“Office SharePoint Server 2007 is an integrated suite of server applications that improves organizational effectiveness by providing comprehensive control over electronic content; accelerating shared business processes; and facilitating better-informed decisions and information-sharing across boundaries.”
Contents
- MOSS Feature Areas
- Collaboration
- Portals
- Search
- Business Intelligence
- Business Process Management
- Content Management
- Platform Services
- See Also
- Sources and further reading
MOSS Feature Areas
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) is a comprehensive suite of applications, best explained by exploring its main feature areas. There are seven of these areas, depicted in the image below.
Collaboration
MOSS allows users to author, review and publish information on the web so that it can be shared with other users in a secure environment. Web content can be changed instantaneously without writing any code behind the scenes, and users can upload documents to various libraries such as Document Libraries, Slide Libraries and Picture Libraries. MOSS also uses Workspaces to provide an environment where multiple users can work on the same document until it is ready to be published. Version control and security measures are implemented in all libraries and workspaces. Additionally, there are several lists that can be customized to meet the specific needs of an organization or end user. Sample out of the box lists include Announcements, Events, Issue Tracking, and Contacts.
MOSS also allows users to create, consume and broadcast knowledge to other users through the form of blogs, wikis, rss feeds, discussion boards and surveys. This promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing in an organization, which eventually leads to improved efficiency and productivity.
Several tools are also available to focus on streamlining project management. Some custom lists that support project management include a Task List, Calendar, and Issues List. All lists in SharePoint support Alerts, which send email to specific users based on a specified trigger. For example, it is a common practice to configure Alerts on a Task List so that every time a task is created, an email is sent to the person assigned to investigate that task. Another email may be sent at the time of its completion.
Portals
With MOSS, a website can become a portal, or single entry area for all information available throughout an organization. In addition to housing the web content itself, MOSS also acts as a document repository and a reporting portal. Several tools exist to integrate other applications with MOSS, either passing credentials through single sign on for a seamless transition, or via surfacing the data from those applications into MOSS real-time.
MOSS is tightly integrated with Microsoft Office. All calendars and task lists can be integrated into Outlook, and metadata stored in MOSS to describe a document is displayed when opening that document in Microsoft Word. Excel has been integrated to run on both the client and the server, eliminating the need for a user to have Excel on his or her computer when attempting to review a spreadsheet that is stored in MOSS.
MOSS also promotes and supports in depth personalization. MySites is a feature that optionally allows all users to have their own private site where they can choose to share information with other peers, or use it as a traveling briefcase so that files are accessible anywhere that there is internet services.
Search
MOSS takes Search to a new level. The obvious and expected functionality exists to search all content in the SharePoint site, but MOSS doesn't stop there. It can also be configured to search other websites. This is a very useful feature for associations, especially if some of their affiliates or chapters have their own websites. People are also searchable in MOSS. The results generally point to the individual's user profile where all information designated as shared can be viewed. Search will also look for files on a fileshare in addition to those in the SharePoint document libraries. Mail on an Exchange or Lotus server can be configured for search, and finally, anything in a database such as SQL Server or Oracle can be configured to appear in search results as well.
Search Scopes allow users to narrow down results to be more specific. For example one can search for only results of type Event or Task, or for all pdf files. Any metadata stored within a list or library is also a candidate for search. For example, if every document in a given library is associated with a particular chapter or affiliate, a user can choose to search only documents for the chapter they specify.
MOSS Search is also intelligent. Synonyms are suggested for misspelled words, and an organization can even provide their own list of synonyms if desired. All results are security trimmed, so users will not see results from areas of the website they don't have access to. There are also special result areas where Best Bests can be displayed.
Business Intelligence
MOSS provides several applications to support the creation of and distribution of Business Intelligence in an organization. The Report Center template is an out of the box website template that is used to store various reports and data connections to external applications such as SQL
Analysis Services and
Reporting Services. The Business Data Catalog (BDC) is part of MOSS that is used to surface information from backend systems that are accessed via a database connection or web service. Results are brought back real time and data is not duplicated on the MOSS server.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are also supported in MOSS. They can be created from external sources such as
Analysis Services and Microsoft Excel, or they can be created inside of a SharePoint list.
Microsoft Excel runs as a server application in MOSS, allowing end users to view spreadsheets through a thin client that is html based. This means that users can view the information even if they do not have Microsoft Excel on their local machine. It also allows for an extra layer of security in MOSS.....reports can be configured to allow users to view them as a snapshot, but not open them and see the formulas that are working behind the scenes.
