Checking Out Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Features

Ask ten different people to define SharePoint 2010 and you’re likely to receive ten different answers, because the Microsoft Office SharePoint 2010 product comprises many different technologies.

The following list can help pinpoint each SharePoint component, where you find it, and its purpose:

• SharePoint Foundation: SharePoint Foundation is a communication, collaboration, and content-management platform that comes free with the Windows Server operating system.

  
  



• SharePoint Server: SharePoint Server is a software product in its own right that expands the basic communication, collaboration, and content-management capabilities of SharePoint Foundation. SharePoint Server comes in four editions:

  
  
  
  

  • SharePoint Server for Intranet Standard Edition

    
    
  
  

  • SharePoint Server for Intranet Enterprise Edition

    
    
  
  

  • SharePoint Server for Internet Standard Edition

    
    
  
  

  • SharePoint Server for Internet Enterprise Edition

    
    
  
  
  
  



• InfoPath Forms Services: This SharePoint 2010 feature enables you to embed InfoPath forms in SharePoint Web sites.

  
  



• Excel Services: This feature enables you to embed Excel documents in a SharePoint Web site.

  
  



• SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Integration: SSRS Integration is an installation option that coordinates the operation of an SSRS server with a SharePoint environment. SSRS reports are contained and managed in SharePoint instead of being sent to a standalone report server.

  
  



• PerformancePoint Services: With this SharePoint 2010 feature, you can develop sites for dashboards and content, including the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and Scorecards used in business intelligence.

  
  



• Business Connectivity Services (BCS): A feature of SharePoint that you can use to connect SharePoint to (and integrate it with) your Line of Business (LOB) systems. Using this feature, you can view and edit the data from your business systems within the SharePoint site. Result: You can use the company portal to make use of the backend system.

  
  



• Sites: A SharePoint Site is nothing more than a Web site with the special capabilities that SharePoint provides, in particular Web-site management and easy integration into other SharePoint Web sites.

  
  



• Document Libraries: A Document Library is a mechanism for storing and managing content within SharePoint, using features such as check-in, check-out, versioning, security, and workflow.

  
  



• Lists: A SharePoint List is simply a list of data arranged in columns and rows, used as the basic way to store SharePoint content.

  
  



• Wikis: A wiki is a specialized Web site that allows community members to update the content of the Web site on the fly. Although wikis are not specific to SharePoint, SharePoint 2010 does offer Wiki functionality as a feature.

  
  



• Blog: A Web log or online journal. In SharePoint, a blog provides a forum for people to exchange communications that can be viewed across the entire organization or Internet. After a blog entry is posted, the content can be augmented with comments and discussions on the blog-entry page. You can get a SharePoint blog up and running in a manner of minutes.

  
  



• Discussion Boards: A familiar method of online discussion, which SharePoint makes usable throughout the organization. People can post questions and replies to be viewed throughout the organization.

  
  

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