Datasheet

Key Project Management Skills

As you will discover later, using portal software such as Windows SharePoint

Services (WSS) or SharePoint Portal Server (SPS) allows you to enhance the

abilities you have to store documents. For example, using SPS (now called

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server – MOSS), you can add metadata (“data

about the data”) to a spreadsheet file as well as create different views of the

data for various users.

It’s also helpful to follow a consistent naming convention for your files so that if you do

have to search for them, you at least know what they’re called. Staying with the project status

reports example, you may consider naming the files with the date followed by the name. For

example if you have weekly status reports, name them something like 01-11-08 Status Report.

Or if you have monthly status reports, Jan-08 Status Report will work.

If you require individual team members to provide you with status reports (this is a good

idea), you could name them similarly and file them in a subfolder under Project Status called

Team Status Reports. In this case, use the date and the team member’s name.

You might want to consider creating an Excel spreadsheet to track where and when

information was filed, especially if you are managing a very large project that will likely

collect mounds of documentation or you’re managing multiple projects. This is especially

helpful if you have a collection of documents, some electronic and some hard copy, that are

filed in two different places. Figure 1.3 shows a sample portion of a project file tracking

spreadsheet.

We often hear the term information overload today. You can manage project information

overload by following some of the tips we outlined in these last two sections. Keeping yourself

and your team organized will save you time. Writing things down helps prevent loss and also

protects the project from delays when a key team member leaves with all the information “in

their head.”

FIGURE 1.3 Sample file tracking log

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