FOREWORD

It is nearly impossible to give a short, coherent answer to a SharePoint novice when I’m asked “What is SharePoint?” SharePoint has grown from simple portal software that includes search and content management capabilities, into a complex enterprise platform used for everything from managing collaboration on departmental projects all the way to handling hundreds of thousands of transactions a day for banks, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, the military, and major corporations.

SharePoint has become so large and so complex that no one can profess to be a master of the entire platform. How do you describe it to someone?

Chris Geier has taken up the challenge of answering that question by putting together a team of authors, each of whom is an expert in a specific area of SharePoint. The authors Chris has chosen are the same subject matter experts I look to when I need help with a thorny business issue that might be solved with SharePoint.

As a SharePoint evangelist, I personally know each of the authors through their contributions to the SharePoint community. They “pay it forward” by freely giving their time and expertise through participation in conferences, user groups, blogs, and SharePoint Saturdays. They have firsthand knowledge and experience with the most important aspects of utilizing SharePoint in real-world situations.

It is a long, treacherous road to becoming an expert in any specific aspect of SharePoint, whether it is branding, workflow, search capabilities, connecting to legacy data systems, or server administration. Other piecemeal alternatives are available as enterprise-level content management and knowledge management systems, but SharePoint is the foundation most companies choose when they make the final selection for managing their most important processes and information. Knowing this, you have the advantage of being able to choose which aspect of SharePoint interests you the most.

Use this book wisely by glancing through each section to see what interests you and then choose a subject for a deep dive. Become proficient at that one aspect, and the knowledge gained will flow into other areas of the platform, helping you to gain a broader understanding as to how SharePoint works and what it can do. But don’t stop there.

The complexity of the business world makes it necessary to continue your discovery process by keeping in mind the problems your business is trying to solve. SharePoint is a platform for developing solutions to those business problems. Keeping that uppermost in mind will help you choose the right path when selecting which corner of SharePoint to investigate.

Read through each chapter with confidence, knowing you are being led by the people the SharePoint community recognizes as experts. Better yet, join the SharePoint community by participating on Twitter, blogs, forums, and SharePoint wikis.

This book is your launch pad into SharePoint 2010. Choose your subject and take the jump. Five years down the road you’ll be glad you did.

—Mark Miller,

Founder and Editor, EndUserSharePoint.com

Chief Communication Officer and SharePoint Evangelist, Global 360