SharePoint

From TechWriter Wiki

Introduction

SharePoint is Microsoft's 'Enterprise Content Management' (ECM) system. SharePoint seeks to provide content management and search capabilities across the entire enterprise, regardless of where the content is stored (although it does claim to store all content 'centrally') and where the users (both content creators and content readers) are located.

Components

Components include (but not limited to):

SharePoint Services

Primary component. Provides portal capabilities, and collaboration tools

Office SharePoint Server

Provides organization and management tools for SharePoint sites. Maybe this component is what provides access via standard Office applications?

SharePoint Designer

What was FrontPage. Includes capabilities for customizing sites, creating reports, etc.

SharePoint Server for Search

Provides enterprise-wide search across the Intranet and files

Content management

For content management, SharePoint supports the creation of content (most typically Microsoft Office documents) via the Web Portal, versus having to go and open up the relevant application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, FrontPage, Visio). It provides version control, and workflow. Content can be developed in one area, and then published to another when ready - for example, development of a document collaboratively via a project site, and then published to the Portal (presumably via workflow) once finalized.

Version management

As with most decent Document Management Systems, SharePoint provides check-in/check-out functionality. This 'locks' a document once a user opens it for editing, and ensures that no-one else can change the document until the user editing it checks it back in again.

It also provides full version management, with previous versions being retained (I assume with details of who made the change and what was changed) every time the document is updated.

Collaboration

One of the key features of later versions of SharePoint is the inclusion of 'Web 2.0' features. These include RSS feeds, blogs, and wikis - all of which can be used within a corporate environment. For example, support teams could operate blogs that detail problems found and solutions provided, or hints and tips on how to use the product better. Wikis can be used to harvest knowledge from the users themselves, allowing them to contribute to the product documentation (this is also a great way of building user 'buy-in' of the documentation). SharePoint also allows the use of surveys and discussions to further encourage discussion.

Personalization

Users can customize the Portal page ('My Site') to show content that they want to see. This is done by including blocks of information (such as RSS feeds, project information, etc.) on the page.