SharePoint has been on the market from 2001, and since then, matured into a very stable and popular business collaboration platform. The beauty of SharePoint is that it is relatively easy to customize and it provides an experience already familiar to users via Office suite. Most frequent use of the platform by corporations has been in the areas of web content management, information sharing and document management.
However, adoption of SharePoint as a true Project Management Information System (PMIS) has been slow. Out-of-the-box SharePoint is unappealing, customization takes time and acceptance at PMO level is often very bureaucratic.
In this presentation I will demonstrate how you can customize SharePoint to help you with your next project. You will walk away learning tips and tricks that you can implement literally in hours. Among other things, you will learn how SharePoint can help you facilitate project team collaboration, integrate existing methodologies and empower your project team.
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About Me
Gregory Zelfond
10+ years of experience with SharePoint
SharePoint advocate, blogger
Love to solve business problems using code-free, out of
the box SharePoint configurations
Owner of SharePoint Maven (sharepointmaven.com)
4. sharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfondsharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfond
December 2015 UPDATE!!!
This slide deck debuted in April 2013
Since then, I authored 2 blogs which relate to
the topic:
– Follow-up blog post that details STEP-BY-STEP
Instructions on how to create an awesome Project or
Team Site in SharePoint
– Presentation on “3 ways to manage projects in
SharePoint”
Make sure to check out both links above and
enjoy the rest of this presentation
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Assumptions for this Presentation
You know what SharePoint is and/or used it in some shape or form
No programming experience or IT Development required
No 3rd party modules or add-on software needs to be purchased
You will have the guts to talk to IT department and request creation of
SharePoint site with Admin privileges
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Cost & Ease of Use Matter
Enterprise Project &
Portfolio Management
- MS Project Server
- Clarity PPM
- HP PPM Center
- IBM Rational Focal Point
- EPM Live
High, $$$
Web-Based Collaboration
Sites
- SharePoint
- Basecamp
- AceProject
- Zoho Projects
- Google Apps
Medium, $$
- Email (Outlook)
- Shared Drives
- MS Word
- MS Excel
- MS Project
Low, $
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You Hear this Every Day…
Check out my doc on shared drive…
Oh @#$%&, I modified an old version of the file…
I have the doc on my laptop, I’ll email it to you…
I missed the meeting. Can you include me on your
meeting minutes distribution?
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Implement Project Site in 7 steps
1. Have site created with Admin (Full Control) access
2. Create sub-site
3. Add modules (web parts) to sub-site
4. Create a template from sub-site
5. Create new project sites from a template
6. Update your template site regularly per feedback
7. Create new project sites from new versions of templates
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Some of the Available Web Parts
Web Part Purpose
Announcements Contains messages posted by contributors to the site
Calendar
Contains upcoming meetings, deadlines, and other important
events
Links
Contains links to Web pages that your team members will find
interesting or useful
Shared Documents Document Repository Library
Tasks
A list where team members can keep track of work that needs
to be done
Team Discussion Contains newsgroup-style discussions among team members
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Web Parts, Libraries & Lists to Consider
SharePoint Module PM Artifact
Shared Documents Project Documents, Governance Documents
Task List Task and Action List
Issues List Issues Log
Issues List Risk Register
Contacts Contact List
Calendar Calendar
Issues List Change Control Log
Issues List Bug Tracker
Custom List Lessons Learned Log
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Document Library
Shared Documents Web Part
Separate document libraries
– Project Documents
– Governance Documents
Enable version control if required
Check-in/Check-out
No folders please
Tag the documents!
– i.e. create Doc Types
– other properties
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Document Library, continued
Consistent Project Management templates via Content Types
Content type – (reusable) object that is stored within SharePoint that defines several
elements/properties of a piece of content. For example:
– Contacts List: Columns that the content will have associated with it
– Doc Library: Document Template that the content will be based on
Create Content Types for Your MS Office-based templates, i.e.:
– Project Charter
– BRD
– Design Document
Adding multiple Office templates to a document library
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/office365-sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/add-multiple-
office-templates-to-a-document-library-HA102409514.aspx
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Risk Register Log
Issues List Web Part
Re-use existing “out-of-the-box” columns to
match Risk Register Log columns
– Title
– Priority (Magnitude)
– Description
– Assigned to
– Status
Add custom columns as desired
– Probability (Number)
– Risk Score (Number, calculated field type)
Add a formula: Probability X Magnitude
– Risk Approach (i.e. Mitigate, Avoid, Accept)
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Sync MS Project with SharePoint
Create Project Tasks Library on project site in SharePoint
From MS Project File > Save & Send > Sync with Task List
Limitations exist
Use only if there will be use for it
Detailed Instructions
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2009/10/19/project-2010-introducing-sync-to-
sharepoint.aspx
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Security for a Project Site
Groups
– Project Site Admin (Full Control)
• Project Manager & Coordinator
– Project Team (Contribute)
– Visitors (Read Only) – All users
Stay away from individual user permissions
Do not inherit permissions from parent site
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User Training and Buy-in
Introduce at Project Kick-Off
Train users if necessary
– Basic SharePoint Training might be required
Lead by example – use SharePoint
Enforce SharePoint as a central repository
– No email or network drives
Share documents as links to SharePoint
– No email attachments
Always point your team to SharePoint site for data
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User Training and Buy-in, continued
Conduct Project Meetings online
Look and Feel do matter!
Simplicity is key!
Walk before you run
– Project Site should match PM/PMO maturity level
– Methodology in place
Start with basics, introduce improvements gradually
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Need help with SharePoint?
SharePoint Site Configuration and Customization
Document Migration to SharePoint
SharePoint Implementation Strategy
SharePoint Training
SharePoint User Adoption
SharePoint Governance
SharePoint Project Management