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3 SharePoint 2010 for Project Management, Second Edition by Dux Raymond Sy Copyright 2012 Innovative-e, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Published by O Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA O Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles ( For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) or [email protected]. Editors: Production Editor: Proofreader: Courtney Nash and Rachel Roumeliotis Kristen Borg Marlowe Shaeffer Indexer: Cover Designer: Interior Designer: Illustrator: Lucie Haskins Karen Montgomery David Futato Robert Romano October 2008: February 2012: First Edition. Second Edition. Revision History for the Second Edition: First release See for release details. Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O Reilly logo are registered trademarks of O Reilly Media, Inc. SharePoint 2010 for Project Management, the image of a black fox squirrel, and related trade dress are trademarks of O Reilly Media, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O Reilly Media, Inc., was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. ISBN: [LSI]

4 Table of Contents Preface vii 1. Project Kickoff What Is a PMIS? 4 Deciding to Use a PMIS 4 What Is SharePoint? 5 Other Options 8 Our Case Study: SharePoint Dojo, Inc. 8 Best Practices Checklist 9 Summary 9 2. Setting Up the PMIS How Will You Organize Your PMIS? 12 Using Site Templates 14 Creating a SharePoint 2010 Site 14 Workshop 2.1: Establishing the SharePoint 2010 PMIS Foundation 15 Part 1: Creating the PMIS 16 Part 2: Customizing the Site Theme 17 Part 3: Adding an Announcement List 18 Part 4: Displaying Announcements on the Home Page 20 Workshop 2.1 Debriefing 22 Customizing the PMIS 22 Workshop 2.2: Updating Your Site s Regional Settings 25 Workshop 2.2 Debriefing 25 Best Practices Checklist 26 Summary Adding PMIS Components Using SharePoint Lists 28 Creating SharePoint Lists 34 Workshop 3.1: Creating and Populating Lists 35 iii

5 Part 1: Creating and Populating a Calendar List 36 Part 2: Creating and Populating a Contacts List 38 Part 3: Creating a Risks List 40 Part 4: Creating a Project Tasks List 41 Part 5: Creating and Populating a Custom Resource List 41 Part 6: Displaying the New Lists on the Home Page 46 Workshop 3.1 Debriefing 48 Using Libraries 49 Creating a Document Library (a How-To) 52 Populating a Document Library 55 Workshop 3.2: Creating and Populating a Document Library 55 Part 1: Creating a Document Library 55 Part 2: Populating a Document Library 57 Workshop 3.2 Debriefing 60 Organizing Project Information 60 Best Practices Checklist 61 Summary Adding Stakeholders to the PMIS Project Communications Plan 64 Site Access in SharePoint 65 Creating SharePoint Groups 65 Adding Site Members 66 Enabling the Access Request Feature 69 Customizing Permissions 70 Workshop 4.1: Adding Site Members 73 Part 1: Adding Site Members 74 Part 2: Customizing List Permissions 75 Workshop 4.1 Debriefing 77 Best Practices Checklist 79 Summary Supporting Team Collaboration Enabling Document Management Solutions 82 Overview of Check-Out/Check-In 83 Overview of Version History 85 Overview of Content Approval 87 Workshop 5.1: Updating a Project Document 89 Part 1: Requiring Check-Out 89 Part 2: Checking Out and Editing a Document from the Document Library 91 Part 3: Viewing All the Changes Made to the Document 93 Workshop 5.1 Debriefing 96 iv Table of Contents

