SharePoint: A few notes on Excel Services

 

 

Some thoughts on Excel Services

(while I’m thinking about Excel services classes)

 

Audiences? Who needs to know what about Excel Services?

* = any one or all of these people need this knowledge.

  Administrators need to know:

• Server deployment - SSP, load monitoring and load balancing, session issues
• Setting up Trusted Locations - and setting timeout, UDF and other options
• How to deploy custom UDFs (User Defined Functions written in .Net)
• * Know how to maintain Data Connection Libraries and create Data Connection Files (and understand authentication options)

  Site Owners need to know:

• Excel and Filter web parts
• Library "Browser-enabled Documents - Display as a Web page" options
• Who to ask to know where the "trusted locations" are and which UDFs are installed
• * Know how to maintain Data Connection Libraries and create Data Connection Files (and understand authentication options)

  End users / Excel developers need to know:

• What Excel Services is really for, and what the limitations are
• Which versions of Excel can be used to Publish to SharePoint (only 2007 and only editions above Professional)
• How to publish to SharePoint
• Which Excel features will not work in Excel Services (VBA macros for example)
• How to use custom UDFs written by .Net developers
• * Know how to create Data Connection Files (and understand authentication options)

  Developers:

• How to write and deploy UDFs
• How to call the Excel Server web services (there is no object API!)

 

Links:

Features not supported by Excel Services:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms496823.aspx

 

 

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