In my last post, I talked about there being a time for everything and provided a few suggestions on how we can make the best out of the time that we have. One of those suggestions was to use tools like Microsoft Project Pro to list out and assign your project tasks. In this post, we’ll talk more about how Project Pro and SharePoint “dance” with each other to make our lives easier.
SharePoint Online, part of the Office 365 suite of products, helps teams to function effectively by providing one central information repository and easy access to it, in addition to integrating with other tools such as Project Pro and Outlook. Here’s how.
Begin with either creating a plan in Microsoft Project Pro or creating a new site in SharePoint. Each application provides you with a Getting Started experience that will guide you through your initial use. I highly encourage you to make use of it. You can also benefit greatly from the tutorial videos on TechNet such as the ones found here.
If you start with Project Pro, you can either sync to an existing SharePoint site or create a new site (no need to leave Project Pro to create a new site).
If you start with SharePoint, create a new site and build your task list, then sync it to Project Pro to create a new project plan.
Once the synchronization is complete, you will be able to manage tasks from both applications and changes made in either location will sync to the other. Conflicts will be presented to you at the time of synchronization.
Along SharePoint and Project, tasks can be synchronized with Outlook to alert users on task due dates. This helps to keep users on track and decrease the amount of overdue tasks.
With Microsoft Lync, whether you are managing tasks in Project Pro or SharePoint, the integration with these applications gives you the ability to quickly communicate with other users on multiple levels. You will notice the presence indicator next to the person’s name and from there, you can hover the name to select the method by which you would like to communicate with them.
The seamless integration between all Microsoft’s products is wonderful and helps me to save time by being able to work more efficiently. I can go on and on for hours on the benefits of these tools, however, for the sake of saving time, I’ll reserve some for my next post.
