Windows Server 2003 has already established itself as a robust, capable operating system loaded with a rich set of features. Built-in tools and services provide for a wide range of functionality unsurpassed in other products and older versions of Windows. In addition to these capabilities, Windows Server 2003 also contains native support and licensing for additional services that can be freely downloaded, installed, and supported. One of these tools is Windows SharePoint Services (WSS).
With the new version of SharePoint technologies, Microsoft introduces what it considers to be the next-generation platform for file sharing and collaboration. There is a great deal of confusion today about the exact nature of SharePoint. This confusion is based on the fact that SharePoint Technologies are composed of two distinct products: Windows SharePoint Services, the focus of this chapter, and a separate application called SharePoint Portal Server 2003.
This chapter focuses on how Windows SharePoint Services can be effectively used to extend the functionality of Windows Server 2003. The history and capabilities of WSS are described, and generic design and installation options are explained. Key differences between WSS and the full Portal product, SharePoint Portal Server 2003, are also outlined and explained. Updates to Windows SharePoint Services in Windows Server 2003 R2 are described and the installation of WSS is covered, along with a demonstration of base functionality.
Windows SharePoint Services has a somewhat complicated history. Multiple attempts at rebranding the application and packaging it with other Microsoft programs has further confused administrators and users alike. Consequently, a greater understanding of what WSS is and how it was constructed is required.
In late 1999, Microsoft announced the digital dashboard concept as the first step in its knowledge management strategy, releasing the Digital Dashboard Starter Kit, the Outlook 2000 Team Folder Wizard, and the Team Productivity Update for BackOffice 4.5. These tools leveraged existing Microsoft technologies, so customers and developers could build solutions without purchasing additional products. These tools, and the solutions developed using them, formed the basis for what became known as SharePoint Team Services, the predecessor of Windows SharePoint Services.
With the launch of Office XP, SharePoint Team Services was propelled into the limelight as the wave of the future, providing a tool for non-IT personnel to easily create Web sites for team collaboration and information sharing. Team Services, included with Office XP, came into being through Office Server Extensions and FrontPage Server Extensions. The original server extensions were built around a Web server and provide a blank default Web page. The second generation of server extensions provided a Web authoring tool, such as FrontPage, for designing Web pages. Team Services was a third-generation server extension product, with which a Web site could be created directly out of the box.
A full understanding of the WSS product is not achieved without understanding its companion product, SharePoint Portal Server (SPS). SharePoint Portal Server further extends the capabilities of WSS, allowing for the creation of an enterprise portal platform. Although the paths of the two product lines have converged, the origins of SPS were originally separate from those of WSS.
In 2001, Microsoft released SharePoint Portal Server 2001. The intent was to provide a customizable portal environment focused on collaboration, document management, and knowledge sharing. The product carried the “Digital Dashboard” Web Part technology a step further to provide an out-of-the-box solution. SharePoint Portal was the product that could link together the team-based Web sites that were springing up.
Microsoft’s initial SharePoint Portal product included a document management system that provided document check-in/check-out capabilities, as well as version control and approval routing. These features were not available in SharePoint Team Services. SharePoint Portal also included the capability to search not only document libraries, but also external sources such as other Web sites and Exchange Public Folders.
Because the majority of the information accessed through the portal was unstructured, the Web Storage System was the means selected for storing the data, as opposed to a more structured database product such as SQL, which was being used for SharePoint Team Services. The Web Storage System, incidentally, is the same technology that is used by Microsoft Exchange. Further SharePoint implementations use the same SQL database as WSS does, however.
As SharePoint Team Services was available at no extra charge to Office XP/FrontPage users, many organizations took advantage of this “free” technology to experiment with portal usage. Team Services’s simplicity made it easy to install and put into operation. Although functionality was not as robust as a full SharePoint Portal Server solution, knowledge workers were seeing the benefits of being able to collaborate with team members.
Adaptation of SharePoint Portal Server progressed at a slower rate. In a tight economy, organizations were not yet ready to make a monetary commitment to a whole new way of collaborating, even if it provided efficiency in operations. In addition, the SharePoint Portal interface was not intuitive or consistent, which made it difficult to use.
Having two separate products with similar names confused many people. “SharePoint” was often discussed in a generic manner, and people weren’t sure whether the topic was SharePoint Portal or SharePoint Team Services, or the two technologies together. Even if the full application name was mentioned, there was confusion regarding the differences between the two products, and about when each was appropriate to use. People wondered why SharePoint Team Services used the SQL data engine for its information store, while SharePoint Portal Server used the Web Storage system. It appeared as though there was not a clear strategy for the product’s direction.
Microsoft took a close look at what was happening with regard to collaboration in the marketplace and used this information to drive its SharePoint technologies. Microsoft believed that in today’s world of online technology and collaboration, people need to think differently about how they work. The focus was to develop a suite of products to better handle this collaboration.
In addition to looking closer at how people collaborate, Microsoft also analyzed what had transpired with its SharePoint products. The end result was that Microsoft modified its knowledge management and collaboration strategy. Microsoft began talking about its “SharePoint Technology,” with a key emphasis on building this technology into the .NET framework, and thus natively supporting XML Web Services.
In the 2003 version of the SharePoint products, Microsoft developed Windows SharePoint Services as the engine for the team collaboration environment. Windows SharePoint Services replaces SharePoint Team Services, and it includes many new and enhanced features, some of which were previously part of SharePoint Portal Server. Windows SharePoint Services was also included as an optional component to the Windows Server 2003 operating system at the same time.
SharePoint Portal Server remains a separate server-based product. It builds on the Windows SharePoint Services technology and continues to be the enterprise solution for connecting internal and external sources of information. SharePoint Portal Server allows for searching across sites, and enables the integration of business applications into the portal.
