SharePoint 2007: Getting to Know SharePoint

Using Improved SharePoint Search Capabilities

Figure 1.17 shows the Advanced Search page available in SharePoint Server 2007. It is immediately apparent that the improved interface is easier to use and helps users find content they are looking for more quickly. The first four text fields allow users to search using one of the following options: All of These Words, This Exact Phrase, Any of These Words, or None of These Words. The default advanced search page enables the user to search specific languages and specific document types through the drop-down menu, and then to add property restrictions. The site collection administrator can modify all these components to meet the needs of the user community. For example, if the company manages only documents in English, there is no need to keep the Languages section on this page, so the administrator can remove it. The site collection administrator can instead enable the Scopes section, if the Central Administration Shared Services console contains definitions for multiple search scopes.

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If a user selects the People tab, that user can search the information stored in the user profiles (updated, ideally, by each person through their personal sites). The user by default can search on first name, last name, department, title, responsibilities, skills, and memberships.

Creating and Managing Search Scopes

The creation of new search scopes in SharePoint Server 2007 takes place in the Shared Services administrative console. This allows SharePoint to search content stored in other SharePoint servers, websites, file shares, Exchange public folders, and business data stored in the Business Data Catalog.

To ensure that an account with appropriate permissions to access the source data is used, create crawl rules. Intuitive crawl logs provided detailed information about the successes or failures of crawls, which enables the SharePoint administrator to quickly fine-tune and troubleshoot the crawls to ensure that they are functioning properly. Built-in search query reports provide current information on a number of search related topics, including the following:

• Number of queries over the previous 30 days

• Number of queries over the previous 12 months

• Top query origin site collections over the previous 30 days

• Queries per scope over the previous 30 days

• Top queries over the previous 30 days

• Search results top destination pages

• Queries with zero results

• Most-clicked best bets

• Queries with zero best bets

• Queries with low click through

These reports make it extremely easy for SharePoint administrators to understand what users are looking for, whether they are finding it, and how to customize the environment with best bets to facilitate the searching process.

Comparing the Versions of SharePoint

One of the reasons that the free version of SharePoint, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, doesn’t meet the needs of all users and all organizations is that it does not provide the flexibility or full set of tools that larger organizations require. A more complete comparison of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and SharePoint Server 2007 comes later in the chapter, but design options are much more limited in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Detailing the Specific SharePoint 2007 Products

SharePoint products and technologies encompass several individual products. Many of these products are related, but there are key differences among them. The individual product types are as follows: • Windows SharePoint Services 3.0—The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 product is a free (value-add) product that can be downloaded from Microsoft and installed on any Windows Server 2003 system without any additional licensing (aside from the server itself). It provides core document management, collaboration, and search capabilities.

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (with Standard CALs)—Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 includes two types of client access licenses (CALs): standard CALs and enterprise CALs. The core WSS functionality receives enterprise search and people search capabilities with both CAL editions. MOSS 2007 is the tool for large, distributed organizations that have to store more than 500,000 documents.

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (with Enterprise CALs)—Adding the enterprise CAL to the standard CAL in a MOSS 2007 environment allows for the addition of the Business Data Catalog.

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server for Search 2007 (Standard Edition)—This product was created for those organizations that simply need search capabilities, but do not yet require the document management and collaboration features of the full MOSS 2007 product.

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server for Search 2007 (Enterprise Edition)—The Enterprise Edition of MOSS 2007 for Search adds additional search providers to the product and allows for additional scaling options.