Development Studio for SharePoint

The Development Studio for SharePoint enables rapid development of custom solutions or applications in SharePoint. It takes advantage of SharePoint features that are usually only available through custom .NET development.

It consists of a set of easily configured web parts for 1) data aggregating and viewing, 2) data connections, 3) navigation and template design, and 4) the integration with data outside of SharePoint. The Development Studio also comes with a full set of  application templates that make the power of the SharePoint available without coding.

Business analysts, systems architects, and even power users — anyone who understands your data and business processes — can build enterprise-class sophisticated applications. For professional developers, the Suite eliminates much of the time-consuming and repetitive coding needed to develop applications, preserving scarce coding resources for where they really add value.

Platform options: SPS v2, WSS v2, WSS v3, MOSS

Scope options: 1) Enterprise [multiple servers] 2) Mid Market [single server] & 3) Small Business/department [up to 100 users]

Training support: Three day workshop, including theory and exercises.

Data and Structure

Pain points: SharePoint data is contained in customs lists or as meta data around document or forms. This data is essentially bound to a site structure of html pages created in SharePoint. The ability to view and manage information beyond the site the user is located is not simply possible in out of the box SP.

It is only when we can see all the data in one location can one process it and convert data into information.

Making SharePoint Relational

Pain points: Being able to relate data is a common capability in any database or Business Intelligence system. Relating data has been a key tool to turn raw data into relevant meaningful information.  In real terms SharePoint has no capability to relate data across, sites, sites collections, web applications, or virtual servers.

Introducing the ‘Universal Data Connector’ to help you connect, relate and manage data with advanced relational constructs. The UDC pack  provides business users with the power to create advanced cross site systems with a simple ‘drag, drop and configure’ interface.

Application development

Imagine being able to build rich applications but have them developed and maintained by your business users. Imagine a simple ‘drag drop and configure’ environment empowering business users and freeing up developers for more critical matters. Imagine building applications at half the time and cost.

Use the Development Studio to build:

	Parent-Child List Relationships - Establish true Parent-Child relationships between 2 or more lists using primary key and foreign key. This is a must have feature.
	Cross-Site Lookup—enables centralized lists shared among multiple applications
	List Data Aggregation--aggregate data from multiple lists into one view. Custom Reporting — reports with grouping, sorting & filtering, subtotalling, data aging, and more.
	Navigation—list–based, security-aware cascading & panel menus enable sophisticated navigation
	Flow Control— direct the user experience while dramatically reducing clicks & page refreshes
	Email enabled lists & libraries—send email & links to team members from any the list or form view
	Performance Architecture—enables you to manage large amounts of data with excellent performance and lower maintenance requirements
	System integration with other systems [e.g. MS Dynamics CRM and Great Plains] to create composite applications
	Charting from simple and aggregated lists

Application Templates

Application Templates radically reduce the amount of time needed to deploy solutions. You can use the templates as turn-key solutions or customize them according to your requirements. All templates have standardized page formats that are easily customized to have the look and feel you want without changing the site definition.

The templates are included in the 

Our Application Templates utilize a performance architecture. The performance architecture dramatically reduces the number of sites you have to build, the number of clicks and page opens, and the time needed to generate aggregate reports. For example, one of our customers manages 12,000 individual projects. Our architecture enables management of all 12,000 projects in only 24 workspaces. They can easily navigate to any project and generate reports from all of the projects in a reasonable amount of time.

 

Management dash board	This site serves as a central repository of company data, contacts and partners. Using our cross-site lookup capability, the lists in this site can accessed from other sites. For example, the CRM site takes advantage of the centralized lists of companies, marketing partners, and contacts contained in this site.
Customer relationship management	This template is a comprehensive application for managing sales and customer relationships in a reseller environment. It can be easily modified to support a direct sales environment.
Help Desk	This template is a fully-functional Help Desk system. This template showcases how you can build an application that can present different interfaces depending on the roles of the logged in users. Help Desk Users can create help desk tickets and monitor their progress. Help Desk Supervisors and Help Desk Technicians can create and manage help desk tickets. Help Desk Supervisors can manage the Help Desk Technicians information. In addition, users can use the FAQ, Knowledge Base, Discussion Board and Guidelines and Procedures functionalities for troubleshooting their problems.
Project Management Dashboard	This site template contains pages to view aggregated information from multiple project workspaces. It enables the creation of static and ad-hoc reports across multiple projects.
Single Project Template	This site template enables the management of various aspects of a project, such as tasks, events, public and private document libraries, issues, etc.
Multi-Project Template	This site template enables the consolidation and management of information for multiple projects or a large project with multiple sub-projects inside a single workspace. It exemplifies the WA Performance Architecture™.