I had a great time recently presenting at CalSpoug’s SharePoint Saturday. The first session I presented was on SharePoint Business Connectivity Service. I have done this session quite a few times and I always have at least one attendee state they have never heard of BCS before. This session was no different. One of the things I cover is the importance of BCS in different environments. Many will argue it is an old, unnecessary system. I do not necessarily disagree with this. However, I argue it isn’t dead yet. If you are working with simple data in a SQL Database or even more complex but well-organized data in a database the ease of use within BCS is quickly seen. In 5-10 minutes you can connect to your data and present it within SharePoint utilizing built-in forms (no custom form development). Users will be able to read and update the data immediately (assuming permissions are configured already). There’s more to it than just this and you can take a look at my slide deck to see.
Having said that, I do believe that I see an end to BCS. PowerApps and Flows make accessing data just as easy and more configurable through the many, many connectors available. As these connectors mature and the tools grow, the use cases for BCS will slowly disappear. However, we aren’t there yet. BCS is still there and still very easy to use.
Take a look at my slide deck and if you have questions, please reach out.
Thanks for reading!
