Exploring Basic Windows SharePoint Services Features


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.

Creating a Shared Workspace from Microsoft Word

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 workspacethe default is the document nameand 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.

Working Within the Windows SharePoint Services Site

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.

Figure 36.7. The Windows SharePoint Services workspace.


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.

Understanding Document Libraries

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.

Figure 36.8. Available actions at the Shared Document page.


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 Servicescompatible 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.

Using Picture Libraries

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.

Working with SharePoint Lists

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.

Figure 36.9. Datasheet view task options.


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.

Using SharePoint Discussions

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.

Figure 36.10. Sample discussion board.


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.

Understanding Surveys

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.




Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed(c) R2 Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed (R2 Edition)
ISBN: 0672328984
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 499

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