www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info SECOND EDITION SharePoint 2010 for Project Management Dux Raymond Sy Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Tokyo www.it-ebooks.info 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 95472. O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (http://my.safaribooksonline.com). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com. Editors: Courtney Nash and Rachel Roumeliotis Production Editor: Kristen Borg Proofreader: Marlowe Shaeffer Indexer: Lucie Haskins Cover Designer: Karen Montgomery Interior Designer: David Futato Illustrator: Robert Romano October 2008: First Edition. February 2012: Second Edition. Revision History for the Second Edition: 2012-01-11 First release See http://oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=9781449306373 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 con- tained herein. ISBN: 978-1-449-30637-3 [LSI] 1326292606 www.it-ebooks.info Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii 1. Project Kickoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 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 26 3. Adding PMIS Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Using SharePoint Lists 28 Creating SharePoint Lists 34 Workshop 3.1: Creating and Populating Lists 35 iii www.it-ebooks.info 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 61 4. Adding Stakeholders to the PMIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 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 79 5. Supporting Team Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 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 www.it-ebooks.info Facilitating Team Collaboration 96 Wikis 97 Discussion Boards 98 Document Workspaces 99 Creating a Document Workspace 100 Best Practices Checklist 102 Summary 102 6. Project Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 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 135 7. Project Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 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 www.it-ebooks.info 8. Integrating PM Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 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 190 9. Project Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 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 198 1. Leverage and Prove the Value of SharePoint as a PMIS on a Pilot Project 198 2. Provide User Support in Learning and Utilizing SharePoint 199 3. Measure and Broadcast Success 199 4. Gather Feedback 200 Best Practices Checklist 201 Summary 201 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 vi | Table of Contents www.it-ebooks.info Preface Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinangalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan. (He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.) —Dr. José P. Rizal, Philippine national hero Do you find yourself asking for more time whenever you work on a project? Do you ever get the extra time you asked for? Well, if you’re like me, you rarely get the extra time you need from your customers. This got me thinking about how I can buy more time for my projects. I decided to find out if I could gain more time by reducing inefficiencies within the project team (which also includes myself). In a recent project, I monitored and analyzed a few individuals for a week and was amazed at what I discovered. During an average eight-hour workday, each individual spent about 45 minutes looking for information. For example, when asked by a client to retrieve a specific status report, the project coordinator had to look for it on the network share, in her email inbox, in the project folder of her computer, and she even had to call up another colleague to help her find it. This typical mode of searching took up time that could have been spent on something more productive. In addition, project resources were unproductive due to poor document management practices, inefficient project communication stand- ards, and ineffective project collaboration tools. According to a May 31, 2007, New York Times article, “Time Wasted? Perhaps It’s Well Spent” (http://www.nytimes.com/ 2007/05/31/fashion/31work.html), a Microsoft study found that American workers, on average, spend 45 hours a week at work, with 16 of these hours described as “unproductive.” Although 45 minutes may not sound like a lot, when you look at the bigger picture, it essentially means that a team of 20 people wastes 900 minutes a day. In a three-month project, that is 54,000 minutes, or roughly 38 personal days—more than one-third of the project! vii www.it-ebooks.info Other than time, how much does this cost the project and the organization? Well, depending on who you’re considering, 45 minutes might cost $50 for a project coor- dinator or $250 for a technical contractor, each day. Bottom line: time and money are not well spent. What if my team could regain just 20 of those 45 minutes wasted each day? With SharePoint, we achieved this and more. Apart from increasing productivity, we were able to: • Automate status reporting for stakeholders • Use collaboration to generate real-time project lessons learned that were easily accessible by a globally dispersed team • Synchronize standard project information such as calendars, contacts, and documents • Document and track project risks and issues • Maintain a quality log • Integrate existing project management tools such as email, Microsoft Word, Excel, and Project into SharePoint • Create and manage a change control system For me, the best part of using SharePoint was that once the IT/IS department performed the installation and initial configuration, I didn’t have to burden anybody to set up and further configure this unique Project Management Information System (PMIS)—I did it all myself. In addition, I was still able to better use existing tools like Microsoft Office along with SharePoint. That’s what this book is all about. By clearly mapping the relationships between project management processes and project stakeholders, and by leveraging tools like Share- Point, you will learn how to apply common and practical project management techni- ques using SharePoint. More importantly, with this book you will quickly master SharePoint so you can build a PMIS that can help you efficiently coordinate commu- nication and collaboration throughout your project team. Who Should Read This Book This book will be most valuable to individuals working on projects who want to adapt SharePoint for project management, including: Project managers By managing a project officially or unofficially, project managers are involved from the project’s inception to its closure. Their responsibilities include project plan- ning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing. In addition, they lead a project team and are the project liaison with key stakeholders. viii | Preface www.it-ebooks.info [...]... have used SharePoint before, you will gain practical knowledge in applying SharePoint for project management Are using SharePoint for project management purposes This book is focused on helping you leverage SharePoint for project management, regardless of what industry you are in The concepts and techniques in this book apply to IT, construction, government, education, finance, and healthcare projects... 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 www.it-ebooks.info • SharePoint s... of SharePoint for Project Management was published SharePoint has exploded in the enterprise; in a recent report from AIIM, project management is the top use of SharePoint today (http://www.aiim.org/Research/ Industry-Watch /SharePoint- 2011) With this second edition, I would like to thank the following for their unwavering support, trust, and patience: • The Lord God for the awesome plan He has for. .. their processes for improvement Guess what? The same thing applies to project management 2 | Chapter 1: Project Kickoff www.it-ebooks.info 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... developing your project management process, go to http://www spforpm.com for a step-by-step guide, complete with supporting templates, documents, and references Project Kickoff | 3 www.it-ebooks.info What Is a PMIS? As defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI; see http://www.pmi.org), a Project Management Information System (PMIS) is a standardized set of automated project management tools... Microsoft Office 2010 Preface | ix www.it-ebooks.info My Assumptions in Writing This Book My assumptions are that you: Have some sort of project management experience You have managed projects formally or informally and are familiar with fundamental project management concepts and practices Are new to SharePoint You may have heard of SharePoint or have been told to use SharePoint to manage your projects If... advantage of SharePoint 2010 in a PMIS is to familiarize yourself with the structure of SharePoint 2010 sites SharePoint 2010 sites are collaborative websites that are organized in a hierarchy They are composed of top-level sites and subsites, as shown in Figure 2-1 Figure 2-1 SharePoint site hierarchy A top-level site is created upon installation of SharePoint 2010 (SharePoint Foundation 2010 or SharePoint. .. 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... 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... www.it-ebooks.info • Microsoft Project for the Masses: FREE Resource Management Solution (http:// spgur.us/MSPFM) Books: • Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management by Scott Berkun (O’Reilly, 2008) • Applied Project Management: Best Practices on Implementation by Harold Kerzner (Wiley, 1999) • Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Plain & Simple by Jonathan Lightfoot and Chris Beckett (Microsoft Press, 2010) Contents . www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info SECOND EDITION SharePoint 2010 for Project Management Dux Raymond Sy Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Tokyo www.it-ebooks.info SharePoint 2010 for Project Management, Second. working on projects who want to adapt SharePoint for project management, including: Project managers By managing a project officially or unofficially, project managers are involved from the project s. heard of SharePoint or have been told to use SharePoint to manage your projects. If you have used SharePoint before, you will gain practical knowledge in applying SharePoint for project management. Are