What is SharePoint and why we use it?

SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform developed by Microsoft. It serves as a content management system, document management system, and intranet portal for organizations. SharePoint allows teams to create, store, organize, and share information and documents within a centralized and secure environment.

Here are some key reasons why organizations use SharePoint:

1. Document Management: SharePoint provides a centralized repository for storing and managing documents. It enables version control, document collaboration, and permissions management, ensuring that users have access to the right documents at the right time.
2. Collaboration: SharePoint offers a range of collaboration features, such as team sites, discussion boards, calendars, and task lists. These tools facilitate communication and cooperation among team members, both within departments and across different teams.
3. Intranet Portal: SharePoint can be used to build and maintain an organization’s intranet portal, serving as a central hub for news, announcements, company policies, and other important information. It promotes internal communication and knowledge sharing within the organization.
4. Workflow Automation: SharePoint includes powerful workflow capabilities, allowing organizations to automate and streamline business processes. Workflows can be designed to route documents for approval, track tasks, and trigger notifications, enhancing productivity and efficiency.
5. Business Intelligence: SharePoint integrates with other Microsoft tools like Power BI and Excel, enabling the creation of interactive dashboards, reports, and data visualizations. This empowers organizations to gain insights from their data and make informed decisions.
6. Customization and Extensibility: SharePoint provides a flexible platform that can be customized to meet specific organizational requirements. It offers tools for building custom workflows, forms, and applications, and supports the integration of third-party solutions.

Overall, SharePoint improves collaboration, information management, and productivity within organizations, making it a valuable tool for teams and businesses of all sizes.

SharePoint can be used in conjunction with Power Apps and Power Automate (formerly known as Microsoft Flow). These tools are part of the Microsoft Power Platform, which integrates with SharePoint to provide enhanced functionality and automation capabilities.

Power Apps allows you to build custom applications without writing code. With SharePoint integration, you can create Power Apps that interact with SharePoint lists and libraries. For example, you can build custom forms to create, view, and edit SharePoint list items or develop complete applications that leverage SharePoint data and functionality.

Power Automate enables the automation of workflows and processes across various applications and services, including SharePoint. You can create automated workflows that are triggered by specific events or conditions in SharePoint, such as when a new item is added to a list or when a document is modified. These workflows can perform actions in SharePoint, such as sending notifications, updating list items, or starting approvals.

By combining SharePoint, Power Apps, and Power Automate, you can create powerful and tailored solutions for your organization. Whether it’s building custom applications, automating business processes, or integrating data across different systems, these tools provide a seamless and integrated experience.