Product Description
1. Wiki-like WYSIWYG Editor For Site Pages
Editing is not fun. In fact, it can be downright annoying. And this is especially true in a web browser. Not only do we have to continually fight with our editing tool to get it to do what we want, but many times it doesn't have the capabilities we need to make us more efficient. This is one huge improvement to the SharePoint platform that will aim to fix this problem. The editor is completely rendered in AJAX, and it is wiki-like in its execution. You can make changes on the fly like you're in Word, and you can quickly create/link to other pages and content by typing "[[new page]]" without the quotes. If the page doesn't exist, then you'll be able to create it on the fly when you click on the link. You don't have to stop your thought process to address technical barriers.
2. Seamless Video Integration
Being able to insert video into a SharePoint 2007 page is not as straightforward as you might think. Generally it's accomplished by copying/pasting embed code in the content editor web part, or by finding a 3rd party solution that fits your needs. Now you can plug a video right into a page. Silverlight controls are used to render the video in the browser. Another cool bonus here is that you can preview the video before inserting it. When browsing your media with the asset picker, you can play the entire video to make sure you're inserting the right one. Also with Silverlight Controls we can host custom Silverlight applications.
3. Access Services & Visio Services
Building on the successful Excel Services pattern, SPS 2010 allows users to publish Access and Visio applications to SharePoint which other users can access through their browsers. As can be expected, Access and Visio Services will be somewhat limited in functionality(when compared to their respective desktop versions), but on the flip side, the customers would benefit from the server-side capabilities such as scalability, one centralized version of the document (rendered in a browser friendly format), access to multiple users and security control.
Access Services will allow customers to publish their Access 2010 applications to SharePoint. For example, consider a departmental application such as a travel planner built using Access. Using Access Services it will be possible to bring such an application to SharePoint, thereby reducing the total cost of ownership through one common user experience, development and deployment strategy.
Similarly, Visio Services will allow customers to render Visio diagrams within the browser. An application of Visio Services would be a visualization of a SharePoint workflow that is rendered inside a browser as a Visio flowchart. Note that no client-side Visio software would be needed in this scenario.
4. Search: The Google for Your Organization's Private Information
It doesn't matter how large or small your organization is, when you need certain information or documents, you want it now. Rarely does that happen. Information is typically scattered around and often your internal search engines are not very effective at finding it.
In short, Google often makes your IT department look bad. That's why a strong search facility is critical to the success of a product like SharePoint - Google has raised our expectations and made search look easy.
SharePoint 2010 has two levels of search: the built in functionality which is greatly improved from SharePoint 2007 and FAST Search, offering additional functionality. Out of the box SharePoint search includes the ability to:
* Search for information and people, including particular expertise
* Index content and data stored outside of your SharePoint database
* Use your Windows 7 desktop search to find information within SharePoint
* Refine search results based on taxonomy and metadata (how content is organized and classified)
The addition of FAST Search brings enhancements, including:
* View thumbnails and previews of content within the result set
* Refine results based on user profile or audience
* The ability to refine search results with filters like Site, Author, Result Type and more
5. Business Intelligence
A key goal in any business is staying ahead of the competition. Increasingly, the class of software called Business Intelligence plays an important role here. Business intelligence software is all about helping you make decisions and find problems.
There was a time when you needed a special role in your organization for someone to do all this data gathering and analysis. But times have changed and SharePoint 2010 provides a number of tools that put this capability in the hands of the average employee.
You can:
* Use tools like Excel to gather and analyze data that is stored in SharePoint
* Use SharePoint's native Excel Services engine to crunch data and build web-based reports
* Pull together information from different systems and present it in SharePoint
* Create dashboards, scorecards, and other views - making key performance indicators widely accessible to information workers and process managers
6. InfoPath Forms
Microsoft InfoPath 2010 is a forms-creation and data-gathering tool that helps organizations streamline business processes. InfoPath 2010 is designed for both advanced business users and developers, depending on the type of forms-based solution an organization needs.
Without writing code, advanced business users can use InfoPath 2010 to design sophisticated electronic forms to quickly and cost-effectively gather information.
Developers can create advanced forms for departmental and enterprise business processes, including composite applications and workflow sequences, with InfoPath 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, and SharePoint Designer 2010-using little or no code.
In addition to this you can:
* Converting Microsoft Word documents to InfoPath 2010
Microsoft Word is often used to create forms. Now you can use the investment made into creating these forms by transferring them directly to InfoPath. InfoPath 2010 allows you to import a Word document directly as a form template. Once imported, you can make the modifications to the form as needed.
* Converting Microsoft Excel workbooks to InfoPath 2010
Microsoft Excel is often used to create forms. Now you can use the investment made into creating these forms by transferring them directly to InfoPath. InfoPath 2010 allows you to import a Excel workbook directly as a form template. Once imported, you can make the modifications to the form as needed.
7. SharePoint Workspace 2010
Do you wish you had an easy answer for users who ask, "How can I update my documents while I'm away or offline?" or "How can I access my content quickly and easily without a browser?"
With SharePoint Workspace, an end user can easily connect to a designated SharePoint site, get a local copy of selected SharePoint libraries and lists, and add or modify library or list content within a private "SharePoint workspace". Content in a SharePoint workspace automatically synchronizes with the associated SharePoint site when users are on their network, or it can be manually synchronized on demand. No browser access needed and no need for VPNs or special IT setup.
8. Business Connectivity Services
SharePoint can pull data from external databases and other data sources. Web Parts and Web Part architecture can become a powerful component of your SharePoint sites. In particular, Data View Web Parts allow you to add views to your sites from a variety of data sources. You can create views specific to your SharePoint sites and link views together. Data sources can be databases, Web services, or any XML source (InfoPath documents, etc.).
9. Workflows in SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint provides a robust, customizable work environment for users to create, collaborate, and store valuable business information. SharePoint also enables you to attach custom business processes to these documents or list items.
Custom business processes are represented by workflows. A workflow is a natural way to organize and run a set of work units, or activities, to form an executable file representation of a work process. This process can control almost any aspect of an item in SharePoint, including the life cycle of that item. The workflow is flexible enough to model both the system functions and human actions necessary for the workflow to complete.
Workflows can be as simple or complex as your business processes require. You can create workflows that the user initiates, or workflows that SharePoint automatically initiates based on some event, such as when an item is created or changed.
10. SharePoint extends Exchange Server
If you're using Exchange Server to handle your email traffic, SharePoint can greatly simplify distribution. You can create a SharePoint site as a singular point for receiving Exchange traffic and, at a stroke, have de facto distribution of that traffic to a particular group or groups, with all the security and membership built-in. By setting up a public folder for SharePoint in Exchange, Exchange's work is done - SharePoint pulls from the folder and does the work.
