Project Management Success – It’s as Easy as Office 365

Successfully managing projects is not as easy as it sounds. Far too often, projects don’t deliver the desired results due to missed deadlines or budget over runs and organisations fail to realise the full potential of their investment.

But for the first time, more predictable project outcomes are within reach of even the smallest organisation, thanks to Wave 15 of Microsoft Office 365 which now includes a Project Site Template through SharePoint.

The new version of Microsoft Office 365 (rollout of which is currently underway to existing customers) gives customers the ability to create sites that are dedicated to the delivery of a project, harnessing the input of virtual team members, irrespective of geographic location.

It’s an exciting time for Microsoft Office 365 customers and businesses considering Microsoft’s premier cloud offering. And feature enhancements such as this are ‘blowing the minds’ of thousands of Office 365 users in Ireland.

Apart from the facelift Microsoft Office 365 has received, the company’s developers have carefully listened to customer feedback since launch and have integrated these new, innovative additions to the Office 365 suite.

Rather than discuss the benefits Skydrive Pro replacing the My Site idea or how great the Lync 2013 App for iPad really is, I would like to concentrate on the New Project Site template. Take a look at some of the screenshots below and see how easy it is to set up an effective framework to manage your team’s project management methodology.

Add a New Site

Select the “Working to a Deadline?” Option

You can list out the main tasks that need to be completed in order for a project to be delivered. These tasks can be assigned to owners with specific details and files added to make it easier for the specific task to be delivered.

Many tasks contain multiple subtasks inorder for the main task to be completed. For example the Product Launch in our image above will have many facets within it to be delivered. Each Task can have a list of sub tasks created with owners attached to make the task clearer to delivery.

Start Adding Tasks, subtasks,assign owners and set deadlines

You can drag and drop files related to the project to this page and each project comes with an Onenote Powered Notebook attached making it easier for notes to be added to any project.

If your business has a requirement for Microsoft Project these facilities will not replace that but it does make planning and delivering projects a smoother experience for businesses that do not have any software solution in place to assist them.

For more information on this and Microsoft Office 365, please request a call back and one of our team will be in touch.

Ticking timebomb or industry hype? Windows XP

It’s not a time for panic.  But it is a time for cool, calm consideration of your desktop system strategy with the impending Windows XP end of life support in April 2014.

Continue reading “Ticking timebomb or industry hype? Windows XP”