12.4. SharePoint List Integration
While viewing business data via Web Parts in a web page format offers great visibility for most organizations, sometimes users require a deeper integration between business data and existing SharePoint content. For example, if an organization's customer information is stored in a customer relationship management database, it may be more beneficial to have a central listing of customers pulled from the database rather than maintained manually in a SharePoint list.
In a SharePoint list or library, you can create a custom column that pulls data directly from your business application via the BDC. In the next example, you see how to associate specific products with the specification materials and brochures that are uploaded to the customer service center SharePoint site. You base the Products column on product information stored in a business application, such as the AdventureWorks database that you've been using for the examples so far in this chapter. Once that Try it Out is complete, you upload a document to the library and associate business data with the document.
|
In this example, you create a new document library to store product-related documentation to help consolidate information for the customer service team. The team has repeatedly asked that it be given the capability to filter or search for a specific product. Typically to associate product names with documents, you create a central ... |