The current version of SharePoint integrates more closely with Microsoft Office 2003, making it easier for users to personalize their experience. For example, users can create meeting and document workspaces directly from Office 2003 products. New and enhanced features also enable personalization and customization through the Web browser. Users no longer need administrator privileges to create a site, or to be a FrontPage or programming expert to personalize the site. Figure 36.1 shows some of the customization features that can be accessed from the browser.
Collaboration is also enabled directly from Office 2003 applications. A SharePoint workspace can be accessed directly from Word and Excel 2003 using a special Shared Workspaces task pane. The task pane displays the members of the workspace, the status of the document, and tasks that have been entered into the workspace. This enables users to take advantage of SharePoint’s collaboration features without leaving the comfort of their Office products.
New and enhanced deployment options have enabled organizations of any size to use SharePoint technologies, and to support a flexible user base.
Note
Windows Server 2003 R2 introduced an updated version of Windows SharePoint Services. This version, corresponding to WSS Service Pack 2, adds 64-bit server support, SQL 2005 database support, patches and fixes, and enhanced extranet functionality to Windows SharePoint Services. It is recommended to evaluate using this latest version because it provides for the most powerful WSS functionality in Windows Server 2003.
Windows SharePoint Services is one of those applications that is greatly misunderstood. Much of the confusion over the previous branding of the product has contributed to this, but a fundamental shift in thinking is required to effectively utilize the platform. An understanding of what WSS is and how it can be fully utilized is an important step toward realizing the efficiency the system can bring.
WSS expands beyond its origins as a Web team site application into a full-fledged documentation platform with the new functionalities introduced. These capabilities, previously only available with the full-functioned SharePoint Portal Server product, allow WSS to store and manage documents efficiently in a transaction-oriented Microsoft SQL Server 2000 environment. What this means to organizations is that the traditional file server is less important, and effectively replaced, for document storage. Items such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and the like are stored in the WSS database.
Along with these document management capabilities comes the realization by users that their standard operating practice of storing multiple versions of files on a file server is no longer feasible or efficient. Using WSS effectively subsequently requires a shift in thinking from traditional approaches.
Windows SharePoint Services, and previously SharePoint Team Services, has demonstrated how Web-based team sites can be effectively used to encourage collaboration among members of a team or an organization. Content relevant to a group of people or a project can be efficiently directed to the individuals who need to see it most, negating the need to have them hunt and peck across a network to find what they need.
Once deployed, the efficiency and collaboration realized is actually quite amazing. A good analogy to SharePoint can be found with email. Before using email, it’s hard to understand how valuable it can be. After you’ve used it, however, it’s hard to imagine not having it. The same holds true for SharePoint functionality. Organizations that have deployed WSS or the full-functioned SharePoint Portal Server product have a hard time imagining working without it.
If the default functionality in WSS is not enough, or does not satisfy the specific Web requirements of an organization, WSS can easily be customized. Easily customizable or downloadable Web Parts can be instantly “snapped-in” to a WSS site, without the need to understand HTML code. More advanced developers can use ASP.NET or other programming tools to produce custom code to work with WSS. Further enhancement of WSS sites can be accomplished using FrontPage 2003, which allows for a great deal of customization with relative ease. In general, if it can be programmed to work with Web Services, it can interface with WSS.
Installation of Windows SharePoint Services is a fairly straightforward activity that does not require any advanced configuration. Simply download the WSS installation package from Microsoft, perform any prerequisite activities, and install the application. More complex installations, such as those involving a full version of SQL Server, are not considerably more difficult. Before installation can begin, a suitable server environment must be chosen and the requirements for installing WSS must be outlined.
Any design of WSS should take into account the various hardware and software requirements in advance. The following is a list of Microsoft’s minimum recommendations for a Windows SharePoint Systems server. It is important to note that this list indicates only the bare minimum necessary for support. In most cases, servers deployed for WSS will be more robust than the minimal requirements dictate.
Intel Pentium III-compatible processor or greater
512MB of RAM or greater
550MB of available hard disk drive space or greater
Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise (R2 version recommended for the latest versions of WSS)
Internet Information Services (IIS) installed, with ASP.NET, SMTP, and WWW service
SQL Server (Standard/Enterprise) or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE or WMSDE)
Clients access WSS through a Web browser. Microsoft supports several different Web browsers for use with Windows SharePoint Services:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x with Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
Netscape Navigator 6.2 or later
After these requirements have been satisfied, WSS can be installed on a Windows Server 2003 system.
After Windows Server 2003 has been installed and all prerequisites have been satisfied, the IIS components necessary for WSS to operate can be installed. The following steps detail how to install these items:
Log in to the server as an account with local administrator privileges.
Go to Start, Control Panel.
Double-click on Add or Remove Programs.
Click on Add/Remove Windows Components.
Select Application Server and then click the Details button.
Check ASP.NET in the list of components.
Select Internet Information Services (IIS) and click the Details button.
If needed, select the optional SMTP Service component as illustrated in Figure 36.2, click OK twice, and then click Next to continue.
Insert the Windows Server 2003 CD if prompted and then click OK.
Click Finish when the wizard completes.
At this point, the IIS installation process should be complete. To verify successful installation, the Configure Your Server log can indicate whether IIS installed successfully. If there were problems, the log will contain error information. If error conditions exist, they must be remedied or WSS might not function properly.
To further verify successful installation of IIS, open the IIS Services Manager (Start, Administration Tools, Internet Information Services [IIS] Manager). The IIS configuration should match Figure 36.3 on a new Windows Server 2003 installation. In this figure, the Web Service Extensions are displayed.
