Katja Jokisalo
Microsoft MVP & MCT | Lead Architect, Modern Work | Partner at Sulava
Helsinki, Finland
Katja is an enthusiastic technical consultant, speaker, and trainer who helps organizations create a better working life and improve their business with Office 365. She's Microsoft MVP (M365 Apps & Services) and Certified Trainer.
She started her career with SharePoint 15 years ago, and has been bringing companies to the cloud with various Office 365 based projects - collaboration hubs, intranet or extranet sites, workspaces, enterprise social networks, document management systems and enterprise search solutions.
Katja enjoys finding ways to make things run smoother - her main goal is to make the life of an information worker more productive and fun and thus help the employees to focus on their work. She has a great technical knowledge of Teams, SharePoint, Viva and related Microsoft-based platforms and solutions. In the evenings you're most likely to find her hanging on the wall (aka bouldering) or having her nose buried in a book.
Links
Awards
Area of Expertise
Topics
Let's find it!
Efficient search is a top 3 requirement list member in every internal application development project. Shift from SharePoint Search to Microsoft Search has brought some major improvements but also left some gaps to fill when it comes to customizing the search experience to better support your specific needs.
In this session, we'll walk through (with theory and examples)
* basics features of Microsoft Search (compared to SharePoint Search)
* search analytics and feedback options
* how to configure Microsoft Search experience with custom verticals, filters and result templates
* curating search results with promoted results (answers, acronyms etc)
* how to add external content to your M365 search index
* ways to enhance search experience with PnP Modern Search web parts
Come and learn how to boost content findability on your M365 environment!
Best Practices for Document Information Architecture in Office 365
How to plan and implement a flexible and easy to use workspace, when your organization has thousands of different documents? Find out easy out-of-the-box ways to support organizing, sharing and finding files. We'll walk through basics of content structures (sites and libraries, views and folders) and have a look at document-centric search functionality. We'll also discuss when it's better to use metadata vs. folders and how to leverage content types and document sets in your sites.
WORKSHOP: Design your digital workplace on Office 365
Office 365 has been around for years already, and the vast majority of the European companies have already moved to cloud-based applications on information work. We already know the basic roles of different apps, and there’s abundance on “when to use what” infographics available.
However, in many cases, the real digital transformation does not happen with the change of the tools. Sometimes the situation turns even worse than it used to be – instead of just 1000 unread items on our inbox, we now have those same items scattered in multiple Teams teams, private chats, Yammer conversations – an yes, on email as well.
In this workshop, you will learn how to plan and implement your digital workplace in Office 365 so that your organization gets the best of it. We will cover typical pain points in governance and guidance, and walk through the most important settings. With practical how-to tips, you will learn how to create a cloud-based environment where every tool has a clear purpose and information can be shared and found in ease.
Workshop contents in a nutshell:
• Overview of Office 365 apps and services
• What really changes when we move from classic to modern workplace?
• What is Playbook – purpose and scope
• Planning and implementing information architecture on Office 365 environment
• Ways of working - when to use what, and how to define the roles and processes in these modern workplace key areas:
o Communication
o Collaboration and file sharing
o Meetings
o Task & project management
WORKSHOP: Build your intranet on modern SharePoint
Do you plan to build a new cloud-based intranet using modern SharePoint communication sites? This workshop is all you need to get started!
We’ll mix planning guidance and best practices with actual demos and useful tips to give you both: an overview of intranet planning and implementing process, and also concrete how-to steps and script examples. This workshop is a must for anyone participating in modern Intranet projects.
Contents in a nutshell:
- introduction - what is modern SharePoint and modern intranet
- planning information architecture
- navigation and search
- structures and settings of SharePoint sites
- content creation on communication sites
- web parts and content roll-ups
- intranet main page and other landing pages
- files and document management on the intranet
- look and feel
- user roles and permissions
- intranet as a part of your digital workplace on Office 365
- migrating content from classic SharePoint sites
It depends! ...on what? Food for thought about your communication & collaboration playbook
"We have materials about agile methods in our R&D Teams team. Those files could be useful for our internal IT team as well. How should I share the materials with them?"
"There's a need for a quick decision about an optional feature in our project. As a project manager, I should involve the steering group in the discussion and decision-making. What is the best method or channel to initiate this conversation?"
"I just found out that the bakery in our office building offers a 30 percent discount for employees. How do I inform my colleagues about this?"
