Utilizing SharePoint for Project Management Gregory Zelfond PMI SOC GTIS Branch April 18, 2013
My Experience with SharePoint My experience with SharePoint Project Sites www.gregoryzelfond.com 2
Agenda Background SharePoint Advantages Tips & Tricks Best Practices Training & Buy-In Q & A www.gregoryzelfond.com 3
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 3 rd 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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 4
Cost & Ease of Use Matter Low, $ Medium, $$ High, $$$ - Email (Outlook) - Shared Drives -MS Word -MS Excel -MS Project Web-Based Collaboration Sites - SharePoint -Basecamp - AceProject - Zoho Projects - Google Apps Enterprise Project & Portfolio Management - MS Project Server - Clarity PPM -HP PPM Center - IBM Rational Focal Point -EPM Live www.gregoryzelfond.com 5
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? www.gregoryzelfond.com 6
Needs & Wants Project Team Level HOW? Operational PMO/Program Level WHAT? WHEN? Tactical Day-to-day project activities Updating documentation Completing projects tasks Managing issues Staying sane during the project Key performance indicators Project status (Red, Yellow, Green) Budget, Resource Management Key Milestones / Go-Live Date Portfolio Management, Scenarios www.gregoryzelfond.com 7
Some Questions For You How many people are currently using or have used SharePoint in their Work Environment? How many people use or have used SharePoint to manage projects? List information management challenges you have when managing project? www.gregoryzelfond.com 8
Common Challenges for Project Team Finding project documents Document versioning Document sharing Information overload Lack of common templates www.gregoryzelfond.com 9
SharePoint Advantages Centralizes project information and documentation Empowers the project team Facilitates project team collaboration Minimal learning curve Minimal IT involvement Social media impact www.gregoryzelfond.com 10
SharePoint Advantages, continued MS office look and feel One stop shop Different views for different audiences Search capability Information sharing Transparency www.gregoryzelfond.com 11
Case Study First Niagara Bank Multi-state bank, headquartered in Buffalo, NY 430 branches, 6,000 employees 2 PMOs, 15 Project Managers 6 Project Site Template revisions in 8 months 75 IT and Business Projects www.gregoryzelfond.com 12
Recommended Modules for a Project Site 1. PMO (Governance) Documents 2. Project Documents 3. Issues Log 4. Project Tasks 5. Risk Register 6. Calendar 7. Contacts 8. Change Control Log 9. Lessons Learned Log 10. Bug Tracker www.gregoryzelfond.com 13
Suggested Structure Main Site Template Version 1 Template Version 2 Project A Project B Project C Template Site www.gregoryzelfond.com 14
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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 15
Creating a Project Site 1 Save Site as a Template (Steps 1 & 2) Check off Include Content Creating from Template (Step 3) Site Administration > Sites & Workspaces > Create 3 2 www.gregoryzelfond.com 16
Some of the Available Web Parts Web Part Announcements Calendar Links Shared Documents Tasks Team Discussion Purpose Contains messages posted by contributors to the site Contains upcoming meetings, deadlines, and other important events Contains links to Web pages that your team members will find interesting or useful Document Repository Library A list where team members can keep track of work that needs to be done Contains newsgroup-style discussions among team members www.gregoryzelfond.com 17
Web Parts, Libraries & Lists to Consider SharePoint Module Shared Documents Task List Issues List Issues List Contacts Calendar Issues List Issues List Custom List PM Artifact Project Documents, Governance Documents Task and Action List Issues Log Risk Register Contact List Calendar Change Control Log Bug Tracker Lessons Learned Log www.gregoryzelfond.com 18
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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 19
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 library http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/office365-sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/add-multipleoffice-templates-to-a-document-library-ha102409514.aspx www.gregoryzelfond.com 20
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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 21
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) www.gregoryzelfond.com 22
Calendar Calendar Web Part Capture people s vacations & key project milestones Sync with Outlook not recommended Choose Upcoming Events view for front page www.gregoryzelfond.com 23
Team Roster Contacts Web Part Capture Emails, Contacts, Mobile # s, Departments, Project Roles Advanced: Sync with Active Directory or Exchange www.gregoryzelfond.com 24
Lessons Learned Custom List Web Part Create Lessons Learned List on each project site Advanced: Roll-up to common Lessons Learned database www.gregoryzelfond.com 25
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 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2009/10/19/project-2010- introducing-sync-to-sharepoint.aspx www.gregoryzelfond.com 26
Security for 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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 27
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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 28
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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 29
Best Practices, continued Closing Phase = change permissions to Read Only Policy or SOP is a great idea Check that Recycle bin often www.gregoryzelfond.com 30
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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 31
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 www.gregoryzelfond.com 32
Q & A www.gregoryzelfond.com 33
Let s connect! ca.linkedin.com/in/gregoryzelfond facebook.com/gregoryzelfond twitter.com/gregoryzelfond www.gregoryzelfond.com Gregory Zelfond, MBA, PMP Project Management Consultant greg@gregoryzelfond.com www.gregoryzelfond.com 34