However you measure it, last night’s AMITPRO meeting was truly exceptional. We had a packed room, a record number of new visitors for the month, a few people who’d travelled halfway across the UK to join us and some of the ‘old school’ SBSC crowd who hadn’t been to AMITPRO since it was called the ‘Midlands SBSC User Group’.

Without a doubt, the reason for such a high turn-out was due to the attendance of two of the most popular speakers in the UK SBSC community right now. Following on from his excellent InfoPath presentation earlier this year, Andy Parkes of IBIT Solutions gave an interactive tutorial titled: ‘SharePoint as a Helpdesk’. We were also delighted to welcome back Dell Quinn from Microsoft to discuss how the changes in the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) will affect SBSC Partners.

Andy was first up and delivered a totally PowerPoint-free walkthrough showing how Windows SharePoint Services can be used (with some clever modifications) as a fully-functioning IT helpdesk.

Starting from scratch with the default SBS Companyweb site, Andy gradually built-up the individual elements of his helpdesk solution, including an Inbound E-mail Support Queue, Client/Contact Lists, and a Ticketing System which took advantage of version control. Once the basics were in place, he showed how to link the parts together using various lookup fields and custom workflow (using SharePoint Designer).

By the time he’d finished, he had built a semi-automated system which allowed inbound support e-mails to be converted to helpdesk tickets, assigned to engineers, tracked for billing purposes, and managed by various filtering options. Total time to complete the solution? Probably about 45 minutes.

Before ending the session, he touched on other topics such as creating views for mobile devices, managing alerts using Outlook and how to use site columns to avoid duplication of data. All in all, a really slick demonstration of how far Windows SharePoint Services can be stretched.

Next to take the floor was Dell Quinn from Microsoft. Dell is responsible for the SBSC brand in the UK, and is currently busy spreading the word about the MPN changes to partners all over the country.

The presentation covered all the important points about the MPN, including the new tiers (Community, Subscriber, Competency, Advanced Competency) along with the requirements and benefits. She re-iterated that the SBSC blue-badge will remain for the time being, and that Microsoft have committed to giving at least 12-months notice if they ever decide to withdraw it.

Other useful information included the updated MAPS subscription, now including TechNet and information about the Mid-Market Competencies.

Some new information which hadn’t been made public before, (but is subject to change):

• The phrases ‘Competency’ and ‘Advanced Competency’ may still be under review.
• The Small Business Competency and Advanced Competency have been postponed (past October) with no specific dates yet.
• Out of 1,640 Small Business Specialists in the UK, around 700 are not ‘up-to-date’ with the latest certifications.

After the MPN summary, the presentation moved onto a Q&A about how well members felt Microsoft had performed over the last 12 months, and ideas about how they should engage with partners in FY11.

Some familiar themes came up in the discussion including the cost of the new MPN Competencies (revealed last month to be £1394 or £2900/year) and the ever-popular BPOS debate.

As Dell said at the start of her presentation, she likes to ‘tell it as it is’, getting information to partners as early as possible even if it hasn’t yet been finalised. She’s gained a lot of respect within the SBSC community for taking this approach,  but it also means the information above is subject to change, so please treat it as such.

Finally, I’d like to thank the new visitors to the group (Jat, Steve, Lee, Paul, Andy, Susanne, Chris, Ian and Raj), our current sponsors Accredit UK, and both the speakers for an excellent evening.