After the Windows Server 2003 software is installed and has been configured as an Application Server, the latest service packs and updates should be installed and verified. Because security vulnerabilities can severely cripple or disable a server, it’s very important to keep the servers up to date with the latest patches. Only after the Windows Server 2003 updates and patches have been installed should Windows SharePoint Services be installed. This ensures that the server is up to snuff from a security standpoint and has the latest technology fixes installed.
The Windows Update tool is a good place to start in the process of updating and patching the new Windows Server 2003 system. Some organizations will have other ways of making the updates available, as they might have been already downloaded and can be installed or pushed from a Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server or an SMS (Systems Management Services) Server.
If SUS, SMS, or another software distribution system is not in place, the Windows Update Web site and tools make the Server OS updating process very easy. This process is essentially automated, and accessible by clicking on the Windows Update icon that appears in the Start menu, under All Programs. Selecting this option will connect to one of the Microsoft Windows Updates, or it can be typed into the browser (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com).
Note
Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration is enabled by default on new Windows Server 2003 installations. This will require the addition of new sites to the Trusted Sites Zone. When IE is opened and a URL is entered, an Internet Explorer message window will appear with additional information on this subject. The site being accessed can be added to the Trusted Sites Zone by clicking the Add button in this window, clicking the Add button in the next window, and then clicking the Close button. Although this is time consuming, it helps secure the server. IE Enhanced Security Configuration can be turned off by performing the following steps: Click Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs, Add or Remove Windows Components, select Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration, select Details, and uncheck For Administrator Groups, and/or for all other groups. Click OK, click Next, and when the process completes, click Finish.
Once at this site, choose the Scan for Updates option, which starts a quick scan of the local server and then updates the left pane with recommendations for the suggested critical updates, Service Packs, and Windows Server 2003 family and driver updates.
Caution
Although applying updates to a Windows Server 2003 system is a more reliable process than with previous versions of the server OS and less likely to result in problems with server functionality, they should be tested in a lab environment first and approved for use on the network before being implemented on a production Windows Server 2003 system.
After the patches and updates are installed, the windowsupdate.microsoft.com page provides a View Installation History option in the Windows Update pane, which lists the patches and fixes downloaded from the site. This list will not be 100% accurate if changes have been made to the items installed (for example, if one or more patches or updates have since been uninstalled), but provides a good record of what has been downloaded and the status of the installation. If one or more items failed to install, they may need to be reinstalled.
In addition, the updates can be viewed by accessing Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. Additional information on each item can be accessed by clicking once on the item, which brings up the option to remove the item from the server, as well as a hyperlink to support.microsoft.com and a Knowledge Base article with more technical information about a specific update.
The actual installation of WSS is a very straightforward process. There is one major decision that must be decided before the setup begins: whether to use the free Windows MS SQL Desktop Engine (WMSDE) version of SQL Server 2000, or to install to an already deployed instance of SQL Server 2000 Standard/Enterprise. The initial process detailed here indicates installation with the free WMSDE database, which can be used in small WSS implementations of less than 10 sites.
Prior to Windows Server 2003 R2, the WSS installation file needed to be downloaded from Microsoft. With R2, it can simply be installed by using Add/Remove Programs under the Control Panel applet. If R2 is not required, the installation software for WSS can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/sharepoint/wss.mspx and installed via the procedure outlined below.
Once downloaded, the installation process can be started by following these steps:
Double-click on the STSV2.exe file to extract the installation files, and then allow them to be copied to the C drive.
Check the box to accept the license agreement and click Next.
Select Typical Installation as illustrated in Figure 36.4 and click Next to continue.
Note
If the WSS Server to be set up will be part of a server farm, or a group of many WSS servers working with the same content, you can install WSS without a local SQL database and use the farm’s SQL database instead. This method can be useful if load-balancing this server with multiple WSS servers.
Click the Install button after verifying that Setup will install WSS.
At this point, the Setup Wizard will copy files and install WSS to the local server. After installation, Setup will open an Internet Explorer window and inform you that IIS will need to be restarted.
Click Start, Run, type
cmd.exe, and press Enter to open a command-prompt window.Type
iisresetto restart IIS, as illustrated in Figure 36.5.
Setup will then run and install Windows SharePoint Services. After it’s installed, it is important to update WSS with the latest service pack, particularly because SP2 for WSS includes updates that allows WSS to utilize SQL 2005 for the back-end data store. After installation and updating, Internet Explorer can be opened from the server and pointed to the local machine (http://localhost). Because Windows SharePoint Services will be installed on the default Web server, a new Windows SharePoint Services Web site should appear, as illustrated in Figure 36.6.
Note
If Windows SharePoint Services needs to utilize an existing full SQL Server 2000 instance (or simply one already installed on the server itself), the setup for WSS will need to be run in a slightly different manner. Extract the files to a location on the hard disk by running the STSV2.exe executable and canceling Setup. You can then set up WSS from the command prompt with the following syntax at the command prompt (assuming the files have been extracted to the C: drive):
C:program filessts2setup_1033setupsts.exe remotesql=yes
Run Setup as normal, except for choosing Server Farm from the options listed in Figure 36.4.
After WSS is installed, the system can be used to create Web sites, manage documents, and provide other capabilities. Understanding and testing the features available in WSS is an important prerequisite step toward effectively using Windows SharePoint Services, and a walkthrough of those features should subsequently be performed.
The next sections will walk through the features that are readily available to an employee using Microsoft Word 2003 when Windows SharePoint Services is installed on the network. Note that Shared Workspaces can be created from other Office 2003 applications, including Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio.
