SharePoint Server is a one-stop shop for an organization’s collaborative needs. Users can access their My Site pages to manage and share information such as documents, links, tasks, and their Microsoft Office calendars in one central location. They can then navigate into any departmental or project site to search for information or documents within lists or document libraries. If they have a question that they think another SharePoint user in the organization can answer, they can post it on a discussion board for someone at any location to answer.
Consider a situation in which users need to find specific documents somewhere in the organization, but they are not sure where the files are stored or exactly which organization or department may own or store the documents. The search capabilities in SharePoint Server enable users to search for the files and get results in a matter of seconds. If users were to search for specific documents, they could again use the search feature in SharePoint Server to find the documents as well as go into the document library and view the documents’ version histories to find out who has edited the documents or find out if the documents are in draft form or are major versions.
The content type functionality in SharePoint Server enables organizations to add metadata to documents, which can enhance the search feature in SharePoint Server and tie retention schedules to certain types of documents. Use of metadata assists an organization in better organizing its content and saving money on storage space, as well as lowering its legal liability by no longer storing data that it is no longer required to retain.
SharePoint Server allows for a true enterprise portal, which can also be used as an organization’s intranet solution or Knowledge Management platform. Each department within the organization can have its own site, and SharePoint Server will allow for advanced searching of the documents stored within these department sites based on the security role of the user performing the search.
Organizations with offices all over the globe and multiple language requirements can use SharePoint language packs to provide content in a particular region’s required language. The language packs enable site owners to create sites and related site collections in different languages so that content can be managed for each language across different sites. It is also possible for users to create a site or site collection based on a specific language’s site template by choosing the language–locale combination when creating the site.
