- Has both consulting and development experience in your industry.
- Can customize the out-of-the-box capabilities of SharePoint.
- Understands how to organize data.
Experience in Consulting & Development in Your Industry
You don’t want a company with little experience in your industry. If the consultant cannot prove their track record of satisfied customers, then you might need to look elsewhere. Always ask, what brands the SharePoint Consultant has worked with. Depending on what kind of solution you want, you may want to find a SharePoint consultant that has worked with trusted brands. For example, HingePoint has worked with brands like Marriott, Verizon, Presidio, and IHG. Make sure that they have experience working in your industry (or a similar industry).Ability to Customize SharePoint's Built-In Capabilities
To meet your business' specific needs, SharePoint consultants sometimes only need to use the standard "out-of-the-box" (built-in) capabilities that come with SharePoint. But sometimes, they need to be able to customize SharePoint so it works the way you want. If you're looking for customization and the consultant can only perform basic configuration without any customization, you're going to be unsatisfied. The flip side is also true: if a SharePoint consultant only tries to push customization when you just need something basic, they aren't the right fit. Always ask, "Do you just configure out-of-the-box or do you customize SharePoint?"Understands How to Organize Data
Let’s face it, if you're using SharePoint, you most likely want to manage all the information in your company. SharePoint is a great document management system. Without it, your documents are probably unorganized and difficult to find. If the SharePoint consultant does not know how to make a hierarchy of data, you might not have the right fit. Always ask,"Are you going to help me organize my data? Manage it on an ongoing basis?"Conclusion
Hiring a SharePoint consulting firm can be an investment that provides a positive ROI almost immediately. If you're in the process of finding the right consultant, we'd love to hear what you're looking to accomplish! Feel free to start a live chat with our solution consultant on this page, email us, or call us at (214) 301-0000 to get started today.About HingePoint
HingePoint offers cloud and mobile applications for construction and real estate that are easy to adopt and employees love. Specializing in the systems that run the construction and real estate business including SharePoint, Salesforce, Procore, MS Dynamics, and Autodesk. Scale and grow profitably with Financial and Project Management Dashboards, document management, and workflow automation for field to office collaboration. HingePoint 8105 Rasor Blvd. Suite 241 Plano, TX 75024 (214) 301-0000 www.hingepoint.com [post_title] => What Makes a Good SharePoint Consulting Firm? [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => what-makes-good-sharepoint-consulting-firm [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-10-22 00:42:12 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-10-22 05:42:12 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.hingepoint.com/?p=14204 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 14106 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2018-02-22 03:05:11 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-02-22 09:05:11 [post_content] =>
With a few simple configurations, SharePoint can be the foundation for a flexible, user-friendly, and affordable Project Management Information System (PMIS). If you are not currently using Microsoft SharePoint and Office 365 to manage your commercial real estate projects… you should be!
First, let’s clarify what Office 365 is. Some people think of Office 365 as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for document creation and Outlook for email. Most are unaware that those are only a tiny piece of everything Office 365 has to offer. We will discuss what these apps are and how to leverage them to their fullest capabilities at a later date (stay tuned to our blog). In the meantime, you can check out the Top 5 Integration Features of Office 365 and SharePoint Online.
