SharePoint for Project Management – Book Review
Using SharePoint as project management tool (PMIS) should be simple and on some levels
is. However managing anything but simple linear task lists can be a challenge; so when a book specialising in providing the answer appears it’s a definite read.
As a avid fan of BaseCamp for its simplified task and project management I had an assumption that SharePoint would be able to handle some complex task, sub task and dependant task management.
The book is clearly written for end users like Project Managers, team members, Program Managers and no SharePoint development knowledge is needed.
Frustratingly chapter 1 focuses on project management fundamentals; which based on the target audience seems pointless.
However subsequent chapters are well structured and each focuses on an element of the project management process and how this information can be presented in a PMIS.
KPI web parts are covered as well as a 3rd party web part by Bamboo Software although there is a lot of emphasis on the later to deliver solutions that this book could do with out of the box components.
This is the main frustration of this book, you should be able to do a lot with the out of the box components, lists, views, content query web parts and KPI and the correct guidance on their usage, unfortunately the book looks to 3rd party and sometimes expensive custom webparts to provide the answers.
This book does provide an insight into the processes of project management and how SharePoint can be used and all in all, its good book for what it is.
