What is Microsoft SharePoint? A Beginner’s Guide

SharePoint is a collaboration platform that makes use of workflow tools, “list” databases, along with other web-based components and security functions to enable teams of business to collaborate. SharePoint can also give the business who uses it the ability to restrict access to data and streamline workflow processes across different business divisions.

It is the Microsoft Cloud version of SharePoint, SharePoint Online, has numerous additional integration options in conjunction with other cloud-based applications. It’s compatible with a variety of other Microsoft packages that come with the Office 365 or Microsoft 365 license.

What are the benefits of using SharePoint?

SharePoint allows for increased productivity and accessibility for information workers in all sectors, across businesses small and large. SharePoint’s features SharePoint focus on an intranet-based cross-collaboration experience that allows secure sharing with content management, workflow and collaboration capabilities among others.

A web-based collaboration platform like SharePoint is simple to manage and, on a basic level, simple even business professionals to comprehend. It’s also completely customizable and incredibly scalable. There are a variety of ways companies can use the platform to increase efficiency and ROI.

What is SharePoint Utilized To Do?

SharePoint has been a key component over the last 17 years to increasing the efficiency of working in fortune 500 corporations for its role as it is an “Intranet” system that is able to connect every business sector. The numerous options offered by SharePoint make it easier for individuals to collaborate on projects of ad-hoc nature and create routine business procedures for sharing information as well as document publishing and recording information.

Security controls and co-authoring as well as versioning along with integration to Exchange (Outlook Email Applications) provide business users with the ability to accomplish more work in less time while maintaining the integrity of work they do. SharePoint offers the capability to:

Documents must be approved before they can be displayed
“Check Out” documents to stop additional editing or authoring on them.
Be notified as documents get uploaded, or modifications are made to documents
Create workflows using logic that if/then, to automate certain actions like emailing or moving documents, or recording data

All of these features enhance the productivity of business users, but the thing that SharePoint really does better than prior document collaboration systems is display information about what information/documents are stored and why.

It’s extremely simple to make it easy for SharePoint to ask for “metadata,” or information about information (like changed time, date of creation by or created by. However, it is also possible to create specific ‘tags’ to documents or objects) to help users be able to understand why documents exist and the significance of it without opening it. SharePoint also lets users create custom databases that are in an easy-to-use format. keep track of thousands of bits of information that are included in the above-mentioned workflows, or other business processes.

What is an SharePoint App?

Apps that are part of Microsoft SharePoint are integrations that offer additional features to the standard collaboration spaces available on the platform. Certain applications are built-in to the box and are included with SharePoint, however there are numerous other apps which add additional features and options that are not part of the traditional SharePoint platform. They could range from a library that users can share and store documents and files, calendar plug-ins to workflow applications such as Nintex that allow for a variety of repetitive logical actions within SharePoint without difficulty.

What is SharePoint Effective for Collaboration?

SharePoint is a cloud-based service in which users can upload documents that can then be shared with others who need to view the document. Users can also create their private storage space, called OneDrive. OneDrive which means that no one will access the document or file that they upload up until the time it is “share” or permit access to the file with other users.

This makes allowing a section of employees to access the document that has been published a single step process. However, it doesn’t have to be. The workflow and approval features mentioned above can regulate how documents are distributed and also the way employees handle information in their respective organizations.

Shared documents or spaces for collaboration are also sent by emails, which makes it simple people to get swiftly directed to precisely what they’d like to see.

Organizations often utilize SharePoint to share company-wide information like HR documents, announcements , and memos.

What Can SharePoint be Used to Manage Content? Management?

SharePoint offers a wide range of options to incorporate metadata into files to help sort, organize and keeping track of files owned by businesses. In addition as a platform SharePoint can force tags on the content that business users upload it to collaborative spaces. They also can make users submit metadata on documents in this process.

Once the metadata and content is on SharePoint, SharePoint empowers organizations with workflow tools that can automate:

Processing is based upon information supplied by the end-users
Tools for sustaining the lifecycle of content to allow the disposition of records
The disposal of information is according to business policy

The large majority of Fortune 500 companies have relied on the SharePoint platform for over 10 years, and today the SharePoint and its ecosystem is a multi-billion-dollar industry. With the latest features of SharePoint Online, which is part of Microsoft’s Office 365/Microsoft 365 cloud application and integrations with services such as Flow, Office 365 Groups and Teams, SharePoint and SharePoint based services are becoming more relevant to all industries.

What exactly is what is a SharePoint Farm?

Simply put simply, an SharePoint farm is a collection of servers that work to fulfill the SharePoint functions, making SharePoint work. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, consider the roles as distinct jobs that require different abilities. Once you’re set to create SharePoint You will configure each server within your farm to fulfill one or more functions.

A good illustration of roles would be a group working together towards an end objective (yay cohesion!). As an example, the restaurant staff. In restaurants, you will have the host who sits customers, the waiter who will take the order of the patron and then serves their food as well as the kitchen staff who cook the food. Remove the host, and the customer never has an opportunity to sit. Eliminate the server, and the customer is unable to make a purchase or eat or take a bad drink.

You’re getting the picture. Of obviously, one person could play all those roles, such as in a tiny cafe where the person at the counter will take your order, informs you to sit wherever you want and then butters and serves you a bagel. This is only possible when the location isn’t overflowing with customers, however the one person could get overwhelmed very quickly. The farm servers function similarly, and one server is able to play all roles or split the roles over several servers to improve performance.

In SharePoint you can find three different roles (formally identified by the SharePoint installation wizard, along with the addition of a few roles with SharePoint Server 2016.). These roles include the Web Front End (WFE), Application Server, and Database Server.