What Is SharePoint? What Are The Benefits Of Using Microsoft SharePoint In Software Development

Boasting of a user base of nearly two hundred million spread across 75,000 business organizations worldwide, SharePoint is definitely one of the most popular enterprise-ready web services offered by Microsoft. Initially started as an app for enterprise document management, collaboration, and sharing as well as storage, it quickly rose as a platform to help team members in software development projects collaborate and communicate meaningfully. With a wide variety of usage in enterprises and web based app development companies, Microsoft SharePoint is now a widely adopted solution.

Before getting into the details of its usage for diverse enterprise-specific and development purposes, let us first of all, have an understanding of the definition, core features, and usability.

What Is SharePoint?

SharePoint is basically a web-based application that is used for data storage, collaboration and for document management in rigorous enterprise environments. SharePoint is widely used for building sophisticated web apps. SharePoint developers primarily find this web-based app helpful when it comes to storing, share, collaborating and access data from multiple devices without restraint.

Microsoft SharePoint developers can access two principal products for the purpose of developing SharePoint-based applications. Let us explain them briefly here below.

• Windows SharePoint Services or WSS is basically content management and deployment which is used principally for file and folder storage as well as management. It only offers basic functionality expected from a content management system.

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server or MOSS on the other hand is used for integrating the functionalities of SharePoint into the Microsoft Office application. It is the version mostly used by SharePoint developers as it allows saving a document as the part of a web app.

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Common Attributes Of SharePoint 

SharePoint in its initial and basic state ensures accessing the documents through web browsers including Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Mozilla Firefox. Let us explain the common attributes of Microsoft SharePoint below.

• Both the above-mentioned versions by default allow the development of SharePoint websites and deployment.
• A collection of website templates for web development is available by default.
• There is the default provision to create types, lists, and user groups.
• One can define the individual user rights based on the lists.
• Glitch-free user information security is provided.
• An array of application components like blogs, wikis, etc remain ready for use and setup.
• The website UI can be set up as per the preference of the client.

Benefits Of SharePoint

Web app developers worldwide prefer SharePoint because of the following reasons. Here are the key advantages of SharePoint.

1. Unmatched Collaboration

Thanks to SharePoint team members can easily remain connected while being able to share files and updates throughout an app development project. The latest collaboration features of SharePoint allow real-time streaming of information allowing more ease in accessing and sharing information within an organization.

2. Custom Suited To The Development Need

SharePoint comes packed with an array of the most sophisticated and unique tools to tweak the features as per the need of the development project at hand. Thanks to SharePoint you can build a lot of custom features and give your app an array of custom tools.

With SharePoint, the developers enjoy the ease of integrating various features in any application of your choice. You can tweak the components and integrate them as per your suitability for the development project in question. The entire user experience can be treated with custom attributes associated with your business brand.

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3. Easy To Handle Centralised Administration

SharePoint allows deeper control and a comprehensive mechanism to administer the whole platform. It comes with a console for central administration which allows all the app management features, system-specific settings, backup, restoration and upgrading capabilities, configuration wizards, etc within a single location.

4. Robust Security And Integrity

SharePoint comes with robust security and integrity features. The integrated security features of the platform help protect the integrity of the app data from all sorts of unauthorised access. Some of these security and integrity features that make SharePoint an ideal collaboration platform include managing permissions, the ability to see all the subsequent editing and revisions made to any document and different layers of security both at the level of document and the overall app level.

5. Lower Learning Curve And Ease Of Use

Thanks to SharePoint developers now can develop solutions and business tools without really needing the involvement of a professional dedicated developer. This data management and collaboration platform offers optimum ease of use and can be managed without any deep knowledge of coding. Whether you need to update your website or just need to give your development team some specific tools, SharePoint allows you to do so.

Conclusion:

In a software development environment, SharePoint offers a very consolidated approach with all the robust tools, feature set and administrative as well as collaborative ease required for web based app development.