Beginning SharePoint 2007: Building Team Solutions with MOSS 2007

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 has improved and changed dramatically over previous versions of the product. The capabilities of the platform have expanded greatly with the inclusion of an automated workflow engine, web content management capabilities, and a vast number of document management enhancements. However, the value of this tool to an enterprise will depend primarily on the ability of individuals in the organization to understand the features and capabilities of the platform and effectively map those to specific business requirements. This book is designed to mentor and coach business and technical leaders in an organization on the use of SharePoint to address critical information management problems. It gives detailed descriptions and illustrations of the product's functionality and also includes realistic usage scenarios to provide contextual relevance and a personalized learning experience to the reader.

The mission of this book is to provide extensive knowledge to information workers and site managers that will empower them to become SharePoint Application champions in the organization. This book should be the premiere handbook of any active or aspiring SharePoint expert.

To complete the exercises in this book, you should have a basic comfort level using Microsoft Office application to create content and a general understanding of how to interact with a web site through the browser. This book is intended as a starting point for any SharePoint 2007 user whether that user has never used SharePoint before or has some familiarity with a previous version and just wants to understand the differences with the new release.

Chapter 1: Getting Started with SharePoint Server: The first chapter of the book is targeted at users who have either never used SharePoint before or are already familiar with SharePoint Portal Server 2003 or Windows SharePoint Service v2 and are looking to gain an understanding of what has changed in SharePoint 2007. This chapter lays out the foundation for important terminology and concepts explored in the following chapters of the book.

Chapter 2: Working with SharePoint Lists: This chapter introduces one of the core mechanisms for sharing and organizing content in a SharePoint site. You will review what lists are, how they are used, and then explore the various templates that exist in SharePoint.

Chapter 3: Working with SharePoint Libraries: After reviewing some of the fundamental concepts relating to lists, the chapter introduces the other major storage mechanism in SharePoint known as libraries. This chapter discusses some of the various templates that exist for libraries as well as brand-new concepts in 2007, such as slide libraries and wiki page libraries.

Chapter 4: Managing and Customizing Lists and Libraries: SharePoint templates for lists and libraries provide a great starting point for collaboration and information sharing. This chapter introduces how you can extend these base templates to address an organization’s specific requirements for a collaborative site or information management tool.

Chapter 5: Working with Workflow: Workflow is a new feature available in SharePoint Server 2007. This chapter discusses the templates that SharePoint provides for workflow, as well as demonstrates how to create a custom workflow solution using the SharePoint Designer.

Chapter 6: Working with Content Types: Most organizations have information and documents, which often utilize consistent templates, processes and policies each time they are created. Therefore, SharePoint 2007 has introduced the concept of a Content Type to allow an organization to package templates and information to ensure that reusable components are rolled out in the organization to enforce consistency and ease of use. This chapter demonstrates what content types are and explores how they can be used through some hands-on examples.

Chapter 7: Working with Web Parts

Amanda Murphy is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server located in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. She has been working as a consultant and trainer with SharePoint since the release of the first version of the product in 2001. Amanda is a regular speaker and presenter at user group meetings, webcasts, and Microsoft Events on topics such as Microsoft SharePoint, InfoPath, and Project Server. She has maintained a SharePoint focused weblog at blog.funknstyle.com since 2003. In her spare time, Amanda is a member of the Board of Directors for INETA NorAm and manages the St. John’s .NET User Group.

Shane Perran is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Windows SharePoint Services living in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. He has been designing online user experiences for more than a decade. His strong passion for visual presentation, web standards, and usability has paved the way for a successful transition into the SharePoint Products and Technologies space where Shane has become well known in the SharePoint customization space over the past five years. Shane’s SharePoint Customization Blog, graphicalwonder.com, is a popular stop for customization experts across the glo