{"id":618,"date":"2019-05-23T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inswwdev.azurewebsites.net\/au\/insights\/uncategorized\/teaming-up-to-manage-your-projects\/"},"modified":"2019-05-23T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T01:00:00","slug":"teaming-up-to-manage-your-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/insights\/geek-speak\/modern-workplace\/teaming-up-to-manage-your-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"TEAMing up to Manage Your Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is your project team spending way too much time looking for project documentation buried deep in a SharePoint library or in business applications hosted across multiple systems?<\/p>\n

If you answered yes to that question, then you will definitely want to keep reading as I will share with you how I am able to successfully host my project data in a single site, allowing the team to use their time more efficiently delivering projects.<\/p>\n

The Challenge<\/span><\/h3>\n

At\u00a0<\/span>Insentra<\/a>, we have a \u2018single source of truth\u2019 policy for our file system with our mantra being \u201cif it is not on SharePoint, then it doesn\u2019t exist\u201d.\u00a0 This policy ensures our crew has access to the latest information.\u00a0 My challenge was to present core project files to the internal project stakeholders in a more efficient manner than just navigating their way through SharePoint each time they needed to access the same project files throughout the lifecycle of the project.\u00a0 Effectively, the solution I was seeking was a one-stop shop for my teams. \u00a0I looked at the option of maintaining copies of these key files in a dedicated project tool that provided easier access to key data, however having to manage two copies of each file in different systems for version control purposes did not seem very efficient at all. With\u00a0<\/span>Efficiency<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>being one of our core values I needed to find a solution that did not compromise our policies or values.<\/p>\n

The Answer<\/span><\/h3>\n

We were already using Microsoft Teams for some inter-team collaboration purposes, however, managing project information in this application had not been explored \u2026 Until now. By using the Website tab feature in MS Teams for each file and business application I wanted to present to the project team, I was able to create a\u00a0<\/span>link<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>to source data without having to also maintain a copy of the data in the Team site.<\/p>\n

Most standard file types such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDFs will preview nicely in MS Teams using this Website tab feature, however, MS Project file types (.mpp) do not.\u00a0 I will share a tip I use later in this blog on how I get around this issue as project schedules need to be accessible for the team delivering the project.<\/p>\n

So how do I use MS Teams for managing access to project data?<\/span><\/h3>\n

At\u00a0<\/span>Insentra<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>we host all our project files on SharePoint libraries and web-based applications. Using the Tabs Website feature in Teams, I add a separate tab to link to the core source project files and folders on SharePoint and to our web-based applications. I present three web-based applications that we use for managing projects, with only one of these requiring a dedicated login and password (as it is not Active Directory aware).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1 \u2013 Adding a Website tab in Teams<\/em><\/p>\n

In my one stop shop, I present the following information to separate tabs in my Team site:<\/span><\/p>\n