virtual techdaysINDIA │ 9-11 February 2011

Light up your LOB apps on Sharepoint with BCS

Sachin Vinod Rathi │ Architect Advisor, Microsoft Corporation

Feedback

Read/WriteRead is nice… Write back would be even more powerful

Tooling SupportNeed an easier way to create, debug and maintain appdef XML files

I wish it was baked into the PlatformWouldn’t it be nice to offline?

Microsoft SharePoint 2010The business collaboration platform for the Enterprise and the Web

3

Connect and Empower People

Cut Costs with a Unified Infrastructure

Rapidly Respond to Business Needs

Communities

Search

Sites

Composites

ContentInsights

Rapidly create no-code collaborative solutions

Unlock the value of your enterprise data

Maintain control over end user solutions

SharePoint CompositesEnabling no-code collaborative solutions that balance self-service with control

4

Communities

Search

Sites

Content

Communities

Search

Sites

Composites

ContentInsights

Agenda

Challenges with Back-End DataIntroducing Business Connectivity ServicesInvestment Areas

PresentationDemo: External data in SharePoint and Office

ConnectivityTooling

How do I get it?Q&A

Challenges With Back End Data

End User Challenges IT ChallengesMultiple user interfaces

External systems can be difficult to use

Can't work with the data when and where I want to

Can’t easily search for business data

Need to involve IT to service my requests for data access

Islands of business data

Overhead for IT to service all user requests

Manage security, auditing, connectivity

One off projects for connecting

to external systems

Challenges With Back End Data

Provide External Data in a Centrally Managed

Way

Bring external data into SharePoint and Office

Business Connectivity Services

Business Connectivity Services

Extend the reach of Enterprise Data

Easily create custom solutions

Bring data from external systems into SharePoint and Office, interact with it, reuse it, and empower end users to gain insight into the underlying data in a reusable way.

Centrally manage reusable connections

Investment Areas

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

A bit of Terminology…

Business Connectivity Services – All upBusiness Data Connectivity (BDC) – plumbing, runtime, connectivityExternal System – back endsExternal Content Type (ECT) - a building block, entity++Model – XML fileExternal List – newest type of SP list

SharePointDesign Tools

Office Applications

BCS Client

Business Data Connectivity

External Content Type Repository

External Lists

Dev Platform

Enterprise Search

Business Intelligence

Collaboration Social

Enterprise Content

Management

Web 2.0DBWCFWeb ServiceLOB

SharePointDesigner

Visual Studio

Business Connectivity Services

External Content Type (ECT)The building block

Superset of entity capabilities; describes:Structure of the external system (Fields, Methods, Connection)How this data behaves within SharePoint and Office

Manage and reuse from a central location

Added to the Business Data Connectivity service through:

SharePoint DesignerVisual Studio 2010Import into the Business Data Connectivity service as part of a model

External Content Type (ECT)The building block

BCS-enabled solutions rely on ECTs to integrate external data into SharePoint and the Office client applications

Can be reused inExternal ListSearchOutlookSharePoint Workspace

WordInfoPathAccessOther Office applications via code

Outlook Forms

and Task Panes

SharePoint External Lists

SharePoint Workspace with InfoPath Forms

Search Results

External Content TypeThe building block

Office Applications

External Content

TypeCustomer CustomerID FirstName LastName EmailAddress

External data

Expose external data as a native SharePoint list

Full CRUD capability Familiar UI and navigationSort, Filter, GroupProgrammatic access via SPList OMProfile page available for each item in the list Form

Auto-generated OOBUpsize to InfoPath

Offline-able

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

PresentationExternal Lists in SharePoint

PresentationOffline External List

Connect to Outlook asContactsTasksCalendarsPosts

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

Download to SharePoint Workspace as

ListsWord doc libraries with external data columns

PresentationSurfacing External Data

External Data Columns Add data from external content types to standard SharePoint listsCan be made available as Content Controls in Word

