Project Site

[The MPUG Community]

A very basic question, that for the life of me, I can’t answer.  What is the purpose of the automatically created “Project Site” in PS2010?  This site automatically creates a discussion page, and puts together some frameworks for lists.  But without the “Project Site” automatically linking to the actual tasks in the Project Plan or the actual Calendar in the Project Plan, this site appears pointless to me.

Any ideas?  Any guides to link these lists to the project plan?

Regards,

Jason

[The MPUG Community]

Hi Jason —

When you use Project Server to track project and resource information, it can create a ‘Project Site’ to help you collect, organize, and share other project-related artifacts that are not in the project schedule, such as Risks, Issues, and Documents. This workspace is a SharePoint web site that is created for the sole purpose of providing a space for the project team to easily communicate and share things with one another, and since it is a SharePoint web site, it is extremely flexible and your team can use it in many ways.

If you choose to use the ‘Risks’ and ‘Issues’ lists, then you can log project-related risks and issues in a place where the entire project team can see and update them… and you can even link them to other risks, issues, or individual tasks in the project schedule. If you assign a team member to a risk or issue, then they will even see a notification in the PWA web site.

If you choose to use the ‘Project Documents’ library, then you can upload and share project-related documents or files in a place where the entire project team can see and update them… and you can also link them to risks, issues, or other project documents that have already been added to the library.

There are some other tools that are pre-populated into the Project Site, such as a ‘Tasks’ list, a ‘Calendar’, and a team discussion forum. It is important to note that the ‘Tasks’ list in the Project Site is perhaps mis-named, since it is not connected to the tasks from the project schedule. Instead, it can be used to track action items or punch list items for the project… and you can even easily rename the list as such to avoid team confusion. The calendar is also not connected to the project schedule, and can be used for other important events that you want to share with the project team, such as team meetings.

The Project Site is extremely flexible, and you can use these features as-is or easily modify them to meet your needs. You don’t need to use the Project Site features at all, but it is a great tool to add some collaboration tools for your project teams and centralize things that might otherwise be scattered on people’s hard drives or attached to e-mails.

Does this help?

Good luck!

Tony Zink, MCTS, MCITP, MCT
Director of Client Services
EPM Architects, Inc.
Web: https://www.epmarchitects.com
Blog: https://www.epmarchitects.com/blog
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/epmarchitects

[Author]

Posts