[caption id="attachment_14105" align="aligncenter" width="850"]
Office 365 Apps[/caption]
Here are 8 reasons you should be using SharePoint to manage your commercial real estate projects:
1. Chances are you probably already have SharePoint
Microsoft states that they have over 250,000 organizations using SharePoint and that over 85% of Fortune 500 companies now have SharePoint Online. You are already saving money on licensing costs by owning the SharePoint application through your Office 365 licenses.2. Security
Using groups to maintain a scalable security environment is typically your best option because permissions are applied to the group as a whole, not individual people. So, when adjusting permissions, only one change is needed to a group (as opposed to multiple changes for different individuals). You can define a security permission from a site collection, to a site, to the lowest component of a single item or document. It's very easy to assign these permissions directly to an individual user or a group of users.3. Collaboration tools everyone will want to use
The ability to leverage Office 365 Groups, which deliver a means of group communication, is a solid alternative to Slack and other popular messaging applications. Using Groups gives your team the ability to view, edit, share all group files, view, and schedule group meetings with ease allowing for better communications among team members. Granting external access in SharePoint Online is a breeze and no longer a time-consuming inconvenience. Simply connect a Microsoft account to their company e-mail or create guest links to give users access to folders, individual files, and sites within your environment.4. 3rd Party Services Integration
Microsoft Flow puts real power in the hands of regular users by easily connecting and automating services vital to your business. Microsoft Flow features code-free interaction with hundreds of third-party services such as Salesforce, Zendesk, Facebook, Twitter, OneDrive, Microsoft Dynamics, and more.5. Ridiculously simple reporting tools
SharePoint features powerful reporting tools to quickly view and share data. You can build, configure, and update scorecards and dashboards.Data visualization with Power BI:
Embedding Power BI reports to a SharePoint page (display charts, dashboards, reports, KPIs, etc.) on your SharePoint site makes the information readily available to users. Additionally, the analysis/metrics tools are now available within the program instead of having to import them; so, significant time is saved on importing data from other sources. You can also use Excel to build your reports and display them within SharePoint. [caption id="attachment_14067" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
Example Microsoft BI Dashboard Reports[/caption]
6. Mobile/Tablet Friendly
Access to everything, from anywhere, and on any device. This is HUGE for the real estate and construction industry! View and work on documents while on the job site or in the field. With SharePoint Online, you have all the information you need on every device so you can get more work done with ease.7. Task Management
SharePoint allows you to manage a set of tasks that may belong to a project, a business initiative, or a department. Users can also create customized list views, combined with out-of-the-box workflows to manage personal tasks and assign tasks to their team members or anyone else in the company.8. Flexibility to make it work how you want
SharePoint is designed to be configured however you want and to provide the most value when managing commercial real estate projects. It can be very intimidating to try and figure out where to start with SharePoint because (by default), SharePoint is installed as a blank site without any content. At HingePoint, we have guru developers and architects that have ALL the Microsoft certifications. We can help you create customized SharePoint Online, Web Parts, .Net, and Office 365 APIs that are integrated with Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory (AD), and SQL Servers.Conclusion
If you properly implement SharePoint, it will transform your company’s productivity. Employees will be more efficient, you’ll have better access to your company’s data, and you’ll be able to better report on key metrics. HingePoint’s custom SharePoint solutions have helped many companies struggling with unorganized data and manual, multi-step processes. Those same customers have transitioned into a more organized, productive organization through automated workflows and easy-to-find information. Interested? We'd love to have a conversation about what you're working on. Start a chat with our Solutions Architect on this page, give us a call at (214) 301-0000, or contact us here. --About HingePoint
HingePoint offers cloud and mobile applications for construction and real estate that are easy to adopt and employees love. Specializing in the systems that run the construction and real estate business including SharePoint, Salesforce, Procore, MS Dynamics, and Autodesk. Scale and grow profitably with Financial and Project Management Dashboards, document management, and workflow automation for field to office collaboration. HingePoint 8105 Rasor Blvd. Suite 241 Plano, TX 75024 (214) 301-0000 www.hingepoint.com [post_title] => 8 Reasons to Use SharePoint as a Project Management Solution for Commercial Real Estate [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => using-sharepoint-for-commercial-real-estate-project-management [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-04-24 02:46:32 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-04-24 07:46:32 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.hingepoint.com/blog/sharepoint/using-microsoft-sharepoint-as-a-project-management-solution-for-construction-industry-copy/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 14108 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2018-02-20 12:01:55 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-02-20 18:01:55 [post_content] =>
Best Posts of 2017 - Microsoft SharePoint
HingePoint takes great pride in being an industry leader for Real Estate & Construction companies when looking for SharePoint Consulting and Development services. 2017 was our most successful year to date and we thought it would be helpful to provide a recap of our most popular SharePoint blog posts from the previous year. Here's a quick overview of our 2017 insights about SharePoint and what’s new in terms of SharePoint updates, best-practices, tips, tricks, and more:#5. How To Use Office 365 & SharePoint Online To Build A Perfect Intranet
Looking for the perfect intranet solution? Want to maximize your Office 365 investment? This article outlines key tools and features to get you started.#4. SharePoint Out-Of-The-Box Tips And Tricks From SharePoint Experts
A great read for those looking for some the practical SharePoint tips and tricks from our guru project manager that he learned through first-hand training and heads-down hard-work with our clients.#3. 4 Ways To Use SharePoint For Company Data Management
Do you consistently find yourself wasting time hunting for files and documents? We detail four areas where SharePoint helps companies become more efficient and have more accurate, accessible information for employees.#2. 7 Trends In 2017 For Commercial Real Estate: SharePoint Remains Top Collaborative Tool
In the commercial real estate industry, there are trends that can directly influence how companies work and achieve maximum growth. Here you will find HingePoint’s take on the top technological trends for commercial real estate developers.#1. Top 5 Integration Features of Office 365 and SharePoint Online
Finally, our most popular SharePoint post of 2017. Read up on SharePoint upgrades and improvements over the last year that drastically impact users in terms of transporting cloud-based Office 365 capabilities onto the SharePoint platform. We identify five improvements we use to get the most out of Office 365 and SharePoint. This article was so great that @SharePoint Retweeted it!
