Newsletters are a typical requirement for web-portals using intranet, extranet and Internet. Solutions that are directly integrated into the portal and represent the typical workflow over subscription, validation and dispatch and do not need any further tools or gateways are especially efficient. 

With SharePartXXL Newsletter Web Part for Microsoft SharePoint, a solution like this is not only available for contentXXL but also as WebPart  for WSS (free of charge Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0) and MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007).

Uses

• Complete all-in-one Newsletter Management Solution based on Microsoft SharePoint
• External tools for dispatch with export and import gateways are not necessary. This avoids double data management with additional manual effort and error sources.
• Web Part works with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the free-of-charge Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, so installation is very simple and cost effective.
• Several newsletter templates, for example different subject topics, target groups or multiple language variations can be managed simultaneously.
• Personalization of the newsletter is very easy and expandable placeholders and templates are possible.
• Subscription tracking is executed by double-opt-in procedures.
• Administration of newsletters and subscribers is carried out using the normal list functions directly in SharePoint.
• The solution is easily adaptable and expandable, for example by using additional list fields.
• The solution integrates itself into the Microsoft SharePoint security concepts, Web Parts for administration and subscription can be placed into different areas with different rights.

Features

• Dynamic generation of subscription forms (profiles) based on extendable SharePoint lists / views.
• Data types in columns as well as attributes (“entry required”) are implemented automatically.
• Prefilled fields in case of loged in user (e.g. name, e-mail, Active Directory support).
• Grouped lists of newsletter types can be provided (e.g. for different countries)
• Double-Opt-In procedure for subscription tracking (confirmation email).
• Dispatch of template based, personalized newsletters according to subscription.
• Support of newsletters in HTML and text formats.
• WYSIWYG editing of HTML content. 
• Dispatch status for every newsletter.
• Implementation as SharePoint Feature with installation and activation.
• Automatic generation and validation of required lists.
• Uses SharePoint rights management and settings.
• User-defined placeholders can be defined by columns in a SharePoint list and can be used in the newsletter (body + subject) in the following form [column name].
• User interface supports multiple languages; German and English are automatically recognized and correspondingly indicated due to the current SharePoint settings. Ressource data for other languages can be added by the user when required.
• Dispatch of newsletters is carried out by a SMTP service with low priority in the background.
• Preview funktion and test dispatch of newsletters to marked subscribers possible.

fig.: The screen shows particular Web Parts and lists of the SharePartXXL Newsletter Web Parts for Microsoft SharePoint on an English website top to bottom. List of newsletter types for the editor, subscribe / unsubscribe Web Part for the end user, list of subscribers and newsletters as well as the Web Part for Newsletter dispatch for the editor. In practice these components will be located on different webpages with differing access rights. Descriptions are automatically shown in German on a German website.

Availability

SharePartXXL Newsletter Web Part for SharePoint is available in german and english language for download. The trial version does not have any feature limitations, but newsletters can only be sent if you have less than 25 subscriber. For upgrading to full version a valid license key is required.