What is Microsoft Office SharePoint Server?

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a new server program that is part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Your organization can use Office SharePoint Server 2007 to facilitate collaboration, provide content management features, implement business processes, and supply access to information that is essential to organizational goals and processes.

You can quickly create SharePoint sites that support specific content publishing, content management, records management, or business intelligence needs. You can also conduct effective searches for people, documents, and data, participate in forms-driven business processes, and access and analyze large amounts of business data.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Capabilities

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides a single, integrated location where employees can efficiently collaborate with team members, find organizational resources, search for experts and corporate information, manage content and workflow, and leverage business insight to make better-informed decisions.

• Collaboration Allow teams to work together effectively, collaborate on and publish documents, maintain task lists, implement workflows, and share information through the use of wikis and blogs.

• Portals Create a personal MySite portal to share information with others and personalize the user experience and content of an enterprise Web site based on the user's profile.

• Enterprise Search Quickly and easily find people, expertise, and content in business applications.

• Enterprise Content Management Create and manage documents, records, and Web content.

• Business Process and Forms Create workflows and electronic forms to automate and streamline your business processes.

• Business Intelligence Allow information workers to easily access critical business information, analyze and view data, and publish reports to make more informed decisions.

How are Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services related?

If you've heard about Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, you may wonder how it relates to Office SharePoint Server 2007. Windows SharePoint Services is an enabling technology that is included in Microsoft Windows Server 2003. It helps teams stay connected and productive by providing easy access to the people, documents, and information that they need to make well-informed decisions and get work done. Office SharePoint Server 2007 relies on the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 technology to provide a consistent, familiar framework for lists and libraries, site administration, and site customization. Any features that are available in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 are also available in Office SharePoint Server 2007.

However, Office SharePoint Server 2007 offers enhanced and additional features that are unavailable on a Windows SharePoint Services site. For example, both Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services include site templates for collaborating with colleagues and setting up meetings. However, Office SharePoint Server 2007 includes a number of additional site templates related to enterprise and publishing scenarios.

The chart below shows a quick overview of the capabilities available under Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard edition, and Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise edition.