Chapter 18: Working Collaboratively

Overview

10-Second Summary

• Learn how Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services fosters collaboration on shared projects

• Assemble the system and database software required to install Windows SharePoint Services

• Add users and assign access levels, using HTML administration pages

• Back up and restore the collaboration database, in case of system failure

All groups of employees need a place where they can share ideas, send messages to one another, and exchange files so they can complete projects more efficiently . When I worked as a newspaper reporter, in the days before computers took over newsrooms, we used to assemble in a room, where we would put the paper together after the stories were written and typeset . Each of us took a set of pages to paste up, and we would take galley proofs of stories from a pegboard, where they had been hung after coming off the typesetter. That way, we could keep track of which stories had been used, and which remained. Along the way, we would ask questions and provide information to one another about the stories we had written.

A Windows SharePoint Services Web site provides the same sort of collaborative environment, but alleviates the need for co-workers to be physically present in the same place, or at the same time. The work gets done, but files are retrieved electronically . Team members can provide information to one another through their Web browsers, track jobs by following lists to which they all have access, and update lists as tasks are completed. This chapter introduces you to Windows SharePoint Services, and explains how to get up and running with this collaborative environment, which is closely integrated with Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003.