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SharePoint Easy Start

  • Read This First: This page is designed to provide an easy jumpstart for you to get started with SharePoint products and technologies. Click on the button below for the appropriate version of SharePoint you are working with and we’ll guide you on your SharePoint journey. Once you are comfortable with SharePoint technologies and want to focus on specific areas, look through the Video Categories page or use the search box for more videos on this site to continue your SharePoint eLearning journey.

    The video links below that appear in blue are videos that are available to be watched for free. The video links that appear in green and many more not listed on this page are available once you subscribe to the site. Best wishes!

     

    SharePoint 2007

    Introduction to SharePoint 2007

    SharePoint is a tool by Microsoft that facilitates web based collaboration. SharePoint 2007 is commonly referred to as Windows SharePoint Services v3 (WSS). This is the base product which you can download and install for “free” as long as you have a server licensing for Windows Server 2003 or above. A premium product known as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) is sold by Microsoft as a product that’s built on top of WSS and has a lot of bells and whistles built into it (ex: Enterprise Search, Web Content Management, Personal Sites and more). MOSS comes in two flavors: MOSS Standard and MOSS Enterprise. The Enterprise version has additional built-in functionality such as Excel Services, Business Data Catalog and Forms Services.

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    Installing and Configuring SharePoint 2007

    It takes careful planning and understanding your requirements before attempting to install SharePoint 2007. The first thing to do is to plan out the SharePoint architecture. Then once you understand the software and hardware requirements, proceed with installing SharePoint 2007. After SharePoint is installed, look around and explore the Central Administration web site that gets built. This website is what a SharePoint Server administrator will use to manage the SharePoint farm.

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    Creating SharePoint Sites and Configuring Security

    The primary container to hold content, security and settings in SharePoint is a SharePoint site. The most common site template that’s used to create a site is a Team Site template. You need to first create a SharePoint site using the Team Site template and then add users to secure the site as needed. Take the time to first also learn about the security features in SharePoint. In addition to being able to secure sites, you can also secure lists, libraries, pages, folders, items, and documents. Learn about how item level security works to take advantage of this functionality.

    The way you configure your site navigation links is dependent on if your SharePoint installation is either Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). You can also configure navigation to your SharePoint subsites by listing them in the site directory of SharePoint.

    Aside from the Team Site type of site, there are also other types of sites you can create. You would create a meeting site if you wanted to hold documents, agenda, tasks and more for a one time or recurring meeting. Meeting sites can be synchronized with Outlook meetings and SharePoint calendar events. Another type of site you can create is a Blog site. A blog site can be used to create a team or an individual blog. When you need to create a knowledgebase of some sort, look to create a Wiki site. A wiki site works much like Wikipedia in that it can be used to gather dynamically related set of information (or pages).

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    Working with SharePoint Lists, Libraries and Web Parts

    Within SharePoint sites, lists and libraries are used to hold structured content. There are many types of list templates (ex: Calendar, Announcements, Links, Tasks etc.) that are available for you to choose from to create your own instance of a list. If none of the list templates provide you what you are looking for then you can create a custom list – basically a list structure that’s created from scratch the way you want it. Once a list is created, you should add/modify columns on your list which will serve to hold metadata about items in your list.

    Similar to lists, libraries can be created to hold documents and other artifacts. A document library is the most popular type of library to facilitate your document management needs. You can configure your library with a variety of views as needed. Another type of library that’s used most often is a picture library to hold and show pictures as thumbnails and slideshows. Also, you can use a slide library to hold a PowerPoint document as a set of individual slides that can be individually edited by people and then compiled together as one slide deck when needed.

    To keep informed of the changes in your lists and libraries, you can setup notifications. The most common type that people use is the alert notification which will notify you by email if some data has been created, changed or deleted. Another way of receiving notifications is by subscribing to the RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed for a list or library. To receive these notifications, you must have an RSS reader. All of the following and more can serve as RSS readers: Outlook 2007, Internet Explorer, free products like RSS Bandit, Feed Demon and more.

    The content of many of your SharePoint lists and libraries can be synced up and made available in Outlook 2007 as well. The items in those lists and libraries then can be managed from directly within Outlook.

    To protect against data loss, a recycle bin is available for lists, libraries, items and documents. The recycle bin has a two tier structure so that when an item is deleted from an end user recycle bin, it ends up in the site collection administrator’s recycle bin and can still be recovered from there.

