Set Up BCS Profile Pages to Present Item Specific Information from External Data Sources in SharePoint 2010

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As noted in a post to the Microsoft Business Connectivity Team Blog back on the 19th of October, 2009 Overview of Business Connectivity Services, Business Connectivity Services (BCS) “is all about connecting end users with enterprise data that they need to do their job – without having to leave the applications that they use today: Office and SharePoint.” We think that this observation is very important as it defines one of the most attractive values, from a business perspective, that BCS delivers to users. Namely, by enabling BCS within a SharePoint 2010 environment, organizations looking to standardize upon a single computing platform for any and all operations for a single computing platform have taken a big step forward in the right direction, a step that can substantially reduce typical costs for systems development and support.

We think a compelling example of the value that BCS can deliver is to be found through enterprise implementation of BCS Profile Pages, which are web part pages with unique URLs that can be crawled by SharePoint Search to present users with an enterprise search capability that can encompass relevant external data from Line of Business (LOB) groups. We offer a tutorial on the subject, “BCS Profile Pages and Search”, which is included in our SharePoint 2010 Business Connectivity Services Training DVD. The intended audience for this tutorial are SharePoint Administrators who likely possess the permissions required to configure these pages via Central Administration.

As this tutorial presents, utilizing BCS Profile Pages, an organization can equip users with an ability to search external data resources for specific information. Once SharePoint Search successfully locates the desired information, the user will be served with an informative web page presentation of all of the information related to the item. Without SharePoint 2010 and BCS, the costs of developing this type of capability for a user community that has opted for browser access to information from an Intranet would be, we are confident, geometrically more expensive than is the case with a method built on SharePoint and BCS. We think this type of cost saving, achieved without any degradation of the quality of the user computing experience is the type of value contribution that can result in SharePoint playing a mission critical role within an organization’s computing paradigm.

If you see the value of features like BCS Profile Pages and would like to discuss implementation planning and user training, then we welcome your contact. Please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

BCS Actions Provide a Method of Quickly Obtaining Targeted Results with Data Accessed through External Content Types

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In the interests of ensuring that SharePoint Server 2010 may be used as an attractive support for approved collaborative activities that involve communication with external web sites on the Internet, an organization should consider configuring BCS Actions. Creating custom actions for user organizations which will automate otherwise repetitive manual procedures is the type of activity that can contribute to an effort to hasten user adoption of SharePoint. Examples of these types of manual activities including checking weather conditions for specific geographical areas, or collecting specific information about known individuals within a business from well known social web sites on the Internet.

Our set of video tutorials on Business Connectivity Services, BCS for SharePoint 2010 authored by Raymond Mitchell includes a specific course on setting up BCS Actions. The intended audience for this set of training videos includes SharePoint Administrators, Developers and Architects.

As Raymond Mitchell notes, BCS Actions allow users to “link to application pages and to pass business data to those applications.” Therefore, as a preliminary to proceeding on this training on BCS Actions, it makes complete sense to verify rights to transmit company specific data outside of organizational firewalls. Once permissions have been verified, following Raymond Mitchell’s instructions can produce highly useful procedures.

It should be noted that SharePoint Designer 2010 cannot be used to create BCS Actions. Access to SharePoint’s Central Administration web application is required to configure these processes; hence we have reduced our intended audience for this video tutorial to SharePoint Administrators and suitably authorized developers and/or architects. Further, an appropriate level of access will be required where a SharePoint Administrator has the authority to utilize the “Manage Service Applications” tools.

Utilizing these tools, it is a straightforward procedure to add BCS Actions, though we need to note that a minimal amount of scripting is required to complete the “Add Parameter” feature of the Actions tab on the Ribbon, simply including parameters for a targeted and specified URL along with a corresponding definition for each of the parameters.

To reiterate BCS Actions must be configured by SharePoint users with appropriate permissions. Generally, these users will be SharePoint Administrators. These users will also need to decide on the security risk of transmitting organizational specific information beyond firewalls, over the Internet. Where each of these caveats is acceptible, BCS Actions constitute a promising feature of SharePoint 2010 that can be used to hasten user adoption of the platform. We will be happy to elaborate on any of these points. Please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

Building Line of Business Dashboards with Business Connectivity Services

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As noted on MSDN, a basis for visually presenting Line of Business (LOB) performance is to find “related or complementary information for a specific business entity” and to associate these streams of information into a composite view accessible via a web browser; for example, historical order history by sales territory. In sum, publishing LOB specific information via associated external content types in this manner may satisfy some of the demand for summary performance information required by management.