Thanks for Reading!
We hope that you found this recap beneficial as we took a look back at 2017. There are big things coming in 2018 that we are extremely excited about.
If you are not currently using Office 365 and Microsoft SharePoint to manage your construction projects… you should be! With a few simple configurations, SharePoint can be the foundation for a flexible, user-friendly, and affordable Project Management Information System (PMIS).
First, let’s clarify what Office 365 is. Some people think of Office 365 as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for document creation and Outlook for email. Most are unaware that those are only a tiny piece of everything Office 365 has to offer. We will discuss what these apps are and how to leverage them to their fullest capabilities at a later date (stay tuned to our blog). In the meantime, you can check out the Top 5 Integration Features of Office 365 and SharePoint Online.
Below are the reasons why you should be using SharePoint to manage your construction projects:
1. Chances are you probably already have SharePoint
Microsoft states that they have over 250,000 organizations using SharePoint and that over 85% of Fortune 500 companies now have SharePoint Online. You are already saving money on licensing costs by owning the SharePoint application through your Office 365 licenses.2. Security
Using groups to maintain a scalable security environment is typically your best option because permissions are applied to the Group as a whole, not individual people. So, when adjusting permissions, only one change is needed to a group, opposed to multiple individuals. You can define a security permission from a site collection, to a site, to the lowest component of a single item or document. It's very easy to assign these permissions directly to an individual user or a group of users.3. Collaboration tools everyone will want to use
The ability to leverage Office 365 Groups, which deliver a means of group communication, is a solid alternative to popular messaging applications, such as Slack. Using Groups gives your team the ability to view, edit, share all group files, view and schedule group meetings with ease allowing for better communications among team members. Granting external access in SharePoint Online is a breeze and no longer a time-consuming inconvenience. Simply connect a Microsoft account to their company e-mail or create guest links to give users access to folders, individual files, and sites within your environment.4. 3rd Party Services Integration
Microsoft Flow puts real power in the hands of regular users by easily connecting and automating services vital to your business. Microsoft Flow features (some) code-free interaction with hundreds of third-party services such as Salesforce, Zendesk, Facebook, Twitter, OneDrive, Microsoft Dynamics, and more.Integrating SharePoint can be frustrating.
We Can Help »
5. Reporting tools that are ridiculously simple
SharePoint features powerful reporting tools to quickly view and share data. You can build, configure, and update scorecards and dashboards. Data visualization with Power BI: Embedding Power BI reports to a SharePoint page – display charts, dashboards, reports, KPIs, etc. on your SharePoint site makes the information readily available to users. Additionally, the analysis/metrics tools are now available within the program instead of having to import them; so, significant time is saved on importing data from other sources. You can also use Excel to build your reports and display them within SharePoint.
6. Mobile/Tablet Friendly
Access to everything, from anywhere, and on any device. This is HUGE for the construction industry! View and work on documents, while on the job site. With SharePoint Online, you have all the information you need on every device so you can get more work done with ease.7. Task Management
SharePoint allows you to manage a set of tasks that may belong to a project, a business initiative, or a department. Users can also create customized list views combined with out-of-the-box workflows to manage personal tasks and assign tasks to their team members or anyone else in the company.8. Flexibility to make it work how you want
SharePoint is designed to be configured however you want and to provide the most value when managing your construction project. It can be integrated into just about any construction software you have. But... It can be very intimidating (and frustrating) to try and figure out where to start with SharePoint because by default, SharePoint is installed as a blank site without any content. Wouldn't it be nice if you had access to guru developers and information architects who could get SharePoint up and running for you (and integrated into your current construction software)? From SharePoint consulting to creating and implementing the plan, we're here to help.We'll take your SharePoint integration burden away.
