Microsoft SharePoint Project Management – News Line

Microsoft SharePoint is a widely used business solution for effective, cross-team collaboration that is used both in companies and on the web.

SharePoint fits seamlessly into the range of Microsoft Office solutions and, thanks to the SharePoint development user environment, which is familiar, at least for Microsoft fans, usually increases productivity at the workplace after a short time.

How the software from Microsoft manages this and what added value SharePoint promises in project management, we would like to tell you in more detail below.

What added value does SharePoint offer in project management?

Typically, Microsoft SharePoint is used by companies when creating websites. Because of the shared platform, SharePoint serves as a safer place to store, share or structure information within such projects.From there, the stored files can then be called up or downloaded by any employee involved in the respective project, on almost any device.

In addition, automated workflows can also be created with the help of SharePoint and a wide variety of business processes can be mapped.In project management, SharePoint makes it easier to manage projects in a team and is just as easy to use as MS Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint or PowerPoint.

You should bear this in mind when dealing with MS SharePoint

If you already use Microsoft SharePoint or want to use it in the future, you can also use the functionality of Microsoft Excel within project teams in this way.In this way, you enjoy a number of advantages of using SharePoint in project management. 

For example, you can easily convert Excel-based project management into a SharePoint list, which is centrally synchronized and which all members of your project team can then access at any time.Of course, that’s not the only thing you can use SharePoint for in project management, because the Microsoft software is also convincing in other areas that are relevant to effective project management.

This is what matters in project management

Basically, Microsoft SharePoint is a web application that has been established in 2001, whose services are primarily based on lists and libraries, which can sometimes make work much easier for users.

These include those that can make your life a little easier in the areas of document management, time management and task management because these areas are of great importance in project management.

• Document management

When managing documents, project managers can create their own directory structure in SharePoint. Here, completely individual templates can be created, which can then serve as the basic framework for new projects.

In addition, documents can be tagged with meta tags to enable better classification. Depending on the configuration in SharePoint development, users can also search for terms, criteria or content across projects.

So that a website does not always have to be called up when searching or storing documents, libraries can also be called up via a WebDAV interface using Explorer. Individual project folders that fall within your own area of responsibility can then be pinned to the taskbar of a Windows installation, for example.

In the event that not all of your team members can be permanently online, it is advisable to carry out a local synchronization using the OneDrive client. You can then also work locally, for example when travelling by train or plane, and of course, your documents will always be updated if you go online.

• Time management

Another relevant point is time management, which is one of the most important factors in any project management process. For example, all employees should always be informed when project-relevant deadlines, such as milestones, are on the schedule, which can be clearly displayed using SharePoint.

In addition, you can also have your SharePoint calendars displayed centrally in your own Outlook client, with the available calendars being displayed overlapping so that overlaps can be better recognized in this way.

• Task management

Microsoft SharePoint also has a number of functions in the area of task management that can make life much easier for project managers. For this purpose, SharePoint has a basic framework for planning process flows with the task library, which can be used to visualize GANTT charts.

With the help of SharePoint development in terms of setting the library connected via WebDAV, the tasks from SharePoint can also be synchronized locally with Outlook. In this way, entries are also available to members of a team in offline mode and are also always updated as soon as the user goes online.

Alternatively, with the help of Microsoft Project, it is also possible to manage tasks directly and in this way develop a project plan that all team members can follow.However, you should take into account that only the professional versions of MS Projekt can access a SharePoint library via WebDAV.

In addition, capacity planning or PSP cannot be synchronized via the WebDAV interface.

Conclusion

Microsoft SharePoint is not a revelation for project management that completely turns the existing processes in companies upside down. However, with SharePoint, it is easy to work together in project teams, in which all members can always access all files and even have the opportunity to work on the respective project offline, for example on a trip.

Al Rafay Consulting is a SharePoint development company and recommends that the companies that are therefore able to use a SharePoint infrastructure should under no circumstances ignore the added value. Even though SharePoint does not in any way reinvent the wheel, the software is at least a worthwhile addition for companies in which Microsoft Office programs are used across all departments.