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SharePoint Consulting, Help, and Support Site
 

 SharePoint Introduction

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

This site is managed by the Exiis Corporation SharePoint team—a team of dedicated Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) administrators and developers who work with MOSS Products and Technologies on a daily basis. Our real-world experience and constant exposure to Microsoft MOSS environments keep us up-to-date with the most current technologies available in today’s market. 

Unlike many other providers, the team at Exiis Corporation is not outsourced to any entity—our team is completely in-house and available to answer all your MOSS questions. Unlike many other providers who advertise SharePoint and MOSS services, we do not “farm out” any of the work—we are a complete team of administrators and developers, available to assist you no matter what phase of development.

Our experience is deep and our dedication is second to none. Choosing a SharePoint solutions provider is more personal than any other decision you will make as a business owner. We understand your concern for privacy, and we treat your data with the upmost respect. When you are moving towards a SharePoint or MOSS environment, you need to be comfortable your information will not be handled by just anyone. At Exiis Corporation, your needs are assessed, your goals are aligned and integrated with the team, and you receive a dedicated engineer, a dedicated project manager, and a dedicated team lead to handle all your requests.

About Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a comprehensive content management server that allows business and organizations to catalog, file, and retrieve important information located within their enterprise, regardless of its location, and return this information to the end user. Built on Windows Server technology and powered by Microsoft SQL server, MOSS 2007 features a high security model that allows for the most granular control over permissions and access to stored information. The MOSS Search engine is fully customizable and features many modern benefits, such as “Best Bets” results, that return the information the user is most likely searching to retrieve.

In addition to its content management features, MOSS provides a stable, solid platform for streamlining processes and increasing collaboration among information knowledge workers. MOSS 2007 provides the ability to create internal portal sites that can be customized by department, allowing for each department to create their own look and feel. MOSS 2007 takes advantage of many other databases located on the network, which allows it to return information from the entire enterprise in a single reporting window, which increases business intelligence by providing accurate, up-to-date information about the business.

How SharePoint Integrates with Business Processes

Most businesses utilize one or more Microsoft solutions to run their business. Nearly everyone utilizes Microsoft Office and is familiar with its popular suite of software. Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services sits on top of the Microsoft suite of applications, providing a centralized location where information can be compiled, analyzed, and reported. By utilizing popular spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Excel, information and data can be manipulated and reported in a MOSS site. In addition to its collaborative platform, MOSS 2007 can also tightly integrate with other popular Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Project, Microsoft Customer Relations Manager, and Office Communications Server for real-time presence awareness.

Building on Windows SharePoint Services

Microsoft’s suite of SharePoint Services begins with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, which is a free offering from Microsoft and is available for download from the Microsoft site. Windows SharePoint Services (WSS 3.0) allow for smaller businesses and organizations to build on the basic foundation of SharePoint server technologies. Smaller Intranet sites businesses to manage their content, share ideas, create “wiki” sites, and perform very basic content management and workflow processes.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007)

MOSS 2007 builds on the core functions delivered through WSS 3.0 to add benefits to larger organizations that need more features, greater customization, greater scalability and integration with Enterprise level business systems such as the Microsoft Dynamics range of applications, SAP or indeed most other ERP or financial products.

There are a number of different editions of the MOSS suite with each one building on the functionality of the core product.  For example, Document Management and Versioning Control come as standard in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, the Records Repository is available in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) Standard Edition and the business intelligence and KPI functionality comes with MOSS 2007 Enterprise Edition.

 

Workflow Management in SharePoint 2007

MOSS Server 2007 allows for businesses and organizations to automate common workflow processes and streamline business practices. A common workflow example is shown below:

Manual Document Process

Automated Document Process

Individual fills out a purchase order (PO) form. Currently the PO is filled out online, printed, and hand delivered to a supervisor.

Individual fills out PO form on the SharePoint Form Server. Form is automatically routed to individual's supervisor at submission.

Supervisor approves, rejects, or requires more information on the PO. They sign the form for approval and hand delivers it to the accounts department to record the PO in the accounting software. Or they do not sign it and hand deliver it back to the originator telling them it is rejected or it needs further edits before approval.

Supervisor approves, rejects, or requires more information concerning the request. These actions can be based on the submit action field available on the form.

When the accounts department receives a PO for $10,000 or more, someone in the department must take the form to the CFO for approval. If the CFO approves it, the accounts department can sign off and record the PO in the accounting software. If the CFO does not approve the PO, the accounts department must reject the form and send an email to the originator concerning the rejection, or the accounts department must walk the form around to the Supervisor and/or originator of the form to fix the problem.

