Add SharePoint Reminders Functionality to Your SharePoint 2010 Implementation

Some features are just so obvious that it might never occur to you that they’re not included in SharePoint 2010. Doesn’t it make sense that since SharePoint has a collaborative calendar feature, and alerting capabilities, that it would also have SharePoint Reminders functionality right out-of-the-box? Well, it doesn’t. And that lack has bothered people for quite some time. There just hasn’t been a really slick, elegant way to get that functionality into SharePoint. Until now.

SharePoint Solutions has added SharePoint Reminders functionality in the new version of our Alert Manager product, SharePoint Alert Manager for SharePoint 2010. It bolts transparently onto SharePoint 2010 and the SharePoint Reminders functionality shows up in the interface itself.























You can set a SharePoint Reminder on any SharePoint list item that has a date and time field – calendar items, task items, and more.

• SharePoint Reminders can be sent up to 30 days before or after a date/time field's value.
• Conditions can also be defined to apply simple send/don't send logic.
• Any number of recipients can be sent the reminder, including SharePoint groups.

You can see a quick overview of this functionality on our SharePoint Reminders page.

You’ll find lots of ways to use your new SharePoint Reminders functionality. Here are some common business uses:

• Your company has a policy that all employees get annual formal performance reviews. But you would like to give your direct reports abbreviated one-on-one performance reviews each quarter and would like to be reminded to prepare for those in advance.
• You are responsible for maintaining assorted electronic equipment for your company that relies on batteries (for instance, cordless phones, mice, computer CMOS batteries, etc.). You know that the batteries will need to be replaced before the equipment wears out. So, each time you get a new item, you want to log it into a SharePoint list with an acquired date. You want to set a reminder on the acquired date to go replace the batteries after a certain period of time.
• You maintain document libraries that have official policy and procedure documents in them. Your job requires you to periodically review each of the documents to make sure they are up to date. You want to set a reminder on each document to review it every six months.
• You sell maintenance agreements on products that customers buy from you, but the maintenance agreements only last for a certain period of time. Before the maintenance agreement expires, you want to be reminded to send the customer an offer to renew their maintenance agreement.

Once you get used to using SharePoint Reminders, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without them. And of course all of this is in addition to the killer SharePoint Alert Management functionality that our Alert Manager 2010 product provides. Just one more way that our engineers at SharePoint Solutions are working to make your SharePoint ideas come to life.

Randy Moody