Web PartsScenario: Use for Dashboard pages

External Data List External Data ItemExternal Data Item BuilderExternal Data Related ListExternal Data Connectivity FilterChart Web Part

External Data Search Integrate External Data into search results

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

Demo : Using BCS: External Data in SharePoint & Office

Demo Overview

Connect Product data from SharePoint to SharePoint Workspace

• External List• InfoPath Forms• SharePoint Workspace integration

Create a Sales Quote document in Word• External Data Column• Word Content Controls

• External Content Type• External List• Outlook integration

Bring Customer data into SharePoint and Outlook

ConnectivityBusiness Data Connectivity (BDC)Business Data Catalog (BDC)

SAP ORACLE Siebel

SQLCustom .N

ET assembly

DBConnecto

r

WCF/WSConnector

.NET AssemblyConnecto

r

CustomConnecto

r

Client to Backend Direct Connection

BDC Client Runtime

BDC Metadata Store

External data

Business Data Connectivity (BDC)

BDC Server Runtime

Client Data

Cache

Presntation in SharePoint

ConnectivityConnecting to External Data

Business Data Connectivity enhancementsRead/write capabilityClaims awareConnect via ADO/SQL, WCF/WS, .Net Assembly and Custom ConnectorsBatch and bulk operation support

BDC used for Search indexing connectorsAdded blob, incremental crawl and item level Security

Symmetrical server and client runtimesConnect from client or server directly to external data

Rich client cacheSQL CE database is used to cache external dataAllows for “cached mode” behavior on external data

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

ToolingEasily create and customize solutions

AssemblyNo-code solutions in SPDExternal Content Type definitionsForm layout and validationWorkflow integration

Build Pro-Dev Solutions in Visual StudioCreate reusable components (UI parts, ECTs, actions)Custom Office Integration (add-ins)Custom connectivity

.Net Assembly ConnectorCustom Connector

Code-based business logic

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

Solution Types

Simple Advanced

• Custom connectivity for data aggregation, transformation, security, etc.• Use custom code to

integrate data into any Office app• Business logic in

forms

Create reusable components (UI parts, ECTs, actions)

• Surface data in External Lists

• Connect those lists to Outlook, SPW

Intermediate

• Customize• InfoPath forms• Outlook taskpane

and ribbon• Workflow• Web Part Pages

ToolingAssemble Solutions via SharePoint Designer

DiscoverDatabase Web services.NET type

Map operationsCreate, read, update, delete, lookup

Connect to SharePoint/Office

External ListContactTaskAppointmentPost

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

ToolingBuilding ProDev Apps using VS

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

Simple drag and drop experience

Create connectivity packs in Visual Studio to

Aggregate data across multiple back-endsPerform custom data transformationsExecute custom business logic/rules (e.g., trigger workflow)

Upsize IT solutions created in SharePoint Designer

Bring external data into other Office clients with VSTO Add-Ins (e.g., Excel)

Lifecycle Management

Part of WSP-based SharePoint application packaging, deployment, and administration

Deploy solution to Server and ClientArtifacts are packaged into a single versioned unitSolution Package is published to SharePointDeployed to Office Client using ClickOnce

Application upgrade management

Presentation

Connectivity

Tooling

Baked into the Platform…

Secure Store

Service

External Data

Search

Rich Client Extensions

External Data Web

Parts

BDC Client Runtime

Profile Pages

External ListExternal Data

Column

Business Data Connectivity Service

SharePoint Server 2010 Office 2010

SharePoint Foundation 2010

Business Connectivity ServicesKey Takeaways

Bring External Data into SharePoint and Office

Client/server connectivity with

Read/writeOnline/offline

Tools for rapid assembly of business solutions declaratively

Baked into the Platfom

Questions?

virtual techdaysTHANKS│ 9-11 February 2011

Email : sachinvr@microsoft.comBlog : http://sachinrathi.spaces.live.com/

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