Note: You can now view a recording of the Webinar on SharePoint and ECM.
I wrote a couple of days ago about the growth of SharePoint licensing and the impressive footprint it has in terms of end user licenses. One of the other intriguing things about SharePoint is how it has evolved in functionality. True to form, Microsoft first launched SharePoint as a sturdy but not overwhelming offering. Since then, they have built more and more functionality into the product, all the while bringing partners and developers into the mix to create a formidable ecosystem for the product.

  • SharePoint Portal Server 2001, introduced that same year, offered basic document management capabilities–check-in and check-out, versioning, and simple workflow.
  • In 2003, Microsoft introduced three servers–SharePoint Services 2.0, SharePoint Portal Server 2003, and Content Manager Server. These servers brought increased functionality for document management and web content management. These products stopped short of supporting document imaging and records management directly, with Microsoft relying on partners for these capabilities.
  • In 2007, Microsoft launched Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) as well as a set of services, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0). MOSS 2007 is available in two levels of functionality at two different price points, a Standard Client Access License (CAL) and an Enterprise CAL. WSS 3.0 is a set of core SharePoint Services that is included in Windows Server 2003 at no additional charge.

With the 2007 offerings, organizations now have an array of choices for ECM support from Microsoft–basic content services in 2007 in WSS 3.0, core ECM services in the Standard MOSS CAL, and more advanced ECM services in the Enterprise MOSS CAL. Where the 2003 offerings relied on partner components for records management and workflow, the 2007 offerings now include this technology.
Organizations running MOSS 2007 can now benefit from many built-in ECM features including:

  • Document Management, with improved library services, file-level security, and improved integration with Microsoft Office
  • Improved metadata management and integrated information rights management
  • Records Management, including retention policy management
  • Web Content Management
  • Document-centric Collaboration
  • Workflow
  • Search
  • Electronic Forms

Join us today to learn more about SharePoint as a platform for ECM applications.