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How to document your SharePoint Projects.

Here are the essential documents you need to complete…

Initiation

Business Case: To justify the financial investment in your SharePoint Project, you need to write a Business Case. It lists the costs and benefits, so everyone knows what the return on investment will be.

Feasibility Study: Before you kick-off your SharePoint Project, you need to determine whether your project is feasible, using a Feasibility Study.

SharePoint Project Charter: You then need to document the objectives, scope, team, timeframes and deliverables in a SharePoint Project Charter.

Planning

SharePoint Project Plan: You need to create a Project Plan listing all of the tasks required to undertake your SharePoint Project from start to finish. Every task must be scheduled, so you know what needs to be done and when.

Resource Plan: Next, you need to plan your resources by documenting the money, equipment and materials needed for your SharePoint Project.

Quality Plan: You then need to set quality targets, so that the SharePoint Project deliverables meet the expectations of your customer.

Risk Plan: All of the risks need to be documented and their likelihood and impact on the SharePoint Project identified.

Communication Plan: You need to plan your communications, so that you send the right messages to the right people, at the right time.

Execution

Time Management: You need to use Timesheets to track time spent on your SharePoint Project. Then update your Project Plan with your Timesheet data to see whether your SharePoint Project is still within schedule.

Cost Management: Track your costs using Expense Forms. Every expense is formally logged and approved, so that you can confirm at any time that you are currently under budget.

Change Management: Document each change to the SharePoint Project scope, using Change Forms. You can then control change to ensure your SharePoint Project is always on track.

Risk Management: Use Risk Forms to document each risk to the SharePoint Project. You can then manage SharePoint Project risk carefully to ensure that nothing happens that will affect the project schedule or budget.

Issue Management: As each issue occurs on the SharePoint Project, you need to investigate its impact on the SharePoint Project and then write it up on an Issue Form. You can then kick off the tasks needed to resolve it quickly.

Closure

SharePoint Project Closure Report: When your project is complete, document all of the actions needed to close the SharePoint Project properly. This includes releasing teams and suppliers, equipment and materials.

Post SharePoint Project Review: And after your SharePoint Project has been closed, you can review its success and document the results for your sponsor. That way, you can show that all of the objectives were met and that the SharePoint Project was delivered on time and within budget.

And there you have it. By completing each of these documents for your SharePoint Project, you can boost your chances of success.

Comments

Zlatan said…
This sounds very Prince like ;)
Robert MacLean said…
This is useful.

Any chance you have some samples or templates to download?
Christopher said…
@Zlatan, Kind of :)
@Robert, I don't have the templates right now but let me see if I can source them for you, will let you know.
bokuka said…
I think you need to include a formal requirements document to feed into the quality plan and downstream activities.

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