6 Facilitating Team Collaboration 96 Wikis 97 Discussion Boards 98 Document Workspaces 99 Creating a Document Workspace 100 Best Practices Checklist 102 Summary Project Tracking Tracking Project Tasks 104 Tracking Risks 107 Workshop 6.1: Updating the Schedule and Tracking Risks 110 Part 1: Updating the Project Tasks List 110 Part 2: Populating and Updating the Project Tasks List 112 Part 3: Documenting Risks 115 Workshop 6.1 Debriefing 119 Controlling Changes with Workflow 119 Workshop 6.2: Creating a Change Control System with Three-State Workflow 122 Part 1: Creating a Custom List 123 Part 2: Customizing the Three-State Workflow 124 Part 3: Testing the Workflow 130 Workshop 6.2 Debriefing 135 Best Practices Checklist 135 Summary Project Reporting Custom Views 137 Workshop 7.1: Creating a Custom View 141 Workshop 7.1 Debriefing 145 Using Web Parts for Interactive Reporting 145 Workshop 7.2: Maximizing Project Reporting with Web Parts 150 Part 1: Updating Web Parts on Your PMIS Home Page 150 Part 2: Creating a Project Dashboard 153 Part 3: Finalizing the Dashboard 160 Workshop 7.2 Debriefing 163 Subscribing to Alerts 163 Using Meeting Workspaces 166 Workshop 7.3: Creating a Meeting Workspace 169 Workshop 7.3 Debriefing 171 Best Practices Checklist 172 Summary 172 Table of Contents v

7 8. Integrating PM Tools Integrating Microsoft Project into SharePoint 174 Workshop 8.1: Using Microsoft Project 176 Workshop 8.1 Debriefing 178 Using Microsoft Excel and SharePoint 178 Creating a Custom List from an Existing Excel Spreadsheet 179 Exporting an Excel Spreadsheet to SharePoint As a Custom List 180 Synchronizing Excel Tables with a SharePoint List 182 Workshop 8.2: Synchronizing Excel with SharePoint 185 Part 1: Creating an Excel Table 185 Part 2: Synchronizing the SharePoint List with Excel 188 Workshop 8.2 Debriefing 189 Best Practices Checklist 189 Summary Project Closing Overview of Creating a PMIS Template 192 Overview of Archiving the PMIS 194 Workshop 9.1: Creating a PMIS Site Template 195 Workshop 9.1 Debriefing 198 Ensuring Stakeholder Buy-In Leverage and Prove the Value of SharePoint as a PMIS on a Pilot Project Provide User Support in Learning and Utilizing SharePoint Measure and Broadcast Success Gather Feedback 200 Best Practices Checklist 201 Summary 201 Index vi Table of Contents

8 CHAPTER 1 Project Kickoff It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things. Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian philosopher As most of you would agree, the definition of a project varies greatly it can be building the next space shuttle, upgrading the production line of your manufacturing facility, or just creating a new website for a customer. One common factor that holds true across these varying project types is that all of them involve multiple people interacting with a wide array of project information. This information can include templates, s, schedules, proposals, forms, budgets, contact information, status reports, regulatory compliance, and even ad hoc documents. In spite of our best attempts to effectively manage project information, we all seem to fall short at times. We rely on inconsistent and inefficient tools that are typically a combination of three things: Local/personal storage If project information is stored in an individual s personal computer, , or portable storage device, can important information such as a project schedule be made available to relevant stakeholders in a timely manner? If the computer or portable storage device breaks down, how is the information restored? Network-based storage If you are using central storage through a file-sharing network or web-based environment, how do you prevent files from being overwritten? What are the standards for maintaining versions? Can you easily define who can access what information? Mixed bag of project management tools Some common tools used in project environments are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and possibly Microsoft Project. In certain cases, complex enterprise tools such as Microsoft Project Server and Primavera are also made available. 1

9 Checklist: Essential Project Management Activities When I formally started managing projects more than 15 years ago, I had the wrong impression that the very first step to take was to fire up a scheduling tool (such as Microsoft Project) and start cranking out the project tasks, defining the task duration, and establishing the task dependencies. It never really worked out well for me. Only later did I realize that there are other crucial steps I failed to do. Here s my essential list of project management activities that every project manager should be doing throughout the life of a project: Create guidelines for how your projects will be initiated Run a kickoff meeting to define project objectives Identify your stakeholders Identify project information taxonomy Plan your projects with your team, including creating the work breakdown structure (WBS), creating the network diagram, identifying the critical path, and optimizing the project schedule Define the probability and impact of project risks Create a change control process for scope changes Define quantifiable project-tracking processes Facilitate a lessons-learned meeting To improve these inefficiencies, three things are necessary: Apply a standard set of project management processes from the start of the project until the end While I won t go into detailed discussions on project management concepts and theories, I will say that to make SharePoint work to your advantage, you have to employ sound project management techniques and practices. If you don t have one, the best way to develop a project management methodology is to review best practices from the Project Management Institute s (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide and the Projects in Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) road map. Consider this example: I have no cooking experience, so if I were to compete in a cooking contest against the best chef in the world (à la Iron Chef), I would definitely lose. This is because even if, by chance, I cooked really well, there s no method to my madness I dislike reading recipe books, so it s hit or miss. I am certain that a veteran chef would have proven processes in place, from how to chop the vegetables to how long okra should simmer. Not only do veteran chefs document these steps, they also constantly tweak their processes for improvement. Guess what? The same thing applies to project management. 2 Chapter 1: Project Kickoff

