Beginning a Microsoft SharePoint Portal implementation is exciting, as it holds great promise to deliver value to everyone in your organization. To make your SharePoint Portal project a success, it's important to do some up front planning. In this video blog, I describe some key factors to closely consider when planning your SharePoint Portal.

Functional Planning:
Features - Collaboration, Business Processes, Content Management, Search, Web 2.0, and KPIs/Dashboards
Versions - SharePoint 2010, SharePoint Foundation, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0), and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007)
Portal Taxonomy - Site map and structure to make it easy to find content on your SharePoint Portal

Technical Planning:
SharePoint Farm Architecture - Single-server or Multi-server farm; Failover and redundancy
Technical Infrastructure - Hardware sizing; SQL Server Express or Standard; 32-bit or 64-bit

Implementation Planning:
Resources - Project Manager, Business Analyst, SharePoint Developer; Internal or External leadership?
Cost - Software licensing, Hardware infrastructure, and External labor
Schedule - Phased or Big-bang; 6 weeks or 6 months