What Is Included in Business Connectivity Services?

Microsoft Business Connectivity Services (BCS) is included in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, and Microsoft Office 2010 applications. However, the feature set and the capabilities differ in each application.

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

Figure 1 shows the differences in the feature sets of Business Connectivity Services, SharePoint Server 2010, and Office 2010.

Figure 1. Feature sets of Business Connectivity Services, SharePoint 2010, and Office 2010

Table 1 compares the Business Connectivity Services features that are present in the different editions of SharePoint 2010.

Table 1. Comparison of Business Connectivity Services features in SharePoint 2010 editions

Business Connectivity Services Feature	SharePoint Foundation 2010	SharePoint Server 2010 Standard Edition	SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Edition
External List	√	√	√
External Data column	√	√	√
Business Data Connectivity (BDC) service	√	√	√
Connector Framework	√	√	√
Secure Store Service		√	√
External Data Search		√	√
Profile Pages		√	√
Business Data Web Parts			√
Rich Client Integration			√

Rich-client integration is available only in Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010.

For more information about the Business Connectivity Services features in each application, see the following topics:

• Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint Foundation 2010

• Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint Server 2010

• Business Connectivity Services in Microsoft Office 2010

See Also

Other Resources

SharePoint Developer Team Blog

SharePoint Stack Exchange