    Displaying data to end users is accomplished by deploying web parts on a page. There are two main types of web parts – those that show a view of a list or library on the site and the others that can show just about anything else. Adding web parts to a page is a fairly easy process. Adding text on the other hand requires that you deploy a special type of web part called Content Editor Web Part  (CEWP) and they display your text in there. You can also use the CEWP to embed a script on a page (javascript, vbscript, styles etc.). When you don’t need a web part to be displayed on a page anymore, you have the option of either closing or deleting a web part. Choose wisely here since deleting a web part deletes that instance of the web part and all of its settings as well.

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    SharePoint Designer 2007

    To truly realize your investment in SharePoint, it is recommended for all organizations to learn to utilize SharePoint Designer (SPD). SPD is a free product available for download from Microsoft. It allows to build and manipulate SharePoint components easily and quickly.

    In addition to customizing your site components, you can do a whole lot more with SPD. There are many things that are not possible to be done through the web browser, but can be done easily through SPD. For example, backing up and restoring your SharePoint sites, creating and managing web parts and web part zones on SharePoint pages, customizing list view form pages and more.

    One of the most powerful things in SharePoint Designer is a web part called Data View web part (DVWP). This web part can be used to access and report on SharePoint list or library data. Not only can you read that information, you can also write data back to the list or library as well using this web part. However, the true power of this web part comes into play when you use it to get access to external data like databases, web services, server side scripts and more. You can even connect to and write back data in your database using DVWP.

    Another facility in SharePoint Designer that makes it a very powerful application is the ability to create rules based workflows. These workflows are easy to create since they don’t require any coding, yet they are far more powerful than the workflows that you can create through the web browser. You can even attach a workflow to a data view web part and then use the data returned from the data view web part in the workflow. Another idea to consider is attaching a workflow to a form library. Form libraries hold data from an InfoPath form. So then you can take data that has filled out using an InfoPath form and use that data within your workflow as needed to automate business processes.

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    InfoPath 2007

    InfoPath is the recommended Microsoft application to be used for all your form authoring needs. It provides an easy Microsoft Word like interface to create your forms. You can even take your existing Word forms and convert them into InfoPath forms.

    InfoPath forms can be enhanced using data validation, formatting and lookups without the need for any coding. You can even retrieve data from SharePoint lists, libraries and databases into your InfoPath forms. The form can then be published and made available in SharePoint through the form library. You can also automate business processes by then attaching a SharePoint Designer workflow to the form library and utilizing the data in the form.

    Since it’s a form generation environment, InfoPath also provides a way to enable sections of the form to be digitally signed by the person filling out the form. A snapshot image of the form is then taken at that time to certify the exact status of the form when it was signed.

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    SharePoint 2010

    Introduction to SharePoint 2010

    SharePoint 2010 helps people work together and share information with each other. The interface to SharePoint  is simply the browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari are all supported). SharePoint sites are setup as containers where the collaboration takes place among people. Several site templates exist to choose from when creating your site. Getting started with a site is also easy since once the site is created, it guides you with the next steps you need to take to change its title, icon, navigation, color theme and more. The next step is to create site components such as lists and libraries that will help you store your site content. Serving up this content to users is done with SharePoint pages which can be customized to your end users’ needs.

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    Installing and Configuring SharePoint 2010

    Before getting started with working in SharePoint sites, you need to install the SharePoint Server first. Installing the SharePoint Server  requires a server running Windows Server 2008. Installation is a fairly straightforward process but it should be attempted with proper planning upfront keeping the hardware and other requirements in mind. Once SharePoint is installed, all of its components are configured and proper services are turned on at the server farm level. Then a web application is created. A web application in SharePoint’s case is simply an IIS website that has been extended to run SharePoint. Creating a web application also creates a content database to store all user generated SharePoint content and structures. Under a web application, several site collections can be created. A site collection is exactly what it sounds like – a collection of sites – with one top level site and several subsites.

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    Working with SharePoint Lists

    Lists in SharePoint work very much like a table in a database – columns are created to define each type of metadata that should be contained in the list and then records are added as rows in the list. Using the column (metadata) information, the list can filtered and sorted as needed. SharePoint ships with lots of built-in list templates that can be used to create a list such as Calendars, Tasks, Links, Contacts and more.

    In addition to the available list templates to start from, you can also create a list from scratch using the custom list template that’s provided. For example, if you want to store information about your customers, departments, resellers etc, you can go ahead and create a new custom list to host that information. If you already have some information available to you in a Microsoft Excel workbook and just need to import the spreadsheet as a new list, there is a way to import a spreadsheet to create a new list as well.

    Lists can grow fairly large with hundreds or thousands of rows of information. When SharePoint is retrieving the list data from the database, you might see a latency in displaying your records. SharePoint provides a way to throttle the performance of large lists to enhance the end user experience.

    The Calendar list has a special feature with which you can roll-up multiple SharePoint or Outlook calendars. The benefit of this is so that you can overlay multiple calendars on top of each other and see all events from multiple sites in one place.