Get SharePoint Help »
We can help you create a customized SharePoint setup with whatever you need (such as Web Parts, .Net, Office 365 APIs, SharePoint Online and Integration with Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory (AD), and SQL Server).
If you properly implement SharePoint, it will transform your company’s productivity. Employees will be more efficient, you’ll have better access to your company’s data, and you’ll be able to better report on key metrics. HingePoint’s custom SharePoint solutions have helped many companies struggling with unorganized data and manual, multi-step processes. Those same customers have transitioned into a more organized, productive organization through automated workflows and easy-to-search information.
Integrating SharePoint can be confusing and difficult to integrate with custom construction software. Let us guide you through the process and do the hard work of integrating SharePoint into your current construction software.
About HingePoint
HingePoint delivers cloud, mobile and analytics solutions for the construction industry. Specializing in the systems that run the construction business including SharePoint, Salesforce, Procore, Microsoft Dynamics, and Autodesk. Scale and grow profitably with Financial and Project Dashboards, document management, and workflow automation for field-to-office collaboration. [post_title] => Using Microsoft SharePoint as a Project Management Solution for Construction Industry [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => using-microsoft-sharepoint-as-a-project-management-solution-for-construction-industry [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-03-12 10:37:25 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-03-12 15:37:25 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.hingepoint.com/?p=13915 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 13067 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2017-08-09 12:34:48 [post_date_gmt] => 2017-08-09 17:34:48 [post_content] => We interviewed our lead Project Manager and SharePoint expert to see the difference between Spreadsheets vs. SharePoint. If you’re managing your data in spreadsheets right now, that's probably not the best option for you. A spreadsheet is essentially just a dumb piece of paper that you're writing on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvGyOHpg47Q If you import the data that is in a spreadsheet into SharePoint, you will be able to manipulate the data in different ways, create different list views so you can see your data in different ways. You can connect SharePoint to multiple other external systems through Integrations, create workflows that speak to other places in SharePoint. Now you have smart data that can be easily merged and visual, instead of data that is just sitting in a spreadsheet. We see a lot of businesses managing all their data for their clients or for their customers in tools like Smart Sheets, Excel or the Google applications. These tools are essentially a shared Excel file without a lot of process automation or integration with other tools. SharePoint is easier to use because it puts all those different tools on one platform and it's a central hub where you can find and do everything needed for your daily routine. If you move over to SharePoint and house your data there, you can create workflows and integrate with other systems that you have throughout your company in different departments and manage data better. It flows seamlessly through your business processes instead of being dissipated in other systems of record. SharePoint is also a good tool because it can be used as a customer's system of record. For instance, we’re helping one client right now manage all their employee data. They have this data in several different systems and it has discrepancies in it: different addresses, different names, capitalization errors, etc. SharePoint is their only system of record now, and all that employee data is held and kept there. We also built discrepancy reports using Power BI, which compares the data from SharePoint to the company's other systems. We know that SharePoint is the system of record where that data actually lives and we can fix the errors that are in the other systems. If you’re using a spreadsheet to manage your company's data, we strongly suggest SharePoint because that data can automatically be pushed to other systems, it can create workflows, and SharePoint can create integrations with external systems that you may have, and give you better insight into what that data actually means.Quit the Spreadsheet
Use the tools large enterprises use, control your data with SharePoint
Managing Data with SharePoint Will Transform Your Business
Are you managing your entire company from a spreadsheet? How are you going to grow with those document management tools? Does your SharePoint work the way you want it to? If you properly implement SharePoint, it will transform your company's productivity. Employees will be more efficient, you'll have better access to your company's data, and you'll be able to better report on key metrics. HingePoint’s custom SharePoint solutions have helped many companies struggling with unorganized data and manual, multi-step processes. Those same customers have transitioned into a more organized, productive organization through automated workflows and easy-to-search information. [post_title] => Spreadsheets vs. SharePoint, Which one Manages Data Better? [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => spreadsheets-vs-sharepoint-which-one-manages-data-better [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-02-19 10:00:13 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-02-19 16:00:13 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.hingepoint.com/?p=13067 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [5] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 13058 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2017-08-07 14:45:44 [post_date_gmt] => 2017-08-07 19:45:44 [post_content] => SharePoint is an incredible data management tool that helps organize and find on-demand data for your business. One of the greatest things SharePoint can do is give employees in different departments the ability to have their data easily accessible and organized in one place, instead of hunting for it. What do we mean by data? We mean contracts, project information, policies, employee training, and metrics. But there is a lot more to data than just simply having it. See our free, online eBook to learn more about getting the right kind of data in your business.How companies hunt
