"We use this for all of the projects in Human Resources. They each get a new "Share" and everyone involved is attached so that file and documents can be shared among the team and there is a commonplace to save everything that can be reached from anywhere."

– SharePoint Review by Jared H., HRIS Senior Manager

Microsoft SharePoint and Office 365 is a versatile business solution. From healthcare to construction, any industry can use it to make their processes more efficient, as it can handle almost any of your business processes. As a project management tool, it can do wonders for your business and provide you with tools that help your future projects to succeed. In this article, we'll review the reasons why SharePoint is a powerful project management tool.

Automation

Almost everyone is familiar with the automation SharePoint brings to the table. Organizations can automate their various tasks and processes of the projects and improve their efficiency and productivity. Team members can focus on critical work processes while the platform takes care of the repetitive work for you. Team members can perform consistently, and the project management processes become consistent as well when you apply workflows correctly.

Task Management

SharePoint as a project management solution makes it easier to track the progress of your project. A dedicated project site helps team members to connect with their work, automatically generated reports makes it easier for them to know the work they are responsible for. It can also send notifications to update team members about work overdue, future tasks, etc. The dashboard gets updated in real-time; when a team member updates their task status, the project manager can immediately see the progress of the progress.

Data Management

The On-premises version of SharePoint brings critical data management functionalities for your organization, including the revolutionary search feature, user permissions, and other security features. As a project management tool, SharePoint can be handy for your organization, especially if you belong to a highly regulated industry (such as healthcare) or work with sensitive data. These features are the reason that SharePoint premises version is widely popular among the healthcare industry, finance, government agencies, manufacturing, and many more.

Although, both SharePoint Online and On-premises are competent business solutions, when it comes to data management, SharePoint On-premises takes the lead. Here's how;

Microsoft is responsible for the security of the data stored on the cloud; that's why the controls are limited on the online version of SharePoint. On the other hand, in SharePoint On-premises, it's easier to control external access of data and maintain internal process governance. Because data is stored internally on the premises version, project reporting gets simplified; you can quickly generate drill-down reports and aggregate dashboards.

Customization

According to a SharePoint and Office 365 survey conducted by Sharegate in 2017, 82% of the total respondents were customizing SharePoint according to their needs. This number indicates the customizability of the on-premise version of SharePoint. Organizations are happy to invest their time and resources to develop in –house apps and complex workflows so they can manage their projects with more convenience.

The customization makes it easier for team members to get familiar with the platform. Project managers can easily customize the project site to match their existing PM processes. With the help of multiple apps and lists, you can easily manage critical components of the project, such as status reports, project issues, task lists, risks involved, etc. Because the new project site will look like the old one, team members will easily get acquainted with it, making it easier for you to launch the project.

Remote Working

SharePoint allows team members to work remotely; they can access project information from any device they have access to, such as mobile phones, tablets. This feature can be highly beneficial, especially if your project involves on-site work, like in the construction industry. Team members can log into their account using the SharePoint mobile app and access the information they need.

Security

Another stand-out feature of SharePoint is security; both on-premise and online versions of SharePoint are highly secure. The security includes two-factor authentication, user/group permissions, encryption, and many more. On a project site, project managers can configure access, read/write, and sharing permissions of the site collection, a single site and even a single document.

Conclusion

SharePoint provides several benefits as a project management solution; the out-of-the-box capabilities of the platform allows you to manage projects effectively. It increases collaboration between team members and creates an environment where team members can efficiently manage and track their duties. It is a user-friendly, scalable and cost-effective solution, which improves the visibility of the tasks at hand and helps the team to work together.