A First Look at SharePoint Team Services

SharePoint Team Services was first available to millions of users as a Microsoft FrontPage 2002 template that enabled users to create collaborative team Web sites for small workgroups. The technology offered a list-based service and an easy-to-use, customizable interface, giving informal teams a way to organize and share information on intranets and the Web at large. In Office 2003, SharePoint Team Services (now built on Microsoft Windows .NET Server technology) has been significantly enhanced and integrated with each of the core applications, adding new collaboration features and providing ways for you to keep current with your projects and groups.

Although SharePoint is a relatively new offering, it has a short learning curve: the site is simple to use and understand, and users can move easily among their Office applications to the SharePoint site and back again. In fact, depending on your specific task, you might use SharePoint Team Services without actually appearing to 'move to' the SharePoint Team Services site. Microsoft Office Word 2003 offers one example of this: when you click the Tools menu in Word and choose Shared Workspace, the Shared Workspace task pane opens along the right side of the Word window. (See Figure 3-1.)

Figure 3-1: Access to SharePoint Team Services is built into each of the core Office applications.

Information in the Shared Workspace task pane related to your current document is actually part of SharePoint Team Services, but you don't have to access the site to see it; it's brought to you. The Shared Workspace pane first gives you the option of creating a document workspace for your current document; later the workspace displays the names and online status of others collaborating on that document, any tasks that have been assigned for it, and links to related documents and resource information. This brings you the information you need and gives you access to instant communication and resources with a click of the mouse-without your ever leaving the current document.

SharePoint Team Services also gives users a central point of access and data sharing by creating a Web site accessible from within the various Office applications. You have many different entrance points-in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, you can create a Meeting Workspace, which takes you to the SharePoint Team Services site. (See Figure 3-2, on the next page.) In Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003, you can create and modify the STS sites for your group. In Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and Access 2003, you can import and export data from the various lists you organize and manage on your SharePoint site.

Figure 3-2: You can create a new meeting workspace in Outlook when you send out your regular meeting requests.

The SharePoint Team Services site is built on a list-based concept, enabling you to create lists of announcements, events, links, and more. (See Figure 3-3.) The sites are easy to customize and contribute to; team members can easily share thoughts, documents, pictures, calendars, and more. Instant-messaging capability lets users see at a glance who is online, so they can send a quick question if they choose; and the Web discussions feature enables members to review and share their thoughts without altering the files or sites being discussed.

Tip 

The 'pawn' indicator beside an author name shows that this person is currently online. You can display a context menu of communication choices by positioning the pointer over the indicator and clicking the down arrow that appears.

Figure 3-3: The SharePoint Team Services Web sites are list-based, offering users a variety of simple ways to add, modify, view, and organize information.

What Can You Do with SharePoint Team Services?

SharePoint Team Services in Office 2003 is built on Windows .NET Server and SQL Server, which among other things enables it to take advantage of the full standards-based XML support built into the infrastructure of Office 2003. This means that you can upload and download lists seamlessly to and from SharePoint Team Services sites, outputting them as XML data that can be used in many different ways. This is just one small part of what SharePoint Team Services offers in this release. The following list gives you a fuller picture of what you can do with SharePoint Team Services, whether you're an end user creating a simple group site or a developer extending the functionality of existing services:

• Work collaboratively-sharing documents, assigning tasks, and managing processes-with other members of a team or workgroup.

• Contribute to your team Web site from anywhere you have Web access.

• Communicate instantly with other team members who are currently online.

• Use lists to post, update, store, and download information from the team site.

• View information the way you want it using SharePoint's flexible views and filtering capabilities.

• View information from SharePoint in Outlook and access shared contacts and side-by-side calendars for easier scheduling.

• Create and work on shared documents in a live workspace as part of SharePoint Team Services.

• Store team documents in document libraries so that they can be shared, updated, approved, and distributed by assigned team members.

• Give individual team members site permissions according to their role on the team; prevent sensitive data from being displayed in searches conducted without necessary permissions.

• Use alerts to receive notification whenever updates occur on the SharePoint Team Services site.

• Customize your team site by modifying individual Web Parts.

• Create online surveys for team members.

• Hold Web discussions online in discussion threads that are stored independently (no need for tracking or checking documents in and out).

Who Uses SharePoint Team Services?

SharePoint Team Services gives employees in small to medium-size teams features that can help them work easily together on shared projects. The group could comprise employees from one department of a larger company, employees from various departments, or workers scattered across the country or the globe. SharePoint Team Services runs on Windows .NET Server 2003, but team members contributing to the site can add, upload, comment on, and work with documents and lists, and communicate with team members from any point of Web access.

Specifically, these groups (and many more) could use SharePoint Team Services:

• A workgroup organizing an annual meeting for an insurance company

• An HR team charged with evaluating, discussing, selecting, and administering a new benefits package

• A software development group testing and discussing its newest product

• A group of trainers organizing a shared conference from separate locations

• A publishing team collaborating on a fast-track book

• A recruiting firm creating a proposal for outplacement services on behalf of a major corporation

• An IT work team organizing system training materials for new hires

• A small accounting firm preparing a tax summary package for preferred clients

• A financial planning and analysis group that needs to stay in touch with ongoing training, new materials, industry news, and more

• A legal team collecting data; organizing resources; and writing, revising, and discussing a developing project

When users need a Web site they can create and contribute to immediately, SharePoint Team Services is ready with an out-of-the-box answer. The easy-to-use interface, integration with familiar Office applications, and simple list- management features make it easy for collaborating information workers to create, organize, and manage data and documents in a way that works best for them.