MCTS: Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 Configuration: Study Guide Exam 70-630

13.1. Understanding the Business Data Catalog (BDC)

The business data catalog truly lets the world come to you right inside the SharePoint interface or, more accurately, lets the world's information come to you. As you read in Chapter 12, "Using Excel Services and Business Intelligence," the BDC is a new shared service in Share-Point that allows users to access information from back-end applications within the site collection using the typical SharePoint components. The BDC is not a storage method but rather a cataloging method that keeps track of and allows real-time access to dissimilar data sources as well as defining SharePoint-relevant business applications. Source types can include traditional SharePoint data stores such as libraries and ...