people would come in contact with a new dimension of your nature and character.

The process of clearing chakras can start by paying attention to 1-2 of the circles of energy in your body and in the process try to get all your chakras cleared as only then you will be able to enjoy the advantage of your energies. People would be able to experience peace of mind as well as they tend to be relaxed.

In order to understand which chakra you need to clear you will not need to know rocket science but just feel the reactions of your body parts and then work on the chakra it relates to.

The amount of competition in all fields today is tremendous and you have to be very agile. In case you do not have the apt approach or there is an imbalance of the energies in your body, the execution of your skills and talents into effective results would be very difficult.

The spiritual energy has a potential role to play in the success of an individual in all fields and that has been realised by people practising this art. Also efforts are being made to understand the science of chakras in a better way.

The amount of satisfaction and accomplishments that the functioning chakras bring into your life is enormous, it is just the question of how effectively you practise it to achieve a refreshed source of energy.

Ten Ways To Start Taking Control

“How many times in life we become frustrated by our challenges and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. We feel confused sometimes wanting to do everything but not being able to focus on even one and then we tend to just let go of time and sit in delusions and lack of focus. This negative outlook then makes it even harder for us to manage those challenges and move forward. The best way to eradicate this is learning to think positively and being aware of this condition.”

Practicing positive thinking allows people to focus on our strengths and accomplishments, which increases happiness and motivation. This, in turn, allows us to spend more time making progress, and less time feeling down and stuck. The following tips provide practical suggestions that you can use to help you shift into more positive thinking patterns. Her are ten best way to tackle confusion and manage your life properly:

1. Take Good Care of Yourself
It’s much easier to be positive when you are eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest.

2. Remind Yourself of the Things You Are Grateful For
Stresses and challenges don’t seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself of the things that are right in life. Taking just 60 seconds a day to stop and appreciate the good things will make a huge difference.

3. Look for the Proof Instead of Making Assumptions
A fear of not being liked or accepted sometimes leads us to assume that we know what others are thinking, but our fears are usually not reality. If you have a fear that a friend or family member’s bad mood is due to something you did, or that your co-workers are secretly gossiping about you when you turn your back, speak up and ask them. Don’t waste time worrying that you did something wrong unless you have proof that there is something to worry about.

4. Refrain from Using Absolutes
Have you ever told a partner “You’re ALWAYS late!” or complained to a friend “You NEVER call me!”? Thinking and speaking in absolutes like ‘always’ and ‘never’ makes the situation seem worse than it is, and programs your brain into believing that certain people are incapable of delivering.

5. Detach From Negative Thoughts
Your thoughts can’t hold any power over you if you don’t judge them. If you notice yourself having a negative thought, detach from it, witness it, and don’t follow it.

6. Squash the “ANTs”
In his book “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,” Dr. Daniel Amen talks about “ANTs” – Automatic Negative Thoughts. These are the bad thoughts that are usually reactionary, like “Those people are laughing, they must be talking about me,” or “The boss wants to see me? It must be bad!” When you notice these thoughts, realize that they are nothing more than ANTs and squash them!

7. Practice Lovin’, Touchin’ & Squeezin’ (Your Friends and Family)
You don’t have to be an expert to know the benefits of a good hug. Positive physical contact with friends, loved ones, and even pets, is an instant pick-me-up. One research study on this subject had a waitress touch some of her customers on the arm as she handed them their checks. She received higher tips from these customers than from the ones she didn’t touch!

8. Increase Your Social Activity
By increasing social activity, you decrease loneliness. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!

9. Volunteer for an Organization, or Help another Person
Everyone feels good after helping. You can volunteer your time, your money, or your resources. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more you will receive in return.

10. Meditate and give your self time
Meditation is very important part and factor of our lives which should be present in everyone daily activities. Meditation wont take hours it will just take minutes and you can feel enriched with energy and self confidence. All it takes it to site in a quite room close your eyes and let go of the thoughts and just relax. Dont think anything just take deep breaths and feel as fine light from the sky is falling on your shoulders its the light of peace harmony and well being. It is lighting up your surroundings and its cleaning all the problems. Think of something that relaxes you like thinking of a beautiful garden where everything is for your and is beautiful. Just ten minutes everyday and you will feel relaxed confident and in control.

Giving your self time doesn’t mean watching your fav. program on the tele. Remember even if you think television watching is not relaxation for your brain as it has to continously absorb new information and then process it for your to remember it and your brain doesnt feel relaxed so avoid televisions most and stop being a couch potato if you want to take control of your life.

When it comes to the corporate world, protocol is pretty much the religion. To know the things needed to do are the basics of productivity, but interaction and having a steady mind makes up the entire thing to true productivity. There are those who seem to work well even under pressure, but they’re uncommon ones and we are human and imperfect. To get these little things like stress under our skins won’t solve our problems. Sometimes it takes a bit of courage to admit that we’re turning to be workaholics than tell ourselves that we’re not doing our best. Hope this will help more coming soon….

Test Your Negotiation Skills

Negotiation is part of every professional’s life. To negotiate, means to arrive at an understanding with another person, so that both of you are satisfied with the results. Do you know what is your skill in negotiation? If not, why not test and find out because most of our interactions demand negotiation. You are negotiating with your love partner about which place to go for dinner. You negotiate with your co-workers about how to divide the work. You negotiate with your clients about prices and you negotiate with your boss about your paycheck. Let us discuss important test factors of a negotiation.

Understanding Need – If you are a good negotiator, you would begin with understanding the need of the opposite party. Only after you get that understanding will you proceed further. The first requirement is to find out what the other person wants. If you are arguing with your spouse about which restaurant to go for dinner, find out his/her need. Do they want to have dinner outside or they are looking to get away somewhere for sometime? if later is the case, your choices increase many times.

Specifying Your Needs – Please spell out your needs clearly to the opposite party. Let them know very clearly about what you are looking for. If your boss knows that your real need is not rise in pay, but higher status, he/she can work out a solution quickly. Therefore please convey your needs clearly.

Reaching Understanding – This is the result both of you are seeking. If both the parties can modulate their needs so that they meet each other’s expectations, this can be done easily. Flexibility at this stage depends upon how much both of you are interested in negotiation. If both of you want a result without hurting the relationship, flexible approach is a primary requirement. Otherwise, one of you will walk away. Your skill as a negotiator depends upon satisfying you, the other party and getting a good result. You need to develop good thinking skills, communication ability and an understanding of the personalities and what drives them to act. Test yourself about these factors and find out how good a negotiator are you?