10 Use a Project Management Information System (PMIS) to support your project management processes As any experienced project manager would validate, having an easy-to-use, accessible, reliable, and scalable collaborative platform can contribute greatly to a project s success. That s the crux of what you will learn in this book: using Share- Point as your PMIS. Educate and update your project team with project management best practices Having an incremental approach to continuous process improvement will enable the project team to make better use of the PMIS. Dux Quax: Is It Changeworthy? Listen, before you go gung-ho and start implementing formalized project management processes in your organization, slow down, my good friend. I guarantee that it won t work if you change the rules overnight. People, by nature, are averse to change (as you might already know). As the old adage goes, If it ain t broke, don t fix it. So, what should you do? How can you convince your team that it s necessary to implement project management processes? Taking baby steps is key: Make the case that having sound project management processes will greatly improve how projects are run in the organization A good exercise is to examine a previous project that didn t turn out too well it might have been delayed or gone over budget. Assess whether you had sound planning processes. Could you have done a better job defining the work and drawing up a more realistic schedule and budget? Implement new processes one at a time Initially, focus on the planning aspects of project management. Perhaps come up with a standard on defining project goals, identifying stakeholders, prioritizing requirements, generating work breakdown, assigning work, developing a project schedule, and documenting a risk management plan. Involve the team Allow the team to provide feedback on the processes that will be implemented. Ask if they re relevant. If not, how can they be improved? Is there anything missing? What kind of support is necessary to ensure that these processes are adopted? Remember, people can change as long as they perceive it as worthwhile. They are more likely to make changes that will bring about benefits at a personal level than at the organizational level. To get you started in developing your project management process, go to for a step-by-step guide, complete with supporting templates, documents, and references. Project Kickoff 3

11 What Is a PMIS? As defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI; see a Project Management Information System (PMIS) is a standardized set of automated project management tools available within an organization and integrated into a system. Although the PMI does not specify which tools or technologies to use as a PMIS, SharePoint can be customized as one. Checklist: Essential PMIS Capabilities A reliable PMIS should support most, if not all, of the communication and collaboration needs of a project environment. Here is a list of essential PMIS capabilities: Supports the generation of a project charter, schedule, and budget Facilitates communication and feedback Monitors project activities Controls project changes Analyzes and forecasts project performance Disseminates project status to relevant stakeholders Provides real-time information essential for initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing a project Deciding to Use a PMIS No matter how small or large a project is, being able to efficiently manage project information whenever, wherever, and however can greatly contribute to project success. A key requirement for making this possible is leveraging a PMIS. Here are five telltale signs that you need to begin using a PMIS: No standardized system for integrating project goals Project schedule, cost, and quality objectives are individual silos. For example, financial information in Excel is not automatically recalculated anytime the project schedule is adjusted using scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project. Making manual updates takes time away from other project activities. Inefficient document management Project documents are not stored in a central location. Tracking, undoing changes, and the ability to roll back to prior versions are limited. Additionally, varying levels of access permissions are unavailable. IT/IS can only do so much in supporting information access requirements. Lack of appropriate tools to facilitate team collaboration Project information is not accessible anytime, anywhere. In addition, the team is incapable of developing or working with information at the same time. 4 Chapter 1: Project Kickoff

