Enterprise Wikis overview (SharePoint Server 2010)

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

An Enterprise Wiki is a publishing site for sharing and updating large volumes of information across an enterprise. If an organization needs a large, centralized knowledge repository that is designed to both store and share information on an enterprise-wide scale, consider using an Enterprise Wiki.

This article compares Enterprise Wiki sites to Team Sites. This article does not provide information about how to plan or how to set up an Enterprise Wiki. For more information, see Enterprise wiki planning (SharePoint Server 2010) and Create an Enterprise wiki (SharePoint Server 2010).

In this article:

Comparison of Enterprise Wikis with Team Sites

Uses and benefits of Enterprise Wikis

Limitations of Enterprise Wikis

Example: Enterprise Wiki for new employees

Comparison of Enterprise Wikis with Team Sites

The Team Site template provides a flexible way to create content. This template includes a cross-browser Rich Text editor and in-line auto-completion. The Team Site template enables collaboration across teams within an organization or across organizations. Team Sites address two key concerns for anyone responsible for ensuring the integrity of an organization's content.

• **Editorial control   **Administrators of a Team Site, or anyone with Full Control permissions on a Team Site, can allow a subset of users to edit entries and allow all users to read the entries.

• **Version control   ** Users can view previous versions of an entry and see when and by whom changes were made. If the changes were incorrect or inappropriate, the entry could be rolled back to an earlier version.

In SharePoint Server 2010, the Team Site template home page is a wiki page. The Enterprise Wiki template uses the publishing features of SharePoint Server 2010 to add page ratings, managed metadata, and customization capabilities. Integration with Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 makes it easy to modify the display of content by changing page layouts and implement consistent branding by changing master pages. For more information, see Sites and site collections overview (SharePoint Server 2010).

The following table suggests several criteria to consider when choosing between a Team Site template and an Enterprise Wiki template. For more information, see Enterprise wiki planning (SharePoint Server 2010).

Uses and benefits of Enterprise Wikis

Enterprise wikis help organizations collect, organize, and distribute information. Enterprise wikis often become repositories for an organization's unstated knowledge, which otherwise might not be stored anywhere. Enterprise wikis can encourage informal learning and sharing tips with other users, which can reduce the need for formal training or continuous IT support.

Limitations of Enterprise Wikis

Because an Enterprise wiki can generate a high level of network traffic, you might find it necessary to configure a single site collection and a single, dedicated Microsoft SQL Server database. If the Microsoft SQL Server database is shared, users might experience slower performance. For more information, see Enterprise wiki planning (SharePoint Server 2010).

Enterprise Wiki pages cannot be converted or migrated to pages on a Team Site without using custom code. Because Enterprise Wikis are used with the publishing feature in SharePoint Server 2010, there are significant differences between an Enterprise Wiki site and a Team Site.

Example: Fabrikam Enterprise Wiki

Fabrikam Corporation maintains a company-wide Enterprise Wiki where employees can find and contribute the latest, most comprehensive information about corporate activities, benefits, and services. The Enterprise Wiki enables employees to use social tags and notes to help other employees find content. For example, an employee in the Human Resources organization posts a page about tax-law changes that may affect some employees who have minor dependents. The employee tags the page with several keywords, including "tax", "dependents", "minors", and "deductions". At tax time, an employee in the Sales organization searches on the keywords "dependents" and "deductions" and retrieves the page that was posted by the employee in the Human Resources organization.

See Also

Other Resources

Resource Center: What's New in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
Resource Center: Enterprise Collaboration in SharePoint Server 2010