Are you struggling to track projects within a maze of folder structures, time crunches and redundant file layouts?

When time is a constraint, effective management of resources both information and team members' time is imperative for businesses to success in the current competitive climate and trend of elevated use experiences.

When a project involves numerous tasks, team members performing multiple roles, accountability to stakeholders is important to track. It can be quite daunting for organizations to stay focused on meeting deadlines and delivering cutting edge value by effective organization, efficient collaboration and tracking.

The right kind of tools and techniques can empower every project teams to deliver their best in a seamless and effective manner,

Thereby enabling them to succeed in delivering projects beyond customer expectations. Businesses can streamline their project management through effective processes powered by robust tools that improve and enable project excellence.

An effective tool that can simplify Project Managers is SharePoint. SharePoint Online is a service available with the Microsoft 365 subscription.

Understanding SharePoint for Project Management

Overview of SharePoint as a collaboration platform

SharePoint is a web-based platform that provides a space for teams to share documents, define tasks, track them, collaborate on activities and manage projects. As it is a part of the Microsoft Suite, it is easily integrated with other Microsoft Project oriented applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Project Sites

SharePoint facilitates the creation of team sites or project sites that can serve as a repository to store all project related data like documents, tasks along with defined timelines and features for team communication.

Document Management

SharePoint is an excellent document management platform that facilitates storing, sharing and collaboration of all kinds of documents like templates, project plans, business documents, proposals, reports, etc.

Workflow Automation

Workflows for effective project management like the approval process or routing of documents which are necessary for effective streamlining of project management processes can be managed through automated workflows on SharePoint. This allows for easier tracking, reduced errors and faster process flow.

Streamlined Workflows

SharePoint provides tools to create workflows that can automate many of the routine and mundane tasks associated with project management. This helps to reduce the amount of time team members spend on administrative tasks and allows them to focus on more important tasks.

Team Collaboration

Collaboration among team members of a project is facilitated by SharePoint through features that enable them to communicate through tools like blogs, discussion boards and more.

Task Management

Tasks among team members can be effectively managed on SharePoint through features that facilitation creation and assignment of tasks to team members with deadlines and the ability to track progress of the same.

Reporting and Analytics for improved project visibility

The most important feature for project management is reporting and analytics, as it is imperative to measure and manage project processes. Analytics can help identify stagnation in workflows and empower managers to make fact-based decisions to deliver successful project deliverables. SharePoint provides enhanced management capabilities like real-time visibility into project progress for project managers which ensures they quickly identify potential issues and take corrective action before they cause delays or deviations to project timelines.

Secure Access to Information

SharePoint provides safe and secure access to project information, which ensures that sensitive information is protected from unauthorized access. This helps to maintain the confidentiality of project information and ensures that all team members have access to the information they need to complete their tasks.

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Best Practices for setting up SharePoint for Project Management

Pointers for setting up a portal in SharePoint online for project management

SharePoint can be used to manage projects effectively provided it is set up correctly. Here are some pointers to use SharePoint for project management.

Define Parameters or Requirements Custom to the project

It is important to define the project management requirements for your project like project goals, key deliverables, requirements, stakeholders. Clarity on the above will help determine how SharePoint features can be used to support the project management requirements.

Define a Site Structure

A hierarchical structure to organize information with sites, sub-sites and lists are one of the main benefits of using SharePoint. Create a project site structure in accordance with your project management requirements and facilitates easy navigation for teams.

Use Templates

Templates are quick ways to create documents, sites for specific purposes. SharePoint project management templates are available which can be used to define a site structure that aligns with your requirements.

Integration with other Microsoft Tools

Streamline project tasks by facilitating easy integration with other useful Microsoft applications like Projects, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

Use Metadata

Use the SharePoint project management meta data feature to categorize and organize content to facilitate easy retrieval which is important to improve project efficiency.

Set up Easy Navigation

A well-defined navigation structure can make it easy for team members to find the information they need with ease. Features that facilitate this in SharePoint are headings, menus, and links to organize site's content into logical categories and subcategories.

Collaboration Tools

Several tools are available for effective communication and collaboration among members of projects teams. Some examples are discussion boards, blogs, wikis, and surveys. This can ensure the SharePoint project management site is an effective hub for team members to work together for project deliverables.

Maintenance and Monitoring through Reporting and Analytics

SharePoint has powerful reporting and analytics features that make it easy to monitor project progress. Power bi is a powerful reporting tool available with SharePoint. Maintain your SharePoint site by monitoring for performance through appropriate usage metrics. Optimization as and when needed can monitor project progress to ensure site performance meets your project management requirements.

Customization Options

SharePoint provides a multitude of customizable options for sites to custom meet specific requirements for projects. Once a project site in SharePoint has been defined, lists, views, workflows and tasks can be created specific to the processes followed in your project for easy use by team members.

Set up Document Libraries and Permissions

Document libraries are spaces where project specific documents or project information can be exclusively stored. Use the SharePoint permission features to offer granular permissions settings at different levels of the document library to define permissions as to who can access or edit content.
A well-defined structure of permissions can be effective in facilitating useful collaborating while ensuring data safety. Ongoing maintenance for governance such as version control and content approval should also be factored into permissions with appropriate education given to team members of various levels.

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Conclusion

SharePoint an apt choice for Project Managers!

SharePoint is a tool that facilitates project management that has potential to benefit organizations handling a range of project sizes, structures and complexities. The access to centralized information, ability to communicate and collaborate, clear approval and permission features, streamlined workflows are what make SharePoint an apt choice for project managers.

By following best practices and ensuring adequate training is imparted to team members, organizations can harness the true potential of SharePoint to achieve goals and deliver projects on time. Explore SharePoint for your project management requirements and experience the power of its user-friendly features in reducing redundancy, improving efficiency in your projects.

Try our SharePoint Project Management System