SharePoint 2010 for Project Management

Course Description

With all the expertise, expensive certifications, and big talk on project management in the field today, more than 50% of projects still fail. Why is that? Often there is a lack of communication between all the stakeholders. Who''s on first? What''s on second? And no one is on the same page with the project lead.

More and more successful project managers are utilizing SharePoint 2010 to drive their projects and operational initiatives. SharePoint 2010 allows teams to have a specified location for information on a particular project. This allows Project Managers to drive what they need from each player with ease and keep everyone on the same page.

This hands-on, lab-driven course will guide managers through the process of using SharePoint 2010 to drive their projects, improve efficiency, and increase the likelihood of project success. Build your Project Management Information System, develop your SharePoint project site, build document management and libraries, integrate Microsoft Office software, build SharePoint Workflows, and archive your project after it is completed. Add the necessary tools to your project management knowledge and make every project more successful.

Skills Gained

• Enterprise-class project management with SharePoint
• Real-world configurations and customized project sites
• How to make SharePoint your ultimate PMIS
• Running tight version control using SharePoint tools
• Workflow and process automation, calendars, and Gantt charts
• Integrate project work and Microsoft Office and Project 2010
• Reporting with SharePoint''s Excel Services
• Forecasts, KPIs, and Business Intelligence (BI)
• New business intelligence features for informative reporting and digital dashboards
• Content management for easy web site creation
• Use new real-time collaborative technologies in SharePoint and Office 2010
• Design "tell-all" dashboards for complete view of projects
• Use SharePoint BI features to graphically display project data

Who Can Benefit

Project managers, business analysts, operation managers, team leads, product managers, SharePoint power users, marketing managers, IT managers, data analysts, PMO managers/directors

Syllabus

1. SharePoint as a Project Management Information System

• What is a PMIS?
• Why SharePoint?
• SharePoint''s Collaboration Features

2. Creating a PMIS System

• Creating the SharePoint PMIS
  • Presenting a project management methodology
  • Identifying relevant organizational processes
  • Setting up sites with new and existing templates
  • Configuring basic PMIS features
  • Performing initial site administrative tasks
• Managing Users and Permissions
  • Defining an organizational structure
  • Determining project stakeholders and communications requirements
  • Building a communication plan
  • Assigning site memberships
• Customizing the PMIS Structure
  • Planning the information architecture
  • Classifying content
  • Generating custom lists for the PMIS
    • Issue lists
    • Contacts
    • Calendars
    • Project tracking
    • Custom lists
  • Supporting multiple document types
• Publishing a Microsoft Project Schedule to SharePoint

3. Enabling Team Collaboration with SharePoint

• Challenges Facing Collaborative Efforts
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Collaboration with remote users
  • Support for offline collaboration
  • Performing a needs assessment
  • Selecting and designing the appropriate solution
• Implementing SharePoint''s Collaboration Features
  • Content management features
    • Enabling version control
    • Document check-in/check-out
    • Content approval
  • Polling the team with surveys
  • Discussion forums
  • Utilizing wikis
  • Document workspaces

4. Tracking Projects with SharePoint

• Monitoring the Project
  • Establishing project tracking guidelines
  • Documenting a risk management process
  • Keeping up-to-date with automated alerts and RSS
• Tracking Project Progress
  • Assigning project tasks with the project task list
  • Updating the issues list
  • Locating specific project information with search
• Dealing with Deviations
  • Determining change control procedures
  • The three-state workflow
  • Re-evaluating the project schedule

5. Working with Business Intelligence

• Distributing Project Status to Stakeholders
  • Forecasting with key performance indicators (KPIs)
  • Filtering project information with custom views
• Creating Management Dashboards with SharePoint Web Parts
• Working with Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets
  • Importing data from Excel spreadsheets
  • Exporting data to an Excel spreadsheet

6. Establishing Processes and Standards with SharePoint

• Business Process Management
  • Optimize processes and services with SharePoint
  • Automate processes and services with SharePoint

7. Managing Meetings with Meeting Workspaces

• Meeting Workspaces and Their Components
  • Meeting agendas
  • Documents
  • Action items
  • Schedules
  • Contacts and stakeholders
• Integrating Microsoft Outlook with SharePoint

8. Working with Microsoft Access

• Why Microsoft Access?
• Converting and Publishing Existing Access Databases
• Creating New Access Databases

9. Creating a PMO View

• Rolling-Up Project Information
• Customizing Information and Views
• Creating a Master Project Calendar
• Designing a Project Manager Dashboard

10. Concluding a Project

• Transferring Lessons Learned
• Archiving the SharePoint PMIS
• Creating Templates for Future Projects