Enjoy our latest blog about a guide to good intranet project management. Based on projects and experiences from our clients.
Project management is a generic term that covers a whole host of exercises including:
- planning
- scheduling
- risk management
- delegating tasks
- and resourcing.
In simple terms, it’s the way a project is managed.
A project manager will create a plan and assemble a team that will be responsible for the delivery of the project.
Clarity is crucial to the success of any project. Incorporating these best practices will help ramp up your project management skills.
Project brief
A project brief is a concise plan to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet. It may seem like a time-wasting task, but it can save panic alarms going off at later stages of the project.
The brief is designed to help everyone involved in delivering the project, plus stakeholders and clients, key information about when the project will be delivered and key milestones, the scope and deliverables and most importantly, the success criteria you will be working to.
Having a place to store all pertinent documents for the project will help your team to share knowledge and put an end to time being wasted searching for files – and that is possible with a modern day intranet like Attollo.
Project plan
Once a brief has been signed off, it’s time to add some flesh to the bones. The project plan will include every step of the project and how much time is allocated to each stage. It’s handy to be able to see this stage in real time so that workers can add notes on each stage they are working on. Having an out of the box intranet like Attollo, means you can do just that.
With an intranet system, staff could receive instant feedback on any project, no matter where they are working as they can access the portal from any device. If the plan can be added to the homepage then it can be instantly found by anyone working on the project, whether they are on a building site, at home, in an office or elsewhere.
The plan should cover:
- Roles for everyone on the assigned team
- Milestones and deadlines for each stage
- Tasks that should happen in order
Clear communication
Any internal communications should happen through your new intranet, so that no one is out of the loop. Communications should all happen under one platform so that everyone knows exactly where each stage is up to and all the information everyone needs is in a central location and most importantly, is up-to-date.
Microsoft Teams provides an excellent place to resolve any issues or queries, supporting faster decision-making. You can also video conference when you miss seeing those faces from the other office!
Task management
You can add a task management function allowing the project manager to create tasks, assign them to your staff and give deadlines. By doing this, each team can see straight away who is responsible for what and when it should be done by.
But as everyone knows, unpredictable problems do happen, leaving plans to go astray. It could that a supplier is late but letting things slide means impacting on other people’s work. The best way to track variances is through an intranet.
By tracking what’s happening for everyone to see, you may make interventions to prevent you from going over budget, such as hire some temporary staff or find an emergency supplier!
Risk assessment
Identify everything and anything that could go wrong with your project from day one to deadline and assess the potential damage. You’ll want to carry out a risk assessment with plans put in place to counteract things that could go wrong, spelling disaster for the rest of the project. The last thing you want is a domino effect caused by one simple problem.
Keep your eyes peeled and these problems could be large or small and can happen at any time in the project’s lifecycle.
Debrief
It’s often the stage that is overlooked as you and all your workforce are so relieved to get this project over the line. But you must look back and learn. How did the project go? Did it run smoothly? Any room for improvement? How could things have been handled better? Always discuss successes and failures so you can learn from the experiences.
Contact us
Did you find a guide to good intranet project management helpful? If you’d like a free demonstration on how Attollo could work for your project management teams, contact us today.