Basic Features of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

The following list provides an overview of the standard features included in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. This is a very basic list, and ignores a number of features, such as the administrative toolset, management features, search features, and others, but gives a basic summary:

. Document libraries—This basic component of a SharePoint site is designed to store and manage documents, and allows the administrator to add additional columns of data to the library (called metadata) as well as create custom views, track versions of the documents, and control access on a document level. Many other features are available in a document library, such as requiring checkout before a document can be edited or creating alerts that send email when certain conditions are met, such as a document changing. Other standard libraries include the form library, wiki page library, and picture library.

. Lists—Another basic component of a SharePoint site, a list can take many forms, but is essentially data arranged in spreadsheet format that can be used to meet a virtually limitless array of needs. For example, standard lists include announcements, contacts, discussion boards, events, tasks, and surveys.

. Web pages—Web pages include basic pages and web part pages, each of which organize navigational and design components and include web parts. These are the pages that users see and use when interacting with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 sites. Web parts are modular components that can be placed on pages and perform functions such as displaying data that resides in a document library or list.

. Sites and workspaces—Sites and workspaces are essentially groupings of lists, libraries, and basic web part pages that provide a variety of features and functions to the users. For example, there might be a site for human resources or information technology, or a workspace that enables users to collaborate on a document or a workspace could be created for a specific event, such as a company quarterly meeting.

. Site management tools—These come in a variety of forms, including the browser based page editing tools, sub site management tools, and site collection management tools.

. Central Administration console tools—These tools allow a SharePoint farm administrator to configure the server or servers to perform properly and to perform backups and restores of data.

Source of Information : Sams - Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed