Microsoft SharePoint Service

Microsoft SharePoint is a web-collaboration platform that provides an integrated suite of server capabilities including comprehensive content management, enterprise search, shared business processes and information-sharing facilitation.  

SharePoint supports a delegated administration model based upon site collections. The site-collection administrator can create additional sub-sites, control user and group permissions through Active Directory and modify the function and layout of sites to support the needs of each group.

SharePoint is designed to accommodate the skill levels of a variety of users, so that even those with limited web-design experiences can begin contributing content to the project or department. SharePoint also features powerful integration with Microsoft Office, permitting users to edit documents in Word or Excel and save them to SharePoint or to use Microsoft Office Web Apps to view and edit Word, Excel,and PowerPoint documents in a browser window.

SharePoint costs and terms

OIT charges faculty, staff and departmental workgroups an annual fee of $700 for a site collection with 10GB of storage space. Those requiring a higher level of storage should contact OIT for consultation on pricing, setup options, etc. (see "SharePoint site collection requests," below).

SharePoint community discussions

The Duke SharePoint community has access to these email lists:

  • sharepoint-users@duke.edu, used to announce service changes, maintenance and outages, as well as for general discussion among the members of the community
  • sharepoint-dev@duke.edu, used by those developing custom SharePoint solutions for discussions of a technical nature
  • sharepoint-community@duke.edu, an open list for anyone at Duke involved in Microsoft Sharepoint

SharePoint site collection requests

To request a SharePoint site collection, submit a request to the OIT Service Desk. Please include:

  • Name of department or project associated with the site collection
  • Fund code for site collection
  • Descriptive name for site collection
  • Short or URL-friendly name of site collection (must contain only lowercase alphanumeric characters with no spaces)
  • Primary administrator of site collection
  • Additional storage requirements