SharePoint 2010 Project - Foster (Consolidated Article)

In this article I would like to give the entire components of the project named Foster. You can download the files associated with this article in the desired sequence.

What are the Files involved?

This project was built using the SDLC principles. The following are the documents involved:

	File	Description
1.	Requirement Specification	The client requirement captured in this document
2.	Detailed Design	The detailed design information using SharePoint
3.	Implementation – Infrastructure	Guidance for Windows Server, SharePoint 2010 Installations
4.	Implementation – SharePoint	Guidance for implementing solution inside SharePoint
5.	Documentation	Documentation of the Project from the user perspective.

I would advise the reader to go through in the above order of documents. I request you to understand the requirements and conceptualize the solution yourself. You can use forums / web resources to come up with the best solution.

What is Foster?

Foster represents Food Stamps Terminal, a department in an imaginary company which provides Food Stamps for applicants. The applicant has to undergo a process of approval to get the Food Stamps.



Thinking in the SharePoint Way

I know that you are well versed in providing solutions in the ASP.NET way. But the same solution can be done in SharePoint with more than a 50% reducion in time. To do that you must practice your SharePoint skills. To focus more on SharePoint skills development I have discarded the complex business portions from the project.

Purpose of the Project

The purpose of the project is to give the reader a real-time scenario for applying SharePoint 2010 knowledge. There is a good amount of SharePoint 2010 skills involving:

• Architecting
• Development
• Administration

Who can benefit from this?

I target the developers who recently adapted SharePoint skills. This project definitely gives them an opportunity to think in the SharePoint way in solving problems. Plus doing the project yourself will make you build an enormous amount of troubleshooting and debugging skills.

What are the skills gained after doing the project?

The following are the skills gained through this project:

1. Web Application
2. Site Collection & Sub Sites
3. Users & Permissions
4. List Definitions, Instances, Views
5. Custom Content Type & List Definition
6. Navigation Links & Quick Launch
7. WebParts
8. SPQuery, CAML & Builder Tool
9. Visual Studio Workflow
10. Server Object Model
11. Client Object Model
12. Search using CAML Query
13. Custom Timer Job & Monitoring
14. Packaging & Deployment

Plus the developer will gain the following experience as well:

• Windows 2008 Installation
• Active Directory Configuration
• SharePoint 2010 Server Installation
• DNS Configuration
• SDLC Approach to Projects

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the community and my friends who provided support in the creation of this project and the associated documents.

Feedback

As always there is opportunity to improve; I would like to get your feedback or queries in the design and solutions. Together we can improve ourselves and make better products for tomorrow.