Do you know the right answers? Actually, are there any correct answers? It depends, says the consultant - but exactly how and why it depends?
Come and join this fun and interactive talk about what really affects decisions we are forced to make in our everyday communication and collaboration - and learn how to take these into account when planning and onboarding the information worker's playbook for your organization!
Intranet in an hour
Do you plan to build a new cloud-based intranet using modern SharePoint communication sites? This fast-paced session is all you need to get started! We’ll mix a bit of planning guidance and best practices with actual demos and useful tips to give you both: an overview of intranet planning and implementing process, and also concrete how-to steps and script examples.
Session contents in a nutshell:
- introduction - what is modern SharePoint and modern intranet
- getting a speedy start with Lookbook and Provisioning Service
- planning and implementing information architecture, hubs and sites, and navigation
- look and feel - creating and applying a theme for your intranet
- configuring intranet main page, section landing pages and SharePoint Home
- content creation: page templates, modern web parts, files and links on the pages
- using PowerShell to create sites and apply settings
Modernize your SharePoint - how to move from classic sites to modern sites?
Is your organization still using classic SharePoint sites? In this session, you'll learn how to modernize your existing sites as smoothly as possible.
We'll start with a glance at the differences between classic and modern infrastructure and features. We'll find out what's the difference and how to deal with it in six main areas: structure, pages and web parts, branding, customization, list and libraries, and group connection.
Then we'll walk through best practices for actually planning and implementing your modern, Office 365 connected sites. You'll learn how to take advantage of PnP modernization tools: SharePoint Modernization scanner to prepare your sites for being modernized and Page Transformation Engine, which converts existing classic pages to modern ones. We'll discuss differences between cross-site and in-place modernization, and you will also learn how to use PowerShell scripts to groupify, teamify and hubify your old sites.
Wow, what a view!
Designing beautiful and informative data views has never been this easy! SharePoint lists and libraries are flexible and efficient means to store, analyze and report your files and data. With new column and view formatting capabilities, you can customize the look and feel of your list.
In this session, you'll get a bunch of creative ideas to help your users to understand and use list data. We will demonstrate for example
* conditional formatting - visualize and highlight the most important data
* turning you SharePoint list into a beautiful news bulletin or person directory
* adding actions to make it easier to interact with data
You'll also learn how to implement custom formatting and where to find the best resources to reuse and develop solutions based on your needs.
Content findability and discoverability on Modern Intranets
The modern intranet has a flat and flexible structure, multiple supported usage scenarios, and a broad spectrum of content editors with different skills and mindsets. It's more and more important to leverage proper information architecture in order to keep your intranet valuable and efficient to use. Luckily there are plenty of technical improvements offering help as well.
In this session, we'll walk through (with theory and examples)
* basics of planning and implementing good information architecture
* structure and navigation on modern SharePoint intranet, hub sites, mega menus
* metadata and audience targeting
* what affects findability and how to improve it
* ways to make it easier to discover new and important content
* how to keep content up-to-date and structured
Come and learn how to improve content findability and discoverability on your Intranet!
Viva Intranet!
How to create a modern M365 intranet with SharePoint, Teams and Viva Connections? Employee experience platform Viva brings together new features for internal communication, knowledge sharing and learning, but what is the best way to include Viva in your intranet?
In this session we will walk through the contents and configuration options of Viva Connections. We'll learn what and how to plan and prepare, and what are the pre-requirements, technical steps and best practices for implementing Viva Connections.
We'll also discuss the role and configuration of Viva Connection web parts - Feed and Dashboard, and have a look at different ways to extend your existing modern intranet with Viva Connections, and use Teams as a user interface for your intranet content.
From Stream (Classic) to Stream (on SharePoint) - migrate your videos to Microsoft 365
The old Microsoft enterprise video service - Stream (Classic) - is being retired and replaced by the new Stream, which is built on top of Microsoft 365. While Teams meeting recordings are already stored in the new Stream, many organizations still have their official video archives in the old Stream.
Storing content in two different services might be confusing to users and causes unnecessary hassle in finding, sharing, and maintaining organizational videos. Moreover, Microsoft will not automatically move your content from the old Stream - if you don't migrate your content, it will be deleted when Stream (Classic) is retired.
