MOSS 2007: What It Means for Your Business
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, more commonly abbreviated as MOSS 2007, is one of the critical business intelligence tools available today. According to Microsoft itself, MOSS 2007 can be used to "facilitate collaboration, provide content management features, implement business processes, and supply access to information that is essential to organizational goals and processes."[1] As such, this is a product that is important to understand in today's business world and that can be used by both large and small enterprises.
What is MOSS 2007?
MOSS 2007 is a cohesive integration of business intelligence tools established by Microsoft to ease collaboration by using specialized websites, or portals. These portals can host documents, files, and even run programs and services such as blogs and wikis. Multiple users can be granted access to these portals and to all or some of the items hosted there. Users can then log in and make changes directly to these items in a centralized space.
The business intelligence tools offered by SharePoint are of particular use to companies that have employees in multiple offices around the world or employees that telecommute, but it can also be used within a single location when collaboration on a single document is critical.
The Six Pillars of MOSS 2007
The biggest selling point for MOSS 2007 when it comes to its business intelligence tools is that it enables easy collaboration between users, whether they are in a single office or located around the world. It is commonly accepted that the MOSS 2007 system is based on six pillars[2]:
- Business intelligence
- Collaboration
- Portals
- Business processes and forms
These pillars work together to create a comprehensive system of business intelligence tools that enables an entire enterprise to work together as a team. MOSS 2007 is extremely useful to any business that has to collaborate with its employees via documents or e-mail, printed or voice communication. It hosts all of this information in a single space and allows for information gathering and updates without major hassles. SharePoint is installed quickly and easily on a server and replaces many free utilities (Joomla or Mambo, for example).
Business Intelligence Tools that Seamlessly Integrate with Microsoft Office
One of the key benefits of MOSS 2007 is its ability to integrate with Microsoft Office, a system that many businesses already use on a daily basis. This program offers an assortment of business intelligence tools and processes that allow employees to quickly and easily collaborate with one another. Through SharePoint Portals, a website can be established to which Microsoft Office files can be uploaded and distributed outside of an e-mail setting. An online task list can also be established for all users to utilize, and templates are available as well. Users can either log into the portal site via a standard web browser or can open up the Office application from within MOSS 2007 directly.
MOSS 2007 has the greatest benefit with its business intelligence tools when people are dealing with Microsoft Excel. For example, a user can upload an Excel spreadsheet to a SharePoint website. The original user can choose to make all or just part of the spreadsheet accessible by others. The benefit of this is that proprietary formulas and other data can be kept confidential while still allowing outside users to provide the necessary new information for the spreadsheet.
In addition, with MOSS 2007, there is a single spreadsheet that all users are accessing. If e-mail had been used to distribute the same spreadsheet, then various users would have different versions and it would require extra time to find out who was in control of the "latest and greatest." If different users were handling different copies of the spreadsheet, the data would be scattered and would need to be compiled at a later time. Instead, all users can take advantage of the business intelligence tools offered by SharePoint and can log in to interact directly with a single worksheet.
Helping Create a Solid Team
Users of the business intelligence tools provided by MOSS 2007 are brought closer together as a team. MOSS 2007 allows users to contact one another via e-mail and instant messaging, which can enhance productivity. MOSS 2007 also provides the ability to create templates that can be accessed easily through a consistent user interface.
In addition, one of the business intelligence tools provided by MOSS 2007 enables team leaders to establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs). In this way, everyone on a team can see at a glance what goals have to be met and what milestones have already been attained. In this way, team members can make intelligent business decisions. Team members can also look at aggregate data from a variety of sources to monitor trends, which can then help to make decisions about future concerns for the business.
Conclusion
MOSS 2007 benefits business intelligence because its business intelligence tools allow for easy collaboration and for various team members to adjust and approve a single document in a central location. Almost any industry can benefit from the use of SharePoint, particularly if the company already uses Microsoft Office. By installing MOSS 2007, a company will find that it can strengthen existing teams, help create new teams, and eliminate confusion while making it easier for employees to work together on a wide variety of projects.
About the Author
Tony Ventura provides Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS 2007) and SharePoint Designer 2007 training at WestLake Training and Development. He holds a Master of Science degree in System Design and Programming from Capella University, Certified Technical Trainer+ (CompTIA), Microsoft Certified Trainer, MCSD.NET, as well as additional Microsoft certifications. He can be reached through