This video features Richard Gordon from Microsoft discussing SharePoint’s role. He also laments that not all functionality is available to companies or that they don’t upgrade to the most recent version. He also considers the future prospects of project management software. This video was captured at the Project Management in Collaborative Age roundtable discussion hosted Microsoft. It was held earlier in the year by APM.
Transcript
Richard: We tend think of SharePoint as a tool that aggregates information. SharePoint is used to combine financial, project, as well as HR information. You can also create portals with SharePoint. Portals allow users to self-serve information.
It is possible almost with all the technology available. Paul’s point is that organizations need to be clear about their goals, and how they will share them. Who has what access? If they can work it out, the technology is almost always available to them. SharePoint is a tool that organizations use to aggregate data, and then provide it as live portals.
SharePoint can also be used to drive management reporting using all of the BI capabilities. This dashboard allows executives to see the status and drill down to more information. This can be done again with SharePoint. All of this comes down to the question “What do I want?” When do you want it? Who can you give it to? These are the big questions that technology providers can answer. We can only say that we have seen it used by others and that it is our best choice. Perhaps we have a few templates. We have found that every organization is unique and each organization wants something different based on the internal politics, regulatory bodies or partners they work with.
Keep up with the times. Project 2010 has been around since 2010, so it’s been quite a while. However, not enough organizations have the ability to do it. It’s part of my job. I will show you guys how it works. People’s jaws drop, and I’ve been doing it for many decades.
So, I get that not everyone wants the cutting-edge. Some wait for a package to be released, et al. These days, products are so well-tested that they reach communities before they even arrive. It’s a challenge for all of us. I know you don’t want your inbox filled with outdated products and crusty products. We need to work together to find the best way for each other.