Reviewing Site Features and Site Collection Features

Site features and site collection features allow the site collection administrator to turn on and off a variety of features. These pages are fairly intimidating if SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise is installed, so the site collection administrator should carefully consider which, if any, of these features to enable above and beyond the features that are enabled by default when the site collection is created. Some site features require that site collection features are enabled, and error messages will indicate when there is a prerequisite that has not been met.

For planning purposes, a list is provided of the standard site features provided by SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise:

• Content Organizer— Enabling the Content Organizer feature will add the Content Organizer Settings and Content Organizer Rules that were covered in Chapter 20, “Customizing and Managing Libraries and Lists to Meet Business Requirements.”

• Email Integration with Content Organizer— Requires that the Content Organizer feature is enabled.

• Group Work Lists— Enables additional functionality for calendars so they can show scheduled events for the logged-in user from Exchange, and other users’ calendars can be added for comparison purposes.

• Hold and eDiscovery— Enabling the Hold and eDiscovery site feature is used to track external actions such as litigation, investigations, and audits and will add a Hold and eDiscovery section to the Site Settings page. This topic is covered in Chapter 24, “Governing the SharePoint 2010 Ecosystem.”

• Metadata Navigation and Filtering— This allows the use of metadata tree view hierarchies and filter controls to enhance navigation within lists and libraries. This topic is covered in Chapter 22, “Managing Metadata and Content Types in SharePoint 2010.”

• Offline Synchronization for External Lists— This enables synchronization with Outlook and SharePoint Workspace.

• PerformancePoint Services Site Features— This site feature has a dependency on the Site Collection feature. If both are active, allows the use of PerformancePoint web parts.

• SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Features— Includes features such as Visio Services, Access Services, and Excel Services applications.

• SharePoint Server Publishing— Has a dependency on a Site Collection feature. When enabled, adds libraries, master pages, and other features to facilitate the use of SharePoint as a publishing platform.

• SharePoint Server Standard Features— Includes features such as user profiles and search.

• Team Collaboration Lists— Makes standard lists such as document libraries and issues available.

• Wiki Page Home Page— When active, creates a wiki page as the site home page.

• Report Server File sync— When active, allows synchronization with SQL Server Reporting Services.

The following list covers the site collection features provided by SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise:

• Advanced Web Analytics— Includes advanced web analytics reports, data-driven workflows, the Web Analytics web part, and customize report functionality.

• Content Type Syndication Hub— Provisions a site to be an enterprise medadata hub site. This is covered in Chapter 22.

• Custom Site Collection Help— Creates a Help library that can be used to store custom help for the site collection.

• Disposition Approval Workflow— When active, enables the Disposition Approval workflow, which allows participants to decide whether to retain or delete expired documents.

• Document ID Service— When active, assigns IDs to documents in the site collection.

• Document Sets— When active, enables document sets to be used, as covered in Chapter 20, in the section titled “Document Sets Compared to Folders as Organizational Tools in Document Libraries.”

• In Place Records Management— When active, enables the definition and declaration of records in place.

• Library and Folder Based Retention— Allows list administrators to override content type retention schedules.

• Open Documents in Client Applications by Default— Configures links to documents so that they open in client applications instead of web applications by default.

• PerformancePoint Services Site Collection Features— Enables the PerformancePoint site, including content types and site definitions for the site collection.

• Publishing Approval Workflow— Enables the Publishing Approval workflow that allows Approvers to approve or reject the page.

• Reporting— When active, creates reports about activities in SharePoint 2010.

• Search Server Web Parts— When active, uploads all web parts required for the Search Center site template.

• SharePoint 2007 Workflows— When active, provides the out-of-the-box workflows provided by SharePoint 2007.

• SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Collection Features— When active, allows the use of features such as InfoPath Forms Services, Visio Services, Access Services, and Excel Services.

• SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure— When active, provides libraries, content types, master pages, and page layouts to facilitate the use of SharePoint as a publishing environment. Adds site collection documents and site collection images, as well, to the top-level site in the site collection.

• SharePoint Server Standard Site Collection Features— Provides features such as user profiles and search.

• Three-State Workflow— When active, enables the Three-State workflow.

• Workflows— When active, allows use of out-of-the-box SharePoint workflows.

• Report Server File sync— When active, allows synchronization with SQL Server Reporting Services.