This document discusses connecting SharePoint to line of business (LOB) applications and external data sources. It provides an overview of Microsoft's Business Connectivity Services (BCS) which allows integrating back-end business data into SharePoint without custom coding. BCS enables connecting to various data sources, displaying and interacting with external data in SharePoint lists and libraries, and integrating the data into Office client applications. The document highlights the key capabilities and improvements in BCS.

1. Architecting solutions
connecting to LOB applications
Presented by:
Hosted by:
Vikram Rajkondawar
Architect Advisor
Ashvini Shahane (Head Strategic Service Unit - Synergetics)
Microsoft Corporation

2. Discussion Points
• Need for connecting to External LOB systems
• Business Connectivity Services
• Building Composite solutions with BCS
– OOB No Code solutions
– Intermediate Declarative Solutions
– Advanced Code Based Solutions

3. Challenges With Back End Data

4. Challenges With Back End Data

5. BDC 2007 - Connect to Business Data
• Connect SharePoint to any business application or
structured database
• SharePoint Provides:
– Business Data in Search
• Crawl back-end systems like ERP, CRM, Custom Databases,
SAP, Siebel, etc
– Business Data Web Parts
• Display back-end data
– Business Data in Lists
• Add business data as list columns and as document metadata
– Business Data in User Profiles
• Add business data as properties in User Profiles

6. BDC 2007 - Connect to Business Data
User Custom
Web Parts Lists Search
Search
Profiles Apps
List Profile
Columns Index Store
Business Data Catalog Metadata
WS Proxy ADO.NET
Web
Database
Service
BizTalk, SAP, Siebel, Legacy, … SQL Server, Oracle, OLEDB, ODBC

7. Business Data Catalog – Summary
Connect to Business Data
Build Business Application with No-Code
Collaborate around Business Data
Search Business Data – Index and Query
Business Data Catalog Business Data Web Parts Business Data Columns Business Data Search

8. Feedback on 2007 BDC
• Read/Write
– Read is nice… Write back would be even more
powerful
• Tooling Support
– Need an easier way to create, debug and maintain
appdef XML files
• I wish it was baked into the Platform
• Wouldn’t it be nice to use offline?

9. Investment Areas

10. A bit of Terminology…
• Business Connectivity Services – All up
• Business Data Connectivity (BDC) – plumbing,
runtime, connectivity
• External System – back ends
• External Content Type (ECT) - a building block,
entity++
• Model – XML file
• External List – newest type of SP list

11. Business Connectivity Services
Office Applications
Design SharePoint
Tools

12. External Content Types
Describes the schema and data access
capabilities of an external data source
and its behavior within Office and
SharePoint
*formerly known as BDC Entity
(Web Service, DB, .Net
object, LOB system, Web 2.0
service, etc.)
BCS-enabled solutions rely on ECTs to
integrate external data into SharePoint
and the Office client applications

13. External Content Type (ECT)
• 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 Designer
– Visual Studio 2010
– Import into the Business Data Connectivity service as part of a
model

14. External Content Type
External Content
Type
Customer
CustomerID
FirstName
LastName
EmailAddress
External data

15. BCS PRESENTATION INVESTMENTS

16. Presentation
• Expose external data as a
native SharePoint list
– Full CRUD capability
– Familiar UI and navigation
– Sort, Filter, Group
– Programmatic access via SPList
OM
– Profile page available for each
item in the list
– Form
• Auto-generated OOB
• Upsize to InfoPath
– Offline-able

17. Presentation
• Connect to Outlook as
– Contacts
– Tasks
– Calendars
– Posts

18. Presentation
• External Data Columns
– Add data from external content types to standard SharePoint lists
– Can be made available as Content Controls in Word
• Web Parts
Scenario: Use for Dashboard pages
– External Data List
– External Data Item
– External Data Item Builder
– External Data Related List
– External Data Connectivity Filter
– Chart Web Part
• External Data Search
– Integrate External Data into search results

