Identifying the Need for Windows SharePoint Services

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.

Changing Methodology from File Servers to a WSS Document Management Platform

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.

Enabling Team Collaboration with WSS

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.

Customizing WSS to Suit Organizational Needs

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.