After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Understand the concepts and terminologies that are unique to SharePoint 2007.
- Plan a project to design and implement a portal and collaboration sites using the core features of SharePoint 2007.
- Identify and analyze the major requirements that will drive the design of the SharePoint 2007 implementation.
- Develop an overall design for the portal and sites, including portal hierarchy and navigation, information architecture, user groups and permissions, and document management policies.
- Identify and understand how to best make use of the core features of SharePoint 2007.
- At a high-level, determine if the core features of SharePoint 2007 meet their needs, or if further investigation and study of MOSS 2007 enhancements is necessary.
There are no prerequisites for this course. In fact, the course assumes that the students have no prior experience with SharePoint 2007. If you are preparing to begin a design and implementation project at your company, you will find that this course is an excellent first step.
Knowledge of the previous versions, SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services v2, is not necessary. (However, we understand that many students attending this course will have significant experience with the previous product. In this regard, we have designed the course to be appropriate and challenging for both categories of students.)
(Note: This Course Outline is subject to minor changes and refinements based on student feedback and instructor experience.)
Module 1: Introduction to SharePoint 2007
This module introduces Windows SharePoint Services v3 and MOSS 2007. Key topics discussed include:
- History and purpose of WSS and MOSS
- Overview of WSS v3 and MOSS 2007 features and functionality
- Relationship between WSS v3 and MOSS 2007
- Requirements for WSS v3 and MOSS 2007
- Licensing and pricing information on WSS v3 and MOSS 2007 that Microsoft has published
Module 2: Requirements definition, planning and design
SharePoint 2007 is a very powerful and comprehensive product, and when combined with Office 2007, the two form an unparalleled system of productivity tools for information workers. To get the most benefit out of the system, it is necessary to thoughtfully consider a number of key planning issues before deploying the products. This module reviews the key planning issues that need to be addressed such as:
- Navigation and taxonomy
- Access control and security
- Site directory
- Site columns
- Content types
- Lists and Views
- Search
- Branding
- Extranet Usage
- Development, testing, and production environments
- Governance
- Microsoft Office versions in use
- Decision points for determining the need for MOSS 2007 enhancements
Module 3: Creating an enterprise portal with the out-of-the-box portal template
In this module, students will create a new web application, and then an initial site collection, using the out-of-the-box portal template. An overview of all of the out-of-the box templates will be given by the instructor, along with an explanation of the purpose for each.
Module 4: Creating user roles and establishing security
The security model in SharePoint 2007 is based around the concepts of "role definitions" and "role assignments". This is a departure from the Site Group-based security model in SharePoint 2003. While some of the concepts are the same, there are some significant differences and this module will present a thorough discussion of the role-based security model in SharePoint 2007 plus plenty of hands-on experience in the lab.
Module 5: Creating the portal structure and navigation
There are many changes and improvements to portal and site organization and navigation in SharePoint 2007. In this module the students will work on creating a logical and well-organized portal structure and will explore the customization opportunities for the navigation controls. Specific new SharePoint 2007 features that will be covered in this module include:
- Automatic breadcrumb navigation bar
- Customizable tree-view left navigation bar
- Security-trimmed menu options
Module 6: Creating content for the portal
For most organizations, it is necessary to store and present a wide variety of content in the portal. Content types can include documents, images, links, static HTML, lists, discussion boards, etc. In this module, students will flesh out their new portal by adding content to pages, document libraries, lists, etc. Specific content-related features of SharePoint 2007 that will be explored include:
- Content Types
- Site Columns
- Document Information Panel and metadata
- Summary Links web part
- Content by Query web part
- Documents and Sites Roll-up web parts
- Audience targeting
Module 7: Configuring search for the portal
The search engine in SharePoint 2007 is very powerful and highly configurable. Furthermore, the user experience is common between WSS v3 and MOSS 2007 - unlike the user experience with WSS v2 and SPS 2003. This module will cover the key features that are provided and discuss which features come with WSS v3 vs. MOSS 2007. Some of the features that will be covered include:
- The new Search Center interface
- New features in the Search Results presentation such as "hit highlighting", generation of "do you mean" synonyms, and others
- Addition of new content relevance algorithms
- Scope changes to WSS v3 search to include entire site collections
Module 8: Creating effective team collaboration sites
In this extensive module, the student will create multiple team collaboration sites, and work with the rich set of features and functionality provided in SharePoint 2007. Some of the specific features that will be covered include:
- List functionality enhancements such as new column types, list indexing, RSS feeds, support for folders, etc.
- Document management functionality such as check-in/check-out, major and minor versioning and item-level security
- Workflow using the new Workflow Designer in SharePoint Designer 2007
- Integration with the Office 2007 client programs
- Offline document library support in Outlook 2007
- Survey enhancements
- Alert enhancements
- Calendar enhancements
- New Project Tasks list for lightweight project management
- Recycle Bin
- Mobile device access to list data
- E-mail enabled lists, document libraries, discussion boards, calendars and announcements
Module 9: Creating and utilizing meeting sites
Having dedicated WSS sites for important meetings is something that can help participants be more effective both before and after the meeting. WSS v2 provides several different meeting site templates and they have been retained and enhanced in WSS v3. In addition to working with the new templates, the student will also work with the significant enhancements to Outlook 2007 to further integrate it with SharePoint meeting sites. Some of the specific enhancements to Outlook 2007 that will be covered include:
- Creation of meeting sites from Outlook 2007
- Read/write access in Outlook 2007 to SharePoint calendars, tasks, contacts, discussions and documents
- Offline support of document libraries and list
- Roll-up views of calendars and tasks across multiple lists and sites
- Unified view of personal and SharePoint tasks in Outlook 2007
Module 10: Creating a blog site using the Blog Site Template
Blogs (web logs), are frequently used by individuals or teams to publish expert information to a wide readership. SharePoint 2007 includes a Blog site template that can be used for this purpose. In this module students will create a Blog site and explore the features such as:
- Article posting
- Reader comments
Module 11: Creating a Wiki site using the Wiki Site Template
Wikis are websites that are used for a number of different purposes such as knowledge management, creative forums, brainstorming areas, etc. Common characteristics of Wikis include quick and easy creation and modification of pages, annotation and tracking of contributions and changes.
SharePoint 2007 has a new site template to create Wikis and in this module students will create a Wiki with that template and explore the available features such as:
- Fast and easy page creation
- Easy and automatic linking
- Version differences
- WYSIWYG page editing
Module 12: High-level survey of enhancements offered by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007
This module will provide a quick survey of selected advanced features that MOSS 2007 adds to a SharePoint environment. The purpose of the module is to make students aware of the feature availability, and suggest appropriate follow-on in-depth education for those students who plan to implement MOSS 2007 in addition to WSS v3.
