The 5 Best SharePoint Features You Don’t Know About

Businesses have a lot of details that need to be attended to. From inventory maintenance to project completion, and from budgeting to marketing, there is a lot of data that needs to be collected and analyzed in order to ensure that the business is running as smoothly as possible. Enterprise Resource Planning Software (ERP Software), such as SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics, are a great way to access all of this information and improve the efficiency of a business. Alfapeople, an expert in SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics, has had a lot of success helping businesses utilize ERP software to maximize their profits and productivity.

Here are 5 SharePoint features that are often overlooked.

1. Search Analytics
Search analytics is a great way to increase the efficiency of SharePoint's search function. There are two main SharePoint features of search analytics that can be utilized. One is to identify search terms that return no results. The second is to identify search terms that get results, but do not receive any clicks. By taking this information, a company is able to optimize their search terms. To use search analytics, access the SharePoint Central Administration, which is located in Search Settings. The programs that are able to use this feature are Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Site/Site Collection and MOSS Site/Site Collection.

2. Business Data Catalog (BDC)
This catalog is the main method that SharePoint uses to gain access to information and structured data from other company systems. This information is usually found as a SAP implementation, or in a database on an SQL or Oracle server. Basically any source of information that can be accessed through an SQL call can be part of a BDC. By using a BDC, all of that data is then taken into account by SharePoint's search engine. Users can search the BDC through regular means. Any of the search results and user information can be recorded as a list column. It is also able to input profile information about users from the human resources system. They only system that is able to use this feature is MOSS.

3. Enterprise Social Networking
Lots of people work in an Enterprise. An often overlook SharePoint Feature is the social networking system. This is used to keep track of who is working on what along with important contacts. It is possible to essentially "follow" other people's profiles. One of the most important parts of this feature is that it allows a person in one department to find contacts in another department to collaborate on projects and share information. The only system that can use this is MOSS enterprise.

4. Wikis and Blogs
It is possible to utilize the SharePoint feature of wikis and blogs to distribute informative content to a widespread audience. Blogs create in-depth content, while wikis can be used as a collaborative information tool. SharePoint encourages the creation of such information-sharing sites by making the process of creating and maintaining them very simple. Both MOSS and WSS can use this feature.

5. Data Connection Library
All pre-build data connections are stored in a central location that is carefully managed for efficiency. This is a great feature of SharePoint because once a database has been created, anyone with access to the library in a MOSS system will be able to use the information.
To learn more about integrating SharePoint into your work environment contact AlfaPeopleERP today, the Microsoft Dynamics 2013 Retail Partner of the Year.

by AlfapeopleERP