Guest Author: Brett Lonsdale
www.brettlonsdale.com

Have you explored what can be done with the Business Data Catalog (BDC) yet?  The BDC is no longer brand new, but is still very misunderstood and extremely powerful. 

Many consider it to be yet another way of displaying data in web parts, well yes, but as well as that you can search your Line of Business data (LOB), use it within SharePoint lists and Libraries from a special type of lookup column, aggregate user profile information from LOB systems into SharePoint and create your own custom applications using an extensive object model.

The only real bit that is difficult is to author is the XML file that is required allowing SharePoint to consume the data.  You actually have a choice here of products that will allow you to author the XML via an application offering drag & drop functionality rather than writing it by hand.  An example of such a product  is BDC Meta Man which is actually available as a free tool or a pay for tool depending on how advanced you want your connection to be.  Now, the guys at Lightning Tools have come up with a more ‘User Friendly’ approach to connecting to the databases.  You no longer have to come out of SharePoint to configure the connection to the database.  Below is an image showing BDC Meta Man Web Edition.

As you can see from the above image, you can select from a range of tables and stored procedures from your data source, and then using properties configure the filters, associations, and other properties using your SharePoint web part page.  Once you are ready, you can simply click the Add LOB System to MOSS button which immediately makes your Line of Business data available. 

The guys that developed the tool are well known within the SharePoint industry and have soaked up information about the Business Data Catalog since its release in early 2007.  Brett Lonsdale & Nick Swan are also the authors of the only book available that cover the Business Data Catalog from start to finish.
If you would like to know more about the Business Data Catalog, there is a useful whitepaper available from the homepage of the Lightning Tools web site which explains exactly what can be done with it.

Otherwise, we would encourage you to explore how easy it is nowadays for even non developers to connect SharePoint to your back end systems using a tool such as BDC Meta Man Web Edition. 

You can obtain a free trial from the following page: http://www.lightningtools.com/bdc-meta-man/web-edition.aspx

Guest Author: Brett Lonsdale

Brett Lonsdale is a SharePoint developer who specializes within the Business Data Catalog, co-owner of Lightning Tools Ltd, Co-host on The SharePoint Pod Show www.sharepointpodshow.com..  Strategically (kind of) Brett has based himself in Florida where he lives with his wife and daughter.  You can read Brett’s blog on www.brettlonsdale.com, and also follow him on twitter @brettlonsdale