We present the specific procedures required to associate two external content types in a video tutorial, “BCS Associations” authored by Raymond Mitchell. You can view this video by either subscribing to all the content on our website, or by purchasing a DVD that includes all of the video training content we provide on BCS and SharePoint 2010.

For a team of 20 developers, or SharePoint Administrators, or architects who need to master the same procedures to effectively utilize BCS to deliver similar functionality across an organization, a purchase of an enterprise license to review these tutorial videos at a one time cost of $1995.00 makes sense. Simply consider the cost of sending this same group to an in person training class as a means of highlighting the low cost of this training content. Alternatively, consider the cost of utilizing consultants to deliver the same results. We are confident that successfully producing the same uniform results across a large organization with a system that can be readily supported by any of the team members who built it will represent a highly valuable endeavor for most any organization. Further, when one considers that the sole additional cost required to deliver the successful result is simply the acquisition cost of our training content, the efficiency of the solution will become that much more compelling. Finally, the positive effect on morale, which will result from empowering current team members with the computer procedures they require to deliver such a system makes for a significant piece of the overall Return on Investment (ROI) proposition for our offer.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you care to discuss with us, directly, your specific interest in video tutorial content for SharePoint. We welcome opportunities to learn about specific implementations of SharePoint as well as specific issues that may require remedies. Please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

External Lists and External Content Types are Essential Components of Business Connectivity Services for SharePoint 2010

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In an MSDN article titled “SharePoint Lists vs. External Databases” the point is made that there is little to be gained by replicating external data within SharePoint 2010 document libraries. Rather, the article makes the case that “there are very few circumstances in which there will be benefit in replicating large amounts of data to the SharePoint content database” “if your application consumes data from line-of-business (LOB) applications or other existing repositories of any kind.” Of course, LOB applications are usually specific to business silos. Therefore, by following this method an efficient use is made of storage space both within and outside of SharePoint 2010. As well, silos are respected, thereby preserving normal business collaboration patterns within a business, which preservation will save, we think, lots of effort at business process re-engineering.

In our set of SharePoint-Videos tutorials on SharePoint 2010 and Business Connectivity Services (BCS), authored by Raymond Mitchell we demonstrate how to include lists of external data in SharePoint 2010, including utilizing the out of the box template for external lists. Before working with this external list template we need to create an external content type, which, as our course author points out, maps an external system to SharePoint 2010.

The preferred tool for creating this external content type is SharePoint Designer, 2010. Through options accessible via the ribbon an external content type may be created for one of three types of systems:

  • .net
  • SQL Server or
  • WCF Service

Raymond Mitchell demonstrates how to complete a mapping to an external SQL Server system and, further, how to access specific tables within this systems for data display via an External List.

For our purposes in this blog post we are interested in the business benefit from this procedure. To reiterate, by preserving the external, silo specific location of LOB data while, at the same time, rendering it accessible through the inclusion of External Lists within SharePoint 2010 the collaboration status quo for the organization should be preserved (though we need to note that we have fielded objections from some large organizations of SharePoint users who do not want LOB data to be accessible, in any manner whatsoever from SharePoint). Further, with the LOB data mapped into the scope of a SharePoint 2010 data repository, then a strong case may be made that the best approach for gathering Business Intelligence (BI) data across an organization may be to build any/all BI systems on top of SharePoint. Of course, if specific external systems do not conform to the content type options we’ve noted above, then this later case will be untenable.

We welcome opportunities to speak with large organizations considering an implementation of BCS for BI systems development. Please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

Using Business Connectivity Services with SharePoint Server 2010 to Produce Web Page Content can Produce Substantial Cost Savings

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In 2012 enterprise businesses and other large groups of users in the public, the non profit and the the not-for-profit sectors are emphasizing the importance of collecting meaningful metrics on business activity, performing related analysis, and publishing information on web pages in the form of charts, scorecards, and dashboards. Acquiring and maintaining web browsers constitutes a zero to, at most, a very low cost activity; therefore, these computing tools are ubiquitous. Further, they provide an excellent method for publishing business performance data. Finally, these web pages also provide an attractive basis for users to collaborate on projects arising from the publication of information about organizational performance.