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    Working with SharePoint Libraries

    Libraries in SharePoint are created to manage files. There are several library templates that are available to choose from to get started. The most widely used library template is the document library template. This library is generally used to store Microsoft Office documents such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc. Documents can be uploaded directly to the library or they can created from scratch using the document template associated with the library.

    There are many benefits of storing your documents in these libraries. First of all, the contents of the library are securely stored in the SharePoint database. In addition, you can manage these documents from the SharePoint’s front end using any browser. Features provided as part of all libraries are versioning of your documents, the ability to check in and check out a document, manage permissions at the library, folder or document level and more.

    Multiple document types can be characterized together as a document set. For example a loan application package is a document set. Once a document set is created, you can work on the whole package as one entity.

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    SharePoint Designer 2010

    To truly realize your investment in SharePoint, it is recommended for all organizations to utilize Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 (SPD) in at least some capacity. Just like the browser, SPD will let you build SharePoint site components like subsites, lists, libraries, pages, site columns and content types. The difference is that doing it through SPD is much faster, easier and has a lot more customizable options. For example, creating a list and modifying its schema can be performed in just a couple of steps. In addition, you have the option to define custom actions (such as starting a workflow or displaying a form) that can be executed on each list item. You can also configure SharePoint site security directly within SPD.

    In SPD, you first start out by creating your site and then your lists and libraries. Then to show those lists and libraries and other content, you create web part pages where the end users can come to consume that information. You can even create a page that’s completely locked down so no one can further edit it using the browser. Pages use either List View web parts or Data View web parts to show data. There are a Lot of powerful customizations you can make to the presentation of content using these web parts. Among other components on your pages, you can insert images and customize them easily by changing the brightness, contrast, rotation and all sorts of other aspects of the image.

    You will generally end up putting several web parts on a page. These might be general web parts or list view web parts (web parts that show contents of a list or library). These web parts can be connected together to pass information to each other. In fact, using SPD, you can even connect web parts from one page to another on the same site. Each of these web parts can be submitted to the web part gallery for the site collection. Once posted in the gallery, they are available to be used within any site of the site collection. Using the web part gallery, you can also display list data of one site on another site. This might be helpful to show centralized list/library data, hosted at a central site, on many subsites within the site collection.

    To automate your business processes, SharePoint provides a built in workflow platform. SPD can be used to utilize that platform and build powerful workflows on top of your SharePoint sites directly attached to a site, list, library or content type. The whole process requires no code whatsoever and works with declarative rules much like the rules that can be setup in Microsoft Outlook.

    SharePoint allows the possibility for you to show content from you backend line of business applications (like SAP, PeopleSoft, custom applications and databases) directly on SharePoint pages. To make this happen, you need to create External Content Types (ECTs) using SPD. This area of functionality within SharePoint is referred to as Business Connectivity Services (BCS).

    SharePoint is a great platform for creating internet or extranet sites as well. The site template that provides this functionality is a publishing site. The web content management features in SharePoint make it easy for site designers to create and customize master pages that provide the frame or chrome for the site. These master pages can be easily attached to a site to provide the required branding components. Switching master pages using SPD is also a simple task that will quickly change the look and feel of your site. Once the master pages are setup as needed, a site designer or an administrator can create page layouts for the publishing site. These layouts are then used by site contributors to create individual pages on the site where the actual content resides.

    SharePoint Designer 2010 comes with a lot of power. It is recommended that proper training should be provided to people who will use this product. In addition, SharePoint provides ways you can restrict and lock down certain functionality within SPD. A web application administrator can lock down aspects of SPD for a site collection administrator. Similarly, a site collection administrator can lock down features of SPD for the site administrators and designers.

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    SharePoint Designer 2010 – List View and Data View Web Parts

    When a list or library is displayed on a SharePoint page, it uses a variation of either list view or data view web parts. In total, there are four types of web parts – list view, list form, data view, data form. The ‘view’ web parts let you show read only information. The ‘form’ web parts let you create forms that let the user modify the underlying data.

    These web parts use XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) to display data and thus the official names of these web parts are XSLT List View and XSLT Data View web parts. Think of XSLT as a styling language for XML. SPD lets you fetch data from a variety of sources (lists, libraries, XML files, databases, RSS feeds, and server side scripts). All of this data is returned back to SPD in XML form. Then XSLT is used to transform this data into HTML that browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox can show to the user.

    You don’t need knowledge of XSLT to work with these web parts. Creating pages with list view and data view web parts does not require programming experience at all actually. Once you render your data using these web parts, you have the option to conditionally format that data. You can chance colors, background, font, hide or show content and more – all with a few customization steps. As mentioned earlier, you can also create form pages using form web parts that will let you modify the underlying data.