Companies have historically not trusted the data they have about projects or HR tasks like employee training. Instead of going to a trusted system of record or data source, employees must hunt and gather the data. There are many ways to hunt. Often, companies who do not trust data will have a lot of meetings about projects and find information through email, instead of looking at the system of record. Here are four areas where SharePoint helps companies be more efficient and have more accurate, accessible information for employees.Projects Management Dashboard
A project management dashboard is important because it keeps helps you stay on top of your projects. You can get your projects done faster, cheaper, better with fewer mistakes. SharePoint can even predict when your projects are finished, provide all necessary documentation for a project and details. We help businesses customize and integrate SharePoint for better project management.Sales Contracts and RFPs
We’ve seen businesses use SharePoint to track contracts with governments and track hundreds of RFPs. SharePoint can even report on RFPs and – if a company has the information – the competitive intelligence needed to win an RFP, all at a push of the button.Human Resource Portal for Corporate Policies and Procedures & Employee Training
One company we worked with had a paper sign in sheet to determine who went to mandatory training. Human resources would spend countless hours following up with employees to see who finished mandatory, government training. Now, employees can self-report by checking a box in SharePoint, and all the information is automatically reported.Performance Metrics
A lot of companies track how well they are doing with SharePoint. They track how well they’re completing their tasks, compliance with various procedures, safety incidents, sales numbers, and contract wins. Again, with performance metrics reporting in one place, employees are not forced to track information down.Quit the Spreadsheet
Use the tools large enterprises use, control your data with SharePoint
Managing Data with SharePoint Will Transform Your Business
Are you managing your entire company from a spreadsheet? How are you going to grow with those document management tools? Does your SharePoint work the way you want it to? If you properly implement SharePoint, it will transform your company's productivity. Employees will be more efficient, you'll have better access to your company's data, and you'll be able to better report on key metrics. HingePoint’s custom SharePoint solutions have helped many companies struggling with unorganized data and manual, multi-step processes. Those same customers have transitioned into a more organized, productive organization through automated workflows and easy-to-search information. HingePoint covers the AEC Industry and is the author of The AEC Industry 4.0 Report and the Autodesk Industry Report 2017. HingePoint helps construction and real estate development companies take control of their company’s information. We combine systems, software, and data so all company information can be seen and accessed from one screen, like a smartphone or computer. HingePoint provides Procore, SharePoint and Saleforce consulting for Commercial Real Estate and Construction companies. HingePoint also helps the AEC industry with development & integration of AutoDesk and Procore products with enterprise systems. We are a trusted partner with over 25 years experience of systems development and integration work in the AEC industry. Our clients range from top hotel brands and restaurant chains to AEC firms and real estate developers and Facilities Management. We provide BIM with ROI. Results Guaranteed…Literally Guaranteed. [post_title] => 4 Ways to Use SharePoint For Company Data Management [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => 4-ways-to-use-sharepoint-to-manage-company-data [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-03-12 11:07:55 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-03-12 16:07:55 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.hingepoint.com/?p=13058 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) ) [post_count] => 6 [current_post] => -1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 14204 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2018-03-06 09:57:22 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-03-06 15:57:22 [post_content] => Microsoft SharePoint is one of the best tools to manage company data. However, finding an expert SharePoint consultant can be a difficult and time-consuming task. Here are a few things to look for when searching for a qualified SharePoint consulting and development partner.What to Look For in a SharePoint Consultant:
A good SharePoint Consulting Firm is a company that:- Has both consulting and development experience in your industry.
- Can customize the out-of-the-box capabilities of SharePoint.
- Understands how to organize data.