I’ve found that people have a general idea of what SharePoint is, but many have no idea how to apply it to their own business.
I’d like to share with you the top 20 ways that SharePoint can solve your common business needs. And I want to emphasize that these 20 are only a few of the many ways to utilize the SharePoint Services. Once you start using it, you will begin to realize the many other valuable benefits that can easily be accomplished by the everyday user.
As an additional bonus, the accompanying audio podcast includes a description of what SharePoint Services is, the key components of it, how you can get it, and how much it costs.
Shall we get started? Let’s see if you can find a few productivity solutions here that you've been trying to find for your own organization.
With SharePoint you can:
1. Store all your emails on a secure and centralized Website for easy archive.
2. Keep a central task location for assigning tasks to team members. These tasks will automatically show up in your team's Outlook 2007 To-Do List. Those tasks will also link to your projects so you can easily find out what tasks are still open for each project.
3. Organize large events and store the related documents, assigned tasks, and generally post anything and everything related to the events. It will also integrate with Outlook for added efficiency.
4. Collaborate with team members on all documents and stay on top of who did what. Earlier versions can easily be restored in case someone has made too many mistakes. Projects can also be linked to related documents.
5. Assign tasks to your team members, and automatically notify them that they have a new task. Alerts are sent when there have been updates to the tasks.
6. Quickly manage all projects for your team or organization so there's no need to explore buying an expensive project management solution.
7. Use the efficient check-in / check-out management feature to sort your documents.
8. Implement a help ticket resolution for your organization or team without breaking the bank.
9. Start a private company blog to communicate and share ideas with your team that's viewable only by those you give access to.
10. Gain more control over your company's documents with the content approval function.
11. Offer training materials to your teams, clients, and/or partners in a password-protected Website that can be accessed anywhere in the world.
12. Offer a secure and private place to share documents and other information with clients and/or partners.
13. Access and work with your data using your Internet-enabled mobile phone for added convenience while traveling or out of the office at client meetings.
14. Create better team communication and brainstorming sessions where everyone can participate when their schedules permit.
15. Centralize where company and team project announcements are posted. Everyone will receive a notification via email or mobile phone automatically, anywhere in the world.
16. Work offline on the files, project tasks, tasks, discussions, contacts, calendars, blogs, etc. and then sync the updated information later on.
17. Create "central" documents (and syncronize), so all team members, clients, and/or partners are able to work on the same document and make changes. Updates are accessible with a click of a button. Everyone can then sync back to the "central" document and have all edits merged into that single document.
18. Easily add custom fields to any area and capture the information that's most important to your company, all without the help of a web designer or IT person.
19. Pull up and update Microsoft Access 2007 database from a local desktop and sync information to a central location that can be accessed from any where at any time.
20. Create a project dashboard where on one page you can view and filter on common project elements, such as: project details, project documents, project tasks, project issues, project calendar, project milestones, project lessons learned, project risks, project change orders, and more.
On top of it all, you won't spend a fortune to meet these communication, collaboration, and organizational needs.
Don't even get me started about the integration features between SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office 2007 - particularly Outlook 2007 - IT'S INCREDIBLE! A few of the ideas above do require Office 2007.
Keep in mind that a little training goes a long way in increasing productivity in the products you use in your business. I highly recommend taking the time to learn this efficient and effective tool and watch your productivity, along with your profits, soar!
All of my SharePoint Services video tutorials (over 10 hours) are available for free when you join the Productivity Club as a Club Member...which is also free. Register to Join
ADDITIONAL GOODIES:
As promised, here's a link to my website where I have a long list of SharePoint Hosting companies
Happy SharePointing!
Listen to the podcast below:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (11.0MB)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
We just got SharePoint (Services, not MOSS) at my workplace. As I look for documentation – online or otherwise – for our end users, the problem that I hit over and over again is the failure to distinguish which functionality is found in SharePoint Services and which is unique to MOSS. It is staggeringly difficult, and the result is that our users are getting discouraged. I have yet to find a features and functionality list that explicitly shows what we do and do not get.
Your list above is terrific, but may I suggest that you consider:
- marking MOSS-only items *as* MOSS-only, and
- updating your list with an asterisk (*) next to the items that require Office 2007, with a corresponding asterisk next to the sentence “A few of the ideas above do require Office 2007.” (My workplace will be getting Office 2007, but only later in 2009, so it would be helpful to know up front what is not available to us.)
These two changes will make your “Top 20 Ways” list truly valuable to all readers – not just those who are lucky enough to have both Office 2007 and MOSS, or those who have already worked out where the different functionalities lie.
Hi Julia,
You might be surprised to know that all the items on this list can be accomplished through SharePoint Services. MOSS not required.
The only item where I should have more clearly designated 2003 vs 2007 functionality is #16. Outlook 2003 will only do a one-way sync to SharePoint contacts and calendars. You’ll need Outlook 2007 to work offline with those I mentioned in the post.
The rest of the items can easily be done by the everyday user (with the right permission level) if you have some training or guidance. I happen to offer both in the form of one-on-one training and support, and on-demand video training on my E-Learning Center at http://www.virtualassist.net/elearning at a very affordable price. All my training is centric around the user, not the IT staff. It takes you from basic usage to customizing the forms and lists to creating dashboards. Easy to understand and implement.
Andrea
Hello Andrea.
I just took your first 1 hour session on the Free Training: SharePoint Services 3.0 Basic through Power User. I found it to be very beneficial.
I just became a memeber of your site as I was interested in receiving the additional classes (the 10 hours of free training). I am looking for the next session. How do I find them?
Thanks, Amy
Hi Amy. Glad you found the first of the video helpful. If you are logged into this site you’ll be able to find all the videos within this post http://www.productivityclub.com/sharepoint-services-3-0-basic-through-power-user/.
Andrea
{ 5 trackbacks }