Project Management (for SharePoint 2003 Only)

Go Hands-On SharePoint 2003 (v2)

The Project Management solution is comprised of a Project Dashboard and any number of workspace sites. The workspace sites can be created based on either the Project Workspace Site template or the Project Workspace Advanced Site template described below. While this solution is comprised of three templates, you can use any of them on their own or together.

The Project Dashboard site pulls information from multiple projects together for a consolidated view, enabling groups of people to manage and coordinate the work on all of their projects. It can pull information from any number of sites. This site can be utilized by individuals with a variety of roles, including:

• Managers, including those at the senior level for the departments that are working on the projects, and those who supervise people who are matrixed on more than one project

• Resource planners

• Project managers with more than one project

• Workers who are affected by or involved in the projects.

The Project Workspace Site is a simple, single working space for project information, where a project team can come together to collaborate. It provides a secure repository for all files and data generated for a project, which is a more productive location to store and share work than PC hard drives and email. It allows teams to manage their projects without requiring the users to become experts in a complicated process. A project workspace can be created to stand on its own, or it can be “rolled up” to a Project Dashboard solution. This is a good site for project teams that are new to SharePoint because:

• It focuses on providing storage for ad hoc project documents.

• It allows the use of tasks on an as-needed basis.

• The project manager can work without an in-depth knowledge of SharePoint, using it to store documents and following the on-screen directions to enter required information that then rolls up to the management dashboard.

The Project Workspace Advanced Site includes a robust set of functionality for managing a project based on commonly recognized good project management practices. It also is meant to be a single repository for all files and data generated for a single project. This can be thought of as “Project Management for the rest of us” – those who need to manage projects, but not at the level of being an expert in tools such as Microsoft Project. A Project Workspace Advanced site can stand on its own, or it can be “rolled up” to a Project Dashboard solution. This is solution is a good choice when:

• The project manager wants to leverage automated tasks and other online capabilities as much as possible.

• The number of tasks in the project is large and would be easier to manage if they were grouped into subtasks.
  

• Resources must track their hours and the project manager must track hours and associated costs.