All of the various database reports, spreadsheets and KPIs can be integrated into a holistic view using the MOSS Dashboard template. The template provides an interactive Business Intelligence
Dashboard that users can pass filter values such as time into and get refreshed results returned in real-time. A sample out of the box dashboard from MOSS is shown below.
Business Process Management
Business Process Management (BPM) allows for the automation of key business processes. The main feature supporting BPM in MOSS is Workflow which is used to route information throughout the business according to the business model put in place. For example, a simple Workflow may be implemented on a form library that is used to store vacation request forms. In this case, when an employee enters a request for time off, workflow kicks off and sends that employee's manager a notification of the request. When the manager then approves or rejects the request, the next step of the workflow sends an email back to the employee, letting them know the status of their request. There are several out of the box workflows that can be used to gain approval, collect signatures, update status, and more. Custom workflows can also be created in both SharePoint Designer (no-code) or Visual Studio. A diagram depicting the out of the box approval workflow is shown below.
InfoPath has also been extended to support Business Process Management in MOSS. Similar to Excel Services, there is also an InfoPath Services application which runs on the server side, enabling users to view and edit forms without the need for them to have the InfoPath application installed on their own machine. There are also Form Libraries that are designed specifically to store InfoPath forms inside of SharePoint. With the appropriate permissions levels, end users can create their own forms and upload them into these libraries.
Content Management
Content Management in MOSS falls into two categories: Document Management and Web Content Management (WCM). As far as Documents are concerned, there are several mechanisms in place that allow users to author, create and publish attachments to lists and libraries. Existing documents can be uploaded as attachments to lists, or new documents can be created from templates stored in SharePoint. Metadata can be collected for all attachments through the use of
Content Types. Multiple Content Types can be stored in a single repository as well. Consider this example: There may be a single Document Repository for a given association. Every document put into the repository should be tagged to indicate what chapter or affiliate it is associated with. This is one piece of metadata. All documents are also automatically tagged with some out of the box metadata such as the date an item was created and last modified, and who performed both of those actions. Now let's assume that the document library needs to hold two types of Documents: Meeting Minutes and Statements of Work. The metadata for each type is different, so two content types will be created, both inheriting from the original content type that contains a field for chapter or affiliate. The Meeting Minutes content type will contain fields such as the data the meeting took place, the members who attended, and a rich text field where minutes can be recorded. The Statement of Work on the other hand will have very different fields, such as the vendor performing the work, a description of the work to be performed, the member who signed off on the work and the total hours of work agreed upon. With these two content types in place, users now see a choice to two documents to create when they opt to add a new document to the library. Based on their selection they are presented with the appropriate metadata fields to be entered.
All document libraries support item-level security as well as versioning and auditing control. Versioning can be configured to save all versions of a document or just the last few. Recycle bins are also in place should a user accidentally delete a document or one of its versions.
Web Content Management is simplified in MOSS so that content can be entered and edited without writing any code. Users with the correct permissions are able to enter and format text and images. There are several galleries in place that allow for sharing of content in multiple areas without actually duplicating the content which requires additional space and hardware. Master Pages and Page Layouts are both used and shared to determine the look and feel of a website. Site columns and content types are also shared so that they can be utilized in more than one list or library. Even workflows can be shared so that they only have to be written once. Web Parts are used to display data on the website and place it into the correct location on a page. There are a multitude of web parts that come with MOSS, but these too can be customized to meet your specific needs, and they are also a shared resource in the website. One popular web part called an RSS Viewer is used to display the results of any RSS feed that it is provided with. For example it may be used to display the latest weather updates, and like other web parts it can be personalized so that it is intelligent enough to determine the user's zip code and display only the weather for that area.
Platform Services
Platform Services are the services that run on the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server to make all of the feature areas described above function as one integrated and holistic application. These services include the server-side applications for Microsoft Excel and InfoPath, as well as site specific and site-wide recycle bins that aid in content recovery. One of the largest services is the one running Security. MOSS implements Security Trimming which means users only see content and links to content that they have permission to see, even in search results. The Search application is also considered a Platform Service as it extends its reach into all areas of MOSS, and even into external applications when configured to do so.
See Also:
Business Intelligence
Sources and further reading:
The core of this entry was written by:
Ann Wallinger
Solutions Architect
Susquehanna Technologiese:
annw@susqtech.com