In this session, you'll learn everything you need to know about the new Stream and migrating your videos from the old to the new Stream. We'll cover
- basic differences between the old and the new Stream
- planning your video storage locations in the new Stream
- finding and sharing videos in the new Stream
- preparing the retirement of the old Stream
- migrating your videos from the old to the new Stream
Boost your Intranet!
Modern SharePoint is constantly evolving as an internal communication platform - new and improved features are released every week! Are you already in need of a small intranet facelift? Or do you feel that you're not taking advantage of all the good stuff?
Come and find out which fresh and less-known features you should at least grab! In this demo-packed set, you'll get a bunch of concrete suggestions for improvements that are easy to implement. Session topics include content visualization, improving search, keeping content up-to-date, and using forms and workflows. We will also talk about efficient multichannel publishing and using Yammer to bring interactivity to your intranet - and not forgetting the new Viva features as an intranet booster.
Communicate & connect with Viva!
Viva Connections brought intranet to Teams, Viva Engage did the same to Yammer and Viva Amplify offers us a brand new way to publish content across the organization.
New Viva modules are built on top of the existing capabilities of SharePoint and Yammer, but they offer a whole new way to create connections and keep everyone up-to-date. Modern internal communication is not a one-way, one size fits all solution - with Viva, everyone can get just the information they need, share their own ideas and connect with their colleagues.
Come and learn the real roles of SharePoint intranet, Yammer, and Teams in communicating and connecting efficiently with Viva modules. In this session, you'll learn how to transform your old intranet into an interactive and personalized communication platform!
Case studies: Taming the Teams chaos
Way too many teams, all kinds of private and shared and whatnot channels, and a huge amount of private chats with multiple topics mixed together. Tens of (mostly unnecessary!) notifications, an unfunctional search feature, and the feeling of always missing out on something important. Does this sound familiar?
Teams was a savior for big and small businesses during the pandemic, but the toll of never really taking the time to agree on how to use it still haunts us. Keeping your teams, chats and notifications in control is fully possible, but it requires a little bit of shared and personal effort.
In this session, I'll share best practices and proven methods to take control back - from an end-user perspective. I'll share tips for creating and adopting common communication guidelines for Teams, templates for training topics, and real success (and failure!) stories from brave organizations trying to tame the Teams chaos.
Intranet Information Architecture 101
Building a new modern intranet site has never been this easy – in the simplest case you can just visit lookbook.microsoft.com, pick your favorite template and deploy it to your tenant.
Despite the fact that there’s no more need to plan and implement your own technical solution or platform for your intranet from the scratch, there’s still one critical aspect that can’t be copy-pasted or implemented as is. In order to build a great intranet, you really need to plan and implement a proper intranet information architecture that is unique to your organization.
In this session we will dive deep into the intranet information architecture. You will learn how to plan and implement an intranet where users can find the information they need in order to thrive at their work.
Session contents in a nutshell:
• Understanding the basics – what is information architecture
• Defining purpose, roles and contents of the intranet
• Planning the physical infrastructure (hubs and sites)
• Organizing content with navigation and metadata
• Creating awesome and accessible pieces of information using content pages
• Improving discoverability with functional landing pages and additional paths
• Ways to take care of content findability
• Implementing processes to keep the content up to date
Design your digital workplace on Office 365
Office 365 has been around for years already, and the vast majority of European companies have already moved to cloud-based applications for information work. We already know the basic roles of different apps, and there’s no abundance of “when to use what” infographics available.
However, in many cases, the real digital transformation does not happen with the change of the tools. Sometimes the situation turns even worse than it used to be – instead of just 1000 unread items on our inbox, we now have those same items scattered in multiple Teams teams, private chats, Yammer conversations – and yes, on email as well. File sharing with access links is incredibly easy, but finding the files shared with me afterward and using them in the right context with the right people is a real challenge.
In this eye-opening and interactive session, we will dive deep into the most common pain points on communication and collaboration with Office 365 and discuss the ways to solve them. You’ll get a bunch of proven real-life examples of how to improve the information architecture on your Office 365 environment, and learn how to make sure everyone in your organization shares the common ways of working with these tools.
SharePoint Saturday Netherlands 2019
Public speaking 2017-2019
List and materials / recordings of all my public speaking sessions
Katja Jokisalo
Microsoft MVP & MCT | Lead Architect, Modern Work | Partner at Sulava
Helsinki, Finland