BENEFITS OF A SHAREPOINT TEAM SITE Companies are continuously changing their work process policies, adopting more team-oriented approaches. Soon after the groupware concept emerged, the major software producers started to massively invest in developing products able to help companies organize and manage their teams. These days, collaboration tools are available for team members, employees or managers, through websites connected to Microsoft Office applications. Thus, teams have access to any information they need, and also to an online or offline working environment. Microsoft SharePoint Server provides users with an extensive set of templates to create the information and collaboration infrastructure. One of the most popular, flexible and widely used templates is the Team Site. What the SharePoint Server has to offer A correct SharePoint Server implementation puts the user at the center of all information exchange and processes, responding to specific needs such as: 1.
Information
Announcements – The Team Site comes with a built-in Announcements list, designed as a tool for keeping the entire team informed about the latest project status or changes.
Document Libraries – These are collections of files that team members share in order to ensure comprehensive information about a project’s objectives and activities. Usually, document libraries contain procedures, manuals or instructions.
2.
Project management
Tasks – This is a feature dedicated to team managers that enables them to allocate tasks and track activity status. For each task, managers can assign it to one or more team members, select its priority, and enter the percentage of the task completed.
Project Tasks – A project task is a simple project management feature that uses a timeline and Gantt bars to represent the tasks in a project.
3.
Time management
4.
Calendars – A SharePoint calendar allows teams to share information about dates, events and schedules. Also, it offers users the possibility to create and integrate Meeting Workspace sites that contain tools for managing objectives, meeting agendas, guest lists, and meeting documents. Knowledge sharing
Discussion boards – With this feature, team members can share information and centralize feedback about specific processes or activities.
Slide libraries – They help team members to share, store, and manage Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 slides.
Wiki page libraries – These libraries are designed for employees to capture and share ideas by creating simple pages and linking them together. A wiki page is useful for gathering and sharing ideas quickly.
5.
Issues Management
6.
The Issue tracking feature enables team members to track issues with a project or item. SharePoint will also send notification to users according to each issue priority. Team feedback
Surveys – This SharePoint feature allows managers to ask and gather feedback from team members about issues, processes and many other topics. Users can collect the results by using several different types of questions, such as multiple choice, fill-in fields, ratings and even anonymous responses.
Valy Greavu Senior Sharepoint Consultant, IT Green Light
ABOUT IT GREEN LIGHT IT Green Light is an IT consultancy company, focusing mainly on special IT projects and technologies. Headquartered in Romania, the company develops IT projects worldwide through its offices in Munchen and Dubai. For over 10 years, IT Green Light designs and implements collaboration solutions, business intelligence, corporate intelligence and knowledge management solutions. Contact details: Address: 28, Cameliei Street, Bucharest, district 1 E-Mail: office@glit.ro office@itgreenlight.ro Web: www.fanica.ro www.itgreenlight.com