Project management involves overseeing multiple aspects of a major endeavor simultaneously, using technology in certain organizations as an aid in organizing and keeping track of these elements. If you oversee projects yourself, computers could serve as invaluable aids when planning out future major endeavors.
This article covers all of the fundamental aspects of SharePoint, including its purpose, benefits for project management, and application.
What Is Sharepoint Project Management?
SharePoint project management is an approach to project administration that uses online collaboration tools to facilitate team collaboration on various tasks. Businesses often employ this cloud-based solution in tandem with Microsoft Office 365 to assist their teams with creating intranets, managing documents securely, or collaborating within secure environments.
Features available within this platform may include news feeds, discussion boards, intranet portals, document sharing/management as well as knowledge management, as well as security features like encryption/permission controls to limit who can access certain information to team members only making SharePoint an indispensable platform in today's digitally connected world. Four parts comprise this platform:
- Lists: Your website allows you to add tasks, document libraries, project issues/risks, and statement lists, among many others, to improve productivity and organization.
- Web Parts: Web parts provide the means for viewing, reporting, and tracking items within lists. Certain website sections could feature report elements like recently opened issues, task status charts, KPIs, or overdue tasks.
- SharePoint sites: These online environments serve as homes for lists and web parts hosted on SharePoint servers, known by this name.
- Site Collections: SharePoint collections offer project managers an efficient means of hosting multiple websites simultaneously and overseeing multiple projects simultaneously.
How Can Sharepoint Help With Project Management?
SharePoint features for project management, with key advantages being:
- Document Management Centralized: Tracking all project documents is one of the central challenges of project management. Yet, SharePoint provides an ideal way for team members to access them easily and intuitively. Document libraries allow documents to be stored logically while remaining easily retrievable when needed.
- Task Management: Teams can leverage SharePoint to plan and monitor tasks efficiently at every project phase, from inception through completion. Tasks can be assigned directly to individual team members with deadlines in mind to keep everyone focused and on task, and all team members stay up-to-date by receiving notifications when tasks have been assigned or updated.
- Collaboration: No matter their physical location, team members can easily collaborate on projects via SharePoint. By working on documents simultaneously and sharing documents among teammates at once, SharePoint allows team members to stay in constant touch while staying productive across diverse locations.
- Project Tracking: With SharePoint's real-time tracking feature, team members can easily keep tabs on a project's status, making it simple to identify potential issues early and take measures before they worsen.
Read More: Maximizing User Experience on Modern SharePoint Sites: What's the Cost of Ignoring It?
Tips And Tricks To Enhance Your Sharepoint Project Management Site
Enhance the Fast Launch
"Do the people working on projects have templates and instructions on handling projects as per my specifications?" With SharePoint, this process becomes very straightforward. SharePoint sites contain numerous lists and libraries for you to track tasks and issues on separate lists while including document libraries for deliverables management this helps demonstrate just how much "process" has gone into project management. At this point, your Quick Launch can be tailored specifically to the workflow for project management.
Utilize The Microsoft Project Sync
BrightWorks Project Structured Template offers bidirectional sync between BrightWork and Microsoft Project Professional for complex projects. You can now use a task list on the SharePoint site to plan and coordinate a project. At the same time, MS Project takes care of any calculations or updates necessary. It creates a Microsoft Project file automatically when changes are made and will ensure seamless synchronization between list items and MPP files as you make adjustments.
Schedule Email Reports
As a project manager, one of your primary responsibilities will be informing team members about their roles so they can fulfill them successfully. Everyone should regularly check SharePoint to view tasks related to themselves (My Work report), but some individuals may choose not to.
However, don't stress - SharePoint easily reports to teams with its automated email report function. Send "My Work" reports every Monday morning or any time that best fits your team; sending "My Work" reports at other intervals is entirely up to you, and upholding this practice is your choice. Automating the Friday afternoon Project Status report is advantageous when reporting weekly activities to senior management.
Use Local Terminology
As SharePoint can easily be configured, you should and can customize your website to represent your internal language, branding, and processes. If the risk register in SharePoint is referred to by that name in your project management guidelines rather than "Risks List," SharePoint users should call it that.
When Creating Document Libraries, Follow A Logical Structure
Organize your document libraries logically and intuitively so team members can quickly find their needs. Consider giving each name consistently throughout your library to facilitate later searching for documents and folders more quickly.
Give Specific Team Members Responsibilities
Be sure to assign specific responsibilities and set completion dates for individual members of your team so everyone knows where their responsibilities lie and when tasks must be finished. Doing this will ensure everyone knows their deadlines for completing tasks and obligations.
Maintain Regular Communication
Effective communication is integral to project management's success. To ensure all team members remain aware of any updates to a project's status or any modifications that have occurred, SharePoint offers an effective communication channel between team members.
Put Access And Security Controls In Place
Ensure that sensitive project data is kept safe by setting appropriate access controls and security settings. To restrict access only to those authorized, assign permissions at the site, library, and item levels with changing roles requiring updating user permissions periodically.
Encourage Documentation And Knowledge Exchange
Encourage team members to document best practices, insights gained, and other project-related details in their documentation. A knowledge base or the wiki feature in SharePoint could serve this purpose nicely; future initiatives might make use of such knowledge bases as well, helping the organization learn.
Combine With Additional Tools And Platforms
Enhance your project management abilities with integrations of additional project management software like Jira or Microsoft Project; link SharePoint calendar and email platforms to streamline scheduling and communication processes;
Develop And Assist Team Members
Provide comprehensive instruction in SharePoint's features and functionalities related to project management. Ensure all team members understand collaboration tools, document management procedures, and site structure providing ongoing assistance while quickly solving any queries or problems as they arise.
Maintain And Update The SharePoint Environment Regularly
Ensure your SharePoint site remains relevant and aligned with project requirements by regularly reviewing and revising it. To protect project data, archive or remove out-of-date information, update workflows and configurations accordingly, and take regular backups.
Conclusion
SharePoint helps teams work more effectively together and manage tasks more easily, streamlining projects to meet business goals quickly while adhering to best practices and taking full advantage of SharePoint features. No matter the size of your company, SharePoint provides powerful aid that enables teams to improve collaboration while streamlining processes to meet objectives more rapidly and finish projects more swiftly.
SharePoint can help organize project management efficiently. Our experts can also create and implement tailored solutions tailored to the particular requirements of each of your projects, giving us an advantage in project advancement. Get in touch with us now so we can show how SharePoint can make life simpler for your projects.
