Application Template: New Store Opening

Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 is technology in Windows Server® that offers an integrated portfolio of collaboration and communication services designed to connect people, information, processes and systems both within and beyond the organizational firewall. Now available at no additional cost, Windows SharePoint Services makes it simpler for IT professionals to implement and manage a team collaboration infrastructure. Application Templates are tailored to address the needs and requirements for specific business processes or sets of tasks for organizations of any size. The templates provide out-of-the-box, customizable scenarios which solve business needs as well as providing a starting point for partners and developers looking to build more sophisticated Windows SharePoint Services solutions.

Description of Template

The New Store Opening application template for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 helps project managers organize the budget, milestones, tasks and issues associated with opening a new store. The site tracks which new store openings are proposed or open and allows project managers to add tasks that must be accomplished to open the new store. Each task is assigned a monetary budget as well as a budgeted number of work days allotted to complete the task. The site also captures project milestones as well as issues that may arise during the course of the project. These issues, like tasks, are assigned to members of the project team and allow for team members to provide written updates on the status of an issue.

The dashboard of the site gives a project manager a single overview of the progress of all new store openings, including the number of tasks and issues overdue for each project as well as the number for each status category. The dashboard also lists the actual dollars spent versus budget allotted.

Activities Performed in this Application Template

Creation of New Store Opening Projects: The project manager begins by creating a new store opening project by entering the Store Name, Status, Health of the project, Budget, Budget in Days, Start and End Dates, Percent Complete and Owner. The project also includes a field for the project manager to include comments which describe the new store opening project.

Supplier Categories and Supplier List: To help managers track which suppliers are associated with different tasks for a new store opening, the site allows for entry of supplier categories and supplier information. By default, three supplier categories are included: Video, Custom Printing and Security. However, managers can add or delete categories as they see fit.

Creation of New Store Opening Tasks: The tasks associated with opening a new store can be entered and tracked through the familiar Gantt Chart format. Each task is associated with a particular store opening project and enables entry of budget, responsible team member, due dates and supplier, if appropriate.

Milestones and Issues Tracking: Each project has milestones and issues. The New Store Opening site allows project managers to track milestones and their related dates. Additionally, issues can be tracked along with comments on progress, responsible team member as well as which new store opening the issue may impact.

Dashboard View of All Project Status: As seen in the image on the first page, the dashboard provides project managers with the ability to view an overview status of each project’s budget, overdue tasks and overdue issues. As well, the site lists the number of tasks and issues for each status category across all new store opening projects.

Document Uploading: Project team members are able to more easily locate documents that are relevant to their new store opening project when those documents are uploaded and tagged with the appropriate project. The documents can be viewed in a list, sorted by project, or as a part of the new store opening project page, as seen below.

New Store Opening Project Overview Page: Project managers and team members are able to view all information related to a particular new store opening project by visiting the project overview page. The page includes project information such as budget, end date and comments as well as all information on the site that is tagged as being a part of that particular new store opening project, such as tasks, issues, milestones and documents.

Site Lists and Libraries

Documents: This library holds documents that are relevant to a particular new store opening.

Announcements: Use the Announcements list communicate to all team members.

Issues: Lists of the issues for each new store opening project, including due date.

Milestones: List the set of milestones for each new store opening project.

Store Openings: List of the store openings proposed, opened, not stored or closed.

Supplier Categories: This list can be altered to categories the types of suppliers required to open a new store.

Suppliers: List of the suppliers approved for a new store openings.

Tasks: List of open and completed tasks for each new store opening project.

Customizing SharePoint Sites and Templates

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 is a Web site development and management program that provides powerful tools to build, customize, and contribute to Windows SharePoint Services sites using the latest Web design technologies and established standards in an IT-controlled environment.

Use Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to create and deploy interactive solutions without having to write code. Automate business processes, such as document approval, custom event notification and other collaboration tasks with the workflow designer. Create reporting and tracking applications using data views and forms to easily gather and aggregate data from outside your site and from lists and document libraries on the Web.

Extend your solution by building advanced interactive Microsoft ASP.NET pages. Insert and edit controls with the same powerful activity menus and control property grids previously found only in the Microsoft Visual Studio® development system.

Technical Dependencies

The New Store Opening application template has the following technical requirements:

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0*

*Review Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 system requirements for additional information:

More Information

For more information on the technologies described in this article, please visit:

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0:

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007:

Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services:

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This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

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