12 Inability to report accurate and timely status of the project Project status information is available only when the project manager makes it available. How do you deal with project sponsors who want to view real-time project status data? Not achieving organizational strategic goals Lacking a standardized tool to facilitate consistent project management processes throughout an organization can limit the ability to effectively support strategic goals. As a project manager, these five issues can more than justify the need for any organization to invest in a reliable, effective, customizable, and easy-to-implement PMIS. Today, multiple PMIS solutions are available. However, in addition to being costly, they can require specialized skills to implement, customize, and maintain. That s why a lot of these initiatives have achieved only limited adoption. This is how SharePoint sets itself apart. What Is SharePoint? How do people describe SharePoint? In my experience, the definition always gets lost somewhere between collaboration and document management. Here s a concise and straightforward description of SharePoint: SharePoint allows individuals in an organization to easily create and manage their own collaborative solutions. It sounds simple, but let me dissect what it truly means: Individuals Does this word specify that SharePoint users have to be technically savvy? No. In fact, as long as users have familiarity with Windows, Microsoft Office, and surfing the Web, they will be in good shape. Organization This term implies that SharePoint can be used by a limited number of people belonging to the same group. It also means that there will be varying levels of authority and privileges within the group. As a result, you don t have to rely on the IT/ IS department to set up permissions in SharePoint you are empowered to define and manage access to specific information. You will learn more about permissions in Chapter 4. Easily Instead of contacting IT/IS, any individual can create, customize, and manage this collaborative tool. Although IT/IS will not be totally out of the picture, SharePoint empowers users to develop a customized automated solution that can appropriately support their needs in a timely manner. What Is SharePoint? 5

13 Collaborative The intent of SharePoint is to support collaborative activities (formal or informal) in which groups engage. SharePoint has been around since It has evolved from a simple website management tool to an empowering collaboration platform that integrates seamlessly with the Web, Microsoft Windows, and Microsoft Office. Since it is a foundational Microsoft technology, various organizations including government institutions, airlines, banks, construction companies, and retail industries have benefited from its tools and feature sets. SharePoint does not refer to a specific product or technology. Using the phrase Microsoft SharePoint is like using the phrase Microsoft Office. It refers to several aspects of collaborative solutions. The key components are SharePoint Foundation (SF) and SharePoint Server (SS). To distinguish SF and SS, an analogy that I often use is to compare SharePoint to a car. What s the main purpose of a car? To take you from point A to point B, agreed? Which component of a car is required to do this? The engine, of course. The main purpose of SharePoint is to empower users with document management and team collaboration tools. SF fulfills this purpose. It is the core engine of SharePoint. Without SF, there is no SharePoint. SF (shown in Figure 1-1) is available with Windows 2008 Server or later. Figure 1-1. A SharePoint site using a SF site template SS provides extended capabilities to SF. Going back to the car analogy, we can equip our vehicles with accessories such as GPS, a DVD system, voice command, etc. However, these extended features are not required to run a car (taking us from point A to point B). If these accessories are not installed, the car will still work. It s just that having a GPS might enable us to reach our destination faster without getting lost. SS extended 6 Chapter 1: Project Kickoff

14 features include Enterprise Search, Personalization, Enterprise Content Management, etc. Unlike SF, SS (shown in Figure 1-2) has separate licensing. Licensing can vary and become quite costly. For more information about licensing, visit Microsoft s SharePoint website at Figure 1-2. A SharePoint site using SS features Since SharePoint can be considered a platform for improving document management and collaboration, it can be adopted as a tool to assist most project environments. In this book, I will show you how to build a SharePoint PMIS primarily using SF. This means that the techniques you will learn can be applied regardless of whether you have SF or SS in your organization. Dux Quax: Is SharePoint the Only Game in Town? Don t get me wrong here. There are a lot of other great products that can be used as a PMIS. There are full-featured enterprise-level products, such as Microsoft Project Server, Clarity, and Primavera; and even open source, web-based products, such as Google Apps and Basecamp. The challenge with rolling out complex enterprise PMIS toolsets is that it assumes your organization already has a certain level of project management maturity. By maturity I mean that you have a Project Management Office (PMO) in place; project processes are being applied, embraced, and continuously improved upon by all project teams; and project artifacts such as plans, reports, templates, and communication mechanisms are well defined and structured. The reason for such a stringent requirement is that these tools must be customized to adapt the processes you currently have in place. A lot of clients I have worked with assumed that implementing such comprehensive tools would make projects run better overnight. Yeah, right. Without sound processes in place, a complex tool is quite a beast to leverage. What Is SharePoint? 7