When a document is opened or created in Word 2003, the Tools menu provides the option of a Shared Workspace, and when selected, the Shared Workspace interface appears on the right side of the screen. The user is prompted to name the workspace—the default is the document name—and choose a SharePoint site where the workspace will reside. The user can then add members to the site by entering either a domain and username, an email address, or both to define who will be included in the workspace. The level of participation for those members can also be set on the site with varying levels of authority, such as Reader, Contributor, Web Designer, or Administrator.
Six tabs in the Shared Workspace area provide information and tools to the user who created the site, as well as other users who open the file:
Status—. Provides errors or restrictions regarding the file.
Members—. Provides a list of the different members of the workspace, and whether they are online.
Tasks—. Allows the user to view tasks assigned to members of the site or create new ones.
Documents—. Displays any other documents or folders available in the workspace, and allows the addition of other documents or folders to the workspace.
Links—. Displays any URL links on the site and allows the addition of new URL links to the workspace.
Document Information—. Displays basic information about the file such as who created or edited it, and allows viewing of the revision history.
These features give the user a “dashboard” providing valuable information about the document, and helps other users collaborate on the document.
Tip
Online presence can be enabled on a virtual server basis when Office 2003, Live Communications Server 2003, and the latest version Windows Messenger software is installed. Person Name Smart Tags become active when the mouse pointer is hovering over a site member’s name. Additional tools are made available when the down arrow is clicked, such as a notification as to whether the person is online or available for instant messaging. Other options include Schedule a Meeting, Send Mail, or Edit User Information.
With this basic functionality, a Word user can create in minutes a customized work environment that includes other employees and can include other key documents. This ease of use will go a long way in speeding adoption of Windows SharePoint Services.
By clicking on the Open Site in Browser link, the individual will see the workspace open up in their browser (see Figure 36.7) and this opens up a whole new range of features that display the power of Windows SharePoint Services.
Note
Note that if network users simply double-click on the file to open it from a network folder, or open it from within a Word session, they will be informed that the document is part of a workspace and asked whether they want to update the document they are opening based on the information available from the workspace. This feature ensures that anyone who uses the document becomes aware that it is connected to a workspace and can access this site if they like.
The default workspace appears in a browser window that shows the location of the file in the Address area of the browser and, below that, a customized SharePoint menu bar. The default components of the site that appear in the Quick Launch bar are as follows:
Documents
Pictures
Lists
Discussions
Surveys
The rest of the page provides space for the Web Parts, which by default are as follows:
Announcements
Shared documents
Tasks
Members
Links
The administrator of the workspace, along with a member of the site in the capacity of contributor or Web designer can easily modify the contents of the workspace by selecting Modify Shared Page, found in the upper-right corner of the page, and then selecting the Design This Page option. For more adventurous or experienced users, new Web Parts can be selected and added to the workspace.
Through this process, a Web page can quickly be created that contains the document that the end user wants to share with other co-workers, as well as be expanded to include other resources for collaboration purposes. This creates a browser-based working environment, and that provides a wealth of additional tools and capabilities for document management and collaborative efforts. For example, the creator of this new site can choose which users or groups to grant access to, and limit their capabilities to add, change, or delete items stored within the site. She can then assign tasks to these users related to the goals of the site, and these tasks will show up in the Shared Workspace pane when the document is opened in Word 2003.
Document libraries may well be the feature most often used, as it is the location where documents and folders can be stored and managed, and document libraries offer a number of features not available in a standard server file share.
The team members who are working on the original document (“Windows 2000 Server Upgrade SOW r5” in this case) can upload related documents to this library for reference purposes. This eliminates the step of printing out copies of supporting documentation for an in-person meeting, or emailing the actual files or hyperlinks via email.
A number of actions can be performed on the document from the Shared Documents page, as shown in Figure 36.8.
Tip
Libraries include an Explorer View by default that enables you to work with files in the library similar to the way in which you work with files in Microsoft Windows Explorer. In Explorer view, files and folders can be deleted, renamed, copied, and pasted from the desktop. Multiple files and folders can be selected to be deleted, moved, or copied, as well. This capability allows users to use tools and processes they are already familiar with to manage their documents in Windows SharePoint Services libraries. To use Explorer view, a Windows SharePoint Services–compatible client program such as Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later must be installed.
View Properties—. Show the document filename and title assigned to the document (if any), who created the document and when, as well as who modified the document and when.
Edit Properties—. The name of the file that SharePoint is storing and the title of the document can be changed here.
Edit in Microsoft Word—. If the user has editing rights in the Shared Document library, the document can be opened and edited in Microsoft Word. Note that if the document is a Microsoft Office document, the appropriate application will be listed, such as Excel or PowerPoint.
Delete—. If the user has deletion rights in the Shared Document library, the file can be deleted.
Check Out—. When a document is checked out, it is reserved for the individual who has checked it out, and only that person can modify the document. So even if that person doesn’t have the document open, no one else can edit it. An administrator of the site can force a document check-in.
Version History—. Allows the user to see any other versions of the document, which can be opened or viewed, and to see any comments that were added by other site users to those versions. Old versions can also be deleted if the user has the right to do so.
Alert Me—. The user can choose to have an alert emailed if changes are made to the file.
Note
Alerts are an extremely powerful feature in Windows SharePoint Services. A user can set an alert on an individual item stored in a SharePoint list, such as a document, so that if the document is changed, users receive an email letting them know of the change. Alternatively, an alert can be set for the whole document library, so if any items are changed, added, or deleted, users receive an email. The emails can be sent immediately, or in a daily or weekly summary. This is the primary way the Windows SharePoint Services pushes information to the users of its sites, enhancing the flow of information.
