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Microsoft Windows provides drivers that you can use to retrieve data from many data sources (data source: A stored set of "source" information used to connect to a database. A data source can include the name and location of the database server, the name of the database driver, and information that the database needs when you log on.), including Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server OLAP Services, Oracle, and Microsoft Access. You can use ODBC drivers (Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver: A program file used to connect to a particular database. Each database program, such as Access or dBASE, or database management system, such as SQL Server, requires a different driver.) or OLE DB (OLE DB: A component database architecture that implements efficient network and internet access to many types of data sources, including relational data, mail files, flat files, and spreadsheets.) providers from other manufacturers to get information from sources other than Microsoft data sources, including other types of OLAP databases. For information about installing an ODBC driver or OLE DB provider that is not listed here, check the documentation for the database, or contact your database vendor.

If you choose the Other/advanced data source option in the Data Connection Wizard, you can view a list of available OLE DB providers in the Data Link Properties dialog box. For more information on using this dialog box, click Help in the Data Link Properties dialog box.

The Data Connection Wizard provides access to an additional kind of data source called a data retrieval service when connecting to data from Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and the Office 2003 Web Components. A data retrieval service is a Web Service installed on Windows SharePoint Services for connecting to and retrieving data. To use a data retrieval service, a client application, such as Excel, sends a query request over HTTP (HTTP: Internet protocol that delivers information on the World Wide Web. Makes it possible for a user with a client program to enter a URL (or click a hyperlink) and retrieve text, graphics, sound, and other digital information from a Web server.) to the data retrieval service on Windows SharePoint Services. The data retrieval service sends that request to the data source, and then sends back the data that is returned to the client application as XML.

Windows SharePoint Services ships with a data retrieval service for connecting to data in SharePoint lists. A Windows SharePoint Services site administrator can install the Office 2003 Web Parts and Components to install data retrieval services for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Business Solutions. The Office 2003 Web Parts and Components is available from Downloads on Microsoft Office Online.

When you select Microsoft Business Solutions from the list in the Welcome to the Data Connection Wizard dialog box, you need to specify the location of a Windows SharePoint Services server that contains the Microsoft Business Solutions data you want to work with. After selecting which data object to work with, you can specify query parameters, select which fields to retrieve, and choose to limit the number of rows retrieved.

When you select the Data retrieval services data source option in the Data Connection Wizard, you can choose two data retrieval services:

After specifying the location of the Windows SharePoint Services server that hosts the data retrieval service, you specify the data object you want to work with, such as a list, table, view, or function, and can then select fields and specify additional query settings, such as query parameters, sorting, filtering, and limiting the number of rows retrieved.