This document provides an overview of Business Connectivity Services (BCS) in SharePoint 2010, including: 1. BCS allows external data to be surfaced in SharePoint and Office applications like Outlook and Word in a reusable way. It extends the reach of enterprise data. 2. Key investment areas of BCS include presentation of external data, connectivity to backend systems, and tooling to assemble solutions. 3. BCS solutions can range from simple to intermediate to advanced, using components like external content types, lists, forms, and custom code implemented in Visual Studio.

1. Connecting to LOB Systems Using BCS Ayman El-Hattab Technology Solution Professional MEA Center of Expertise SharePoint MVP ayman@aymanelhattab.com www.aymanelhattab.com

2. Agenda Challenges with Back-End Data Introducing Business Connectivity Services Investment Areas Presentation Connectivity Tooling How do I get it? Q&A

3. Feedback is loud and clear 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 offline?

4. Business Connectivity Services Extend the reach of Enterprise Data 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 Easily create custom solutions

5. Investment Areas Presentation Connectivity Tooling

6. PresentationExternal Lists in SharePoint Expose external data as a native SharePoint list Full CRUD capability Familiar UI and navigation Sort, Filter, Group Programmatic access via SPList OM Form Auto-generated OOB Upsize to InfoPath Offline-able

7. PresentationOffline External List Connect to Outlook as Contacts Tasks Calendars Download to SharePoint Workspace as Lists Word doc libraries with external data columns

8. PresentationSurfacing External Data 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

9. External Content TypeThe building block Outlook Forms and Task Panes SharePoint External Lists SharePointWorkspace with InfoPath Forms External Content Type Customer CustomerID FirstName LastName PhoneNumber EmailAddress Search Results External data Office Applications

10. Connectivity Business Data Connectivity (BDC) Presntation in SharePoint Business Data Connectivity (BDC) External CT’s Repository BDC Client Runtime BDC Server Runtime Client Data Cache DB Connector WCF/WS Connector .NET Assembly Connector Client to Backend Direct Connection External data Custom .NET assembly SQL SAP ORACLE Siebel

11. ToolingAssemble Solutions via SharePoint Designer Discover Database Web services .NET type Map operations Create, read, update, delete, lookup Connect to SharePoint/Office External List Contact Task Appointment Post

12. ToolingBuilding ProDev Apps using VS Simple drag and drop experience Create connectivity packs in Visual Studio to Aggregate data across multiple back-ends Perform custom data transformations Execute 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)

13. Deployment Part of WSP-based SharePoint application packaging, deployment, and administration Deploy solution to Server and Client Artifacts are packaged into a single versioned unit Solution Package is published to SharePoint Deployed to Office Client using ClickOnce

15. Use custom code to integrate data into any Office app

16. Business logic in forms

17. Create reusable components (UI parts, ECTs, actions)

18. Customize

19. InfoPath forms

20. Workflow

21. Web Part Pages

22. Outlook taskpane and ribbon

23. Out-of-box

24. Surface data in External Lists

25. Connect those lists to Outlook, SPW

26. External Data ColumnsIntermediate Simple Advanced NO CODE* CODE SharePoint Designer SharePoint SDK Visual Studio Advanced Developer Developer Power User

27. Introduction to Business Connectivity Services in SP2010 Simple BCS Solutions demo

28. Introduction to Business Connectivity Services in SP2010 Conflict Resolution with SPW demo

29. External Systems Office 2010 Client SharePoint Server 2010 Contoso Sales Solution Sales Database SOA Layer (Web Services)

30. Demo: Overview 3 2 1 I’m a sales rep for Contoso and will be travelling on the road… - Check product availability and create a new quote document from SharePoint Workspace - Receive e-mail from customer requesting a quote - In Outlook, learn more about customer’s sales history - Prepare for the upcoming trip by installing BCS solutions on the Laptop and syncing data 5 4 - Sync with corporate network - Fill out the quote in Word, send it to the customer

31. Introduction to Business Connectivity Services in SP2010 Contoso Sales Solution (Intermediate BCS Solution) demo

33. External List

35. InfoPath Forms

38. Introduction to Business Connectivity Services in SP2010 Creating Outlook Solution Packages demo

39. Introduction to Business Connectivity Services in SP2010 Advanced BCS Solutions demo