19. DEMO

20. SCENARIO

21. Contoso Sales Solution
Office Client External Systems
SharePoint Server

22. Solution Overview
Bring Customer data into SharePoint and Outlook
• External Content Type
• External List
• Outlook integration
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

23. BCS CONNECTIVITY INVESTMENTS

24. Connectivity
External data

25. Connectivity
• Business Data Connectivity enhancements
– Read/write capability
– Claims aware
– Connect via ADO/SQL, WCF/WS, .Net Assembly and Custom Connectors
– Batch and bulk operation support
• BDC used for Search indexing connectors
– Added blob, incremental crawl and item level Security
• Symmetrical server and client runtimes
– Connect from client or server directly to external data
• Rich client cache
– SQL CE database is used to cache external data
– Allows for “cached mode” behavior on external data

26. BCS TOOLING INVESTMENTS

27. Tooling
• Discover
– Database
– Web services
– .NET type
• Map operations
– Create, read, update, delete,
lookup
• Connect to SharePoint/Office
– External List
– Contact
– Task
– Appointment
– Post

28. Tooling

29. Baked into the Platform…
Secure Store External Data Rich Client BDC Client
Service Search Extensions Runtime
External Data
Profile Pages
Web Parts
External List External Data Column
Business Data Connectivity Service

30. Solution Types, Tools
and Roles
NO CODE* CODE
Power User Developer Advanced Developer

31. Solution Types, Tools
and Roles
• Surface data in External
Lists
• Connect those lists to
Outlook, SPW
• Create reusable
components (UI parts,
ECTs, actions)
Simple Intermediate Advanced
NO CODE* CODE
Power User Developer Advanced Developer

32. Solution Types, Tools
and Roles
• Customize
• InfoPath forms
• Surface data in External • Outlook taskpane and
Lists ribbon
• Word (QuickParts)
• Connect those lists to • Workflow
Outlook, SPW • Web Part Pages
• Create reusable
components (UI parts,
ECTs, actions)
Simple Intermediate Advanced
NO CODE* CODE
SharePoint SharePoint
Designer SDK
Power User Developer Advanced Developer

33. SharePoint Designer and Visual Studio
Capability / Tool SharePoint Designer 2010 Visual Studio 2010
Connect to Existing WCF, Sql Server, .Net Any data source by creating .Net Assemblies
Assembly
Modeling Approach Discover and Configure Create and Publish
Target Scenarios Author “simple” models with OOB UX - Author complex models with custom
(External Lists, Outlook, SharePoint connectivity logic for aggregation,
Workspace, InfoPath, Search, simple transformation, security, etc.
FK-based associations) - Author custom UX via VSTO customizations
- Author reusable rich and thin UI parts
(WebParts) that connect to External Data

34. SCENARIO FOR INTEGRATION

35. Customer Data Aggregation Scenario
SharePoint Server
Data Aggregation
.Net Data Service (REST) Sql Database

36. Data Aggregation Scenario
SharePoint Server Office Client
Connect to Outlook
BCS External
Data Cache
Customers
Data Aggregation

37. Rich/Thin Solutions
Packaging and Deployment Office Client
Deploy and
Update
SharePoint
Include in WSP Server
Thin Client
Components
WSP
Package Import

38. Why the Business Connectivity Services?
Integrate other systems with SharePoint
sites
• Reporting dashboards
• Line of business applications
Integrate BCS data into hybrid Windows
Forms Applications
Search for data in other systems
via the SharePoint Search service
Save the time, cost, and monotony of
writing yet another data layer!

39. SharePoint Composites
Pervasive external data with Business Connectivity Services
My Artists
Artist Tracker > Artists
Contracts
Artist Name Address City State
Artist
Artist Name: Mandible
Deathrattle
Artists Concourse
Jay Hamlin Trio
Down on the Bayou
Andrew Datars Quartet
Agent:
Concourse
Stuck in the Mud
Jay Hamlin Trio
Tastes like chicken
Down on the Bayou
Mandible
Concourse

40. QUESTIONS?