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. Expanding Document Management CapabilitiesPreviously, 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:
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
Introducing Meeting WorkspacesWhen 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 capabilitya 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:
Figure 36.11 shows the different templates that can be chosen when creating a new site. Figure 36.11. Templates for new SharePoint sites.Taking Advantage of Personal SitesA 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. Integrating with Microsoft Office 2003A 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. Figure 36.12. Shared Workspace task pane showing the Word 2003 Shared Workspace.Specifically, Microsoft Office 2003 integration means that
Note Even though SharePoint Contacts can be viewed in Outlook 2003, they are not truly "integrated" into Outlookthere 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.
Personalizing Windows SharePoint ServicesIn 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:
Taking Advantage of ListsEach 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:
Improving on SharePoint AlertsAlerts 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. Exploring Additional New/Enhanced End User FeaturesThere are many other new and enhanced features that improve the end user experience. These include the following:
Figure 36.13. SharePoint-generated request for permission to access a resource. |