Of course, SharePoint Server 2010 is a system worthy of serious consideration for a web publishing and collaboration objective around business performance metrics. The case for SharePoint becomes more compelling when one considers the savings that can be realized by utilizing Business Connectivity Services (BCS) with SharePoint to incorporate data from external systems into web page content published with SharePoint. Simply consider that, in the past, specialized technologies (and even expertise with specific programming languages) were required to capture information from databases, as well as systems built upon databases, for publishing on web pages. In some cases middleware was also required to support data communication between remote, dissimilar computing systems. In contrast, BCS provides the platform for data communication between disparate SQL compliant systems. The same understanding that users call upon to work with lists, tables, and, perhaps, web site branding upon an Intranet built on SharePoint Server 2010 can be leveraged to produce user friendly reports. In sum, therefore, organizations can reduce the cost of this endeavor by working within a SharePoint and BCS framework.

We have produced a set of video tutorial content on this topic, SharePoint 2010 Business Connectivity Services Training DVD. This content is authored by Raymond Mitchell one of six contributors to the popular book, SharePoint Six-in-One. Raymond covers essential points that are required to effectively implement BCS, including:

  • External Lists
  • External Data Columns
  • External Content Types
  • Creating External Systems
  • Creating External Content Types
  • Advanced Options for External Content Types
  • BCS Associations
  • Business Data Web Parts
  • Creating BCS Actions
  • BCS Profile Pages and Search
  • BCS Administration and Security

If you are looking to publish web page content with business performance information gathered from external sources within a SharePoint Server 2010 operating environment, then you ought to seriously consider utilizing BCS for the task. We welcome an opportunity to speak with businesses looking to achieve this type of objective. Please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

Use Site Columns to Ensure Uniformity of Terms for Useful Management of Taxonomies in SharePoint Server 2010

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In order to build a useful search feature for SharePoint Server 2010, keywords must be consistently used across a SharePoint site and sub sites. Site Columns provide us with a means of enforcing some uniformity over the method by which text information is organized into terms and groups of related text information into term sets. A Technet article, “Managed Metadata Overview” provides us with a definition of terms and term sets that we think is essential for understanding the roles played by columns and site columns: “[a] term is a word or a phrase that can be associated with an item in SharePoint Server 2010. A term set is a collection of related terms. You can specify that a Microsoft SharePoint Server column must contain a term from a specific term set.” An entry to MSDN defines site columns in SharePoint Server 2010: “A site column is a reusable column definition, or template, that you can assign to multiple lists across multiple SharePoint sites. Site columns decrease re-work and help you ensure consistency of metadata across sites and lists. For example, suppose you define a site column named Customer. Users can add that column to their lists, and reference it in their content types. This ensures that the column has the same attributes, at least to start with, wherever it appears. Much like site content types, you define a site column at the site level, independent of any actual list or content type.”

One can readily see why managing site columns is an important task for SharePoint Server 2010. In fact, site columns offer SharePoint users the ability to ensure that terms, and term sets (meta data) are consistently used across a SharePoint web site and sub sites. Consistent use of information generally results in highly relevant search. As well, the likelihood of attaining an objective of collecting useful metrics for Business Intelligence (BI) analysis is substantially improved when meta data is uniform across SharePoint Server 2010 web sites and sub sites.

In sum, site columns may well be an important feature of SharePoint Server 2010. Accordingly, we have produced a video tutorial on site columns for SharePoint Server 2010. The intended audience for this video tutorial includes SharePoint administrators, site collection administrators as well as developers and architects with appropriate permissions to work at the site level, specifically with site actions. Our video tutorial demonstrates how to create site columns and group them with related information at both the top site level and at a sub site level. Further, we demonstrate how to use site columns as lists are created and/or modified.

If you would like to speak with us about terms, term sets, meta data & taxonomy and the range of video tutorials that we offer on this important set of functions, then please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

Boost Retention of Training for SharePoint Server 2010 through the Application of Complementary Sets of Video Instruction

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Students of computer software in-person training typically retain a very small percentage of instruction — we posit in the range of 10-20%. Many training systems address the problem represented by these very small levels of probable student retention through a variety of remedies. Some of these salves amount to a prescription to students to pursue required training in an intense manner; for example, to take all 5 days of a 5 day class at once (and, presumably, write the corresponding lost work week off to staff development). On the other hand, a matching number of training systems recommend an opposite approach, to spread the 5 days over a month or more, to obtain the benefit of interspersing training with real life on the job experience. What, therefore, is a student to do?

As we have written elsewhere, and at length, in this blog, we develop video tutorial training content specifically for Microsoft SharePoint to provide students with terse, accurate, on screen instructions on required computer procedures as presented by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) that can be repeated as often as required, whenever required, until procedures are assimilated. This type of video content in file format lends itself very well to repetitive viewing, as often as required, within a work context, by students. We do not posit our content as a replacement for in-person technical training on SharePoint. Rather, we promote the unique benefits to be realized from video tutorial content for computer software and, specifically, SharePoint, potentially in conjunction with in-person training..

We also think that it makes perfect sense to cluster sets of video tutorials into a curriculum that stands a better chance of making its voice heard as regards student retention rates. For example, we offer a comprehensive set of video tutorials on managing an organization’s projects with SharePoint Server 2010. Given the nature of SharePoint Team Sites which, per Microsoft, were conceptualized to provide project teams within an organization with respective web sites for document repositories, shared calendars, etc. our set of tutorials on Branding Team Sites for SharePoint Server 2010 is a worthy complement for the above mentioned tutorial set on project management. In fact, we think that it makes excellent sense to provision all of this content to the same team of designers, administrators, developers and architects so that they will be prepared to handle user requests for project management as well as the collaboration method for planning purposes.

If you would like let us know specific realities of your organization’s environment, then please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

Show Users the More Informative Possibilities Presented by SharePoint 2010 Document Sets to Accelerate Transitions from Folders

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Document Sets, introduced with SharePoint Server 2010, constitute a powerful method of associating much more information with documents and even groups of documents than is the case with document repository strategies built on the premise that folders will be used to contain such data. An impediment to business users grasping the capabilities presented by this new feature, not to mention the likely benefits of implementing a document repository strategy built with document sets, has been the relative opacity of descriptive information about the feature; for example the following quote from MSDN eludes a typical business user’s understanding: “This [capability of Document Sets to empower users to create a composite item that consists of properties and child documents] enables customers to associate multiple documents with a single work item and wrap them into a single version or workflow.” Fortunately, Microsoft’s Get the Point Blog includes a very useful, business user-centric presentation of the features of SharePoint Server 2010 Document Sets authored by Microsoft MVP Michal Pisarek.

Once Michal Pisarek’s blog post has been digested, the urgency then moves over to determining a straightforward method of exploiting this feature as the juices ought to be going to dive into constructing an edifice of Document Sets to handle documents transitioned out of folders for greater utility. We provide precisely the type of straightforward presentation of how to build these features in a video tutorial on SharePoint-Videos: Creating Document Sets. This video tutorial is part of our SP102 – Site Collection Administrator Training for SharePoint 2010.

We think it also makes lots of sense to review this video within a context of learning about the interconnectedness of meta data, the Term Store and Taxonomy. The fact is that the process of creating columns for documents housed within Document Sets specifically generates required meta data for this meta data, Term Store and Taxonomy process to be effective.

IT staff and delegates from business groups should focus on assimilating the facts about of Document Sets. Once the process has been understood by IT and evangelists within the ranks of the business units, it should be a simpler process to “spoon feed” end users with the poser of this feature to hasten the relocation of documents from folders to document sets. Of course, should such an endeavor succeed, then the informative capabilities of SharePoint Server 2010, overall, will take a great leap forward.

We welcome opportunities to discuss projects like implementing Document Sets with groups of users. Please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

Create Custom Style Sheets to Control the Visual Features of Groups of SharePoint 2010 Team Sites Web Pages

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It is possible to create a custom Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), as required, for SharePoint Server 2010 Team Sites. This custom CSS can be stored to the Style Library repository of the SharePoint server. The CSS can be locally produced with as ubiquitous a tool as Windows Notepad. Once the CSS has been added to the Style Library, then, with the aid of SharePoint Designer 2010 (note: organizational approval may be required for the use of SharePoint Designer 2010. Policies vary substantially from organization to organization), the Style Sheet can be associated with specific team websites.

Our set on SP 303 – SharePoint Branding: Brand and Enhance User Interfaces of SharePoint 2010, which is intended for an audience of Designers, SharePoint Site Administrators, Power Users, Developers, includes a specific video course on the topic of creating custom CSS for Team Sites, “Creating Extended SharePoint 2010 Themes”. The author of this training set, Yaroslav Pentsarskyy demonstrates how to connect to specific team sites with SharePoint Designer 2010. Once connected, CSS can be added to Master Pages, thereby propagating specific desired styling features across all web pages produced with the specific master page to which the custom CSS has been added.

In the process of adding the custom CSS to a team site Master Page, Yaroslav notes why the order with which CSS is added to a web site by a web browser is important. For example, by adding the custom CSS with an “after” parameter, Yaroslav notes that he has thereby ensured that there will be little, if any risk that the custom settings included in the CSS will be over written by the out of the box, “core” CSS. It is precisely this type of feature that may prove to be very helpful to students of our Team Sites Branding curriculum. Simply consider the results of including custom CSS on a Master Page without an “after” parameter. The effect may be to produce haphazard, intermittent success as the result of spotty occurrences where the “core” CSS overwrites custom CSS after the custom CSS has been loaded. Remedying this type of error would prove to be otherwise difficult, especially as the problem appears to be intermittent.

Creating a custom CSS need not require the use of expensive tools. Yaroslav Pentsarskyy demonstrates how a free add on for Mozilla FireFox, Firebug, can be used to drill down to a granular level to examine the CSS operating on SharePoint Server 2010 web pages.

If you would like to hear further about how this video tutorial is emblematic of the video instruction on SharePoint that we offer, then please contact us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved

Brand SharePoint Team Sites to Enhance Project Management Requirements

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As noted on Microsoft®‘s Technet Website, Branding SharePoint 2010 Team Sites ensures that an organization’s unique logo, themes, etc are applied, consistently across all of the organization’s websites.

SharePoint 2010 Team Sites are intended to ” . . .keep teams synchronized and to manage important projects. Teams can use these sites for tasks such as storing common documents and meeting notes, tracking key milestones and schedules, establishing project delivery schedules, and enabling real-time communications between colleagues.” (quoted from the above noted Microsoft Technet web site) With the power of these team sites to contribute to the effectiveness of organizational collaboration in mind, it makes perfect sense to outfit them with precisely the look and feel of the parent organization as well as any custom visual features that specific teams require.

We offer a set of 10 video tutorials on branding SharePoint 2010 Team Sites. These 10 tutorials are authored by Yaroslav Pentsarkyy who started working with SharePoint in 2003 and achieved MVP status in 2009.

In contrast to the approach taken by Technet for the 7 and 3/4 minute video tutorial offered on their site, which emphasizes the importance of having Visual Studio available to follow this training video, Yaroslav Pentsarkyy makes reference to tools well in the reach of business users with a keen interest in SharePoint who, nevertheless, lack a programming background. For example, in the first of our video tutorial set, “Creating Basic SharePoint 2010 Themes” Yaroslav demonstrates how out of the box SharePoint Server 2010 Themes can be downloaded and then simply edited locally, with Microsoft PowerPoint, of course entirely sans code. Once edited, a custom theme can then be uploaded to a Theme Gallery within SharePoint Server 2010 and, from there, applied to all of the desired sites.

We think that this simple approach to effecting changes with minimal technology makes lots of sense for average business users who are short on technical skills but long on requiring that web pages exhibit custom visual features; for examples, colors and fonts. In many cases, simple modifications like those that we have described here will suffice as an organization works towards creating discrete web sites for a variety of teams collaborating on a project. We are happy to elaborate on the utility of this approach upon request. You may reach us at (630) 786-7026, or Contact Us to further a discussion about our video training content.

As ever, use this link to place an order for an annual subscription to SharePoint-Videos instructional content

© Rehmani Consulting Inc, all rights reserved