Discuss—. When selected, this option opens the document in Word or another supported Microsoft Office application and allows the creation of notes that are attached to the document to facilitate collaboration. These conversations are stored outside the document and help time-stamp and record the thoughts of different participants without modifying the contents of the document itself.
Create Document Workspace—. This is the same process that was used to create the initial workspace, and would be redundant in the case of this example, because it would create a workspace within a workspace. But for other documents posted in a library, this enables a user to create a workspace dedicated to one specific document.
Other capabilities in the Shared Documents page include creating a new document, uploading other documents to the site, creating a new folder, filtering the documents, or editing the list in a datasheet.
A picture library can include a wide variety of file types, including JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIF, WMF, and EMF. Examples would be photos of members of the team, or screenshots of documents from software applications that might not be available to all users. For instance, a screen capture from an accounting application could be saved to the library in BMP format so that any of the users of the site could see the information.
Similarly, a Visio diagram or Project Gantt chart could be saved to one of these formats, or as an HTML file and then saved to a picture library and thereby made accessible to users of the site who might not have these software products installed on their workstations. By providing a graphical image rather than the native file format, the amount of storage space required can be reduced in many cases, and there is no easy way for users to change the content of the documents.
Maps of how to find a client’s office or digital photos of white boards can also be included. Some editing features are available using the Microsoft Picture Library tool (if Office 2003 is installed), which include brightness and contrast adjustment, color adjustment, cropping, rotation and flipping, red-eye removal, and resizing.
Pictures can be emailed directly from the library, or a discussion can be started about a photo as with other documents in libraries. Pictures can be sorted using the filter tool by file type, viewed in a slideshow format, checked out for editing, the version history can be reviewed, or alerts can be set.
Although this type of library may not be useful in every collaborative workspace, it provides a set of tools that are well suited to newsletter creation, complex document publication, or less formal uses, such as company events.
Lists are used in many ways by WSS, and a number of the Web Parts provided in the default workspace site are in fact lists. The following lists can be created:
Links—. These lists can contain either internal or external URL links, or links to networked drives.
Announcements—. These lists typically contain news that would be of interest to the employees accessing the site, and can be set to expire at predefined times.
Contacts—. Contacts can be created from scratch using the provided template, or can be imported from Outlook. This type of list can help clarify who is involved with a particular project or site, what their role is, how to contact them, and can contain custom fields.
Events—. Events can be created in the site complete with start and stop times, descriptions, location information, and its rate of recurrence. The option to create a workspace for the event is provided when it is created. Events can be displayed in list format or in a calendar-style view. Events can be exported to Outlook, and a new folder will be added to the calendar containing the events. Note that this calendar will be read-only in Outlook.
Tasks—. Each task can be assigned to a member of the site and can have start/due dates and priority levels set, and the percentage complete can be tracked. These tasks do not link to Outlook, however, so they’re specific to the SharePoint site.
Issues—. Slightly different from tasks, issues include category references, and each receives its own ID number. Individuals assigned to an issue can automatically be sent email notification when an issue is assigned to them, and will receive emails if their assigned issue changes.
Custom List—. If one of the template lists doesn’t offer the right combination of elements, one can be created from scratch. This allows the individual creating the list to choose how many columns make up the list, determine what kind of data each column will contain, such as text, choices (a menu to choose from), numbers, currency, date/time, lookup (information already on the site), yes/no, hyperlink or picture, or calculations based on other columns. With this combination of contents available and the capability to link to other data contained in the site from other lists, a database of information that pertains to the site can be created that can get quite complex. For example, a custom list could include events from the Events list, tracking the cost of each event and which task corresponds to the event.
Data imported from a spreadsheet—. Rather than creating a list from scratch, data can be imported from a spreadsheet (ideally Excel). The data can then be used actively within the site without the file needing to be opened in Excel. It can then be exported for use in other applications.
With any list, there are additional options available to users of the site. Figure 36.9 shows a simple task list open in Datasheet view (Office 2003 is required for this feature), as well as the additional options available when the Task Pane option is selected.
After the list is displayed in Datasheet view, new rows can be added by either selecting this option in the tool bar, or by clicking in the row that starts with the asterisk. Totals of all columns can be displayed by clicking the Totals option. By selecting the Task Pane option, the tools shown in Figure 36.9 in the Office Links area become available, including exporting or linking to Excel, printing, charting, creating a pivot table in Excel, or exporting, creating a linked table of reporting with Access.
The next option in the Quick Launch bar is for discussions, which are a key component for online collaboration. Although email is well suited to conversations involving a handful of people, it becomes unwieldy when there are too many participants, as multiple threads of conversations can easily get started and the original point of the discussion can get lost. With a bulletin board or threaded discussion, the high-level topics can be viewed at the same time, readers can choose the topics of interest, and can see any responses to the initial item. With email, individuals have no control over which emails they receive, while a discussion Web Part in SharePoint allows the user to decide what items to read and which ones to respond to.
Members with the appropriate rights can also manage the discussions to remove topics or responses that are not appropriate to the discussion, or remove threads when they have been completed. This level of control facilitates effective communication and encourages participation by the various team members.
Figure 36.10 shows a sample of a discussion concerning a proposal that is about to be sent out. The paperclip icon on the top-level posting indicates that the actual document is attached for review. Two other users of the site have posted their responses.
Discussions can also take place on any Office document posted to a SharePoint site. The data is stored in the SharePoint database, not in the document itself. This encourages team members to share their input and thoughts about a document in a controlled environment that is directly associated with the document.
Depending upon which site group participants are members of, they may only be able to view threaded discussions, or they may be able to participate, edit, and even delete portions of the conversation.
The alerts feature is very useful with discussions, as users can choose when and if they want to be alerted about changes to a specific discussion thread. This eliminates the need for participants to check a number of different discussions on a regular basis, as they can receive an email informing them if changes have been made.
