You must understand basic Windows networking and web concepts such as TCP/IP, Active Directory, DNS and IIS.
You must have three or more months working full-time with SharePoint 2003 (either WSS or SPS, or both).
(Note: This Course Outline is subject to minor changes and refinements based on student feedback and instructor experience.)
There are two parts to the course:
Part 1 – Upgrading: Modules 2 – 6
Part 2 – New Features: Modules 7 - 15
Part 1 - Upgrading:
Module 1: Introducing Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services version 3
This module presents a quick introduction to the two new products. As with previous versions, customers will have the option of deploying Windows SharePoint Services v3 as part of their Windows Server 2003 deployments, or, for an additional price, deploying the full Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) premium product. This module will explain the differences between the two products and will lay a foundation for the process of determining which is most suitable.
Module 2: Overview of Upgrade Requirements, Process and Options
First, this module will cover the hardware and software requirements for MOSS 2007 and WSS v3. The pros and cons of using SQL Server 2000 vs. SQL Server 2005 will be discussed along with new Microsoft technologies such as Windows Workflow Foundation that are now required for SharePoint.
Second, the module will review the overall functionality of the automated upgrade process and discuss the pros and cons of the three primary upgrade options:
- In-place upgrade
- Gradual upgrade of site collections
- Content database migration
Module 3: Review of typical SPS 2003 and WSS v2 customizations that can impact the upgrade process
The upgrade that you will work through in class uses a Virtual PC (VPC) image that contains a highly-customized deployment of SPS 2003 and WSS v2. The goal of starting with this image is to simulate a relatively complex real-world deployment of SPS 2003 and WSS v2.
Some of the customizations and complexities that are represented in the system to be upgraded include:
- Highly-customized styles, graphics and branding for SPS 2003 and WSS v2.
- Sites based on custom site templates that were customized using FrontPage 2003 (unghosted pages)
- Sites based on a custom site definition
- Document libraries with hundreds of documents and nesting of subfolders
- Custom web-parts deployed
- Third-party add-ons deployed
- Web part connections in use
- Data view web part connected to a line of business database
- Office Web Components in use to display interactive charts and graphs
- Custom search scopes, content sources and Best Bets
- Customized client-side JavaScript (OWS.JS)
- Portal Areas and Listings in use
- Audiences configured
- My Sites created and populated
- Site Directory populated with top-level WSS sites
- Custom security applied to portal, sites, subsites and document libraries
In short, the SPS 2003 and WSS v2 sample that each student will upgrade during the course has been designed to expose as many issues as possible that are not resolved automatically by the upgrade program provided by Microsoft.
Module 4: Performing the upgrade using the gradual option
In this module each student will connect to an instance of Virtual Server 2005 on the classroom network and use that instance to upgrade the VPC image in an isolated environment. The gradual upgrade option will be used in the lab.
Module 5: Analyzing the results of the upgrade and determining issues that must be resolved
The instructor will lead an analysis and discussion of the results of the automated upgrade and point out specific problems\issues with the upgraded system.
Module 6: Strategies and techniques for resolving upgrade issues
The instructor will present strategies and techniques for resolving the issues that occur due to features and content that do not upgrade successfully or completely.
Part 2 - New Features:
Module 7: Tour of major new features in SharePoint 2007
This module will provide an overview presentation and demos of the most important new features that have been added to SharePoint 2007. The presentation will cover:
- User Interface (UI) and navigation enhancements
- Document management enhancements
- The new Workflow engine
- Office 2007 Integration
- New Web Parts
- New Site-type templates
- Enhancements to List technology
- Web Content Management
- Business Data Catalog
- Search enhancements
- Report Center
- Records Management
- Business Intelligence and Excel Server
- Forms Server and InfoPath
- The “Features” feature
- Alternate authentication providers and Forms-based authentication
Module 8: Digging Deeper - UI Enhancements and Navigation
In SPS 2003 and WSS v2, there are many inconsistencies in the user interface. Frequently, users complain that they get “lost” while attempting to navigate from portal to sites and from sites to sites. Also, it is common for users to see menu items to which they apparently have access, but then receive an authentication challenge when they click on them.
Much work has gone into the new version to improve the user interface. In this module, you will get hands-on experience with improvements such as:
- Security-trimmed menu options
- Automatic breadcrumb-bar
- Customizable tree-view left navigation bar
- New web part selection interface
Module 9: Digging Deeper - Document Management and Office 2007 Integration
One of the major selling points for SharePoint 2003 has been the document management capabilities of document libraries and Office 2003. For many companies this has been a vast improvement over server-based file shares. However, SharePoint 2003 has also been criticized for having too many “rough edges” in its document management functionality.
SharePoint 2007 overcomes many of the previous version’s shortcomings related to document management. Some of the important new document management enhancements that you will explore in this module are:
- Item-level security
- Content types
- Major and Minor versioning
- Required Check-in, Check-out
- Capturing metadata with the new Office Document Information Panel
- Navigation to document libraries from within the Office programs
- Offline document support using Outlook 2007
Module 10: Digging Deeper – Workflow
SPS 2003 and WSS do not include a true workflow engine. SharePoint 2007, on the other hand, incorporates all of the richness of the Windows Workflow Foundation. Furthermore, the new SharePoint Designer client application (the successor to FrontPage 2003) includes a built-in Workflow Designer. In this module, the student will gain hands-on experience with the new workflow engine and the capabilities of the Workflow Designer.
Module 11: Digging Deeper - New Web Parts
Many new and improved web parts are included in SharePoint 2007. In this module, you will gain hands-on experience with several, including:
- Sites roll-up web part
- Documents roll-up web part
- Colleagues and memberships web part
- Content Query web part
- Enhanced calendar view web part
Module 12: Digging Deeper - Search
In SPS 2003 and WSS v2, in many instances the Search experience is confusing due to the fact that the two products use different indexing and search engines and different user interfaces.
In MOSS 2007 and WSS v3, both products use a common indexing and search engine and share a common user interface for search functions. This module will give you hands-on experience with the common indexing and search engine and point out the differences in features depending on which product is deployed.
Module 13: Server Farm Topology and Administration Enhancements
The administration interface for SharePoint 2007 has been completely re-designed based on feedback from customers. The time-consuming, less-than-intuitive hierarchy of administration web pages has been replaced with a more streamlined approach that is designed to make it easier for administrators to find the configuration options they are looking for.
Also, the configuration of the topology for the MOSS server farm has changed significantly with the new concept of the Shared Services Provider (SSP). First, all MOSS server farms are now required to implement at least one Shared Services Provider. Second, the Shared Services Provider no longer requires that a certain portal/site parent-child relationship be implemented along with the shared services.
You will explore these changes and improvements in SharePoint server farm administration through instructor presentation and demonstrations.