utilizing sharepoint for project management

sharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfond

UTILIZING SHAREPOINTFOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

GREGORY ZELFOND

sharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfondsharepointmaven.com @gregoryzelfond

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)

http://www.sharepointmaven.com/


About SharePoint Maven

I HELP ORGANIZATIONS TO UNLOCK THE POWER OF SHAREPOINT

MIGRATION CONSULTING TRAINING


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

http://sharepointmaven.com/how-to-create-sharepoint-project-site/

http://sharepointmaven.com/3-ways-manage-projects-sharepoint/


My Experience with SharePoint

My experience with SharePoint Project Sites…


Agenda

Background

SharePoint Advantages

Tips & Tricks

Best Practices

Training & Buy-In

Q & A


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


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, $


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?


Needs & Wants

Project Team LevelHOW?

Operational

Day-to-day project activities

Updating documentation

Completing projects tasks

Managing issues

Staying sane during the project

PMO/Program LevelWHAT? WHEN?

Tactical

• Key performance indicators

• Project status (Red, Yellow, Green)

• Budget, Resource Management

• Key Milestones / Go-Live Date

• Portfolio Management, Scenarios


Common Challenges for Project Team

Finding project documents

Document versioning

Document sharing

Information overload

Lack of common templates


SharePoint Advantages

Centralizes project information and documentation

Empowers the project team

Facilitates project team collaboration

Minimal learning curve

Minimal IT involvement

Social media impact


SharePoint Advantages, continued

MS office look and feel

One stop shop

Different views for different audiences

Search capability

Information sharing

Transparency


Recommended Modules for a Project Site1. PMO (Governance) Documents2. Project Documents3. Issues Log4. Project Tasks5. Risk Register6. Calendar7. Contacts8. Change Control Log9. Lessons Learned Log10.Bug Tracker


Suggested Structure

Main Site

Project A Project B Project C Template Site

TemplateVersion 1

Template Version 2


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


Creating a Project Site

Save Site as a Template (Steps 1 & 2)

Check off “Include Content”

Creating from Template (Step 3)

Site Administration > Sites & Workspaces > Create

1

3

2


Some of the Available Web Parts

Web Part Purpose

Announcements Contains messages posted by contributors to the site

CalendarContains upcoming meetings, deadlines, and other important events

LinksContains links to Web pages that your team members will find interesting or useful

Shared Documents Document Repository Library

TasksA list where team members can keep track of work that needs to be done

Team Discussion Contains newsgroup-style discussions among team members


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


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


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 libraryhttp://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/office365-sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/add-multiple-office-templates-to-a-document-library-HA102409514.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/office365-sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/add-multiple-office-templates-to-a-document-library-HA102409514.aspx


Issue Tracking

Issues List Web Part

Email Notification

Multiple views to sort/group and organize data– Active Issues

– My Issues

– by Status

– by Assigned To

– by Due Dates


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)


Calendar

Calendar Web Part

Capture people’s vacations & key project milestones

Sync with Outlook not recommended

Choose “Upcoming Events” view for front page


Team Roster

Contacts Web Part

Capture Emails, Contacts, Mobile #’s, Departments, Project Roles

Advanced: Sync with Active Directory or Exchange


Lessons Learned

Custom List Web Part

Create Lessons Learned List on each project site

Advanced: Roll-up to common Lessons Learned database


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 Instructionshttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2009/10/19/project-2010-introducing-sync-to-sharepoint.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2009/10/19/project-2010-introducing-sync-to-sharepoint.aspx


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


Advanced Tools Available

Content By Query Web Part (CQWP) – allows to roll up data from many sources and present that data all in one place

SharePoint Designer – HTML Editor and design software to modify SharePoint sites and web parts


Best Practices

Repeatable process (templates)

Tag the documents (no folders please!!!)

Version control on document libraries

Use different views for Front Page and Full View

Cleanup/review site contents once in a while


Best Practices, continued

Closing Phase = change permissions to “Read Only”

Policy or SOP is a great idea

Check that Recycle bin often


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


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


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


THANK YOU!

Visit: sharepointmaven.com

Email: [email protected]

Follow: @gregoryzelfond

Connect: linkedin.com/company/sharepoint-maven

View: www.slideshare.net/gzelfond

Get in touch if you have questions

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