Make sure to take the time to clarify the goals for the SharePoint project. Make sure to discuss the time frame and different phases that will take place, the budget for the different phases, and the technology and business goals of the project. Don't forget to write these goals down to avoid scope creep during the project.
Consider whether Windows SharePoint Services will provide the features needed for document management and collaboration. In some cases, Windows SharePoint Services offers a sufficient feature-set for smaller organizations, for proof of concept testing purposes, and in situations where the budget is severely constrained. A single Windows SharePoint Services server can get an organization started on the path toward better document management and collaboration.
SharePoint Portal Server 2003 includes Windows SharePoint Services and provides all of Windows SharePoint Services' functionality. In addition, SharePoint Portal Server 2003 adds more features including automatic categorization, audiences, topic areas, news, personal sites, shared services, indexing and searching across other platforms and file shares, single sign-on, site directory, user profiles, and BizTalk integration that make it a more flexible and powerful platform. Due to these additional features, additional design and testing time should be allocated.
Use Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition in most situations for SharePoint 2003 servers. The Enterprise edition needs to be used if more than 4GB of RAM is to be installed in a server, or if more than four processors need to be supported, or to use Microsoft Clustering Services.
Windows Server 2003 Web Edition can be used on front-end servers in server farm implementations.
Use SQL Server for production implementations instead of WMSDE or MSDE if more than 10 "active and large" websites will be used and if more than 2GB of data will be supported. SQL Server 2000 is designed for optimized performance, scalability, and manageability.
Include a prototype testing phase where the SharePoint 2003 configuration is fine-tuned and tested, as well as a pilot implementation in the implementation phase. This provides sufficient time to ensure that the proposed configuration meets the needs and expectations of the user community.
Use the design process to determine whether a single server or server farm configuration is needed, and whether a single portal site is needed, or whether multiple portal sites are needed. Due to the many different possible server farm configurations, considerable time and testing may be needed to determine the configuration that best meets the needs of the organization.
Make sure to consider the level of security required for site access and whether SSL will be used to further secure information transmitted from browsers to the SharePoint 2003 servers.
Make sure that the design process considers how backups will be performed, as well as virus protection.