If the supervisor approves the form, and the 'total' field on the form is for $10,000 or more, the form is automatically routed to the CFO for approval. If the CFO approves the form, it is automatically routed to the accounts department to record the PO in the accounting software. If the supervisor, CFO, and/or accounts department require more information or need the form to be edited prior to approval, the form is automatically routed back to the originator for edits along with an email telling the originator to edit the existing form and why.

Creating workflows take time…we recommend using a commercial flow chart program, such as Microsoft Visio to create a comprehensive overview of the process you are attempting to create.

My Sites with SharePoint

My Sites are a personalized area within the SharePoint and MOSS server environment where users can store, manage, and create content and documents for sharing at a later time. My Sites are versatile because they allow the end user to personalize the way they work to fit their own individual needs while remaining productive and informed with add-ons such as web parts that display their Outlook information.

Document Management

SharePoint can manage document versioning, drafting, review, approval, and publication.  Notification emails can be sent to the next user in the approval workflow when a document is ready and the document can be reviewed in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, or through a HTML browser before signing the task off. 

Document Storage

As part of the Document Management functionality of SharePoint documents are stored in Document Libraries which can include documents such as Microsoft Word and Excel files, Adobe Acrobat, drawing files, graphic files, and media files.  Document Libraries have many traditional file storage processes but with additional functions such as allowing users to 'check out' and 'check in' documents to named individuals and the collection of metadata regarding the documents to aid filtering and searching.  SharePoint is not a replacement for a traditional file storage system but is best used where specific controls or processes are required with a selected subset of documents.

Team Collaboration

Whether the team is a project team in the same office or a group of people in different locations around the world SharePoint can deliver a framework for easy collaboration for team members.  It can provide a central area for collaborating on document development, information sharing, task lists, calendars and project plans. Advanced usage of Microsoft Office Project Server can be integrated to deliver a highly functional project team.

Business Process Workflow

SharePoint has a built-in workflow engine that allows a business to automate the flow of a process through a logic process of steps while collecting data or approvals on the way.  Approval for the next step in the process can be given by responding to an email, a task, or logging onto the SharePoint site through a web browser, in the office or remotely.  SharePoint comes with a number of standard workflow processes out of the box or they can be quickly constructed in Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 or Microsoft Visual Studio.  The ability of a business to track and manage the creation, approval, and publishing of information flexibly by the right people at the right time is much improved by the workflow capabilities of the SharePoint technologies.

SharePoint can be used to publish, control and submit electronic XML forms used in business processes.  These can be from quite simple forms for things like booking an annual holiday to quite complex business processes that collect data at various parts of a process and record that data in various separate systems.  The forms can be used with WSS 3.0 if the user has Microsoft Office InfoPath (R) on their PC or they can be published into the web browser for users with a Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 Enterprise license.  Alternately they can be utilized in WSS through a web browser using Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007 if the full MOSS 2007 product is not required.  Forms are created in Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 and published to MOSS 2007 or MOFS 2007.

Records Repositories

Part of the regulatory compliance requirements in a number of industries now require that companies maintain a repository of 'original' documents, where the content of the original document cannot be disputed.  SharePoint introduces a Records Repository function that allows the submittal of documents to an organized store that records the date of submittal and keeps an accurate representation of the original document.  Documents can also be submitted as part of the automated workflow associated with the authorization and publication of new documents.

Portal Solutions

A portal is a way of consolidating various types of information system onto a single screen, normally displayed in a number of small windows.  They are often personalized to the specific user such that someone working in the Sales Department would have a different set of portal elements (windows displaying information) in their portal view to someone in the Finance Department.  The Sales person might have a graph of Sales this month; a list of their current Sales Leads; a summary of the latest news from the company Intranet; and a summary of their Inbox.  The finance team member may have a window showing overdue invoices and collections statistics but also have the same intranet and inbox windows as the Sales person.  Portals are one of the key types of solution that can be implemented with MOSS 2007.

Contacting Exiis Corporation

Exiis Corporation provides complete consulting and emergency support services to organizations of all size. Our team is consists of .Net developers who can personalize and customize your environment to meet your individual requirements. Our admin team consist of enterprise-class administrators who plan, manage, and deploy MOSS and SharePoint solutions on a daily basis. For immediate consulting and support services, contact Exiis Corporation at 877-752-1122 or email support@exiis.net for additional information.
     

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