An entry for surveys also appears in the Quick Launch area in the Document Workspace. With Windows SharePoint Services, it’s easy to quickly create a survey to request input from site users on any number of topics. They can be configured to request input on any topic imaginable, such as the functionality of the site, the information contained in it, or any business-related topics. As well as collecting the information from the surveys, the results can be viewed individually, displayed graphically, or exported to a spreadsheet for further analysis.
Surveys can be configured to be anonymous, so no information is saved or provided about the individual who responds to the survey, or the information can be displayed. Additionally, both multiple responses and single responses are possible. Other options include allowing survey users to see other responses or only their own, or allowing them to edit their own and others’ responses (or none at all). Common sense would dictate that users should not be able to edit a survey once it’s submitted, but in some situations it may make sense to allow a person to go back and change input at a later date.
The previous version of Windows SharePoint Services brought confusion to end users. The user interface was inconsistent, and it was difficult to maneuver between pages. For example, some pages had a Back button, some had menu items on the page that you could click and go back to, and some had nothing to get you “back,” and you had to use the browser’s Back feature or type in the URL to get back to where you wanted to go. In addition, there were some functions that had to be performed outside of WSS, some could only be done from within, and some could be done either way.
Windows SharePoint Services has a better user interface, and also has tighter integration with Microsoft Office 2003. A user working on a document in Word 2003 can decide that collaboration is necessary and create a shared workspace, invite users to participate, and set up some milestone tasks without ever leaving Office 2003.
Windows SharePoint Services provides the end user with a much better set of features for customizing and personalizing sites. Users can create their own personal sites containing their own documents, their own links, and other content that is meaningful to them, as opposed to having to live with a “generic” Web site with “generic” content that may not be applicable to their position in the organization.
Some of the new and improved features available for enhancing the end user experience are discussed in the following sections.
Previously, the full SharePoint Portal Server had to be used if any kind of document management was required, such as controlling document revisions through check-in/check-out, and version control. Realizing that these features are desirable for any type of document collaboration environment, Microsoft moved many of the document management features into the base Windows SharePoint Services environment. Now included in Windows SharePoint Services are features such as the following:
Document check-in/check-out to ensure that revisions are not overwritten by another user
Maintaining versions of documents for tracking changes
Ability to require approval when checking a document back in for quality control
In addition to these changes, Windows SharePoint Services provides the user with the flexibility to create a structured document storage environment, as opposed to the relatively flat view of the document space in older versions. Windows SharePoint Services is also more tightly integrated with Microsoft Office 2003, providing enhanced features available directly from the Office interface. Features in these areas include the capability to
Create folders within a document library, and view all documents in a library, including those in subfolders.
Create a Windows SharePoint Services document workspace directly from Word 2003, providing a means for easily setting up collaboration sites.
Easily save and retrieve SharePoint documents from Office 2003 applications. Working with SharePoint 2001 and Microsoft Office provided a challenge for IT and for the individuals who tried to use Office as the jumping-off point for collaboration. Improvements in Microsoft Office 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services make saving documents to a workspace as easy as saving them to a file share.
Access document libraries in the same manner as file shares through HTTP DAV Web Folder support, preventing users from having to learn a whole new set of commands.
View Office documents through the browser without having Office installed on the client computer. This enables the remote and mobile user to view documents stored in SharePoint when on the road from a client’s computer, when sitting at an airport kiosk, or when having a cup of coffee at an Internet café.
When organizations have meetings, there is generally an agenda for the meeting, some type of document or documents associated with the meeting, and often follow-up tasks. Although email can be used to send out agendas and documents prior to the meeting, and to send out follow-up tasks and meeting notes, a better solution would be to have all of the information associated with the meeting available in one place. Meeting workspaces, new in Windows SharePoint Services, provide this capability—a place for managing all of the documentation and tasks associated with a meeting. Meeting workspaces can be created from the site or from the “schedule meeting” function in Outlook 2003. When a meeting is scheduled using Outlook 2003, an option is available for creating a Windows SharePoint Services meeting workspace to store the meeting agenda, a list of attendees, documents relevant to the meeting, and any action items that result from the meeting.
There are several meeting templates available when creating the meeting workspace. In addition to a “standard” single meeting workspace, the other types of meeting workspaces include the following:
Decision meetings
Social meetings
Multiple meetings
Figure 36.11 shows the different templates that can be chosen when creating a new site.
A special site called My Site is available to WSS users to customize. This site has a view that only the creator can see (the personal view) and one available to the other users (the public view). The personal view can be used for storing personal documents, tasks, and links, and the public view can be used to push information to other users. Content can be pushed to My Site based on the owner’s audience.
User profile information can be updated from My Site, and a list of documents created by the user or owner of the site can be viewed. (This list can also be displayed under the title Documents By This User in the user’s profile.) The My Links Web Part can be used to add links to items that are either inside or outside the site. Search queries can also be added. The My News Web Part enables the user to view targeted news content on the Home Page. There are also Web Parts for adding Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 Inbox, Task, and Calendar views to My Site.
A key design goal for Windows SharePoint Services was to have it more tightly integrated with Microsoft Office. Although Windows SharePoint Services technologies support earlier versions of Office, improvements and enhancements in Microsoft Office 2003 provide a more efficient way for users to access shared document workspaces and team sites. This ease of use for accessing information encourages users to share, collaborate, and communicate together on projects, initiatives, or ideas. For example, instead of simply opening up a document in Microsoft Office 2000 and working on the document, a user opening the same document off a SharePoint server with Microsoft Office 2003 is presented with not only the document, but also a new task pane that lists the members of the team site where the document is stored (in Instant Messenger format), the status of the document, as well as any tasks and links associated with the document. Figure 36.12 is an example of what the new Microsoft Office 2003 Shared Workspace task pane looks like.