    The XSLT Data View web part lets you make connections to your databases and saves that connection information within the site. You can use this method to report on live dynamic data directly from your database onto your SharePoint pages. Similarly, web service connections can be made to fetch any data on your intranet or the internet. Web services is a standard that’s supported by all platforms so you can fetch data from non-Microsoft based systems such as Linux, Macintosh and databases such as Oracle and DB2.

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    SharePoint Designer 2010 – Workflows

    SharePoint 2010 provides a great built in workflow platform. Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 (SPD) can be used to create robust and powerful workflows on top of it without using any programming. There are three types of workflows you can create using SPD – List/Library, Reusable and Site.

    Creating a Workflow attached directly to a list or library is the simplest option of the three. Doing it this way, you tightly couple a workflow directly to a list or library so that the workflow can use information from the column information (metadata) easily within the workflow logic.

    The list workflows are great for many applications. However, they are not meant to be moved from one list/library to another. Thus they are not ‘reusable’. That’s where the second type of workflow comes into play. SPD allows you to create reusable workflows and attach them later to a list/library or even to a content type. The benefit of these types of workflows is that you can use the same workflow structure in multiple places. No need to recreate it for each instance.

    The third type of workflow does not even require to be attached to any specific component of a site. Instead, it’s a site workflow that can be executed directly from the site itself. The workflow logic in that workflow can access any component of the site.

    SharePoint workflows can also be modeled using Microsoft Visio Premium 2010. Visio ships with workflow shapes that can be used to design your workflow. This can be really beneficial for business analysts who understand the business logic, but don’t want to create their workflows in SPD. Once the workflow is created in Visio, it can be transferred to SPD where it can be enhanced and then published to a site. Another integration that Visio provides is being able to visualize a running workflow so you can see exactly which steps have been accomplished and what are the pending steps. This requires Visio services which ships with SharePoint Server Enterprise 2010.

    SPD workflows use forms for a variety of purposes. If a workflow is started manually, there is an initiation form that users can fill out. When a workflow uses an activity to assign a task or collect some data from a user, that interaction also takes place using a form. If you are running SharePoint Server Standard 2010 and have a license to Microsoft InfoPath 2010, you can use InfoPath to customize the workflow forms with all the power that InfoPath has to offer (data validation, conditional formatting, access to external data and more).

    SharePoint Server 2010 ships with a bunch of built in workflows such as Approval, Collect Feedback, Collect Signatures and more. These workflows are globally reusable within the whole site collection. Using SPD, you can modify these built in workflows to meet your organization’s needs. Or you can create a copy of one of these workflows and make modifications to that copy instead. You can publish your own workflows globally as well so that it is available throughout the site collection.

    The reusable workflows created using SPD can be exported as a SharePoint solution package (.wsp file). You can then deploy that workflow solution package in another site collection so you can utilize your workflow there. This is an extremely powerful functionality since this will let you publish workflows across site collection as well as SharePoint farm boundaries.

    Creating an entire application without code is now a reality. You can use SPD in coordination with Visio and InfoPath to create truly end to end applications.

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    InfoPath 2010

    Microsoft InfoPath 2010 is the preferred and recommended tool for all electronic form generation and management within Microsoft technologies. The beauty of InfoPath comes from being a fairly simple Microsoft Word like environment that power users can easily get used to quickly. At the same time, it is an extremely robust environment that lets you create powerful dynamic forms with form field controls, conditional logic, formatting, validation, data retrieval from external sources and more… all without the need for code!

    You can create the form templates from scratch or start by converting an existing Word document or an Excel workbook. Once the basic structure of the form is completed with the needed layout and the controls, you then start enhancing the form with rules for validation, formatting and action logic. These rules let you accomplish a variety of tasks. For example, you can mark a field mandatory, auto populate a field with some values, compare one field with another, use a function to automatically produce a calculated value and a whole lot more. You can also populate the form controls with data from external sources such as SharePoint lists and libraries, SQL databases, Web Services and more. Once again, all of this can be done without any coding!

    Once the form template is created, you need to share it with your users who can then fill it out and save the filled in form somewhere. The form can be saved directly in a file share or it can be filled and sent back through email. However, the preferred option is to save the form template in a form library within SharePoint. End users can then fill out the form and save it directly in that library.

    InfoPath 2010 is also capable of modifying SharePoint list forms. This requires having a SharePoint Server Enterprise license. The list forms for any list in SharePoint (ex: Tasks, Announcements, Calendar etc.) can be modified using all the power and flexibility of InfoPath 2010.

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