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A Collaborative Application for Managing Skills Testing (Cont'd)


Data Storage (Cont'd)
In this case, SharePoint Lists and Libraries are used. While these lack the formal integrity provided by relational databases, the data is accessible through standard SharePoint forms and forms written using Microsoft SharePoint Designer and standard Web Parts.

In most collaborative applications processes implemented using workflows typically cover 80% at most of all possible steps and outcomes of the process. The remaining 20% or so are often managed by suitable qualified users directly manipulating data in the SharePoint lists. While this is not acceptable in line-of-business applications, collaborative applications make frequent use of such techniques. Risks of incorrect data changes can be mitigated by applying approval processes to such modifications.

User Interface
Broadly, three choices exist for implementing the user interface:
  1. Standard SharePoint forms.
  2. Custom forms written with SharePoint Designer and standard web parts.
  3. Custom web parts written using Visual Studio 2008 with C# or VB.NET and forms written in SharePoint Designer.
In this solution, as is often the case, a mixture of all three techniques is used. The following matrix compares and contrasts these choices:



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