Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Frequently Asked Questions

A. Windows SharePoint Services is a versatile technology included in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 that enables organizations and business units of all sizes to increase the efficiency of business processes and improve team productivity. With tools for collaboration that help people stay connected across organizational and geographic boundaries, Windows SharePoint Services gives people access to documents and information they need. With a familiar, Web-based interface and close integration with everyday tools including the Microsoft Office system of productivity programs, Windows SharePoint Services is easy to use and can be deployed rapidly. Users can create workspaces and then publish, store, share, and keep track of information, workflow, and documents.

Built on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services also gives organizations a cost-effective foundation platform for building Web-based business applications that can scale easily to meet the changing and growing needs of your business. Robust administrative controls for managing storage and Web infrastructure give IT departments a cost-effective way to implement and manage a high-performance collaboration environment.

A. Windows SharePoint Services is a technology that enables people to collaborate in browser-based workspaces while providing a manageable infrastructure and extensible application platform for improving the efficiency of business processes. A variety of audiences benefit from the enhanced collaboration and productivity provided by Windows SharePoint Services:

• Organizations, business units, and teams seeking increased productivity and access to the people, documents, and information they need.

• Organizations of any size that want to start tactical implementation of collaboration tools, standardize existing infrastructure, or invest in strategic use of collaboration systems that integrate well with existing line-of-business applications.

• IT departments seeking better control over and security of company data, while adding value and efficiency to lines of business.

• Developers creating rich and scalable Web-based applications.

A. Windows SharePoint Services offers you benefits in four primary areas:

Efficient collaboration: Help your employees and teams to stay connected and productive by providing access to the people, documents, and information they need.

Rapid deployment, ease of use: Deploy collaboration applications quickly that are easy to use through integration with familiar productivity tools such as the Microsoft Office system.

Manageable infrastructure: Manage the security of your organization’s information resources by deploying a scalable storage infrastructure with powerful administration services and controls.

Robust foundation platform for Web-based applications: Increase business process efficiency by creating Web applications and workflow scenarios on a cost-effective, extensible platform.

A. Key improvements to Windows SharePoint Services in Version 3.0 include:

Improvements to collaboration workspaces: SharePoint sites now offer e-mail and directory integration, alerts, RSS publishing, templates for building blogs (also known as weblogs) and wikis (Web sites that can be quickly edited by team members—no special technical knowledge required), event and task tracking, improved usability, enhanced site navigation, and more.

Enhancements to content storage: SharePoint lists and libraries now provide per-item security for better data control and integrity, a recycle bin, and enhanced flexibility for storing more types of content. Row and column capacity has also been increased, as has retrieval speed. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 can be easily integrated with smart client tools. In particular, close integration with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 provides offline access to events, contacts, discussions, tasks, and documents.

Easier provisioning of workspaces: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provides more sophisticated and flexible security, as well as greater control over security settings and permissions.

A more robust foundation for Web applications: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provides greater flexibility for customization and development of Web-based services and applications built on the Windows SharePoint Services platform.

A. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 offers many new and enhanced features that help business organizations of all sizes further improve individual and team productivity, and the efficiency of their business processes. These new and improved features help employees to implement and manage workspaces and team sites more easily without help from IT, simplify and improve the management and maintenance of documents stored on SharePoint sites, and provide more robust and easy-to-use collaboration tools that encourage information sharing within the organization. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 also provides IT departments with enhanced control of company resources and a more flexible and robust foundation for building new, Web-based applications and services that can connect to and capitalize on existing line-of-business applications.

A. Through a set of Web services and documented application interfaces, Windows SharePoint Services can be easily integrated with smart client tools. Users easily adopt these new tools because of their similarity to other familiar environments, such as the Microsoft Office system. For example, Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office PowerPoint, Microsoft Office InfoPath, Microsoft Office Project, and Microsoft Office OneNote can use information in SharePoint sites natively. Users can create workspaces, post and edit documents, and assign tasks, all while working on documents stored in SharePoint sites. With Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, users can view calendars and contact lists stored on SharePoint sites and can create and manage sites for editing documents and organizing meetings.

A. Windows SharePoint Services is a key component of Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies, which include:

Windows SharePoint Services, formerly named SharePoint Team Services, a versatile technology in Windows Server 2003. In addition to its collaborative features, Windows SharePoint Services also exposes platform services and a common framework for document storage and management, as well as search, workflow, rights management, administration, and deployment features. These services provide the foundation for building scalable business applications.

Office SharePoint Server 2007, an integrated suite of easy-to-use server applications that help people and teams improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Office SharePoint Server 2007 connects sites, people, and business processes—facilitating knowledge sharing by offering ready-to-go, enterprise-wide functionality for records management, search, workflows, portals, personalized sites, and more. Office SharePoint Server 2007 extends the capabilities of Windows SharePoint Services by providing highly flexible organization and management tools for SharePoint sites, and by making it possible for teams to publish information to the entire organization.

Office SharePoint Designer 2007, which provides tools for customizing Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Server 2007 sites, and for creating reporting tools and application templates without writing new code or deploying new code on your servers.

A. Windows SharePoint Services is a component of Windows Server 2003 and conforms to the Windows Server 2003 licensing model. Organizations simply need to own Windows Server 2003 licenses to have the rights to also use Windows SharePoint Services. Learn more about licensing Windows Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services on the SharePoint licensing page.

A. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is the latest version and is available for download.

A. Complete system requirements are available on the system requirements page.