Access 2013 Bible

Chapter 32: Understanding Windows SharePoint Services

IN THIS CHAPTER

Getting familiar with SharePoint

Understanding SharePoint Lists

Considering the concept behind Access and SharePoint integration

Throughout this book you've read about the many new features that Microsoft has added to Access 2013. As exciting and interesting as these new capabilities are, they pale in comparison to the ability to upsize Access applications to Windows SharePoint Server. Each recent version of Access has demonstrated greater and greater ability to integrate with SharePoint. The most exciting aspect of this new paradigm is the ability to actually run your Access application as a SharePoint website.

In the next few chapters, we'll explore the various techniques that will allow you to upsize your Access databases to SharePoint. But first, this chapter gives you a base understanding of what SharePoint is and how it helps organizations share and collaborate data.

Introducing SharePoint

SharePoint is Microsoft's collaborative server environment, providing tools for sharing documents and data across various organizations within your company network.

SharePoint is typically deployed on a company's network as a series of SharePoint sites. A SharePoint site is configured as an intranet site, giving various departments the ability to control their own security, workgroups, documents, and data. These sites can be nested within other sites in a hierarchical fashion.

As with any other website, a SharePoint ...