Author: Alan Morgan

Alan Morgan is a project management consultant with BrightWork. Alan is a senior IT professional and an accomplished business manager with an outstanding track record in project management, consultancy and IT software solutions.

Leveraging SharePoint with the Microsoft Project Sync

Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs):This Webinar is eligible for 0.5 PMI® PDUs in the Technical category of the Talent Triangle. Event Description: Instead of trying to decide whether you should be using Microsoft Project or SharePoint for project management, why not use both! By leveraging the Microsoft Project Sync in SharePoint, you can get the best of both worlds. Microsoft Project can be overwhelming and difficult for inexperienced project managers to update their work. This can lead to problems in user adoption and wasted resources on expensive, unused licenses. SharePoint seamlessly syncs with Microsoft Project, extending the project management capabilities of both applications. In this webinar you will learn how to:• Integrate Microsoft Project with SharePoint Templates.• Manage projects with multiple team members through a single Microsoft Project license.• Get summary reports of all projects with executive dashboards and individual reports. Presenter Info: Alan Morgan is a project management consultant with BrightWork. Alan is a senior IT professional and an accomplished business manager with an outstanding track record in project management, consultancy and IT software solutions.   Have you watched this webinar recording? Tell MPUG viewers what you think! [WPCR_INSERT]

Managing Portfolios of Projects with SharePoint and the Microsoft Project Sync

Successful project management requires many key ingredients. Careful planning, scheduling, task management, resource allocation, and the right team to implement your project to name a few. You also need a process and a set of tools to manage all of the above. I typically recommend SharePoint as the best collaborative platform with which to manage projects, programs, and/or a portfolio of projects. Microsoft Project is also an incredible tool to manage your project schedule. SharePoint does not have all the project planning capabilities that Microsoft Project has for more experienced Project Managers, but offers easy, accessible, and scalable project management tools. In my work, we expand out-of-the-box SharePoint project and portfolio management capabilities. Microsoft Project can be technically challenging for more casual project team members. Some users just need a place where they can find their “to do list” and provide status updates on their work. SharePoint is the perfect tool for that. Most of the time, it’s really just the Project Manager who needs access to the MPP file anyway. By leveraging the sync with SharePoint, team members won’t need to use MS Project on a day-to-day basis. In my on-demand webinar on the topic, I discuss in detail how to sync a Microsoft Project Plan with a project management site in SharePoint. For now, let’s look at the basic steps.   Use the “Open with Project” Capability in your Existing SharePoint Site With this method, you will be creating a new MPP file that is mapped to an existing Tasks List in SharePoint. Step 1: Navigate to the SharePoint Tasks List in your Team Site. Step 2: From the ribbon, click Open with Project. This will open a MPP file containing the plan from your SharePoint tasks list.   Step 3: Plan (and re-plan) your project as you normally would in Microsoft Project. Step 4: Click Save. You will see Microsoft Project syncing with your SharePoint task list. Any updates that the team makes in the SharePoint task list will be reflected in the MPP file the next time you open it. If you’d like to learn more, join me for a live demonstration of how to: Integrate Microsoft Project with SharePoint Templates Manage projects and portfolios with multiple team members through a single Microsoft Project license Get summary reports of all projects with executive dashboards and individual reports   Watch the on-demand session