4 Reasons to Use SharePoint for Project Management
Microsoft SharePoint is a popular and practical option for project management teams. Using SharePoint, project managers can quickly deploy a standard approach to projects to improve visibility and help teams work together.
In this article, I’ll explore four key reasons you should use SharePoint for project management, and how to get started with the Free SharePoint Project Management Template from BrightWork.
What is Microsoft SharePoint?
Launched in 2001 as a web-based collaborative tool, Microsoft SharePoint is used by over 400,000 customers in 250,00 organizations worldwide, including 85% of Fortune 500 companies.
Unlike Word or Excel, SharePoint is not a single tool. Instead, SharePoint is a collection of tools designed to help organizations:
- Build intranets and external websites
- Store and manage documents
- Improve access to business data
- Boost collaboration with wikis, forums, and social sharing capabilities
- Automate processes using workflows
- Manage data and information in a secure environment with version and permission control.
SharePoint is highly configurable, allowing organizations to develop workflows and systems to support their internal processes. SharePoint makes it easy for teams and decision-makers to access the right information at the right time, moving work forward.
SharePoint is available as a server-based On-Premises solution, a cloud-hosted solution, or a hybrid solution, which combines an On-Premises installation with Office 365.
Organizations operating in highly-regulated environments, who require complex document management libraries, or who have invested heavily in customized workflows often opt to retain SharePoint On-Premises.
Using the Free SharePoint Project Management Template from BrightWork as a starting point, let’s take a look at four key reasons why you should use SharePoint for your projects.
1. Standardize Your Project Management Processes
Does your project team use spreadsheets and email along with tools such as Planner and Teams? Perhaps some project managers in your organization are PMP certified whilst others are learning on the job? Have you tried to implement project management software — with little success?
These common challenges thwart project teams every day and have one thing in common — the absence of a standard way of managing projects.
Without project management ‘rules’ or a playbook, teams have to invent new ways of tracking work for every project. This impacts drastically on project performance and team morale.
With SharePoint, it’s easy to create a project site that is tailored to your requirements, project types, and regulatory requirements.
At BrightWork, we have made this process even faster! The Free SharePoint Project Management Template ships with a pre-configured project site to get you up and running with just a few clicks.
The project site follows a simple, but structured, process to help you plan, execute, track, and re-plan your project. Developed using feedback from our customers and extensive project management experience, the template provides a carefully considered, best-practice approach to project management.
Team members with minimum SharePoint or project management experience will quickly become familiar with your new project approach and will be able to make meaningful contributions easily.
In time, you can configure the project site to reflect any new processes and project management maturity levels in your team.
2. Get Visibility with Project Reports
Using a project site in SharePoint brings all project information, documents, and reports into one environment. With this ‘single source of project truth’, you can answer that all-important question — ‘’What is happening with my project?’’
The Free SharePoint Project Management Template includes numerous reports for work, tasks, issues and overall project health.
The project homepage capture information such as:
- Key Project Metrics, such as the number of late tasks and current finish date.
- Project Status Icons, reporting on time, health, and cost as well percentage complete.
- Tasks by Status Chart.
As the data is a summary of underlying reports, you can simply click each element to drill down for more information.
The data displayed on the project homepage automatically updates as each report is updated, ensuring you are referring to the latest information at all times.
Other reports include Work (Open Issues, Overdue Tasks, and Unassigned Work), and Top 5 Issues.
In addition to real-time project data, you can easily add a project status report to create a snapshot of the project at a particular time. This will allow you to track trends, make informed decisions, and access historical data as needed.
These reports will not only increase your visibility into a project; they will also make project work much easier for your team members.
Using the ‘My Work’ report, a team member can check their own upcoming work, and share updates on their progress. The reports are based on a simple, intuitive layout with an Excel-like grid for easy updates.
3. Improve Communication and Collaboration
As the project manager, you need a simple, reliable way to communicate with your team and stakeholders.
As well as a single location for project reports and tasks, your SharePoint project site also provides a centralized document repository.
As mentioned above, project teams often have numerous approaches and tools for managing work.
Consequently, teams quickly generate multiple versions of the same file stored in different locations. Data is easily overwritten, often without any way to restore previous versions.
What a headache for your team!
A centralized document repository in a SharePoint project site ensures there is just one version of a document stored in one place. The team can collaborate together on the document as needed — regardless of their location.
4. Security and Control
SharePoint, especially an On-Premises installation, offers numerous security settings such as encryption and permissions to help you control who can access and edit project data.
If your organization is already using SharePoint, the Free Template will plug into your existing systems without any additional IT overheads or worries.
Getting Started with the Free SharePoint Project Management Template
Trusted by over 40,000 organizations to manage projects on SharePoint, the template was developed by SharePoint experts, project management consultants, and inputs from BrightWork customers to deliver a fast and easy way to manage projects.
Download this free template to:
- Easily plan your project with a pre-planned project management template.
- Get instant visibility into the status of your project with KPIs and visual reporting dashboards.
- Collaborate more effectively with your team in a centralized project site in SharePoint.
Originally published at www.brightwork.com.
