I have been thinking... There really is no good place that describes what each Microsoft supplied template does.  I'm talking about the "FAB 40" templates... So, I am going to try and explain these templates and how they work in these next blog posts.  Microsoft has also created a Roles Based set of Templates as well.  I will also describe these templates and possibly give you ways that these templates can be re-built without using their install technologies.

Today's post will be about where to find the templates on microsoft's site, and a nice little script that I created so that you can quickly install the templates.

Microsoft keeps the "FAB 40" templates in their SharePoint Downloads section.  Go to http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint then on the left side menu, there is a section called downloads.  Under that menu, there is a sub-menu item called SharePoint Templates.  Click that link and it will take you to the Templates for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies.  From there you can download all of the current Microsoft Templates that are available.  These downloads will require you to register with Microsoft before you can download.  Once downloaded, extract the files to your drive.

Now create two batch files called InstallSTPTemplates.bat and InstallTemplates.bat in the same directory that you extracted the templates to.  These files will be the quick install files that will make life easy when adding the templates to your SharePoint site.

Edit the InstallSTPTemplates.bat and put the following text in it:

stsadm -o addtemplate -filename BoardDirectors.stp -title "Board of Directors" -description "The Board of Directors application template provides a single location for an external group of members to store and locate common documents such as quarterly reviews, shareholder meeting notes and annual strategy documents."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename BusinessPerformance.stp -title "Business Performance Reporting" -description "The Business Performance Reporting application template helps organization managers track the satisfaction of customers through a combination of surveys and discussions."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename CaseManagement.stp -title "Case Management for Government Agencies" -description "The Case Management for Government Agencies application template helps case managers track the status and tasks required to complete their work."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename ClassroomManagement.stp -title "Classroom Management" -description "The Classroom Management application template helps instructors and students organize and store information related to a particular class."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename ClinicalTrial.stp -title "Clinical Trial Initiation and Management" -description "The Clinical Trial Initiation and Management application template helps teams manage the process of tracking clinical trial protocols, objective setting, subject selection and budget activities."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename CompetitiveAnalysis.stp -title "Competitive Analysis Site" -description "The Competitive Analysis Site application template helps teams organize information about competitors and their products."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename DiscussionDatabase.stp -title "Discussion Database" -description "The Discussion Database application template provides a location where team members can create and reply to discussion topics."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename DisputedInvoice.stp -title "Disputed Invoice Management" -description "The Disputed Invoice Management application template helps accounts payable departments track open invoices including the potential savings associated with paying the invoice early."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename EmployeeActivities.stp -title "Employee Activities Site" -description "The Employee Activities Site application template helps manage the creation and attendance of events for employees."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename EmployeeBenefits.stp -title "Employee Self-Service Benefits" -description "The Employee Self-Service Benefits application template provides tools for an organization to inform employees about available benefits as well as enabling them to enroll for each benefit."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename EmployeeTraining.stp -title "Employee Training Scheduling and Materials" -description "The Employee Training Scheduling and Materials application template helps instructors and employees manage courses and related materials."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename EquityResearch.stp -title "Equity Research" -description "The Equity Research application template helps teams collaborate on researching stocks and other equities."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename ManufacturingProcess.stp -title "Manufacturing Process Management" -description "The Manufacturing Process Management application template helps teams to model and track manufacturing processes as well as tasks and issues that arise in the upkeep of these processes."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename MarketingCampaign.stp -title "Integrated Marketing Campaign Tracking" -description "The Integrated Marketing Campaign Tracking application template helps marketing managers track the implementation and success of outbound marketing activities."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename NewStoreOpening.stp -title "New Store Opening" -description "The New Store Opening application template helps a team manage the opening of new store locations or re-modeling of existing store location."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename ProductPlanning.stp -title "Product and Marketing Requirements Planning" -description "The Product and Marketing Requirements Planning application template enables teams to manage the process of collecting and documenting requirements for new products."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename RequestForProposal.stp -title "Request for Proposal" -description "The Request for Proposal application template helps manage the process of creating and releasing an initial RFP.  The site also helps simplify the process of notifying individuals about the status of the RFP and submitted proposals."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename SportsLeague.stp -title "Sports League" -description "The Sports League Site application template helps an intra-company league administrator manage a baseball league."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename TeamWorkSite.stp -title "Team Work Site" -description "The Team Work Site application template provides a place where project teams can upload background documents, track scheduled calendar events and submit action items that result from team meetings."
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename TimecardManagement.stp -title "Timecard Management" -description "The Timecard Management application template helps teams track hours spent working on various projects.  Team members ‘punch in’ and ‘punch out’ of work on project tasks.  Managers can view the total hours spent by project and by person."

IISRESET

Save the File and then edit the InstallTemplates.bat file and type in the following:

ECHO installing Application Template Core
stsadm -o addsolution -filename ApplicationTemplateCore.wsp
stsadm -o deploysolution -name ApplicationTemplateCore.wsp  -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o copyappbincontent
IISRESET

ECHO installing templates
ECHO adding solutions
stsadm -o addsolution -filename AbsenceVacationSchedule.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename BudgetingTrackingMultipleProjects.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename BugDatabase.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename CallCenter.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename ChangeRequest.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename ComplianceProcessSupport.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename ContactsManagement.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename DocumentLibraryReview.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename EventPlanning.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename ExpenseReimbursementApproval.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename HelpDesk.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename InventoryTracking.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename ITTeamWorkspace.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename JobRequisition.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename KnowledgeBase.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename LendingLibrary.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename PhysicalAssetTracking.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename ProjectTrackingWorkspace.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename RoomEquipmentReservations.wsp
stsadm -o addsolution -filename SalesLeadPipeline.wsp

ECHO deploying solutions
stsadm -o deploysolution -name AbsenceVacationSchedule.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name BudgetingTrackingMultipleProjects.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name BugDatabase.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name CallCenter.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name ChangeRequest.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name ComplianceProcessSupport.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name ContactsManagement.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name DocumentLibraryReview.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name EventPlanning.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name ExpenseReimbursementApproval.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name HelpDesk.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name InventoryTracking.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name ITTeamWorkspace.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name JobRequisition.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name KnowledgeBase.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name LendingLibrary.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name PhysicalAssetTracking.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name ProjectTrackingWorkspace.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name RoomEquipmentReservations.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate
stsadm -o deploysolution -name SalesLeadPipeline.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate

ECHO resetting IIS
IISRESET

Save this file.  The next step is to add the "12 Hive\bin" folder to your PATH settings.  To do this:

1. On the SharePoint Server right-click My Computer
   
2. Click Properties
3. Click Advanced
   
4. Click Environment Variables
5. In the second text window, scroll down until you see Path, highlight and click Edit
6. go to the end of the text in the Variable Value: line
7. type in "; %commonprogramfiles%\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\bin;" including both semi-colons.
8. Click OK then OK then OK

Now double-click both of the BAT files that you created.  You will see a Command Prompt window with the installation information scrolling through.  When the command prompt disappears, that means the installation has completed.  Go to your SharePoint site and create a new site.  You will see two new sections called Application Templates and Custom.  Under each of those you will see the 40 templates that Microsoft has provided.

In the next post, I will start describing what each template does starting with the Physical Asset Tracking and Management...

Until Next Time enjoy your exploration of SharePoint.