Lydon Solutions

Construction Project Management Software Solutions

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What’s New in SharePoint 2016

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Here’s what construction professionals need to know about the latest features in SharePoint 2016.

Microsoft just announced the Release Candidate (RC) version of SharePoint 2016. Below is a preview of a few of the cool new features now available in the latest version of the SharePoint platform.

Ready for on-premises, cloud or hybrid environments 

SharePoint 2016 continues Microsoft’s “mobile first, cloud first” strategy. The platform is chock full of powerful enhancements for cloud and mobile users.

But not everyone is ready to embrace the cloud for compliance or security reasons. This is something we know is true for many of our clients in the construction industry.

Good news. SharePoint 2016 remains a viable option for on-premises environments.

As more and more features are added to SharePoint online, many companies will find moving the Cloud irresistible.

That’s OK. SharePoint 2016’s hybrid model provides a ‘bridge’ between on-premises and cloud environments. This is ideal for organizations that aren’t ready to embrace the cloud just yet, but don’t want to be left behind.

Instead of bringing organizations up to the Cloud, the hybrid approach brings the Cloud down to the organization. We’re already seeing a lot of excitement among the companies we work with for this option.

Best New Features in SharePoint 2016 

Here is a quick rundown of a few of the major new features available in SharePoint 2016:

  • Large File Support – The old SharePoint limit of 2GB files is no more. SharePoint 2016 now allows uploads of files up to 10GB in size.
  • Improved File Sharing – SharePoint 2016 includes UX enhancements for creating and sharing folders. Site members can now share folders.  Seeing who has access to a folder is easier. And the email process for sharing is also streamlined. Share invitations and requests for access can be approved or denied via emails using a single-click.
  • Image and Video Previews – Clicking or hovering over a media file automatically generates a preview in the document library.
  • Extended Filename Support – File names can include special characters, leading dots and GUIDs and are no longer limited to 128 characters.
  • Site Page Pinning – Users can pin sites they access often on their sites page. When a user follows a site (either online or on-premises) they get pinned in the same place.
  • Simpler OneDrive for Business Controls –  Users can perform common tasks (e.g. creating new Office documents or synchronizing, uploading, or sharing files) with a single click in OneDrive for Business.
  • More Powerful Search – Search can index up to 500,000,000 items per Search Server Application.
  • Site Folders View –  Users can directly access document libraries in sites they are following from within OneDrive for Business.
  • Document Library Access –  It is now even easier to move around a site with improved keyboard shortcuts, page landmarks and navigation links.
  • Expanded Scalability –  Content databases can store up to 100,000 site collections.
  • Web Application Open Platform Interface Protocol (WOPI) –  Users can create, rename and share files from within the WOPI iframe on the browser page.
  • 5000 Item List View Threshold – Indexed columns ensure that large lists no longer cause issues.

You can read more about the SharePoint Server 2016 release candidate on the Microsoft Office Blog.

Learn About SharePoint 2016 for Your Organization

Ready to deploy a complete SharePoint PMIS solution for your project team? Contact us for a Free Consultation.

You can also learn more about our Construction Program Management Portal built here.

Excel as a Construction Project Management Tool

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Learn how you can unleash Excel’s hidden superpowers for your construction project team

Excel is currently the mostly widely used project management tool for construction professionals. You may not want to hear that ­­– especially if you are a VP who just implemented a multi-million dollar project management system­­ – but it’s true. Many of those overseeing programs in your company turn to Excel to handle day-to-day project management and reporting. They do this even if you have multiple in-house project management software packages at their disposal.

The widespread reliance on Excel for construction project management might surprise some readers. After all, using Excel for real project management tasks used to be a taboo in the construction industry. But most, if not all, of the construction project managers we talk with admit that Excel is their go-to tool for multi-million – even billion – dollar projects because it is easy to use.

Pros & Cons of Using Excel for Construction Project Management

Excel is a flexible and easy project management tool because it is simple for project teams to update data and create and share reports. Collaboration is easy, since everyone has Excel and is familiar with the software. This is not the case with the limited licenses and steep learning curve of proprietary project management tools.

But the same construction professionals who told us they relied on Excel were also quick to complain about its shortcomings. The most frequently mentioned limitation on using Excel to manage projects include:

• Files are stored locally so sharing and backups becomes a problem

• Consistency and control across spreadsheets isn’t enforceable

• There are often user errors and version control issues

• Excel isn’t a database

It is a classic love/hate story. The construction project managers we meet love Excel for its simplicity and ease of use, but dislike where that simplicity causes the tool to come up short.

The thing is, Excel in recent years has gained some lesser known capabilities – we consider them superpowers really – that make it an even better construction project management tool than most realize.

Excel Power Maps
Power Maps
Power Pivot
Power View

 

 

Unleashing Excel’s Superpowers for Construction Project Management

The good news for our fellow Excel-loving construction industry professionals is that recent enhancements to Excel enable it to be a more effective construction management software package.

So what’s changed?  With the release of Microsoft’s Excel PowerPivot Add-in, which is already built into to Excel 2010 and 2013 and can be turned on from the COM Add-ins menu, Microsoft has morphed Excel into a relational DAX database.  Combined with SharePoint Power Pivot Services, the entire project team can connect, report and share Excel files across the organization.

Imagine the possibilities. You can take existing Excel cost reports and other tracking spreadsheets and use Excel Power Pivot and SharePoint Power Pivot Services to turn them into full blown web-enabled applications that leverage SharePoint permissions.  It’s now possible to connect Excel to many different data sources such as SharePoint Forms and Lists, SQL tables, Access tables, and even other Excel files.  No longer do you need to purchase or build an expensive custom coded solution. These capabilities turn Excel in a project management superhero for construction professionals.

And this evolution of Excel and SharePoint places the power of building and managing solutions in your hands.  Users can straight away leverage their existing Excel files that they know and love and immediately create robust cost management tools. No long and expensive development cycles, no coding and no complicated proprietary tools required.

Ready to unleash Excel’s superpowers for your team? All of these functions and more are incorporated into Lydon Solutions Program Management Portal for Construction. Contact us for your free demo or download our brochure.