What SharePoint Developers Actually Do

It’s quite easy to define a set of skills required for a SharePoint developer: in-depth knowledge of SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online, development tools like Microsoft Visual Studio, PowerShell and SharePoint Framework, and programming languages like .NET, C#, CSS, HTML5, JavaScript and jQuery. On the other hand, due to the diversity of the platform’s capabilities, sometimes it can be hard to get a full picture of SharePoint developers’ responsibilities.

Key responsibilities of SharePoint developers

Since 2007 we have completed 100 projects on SharePoint development, and (both the on-premises and the cloud-hosted deployments). Among them there were big projects like development of an intranet from scratch and minor projects, for example, development of an approval workflow, an intranet chatbot and web part customization. And based on our experience in SharePoint development, we’d like to share with you our view on key responsibilities of SharePoint experts.

Custom development

The main responsibility of SharePoint developers is custom development. They create custom experiences at various levels:

• Solutions. SharePoint experts create intranets, portals, document management systems, contract management systems, learning management systems, ticketing and helpdesk systems and more. They adjust these solutions for the business size (small, midsize and large and industry (healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing, banking, etc.).
• Add-ins. To extend business- or social-focused functionality of intranets or portals, developers build ready-to-go add-ins.
• Features. SharePoint professionals can create individual custom features like workflows, web parts, site templates and other elements. For example, they create custom workflows to automate complex processes like a non-linear multistep approval of an invoice.

Branding

Branding helps to create the sense of community across a company and stimulate user adoption. And very often, SharePoint specialists are asked to make a solution that won’t look like SharePoint. So, developers turn to SharePoint customization. They change such platform’s features as logos, styles, colors, master pages and page layouts to create unique look and feel for corporate intranets and extranets.

Integration

SharePoint professionals integrate the platform with other Microsoft products and third party solutions and ensure their joint operation without business processes interruption. They are usually asked to connect the platform with enterprise systems (CRM, ERP, PM, BI), other collaboration solutions (Yammer, Microsoft Teams), email tools (Exchange, Gmail), social media (Facebook, Twitter), learning management systems, content management systems. But, actually, professionals can integrate SharePoint almost with any custom tool. For integration, they use Business Connectivity Services and Active Directory and develop custom integration modules, which allows interacting with any third-party interfaces via APIs.

Migration

If a customized third party or SharePoint solution needs migrating to a newer version of SharePoint Server or SharePoint Online, development work is always required. In this case, SharePoint developers help to retain the initial customizations in a new solution.

Maintenance and support

On implementing a SharePoint solution, experts can provide after-launch support to ensure that the solution operates properly. They can also offer continuous managed services under an SLA for a certain period (e.g., one year). In this case SharePoint experts’ responsibilities cover adding new features to reflect the changing business needs, solving technical issues like slow load time, installing updates to ensure flawless operation, solid security and improved usability (e.g., language patches).

Training users

SharePoint professionals also provide training on using SharePoint, configuration and basic customization for admins and end users. They help end users to understand the platform’s out-of-the-box capabilities, quickly and easily adopt new tools and processes and manage them successfully.

Final considerations

Custom development, integration and migration are the core activities of SharePoint developers. To evaluate their level of SharePoint skills, Microsoft offers a system of certifications: MCSA (Solutions Associate): Office 365, MCSE (Solutions Expert): Productivity and MCSD: Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer.