First Look Microsoft Office 2003

Microsoft SharePoint technology-a group of products and services that make organizing, sharing, and finding information a seamless part of an information worker's daily tasks-is at the heart of the collaborative nature of Microsoft Office 2003. With features built into each of the core Office applications, users can collaborate on documents, check group schedules, send instant messages, organize meetings, transfer data to and from applications using the familiar Office environment, and move easily from their desktops to their SharePoint Team Services (STS) group sites and back again.

This chapter gives you a first look at SharePoint Team Services version 2 and SharePoint technology and describes the specific collaboration and communication enhancements in SharePoint Team Services that make it easier than ever to work collaboratively in a corporate-or global-environment.

The SharePoint Technologies Vision

The vision for SharePoint Team Services and SharePoint Portal Server is a tightly integrated set of products that enable users in groups of all sizes to access, share, find, store, update, work with, and manage information. Are you creating a training curriculum for your IT department? You can use SharePoint Team Services to manage the project, hold meetings, discuss changes, make revisions, and approve, publish, and distribute the final materials. Do you need a full- spectrum information-management system that gives employees access to resources both inside and outside your company intranet? SharePoint Portal Team Services includes Team Services and adds powerful search features and enhanced document-management capabilities so that you can customize and extend the reach of the sites and systems you create.