The most innovative software from Microsoft (MSFT) is… Sharepoint! And no one has ever heard of it! This program is by far the most useful product I’ve ever used. Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of going to a Learning Tree SharePoint Training, I will write about Learning Tree in coming days. But first, let me tell you how GREAT SharePoint is and why EVERY company, big or small, should use this software.
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services is a versatile technology that organizations and business units of all sizes can use 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 information they need.
That might sound like mumbo jumbo from Microsoft, but if you actually use this software, it’s simply amazing. Best of all, this software is FREE. (Note: It’s not free FREE, you need Windows 2003 to install the Windows Sharepoint Services. There are two products, Microsoft SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). Now, as I said WSS is a free download from Microsoft, but MOSS costs money. Here is a spreadsheet that discusses the differences between WSS and MOSS.
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If you’re not sure if SharePoint is right for you, but would like to see the features, please contact us to set up a demo for organization.
Reasons Why Your Organization Needs SharePoint
Brainstorm easily with wiki sites
You can use a wiki site to brainstorm ideas, collaborate on a team design, manage knowledge bases, or just gather routine information in a searchable format that is easy to create. By using a Web browser, your team members can create and annotate pages that link to each other — they don’t need a word processor or special technical knowledge. Wiki sites track changes as people add and change content. A wiki can also help your team to build an outline that you create later in a word processing program.
Poll People - Surveys
Poll people more effectively with improved surveys Surveys are more flexible, with better control over the layout. A partial response feature enables people to save incomplete responses if they don’t want to finish all of their responses at once or if they get interrupted.
Track your tasks visually with Gantt view
You can create a Project Tasks list, which includes a Gantt view by default, or add a Gantt view to other types of lists. Gantt view includes a visual overview of project tasks, sometimes called a Gantt chart, that you can use to monitor dates and progress.
Centralized Calendar
Track your work with improved calendars You can now add and revise events from your SharePoint calendar while working with a program that is compatible with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, such as Office Outlook 2007. You can even overlay your calendars to summarize and compare events on specific dates in the calendar program.
In your SharePoint calendar, you can enter all-day events and specify more types of repeating, or recurring, events. You can track team projects more effectively with visual improvements to the day, week, and month views. You can apply a calendar view to lists that have start and end dates.
You can view more features on the Microsoft SharePoint Website.
More Information
SharePoint can handle anything and everything you can possibly imagine that you need in a working environment. Users can create team workspaces, coordinate calendars, organize documents, and receive important notifications and updates through communication features including announcements and alerts, as well as the new templates for creating blogs and wikis. While mobile, users can take advantage of convenient offline synchronization capabilities. You have the ability to view revisions to documents and restore to previous versions. You can take file sharing to a new level with robust storage capabilities. If you organization can afford to get a server with Windows Server 2003 installed, you must install SharePoint as it will make everyone’s life so much easier. You can learn more about the SharePoint on Microsoft’s website.