Specifically, Microsoft Office 2003 integration means that
The entire setup of the document workspace can be done from the Word 2003 interface. Using the Shared Workspace task pane, the document workspace can be created, users granted access, links pertaining to the document added, and tasks created.
The document workspace is accessible through the task pane whenever the document is opened in Word 2003. The status of the members is displayed (such as whether they are online); messages can be sent to the members, links browsed to, and tasks viewed and updated.
When a meeting is created using Outlook 2003, a SharePoint meeting workspace can also be created for storing content related to the meeting.
SharePoint Contacts can be viewed directly from Outlook 2003.
Note
Even though SharePoint Contacts can be viewed in Outlook 2003, they are not truly “integrated” into Outlook—there is no automatic synchronization between SharePoint and Outlook 2003. The SharePoint contacts are treated as a separate contact list and are read-only when accessed from Outlook 2003.
Metadata and file properties are copied from Office documents to SharePoint libraries—therefore file information doesn’t have to be re-entered into SharePoint if it has already been entered in Office.
SharePoint documents can be attached to mail messages as shared attachments. When the user receives the message, there is a link to the workspace where the shared attachment can be accessed.
WSS sites can be searched from the Office 2003 Research and Reference tool pane.
Documents stored in SharePoint picture libraries can be edited with a new Office 2003 picture editing tool.
In addition to having a personal site, Windows SharePoint Services includes many ways in which users can personalize a SharePoint environment. Some forms of personalization can originate from Office 2003, and some features are accessed directly through WSS. The following list includes various ways in which users can personalize the SharePoint experience:
Users can create private sites and private views with their own personalized look and feel, in a way that makes sense for the way they work. Changes to team sites are stored with the user’s profile and will be applied each time the user visits the site.
News can be targeted to users based on their audience affiliation. Considering the amount of information available, this is an efficiency feature that streamlines the content based on user interest.
Users can be given the capability to create sites without involving IT personnel. A typical scenario in today’s world, where the organization does not have a portal application such as WSS, might go something like this:
A user decides that a Web site would be helpful for collaborating on a project. The user presents the justification of the Web site to and obtains the approval of the department manager. The department manager submits a request to the IT department to have the site created. The IT manager reviews the request and places it low on the priority list because it will take time to develop the site, and the users can collaborate in the current environment using email and shared network drives. By the time IT gets to the project, the users have already completed the work and no longer need the collaboration site.
If users can create shared sites and workspaces on their own, and don’t have to wade through the red tape of getting IT personnel to create them, they will be more likely to use them and realize the benefits they can provide.
Each list in Windows SharePoint Services is a Web Part; therefore, they can be easily customized from the browser. Lists have been enhanced in many ways, including support for additional field types such as rich text, multivalue fields, and calculated fields. Field values can also be calculated. Field types can be changed after the list has been created, thus providing a means for accommodating data that is not particularly stable.
Windows SharePoint Services also has many new options for viewing lists. Filtered list views can also be created based on a calculation. For example, all events within the next week can be viewed by setting up a filter based on the date being greater than the current date plus seven. Another new view is the Event Calendar view, which enables displaying any list that has a date and time field in it using the daily, weekly, or monthly calendar view. Aggregated views enable totaling data into a number field and displaying the value. Totals can be based on the entire view or a subset of it. Group-by views enable grouping by one column, and then sorting within each group.
A picture library is a new kind of list. Graphics and photos can be stored in a picture library and optionally viewed as a filmstrip or as thumbnails in views automatically generated by SharePoint.
For Microsoft Office 2003 users, lists can be edited in Datasheet view. This option presents the data in spreadsheet style, and provides spreadsheet types of editing features, such as copy and paste, adding rows, and fill options. Using the Datasheet view can be faster then the traditional SharePoint list editing style for some types of data entry and editing.
Windows SharePoint Services includes new security features for lists. Permissions can be applied to the list so that only specific people can change it. Also included is the capability for the list owner to approve or reject items that are submitted to the list.
Other new list features include the following:
Users can create their own personal lists that are not visible to other users.
Alert notifications for lists include the name of the user that made the change to the list and which item in the list was changed.
The capability to add and remove attachments from a list item.
The capability to set up recurring events on an event list.
Alerts in Windows SharePoint Services are what used to be called notifications in previous versions. Alerts have been improved to identify whether the alert was sent because content was changed or added, and now include the tracking of additional items. Prior versions of SharePoint tracked search queries and documents. In addition to these items, Windows SharePoint Services alerts track
Microsoft Outlook 2003 can be used to view Windows SharePoint Services alerts, and it includes rules to sort and filter them into special folders.
There are many other new and enhanced features that improve the end user experience. These include the following:
A Site Directory that lists all WSS sites.
The capability for users to create a SharePoint site from the Sites Directory page, to indicate whether they want the site added to the directory, and whether they want the site content to be indexed. This provides a level of security for protecting sensitive information, such as human resources data.
Support for multiple file uploads. Older versions required files to be uploaded individually. Windows SharePoint Services supports multiple file uploads (such as an entire directory or folder). This is a great timesaver for organizations that are migrating large numbers of documents to SharePoint.
The capability to select from one of several site templates when creating a new site. Organizations can also create their own site templates (such as with the organization logo and color theme) for providing a level of consistency among different types of sites within the site.
The capability to create surveys and have the results automatically calculated and made available.
Additional improvements in the survey process. The survey feature now supports responding to a question using a scale, and the capability for users to select all answers that may apply to a survey question.