15 As depicted in Figure 1-3, project management maturity should have the people, process, and technology in lockstep. Figure 1-3. Project management maturity Other Options How about free, web-based, open source products such as Google Sites, Dux? Well, they can serve as a relatively good PMIS to a certain extent. My issue with these tools is their lack of integration with existing project management tools that I use. The last thing I want to do is enter the same set of information 10 times in 10 different places. So, how is SharePoint different? If you are coming from an environment where you don t really have an established project management process and are mostly using Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and maybe Microsoft Project to manage your projects, using SharePoint is taking a baby step ahead. Remember that people are often averse to change. Well, stepping up to SharePoint is not as drastic a change as learning how to use other, more complex PMIS tools. Also, I really like the integration between SharePoint and the Microsoft Office products that I use day in and day out. For example, I can enter project schedule information in my Outlook calendar and it will show up in SharePoint, and vice versa. Additionally, an Excel spreadsheet can synchronize milestone tracking with SharePoint, so if my team leads enter milestone completion dates in SharePoint, those dates show up in the Excel spreadsheet sitting on my computer. Isn t that amazing? See Using Microsoft Excel and SharePoint on page 178 in Chapter 8 for more on this. Our Case Study: SharePoint Dojo, Inc. To better reinforce what you will learn, you will practice key concepts and techniques by managing a project for SharePoint Dojo, Inc., a fictional company that we will use throughout this book. SharePoint Dojo is a premier martial arts training facility with more than 200 studios in North America. Established in 1976, it has trained 700,000 students and produced many world-class athletes. 8 Chapter 1: Project Kickoff

16 As history has proven, SharePoint Dojo provides first-rate instruction in the art of tae kwon do, led by a staff of certified masters who have at least eight years of teaching experience and who have competed in international events. In 2008, the company was cited as one of the fastest-growing businesses in the United States. To continue its explosive growth, SharePoint Dojo is expanding internationally, opening company-owned martial arts training studios in major cities. Multiple project teams have been assembled, and each team will be responsible for managing the opening of each respective studio. As the project manager, you will be personally responsible for integrating SharePoint Dojo into the local culture and community of the city to which you have been assigned. The challenges will be significant. You will be required to select the site and furbish the studio, comply with local laws and regulations, set up distribution and logistics, develop IT infrastructure and regional reporting initiatives, integrate with existing systems and processes, identify which programs will sell the best in your region, and highlight local opportunities. You will have to handle local contractors, employ staff locally, and carry out local marketing and advertising. The whole time you will have to stay focused on the SharePoint Dojo brand and the SharePoint Dojo experience this is more than a series of local initiatives to make some money; it is about global expansion. As identified by senior management, there are two areas that are crucial to your overall success. The first is having correct project governance in place. It is critical that existing project management standards and processes be followed. Second, a PMIS must be established for each project team, enabling all the teams to share and collaborate on detailed project information, risks, and lessons learned in real time. To accomplish all of these goals, SharePoint Dojo has adopted PMI standards for project governance and implemented a PMIS using Microsoft SharePoint. You will need to set up your own SharePoint PMIS for your project. Best Practices Checklist Establish or be familiar with your project management processes. Establish a PMIS for your project. Centralize project documents. Streamline project communication. Become familiar with your SharePoint environment. Summary Successful projects result from sound project management practices, standards, and processes. You can increase project productivity by decreasing project inefficiencies. Summary 9

17 SharePoint s main purpose is to improve how we manage information and facilitate collaboration. It can be used as a PMIS. SharePoint can empower project managers because it is easier to learn, has better integration with existing project management tools, and requires less assistance from the IT/IS department than many other PMIS solutions. 10 Chapter 1: Project Kickoff

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