I needed to come up with a way recently to put some Captivate demos in a place where stakeholders could review them for accuracy, without putting them out somewhere on my domain where anyone could stumble on them during the review process. For a few moments, I thought of simply putting up some password-protected WordPress pages. But then I realized (an instant before Tom Johnson suggested it to me) that I could use SharePoint.

With a few clicks, I created a site and was off and running.

We are using Active Directory connected with an in-house authentication system, so I can grant access to the people who need to review the demos, as well as other concerned individuals. Fortunately, the number isn’t large, so it didn’t take me long to manage the access.

Because I needed feedback on the demos, I decided on a blog format for the site. I upload the files for each demo, and then I create a new post. The post consists of a link to the HTML page Captivate creates. The users can then use the comments functionality to give me feedback. The newest videos will always appear at the top, so users will more quickly find a later version of a demo.

I think it’s taking a few reviewers some time to get used to the comment ability because I have gotten some feedback by email. But using SharePoint puts all comments in the same place without cluttering up people’s email inboxes.

Within about half an hour of starting the site, I had it configured and started uploading demos. So far, it has turned out to be an easy way to run a review process. I’ll have to see how it goes as further needs come up in other projects.

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