Everywhere a member name appears in a Windows SharePoint Services site, a user presence menu is available. The presence menu is integrated with Active Directory, Exchange, and Windows Messenger for providing information such as office location and free/busy status. It can be used for scheduling meetings and sending email.
Team discussions that can be expanded and collapsed.
If a user tries to access a resource that they don’t have permission to access, Windows SharePoint Services can automatically generate a request to the owner to be given permission to access the resource. Figure 36.13 shows an example of an automatic request to the owner for permission access.
Windows SharePoint Services has many out-of-the-box new features that make it easier to customize using the browser interface. This provides nonprogrammers with a mechanism to create and customize sites to meet their needs.
For developers, the following provides an overview of the SharePoint technical structure. Windows SharePoint Services is built on the .NET platform. Use of the .NET platform enables SharePoint to assimilate information from multiple systems into an integrated solution. ASP.NET contains many new features, and it is more responsible, secure, and scalable than ASP. Using ASP.NET reduces the amount of code that needs to be written over similar ASP solutions.
SharePoint’s SQL back end provides access to internal database components using industry-standard tools. From an application standpoint, integration with BizTalk provides access to over 300 application connectors using Web Services calls.
In Windows SharePoint Services, sites and lists can be saved as templates, stored in a Site or List Template library, and then made available to all sites in the collection. There is also a library for Web Parts that can be shared across all sites in the collection.
Features such as these provide an environment for developing fully customized WSS solutions. Additional customization and development features are highlighted in the following sections.
Through the browser, you can add a logo to the team site, apply a theme, modify a list, or create a new Web Part page. In SharePoint Team Services, there was a template that contained three “zones” for placing Web Parts, producing a three-column view. In Windows SharePoint Services, there are additional zone layouts to choose from, making customization much more user friendly. The new Web Part Tool Pane is a feature that enables users to easily customize sites.
It provides the ability to
Drag/drop Web Parts onto a page
Customize Web Parts
Change the home page site logo
The site administrator can control what goes into the Web Part libraries and who has access to the libraries for adding Web Parts to a site. Figure 36.14 illustrates the Web Part Tool Pane with its various Web Part libraries and capability to display the contents of the library.
Windows SharePoint Services includes multiple templates that can be used when you create a new site. Each template includes a set of features from Windows SharePoint Services to satisfy a specific collaboration need. Templates are included for
Document collaboration
Team collaboration
Basic meetings
Decision meetings
Social meetings
Multiple meetings
If these don’t satisfy the organization’s requirements, customized templates can easily be put together using the browser-based customization features, using FrontPage or some other Web design tool, or using programming. For example, if an organization always put its company logo on the home page and used specific Web parts that were unique to their organization, it could save the site as a template and then just duplicate the template when necessary to maintain consistency and security.
With SharePoint Team Services, it was difficult to modify SharePoint sites. FrontPage 2003 is more tightly integrated with Windows SharePoint Services and fully supports Web Parts, Web Part pages, and Web Part zones. This means that Web Parts can be added and customized using FrontPage 2003 to provide the look, feel, and content to meet organizational requirements.
Web Parts can be previewed in FrontPage before being published to the SharePoint site, thus providing an “audit” to ensure that the changes have the desired effect. The FrontPage client can be used to back up and restore Windows SharePoint Services sites, providing a much needed feature that was lacking in older versions of the product.
Other features provided in FrontPage 2003 include the ability to
Deploy a site throughout the organization using solution packages. This provides a means for implementing changes and modifications to organizations that have multiple sites and servers.
Search Web Part libraries directly from FrontPage 2003. This enables FrontPage 2003 to be a complete editing source for Web pages, as opposed to a two-step process in which the Web Parts would be added using the WSS interface, and then further modifications made in FrontPage.
Create list templates and create, edit, and delete SharePoint list views. For experienced FrontPage users, the SharePoint interface may be cumbersome for performing functions such as these. Therefore, FrontPage can be more efficient for these users when creating templates and managing list views.
Connect Web Parts across pages or on the same page to create a new user interface. Because FrontPage is a Web development tool, it has more capabilities and is more flexible than SharePoint; thus, features such as these are available for more complete customization.
Use a new XSL data view Web Part that can bring data from external sources into SharePoint sites. This is a great new integration feature that shows Microsoft’s commitment toward a truly integrated Office solution.
Windows SharePoint Services is an excellent way to extend the capabilities of the already-capable Windows Server 2003 operating system. Installation of WSS allows a server to become an enterprise-level document management and collaboration system. Enhanced capabilities within WSS and strong integration with Microsoft Office 2003 allow organizations to realize improvements in productivity and quality quickly. In addition, the scalability of WSS and its reliability on the robust Microsoft SQL 2000 database provide strong incentive to deploy and utilize WSS technology.
Consider using a full version of SQL Server 2000/2005 for any WSS implementation with greater than 10 sites.
Use document versioning sparingly in WSS document libraries to ensure that the SQL database does not grow too large.
Keep a WSS SharePoint Server up to date with all Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server patches and updates to reduce the risk of attacks or malfunctions.
Deploy WSS Server(s) to replace file servers for document storage to take advantage of the newly integrated document management features WSS offers.
Keep the number of virtual servers created per WSS Server to 10 or fewer to avoid performance degradation.
Use FrontPage 2003 to provide advanced administration, site maintenance, and backup and restore capabilities.
Update WSS with Service Pack 2 to take advantage of the SQL 2005 support, updated patches, and advanced extranet support.
Use the full SharePoint Portal Server 2003 application when you need to add enterprise-level management and organization tools to WSS sites, or to consolidate information from various systems into a centralized portal.