Microsoft officially launched a staggering number of new products,
including Windows Vista and the Microsoft Office System 2007, on
November 30, 2006. Several of these
products were upgrades of previous
releases; however, a significant number of
new Office servers were included in the
Office 2007 release.
Cynics might suggest that the new
Office server products are Microsoft's way
of squeezing more revenue out of the Office
product line, which is already installed on
nearly every information worker's computer.
Revenue certainly would have been a consideration for Microsoft. However, many
businesses need the solutions that the new Office servers offer to accommodate
the changes in the way today's information workers do business. Businesses and
their partners, customers, and end users
are now demanding collaboration solutions,
automated business processes, auditing
and compliance, and access to information anytime and anywhere.
In the current Office client suite, there are
many applications—and not all of them are
appropriate for every business, scenario, or
user. For example, many users never have
to use Microsoft Access or Microsoft Office
Publisher, although few can do their jobs
without using Microsoft Word or Microsoft
Excel. The same will hold true for the new
Office server applications. Each server product serves a specific need, and although
some tools (such as Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server) will become ubiquitous,
others (such as Microsoft Project Server) will
probably be limited to a niche in the market.
Most companies will find that one or
more of these server products can deliver
real business value to their organizations.
I've found that effective collaboration can
give a company a significant competitive
advantage.
The problem has been that, until now,
collaboration application solutions have typically been expensive both in terms of capital outlay for the software and training for end
users. These applications are also often difficult to integrate into existing business processes. In most cases, the early adopters
of collaboration solutions found there was
no return on their investments because
they had to overcome significant obstacles
to successfully implement the tools or the
end users didn't use the tools because the
learning curve was so high. If implemented
into your environment correctly, the new
Office servers can deliver the crucial balance of power and flexibility (for you) and
familiarity (for your users) that can lead to
a successful collaboration solution. To help
you with the implementation, let's examine
each of the new Office server products—Forms Server 2007, Groove Server 2007,
Project Server 2007, and SharePoint Server
2007—so that you can understand their
purpose and better evaluate their potential
role in your business collaboration strategy.
Forms Server 2007
What business doesn't have forms?
Many businesses use paper forms
whose appearance and processing
haven't changed much in years. Forms
Server 2007 is a standalone server that
delivers and manages digital forms that
replace paper forms and legacy online
forms (such as fill-in PDF files). You can
access the forms through Microsoft Office
InfoPath 2007 or a Web browser for data
collection, distribution, and integration
with processes using business rules.
Authorized users create forms using
InfoPath 2007. You can use controls
(such as text boxes and drop-down lists)
that Forms Server 2007 makes available. You can preconfigure the behavior
of each control. For example, you can
preconfigure mouse-over tips, prepopulated default values, and data validation.
Additional behaviors connect the form
and its controls with back-end systems,
such as SharePoint Server 2007. You can
then place the forms into a SharePoint
Server 2007 or Microsoft BizTalk Server
2006 workflow.
All of the heavy-lifting application code
and primary business logic rules are configured and executed on the server, which
means a form's creator or user can build
what he or she needs while developers
control the precise and complete integration of the form, its data business processes, and its workflows. As forms are
updated, new versions can be deployed
side-by-side with reusable controls and
business logic.
You can use InfoPath 2007 (or other
third-party applications) as a standalone
application to create electronic forms, but
if multiple forms need to work together
within a process or if external clients need
access to those forms through a browser,
you'll need IT to build a solution to support it. However, Forms Server 2007 can
easily move forms online, create workflows, and centralize data management.
Keep in mind that you can host forms on
SharePoint Server 2007, so take advantage of this ability if you're already using it. Forms Server 2007 is a standalone
product and cheaper than SharePoint
Server 2007, but it's for environments that
need only the forms capability. I've found
that the most difficult part of implementing
Forms Server 2007 is combining all the
scattered paper and online forms into a
defined business process. You'll need to
invest time to analyze your business and
implement a structure of forms, business
logic, and workflows.
Groove Server 2007
If you've yet to select a set of tools to use
to provide a collaborative workspace (or
even if you already have), you should take
a look at Groove Server 2007. Groove
2007 workspaces provide tools for file
sharing, discussions, meetings, specialized calendars, and presence awareness (i.e., knowing who is online). Business
forms are available through InfoPath
2007, with phone calls and IM available
when Groove Server 2007 is integrated
with Microsoft Office Communicator.
Groove Server 2007 also lets you make
SharePoint Server 2007 sites available
offline.
From a user's perspective, a Groove
2007 workspace is simple to create and
maintain: With only a couple of clicks, you
can create a Groove 2007 workspace on
a local computer. Users can then share
that workspace with other users (think
workgroup), which is sufficient for small to medium-sized workspaces.
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