Construction Projects in Microsoft 365 - Where to start part 2

Welcome to the second part of our blog on how to get started with managing construction projects in Microsoft 365. You can read the first part here.

By now, you will have your new Microsoft 365 tenant all set up and have licensing covered: So what next?

There is an abundance of features and services in Microsoft 365 that you can use to help manage your construction projects. There really is not a right and wrong answer here; as we mentioned in part.1, the important thing is to fully understand your users' requirements and assess the options against these to determine what works for your organization.

So, let's get started.

Database. The database is the most crucial feature of any IT solution. With Microsoft 365, you have several options. The most obvious one is SharePoint Online. And more lately, Teams, which is itself built on top of SharePoint Online sites. While Teams has been in the spotlight, SharePoint’s lists and libraries make it exceptionally flexible and allow it to be taken in almost limitless directions. Teams provides a quick-start alternative that will get you up and running faster and provides integration with lots of ready-made apps. There are some limitations, however. Another option for your database is Microsoft’s Dataverse, which can be leveraged by Power Apps (to be covered in the 3rd part of this series). You have probably also heard of OneDrive. This storage application was initially conceived as a personal storage and sharing solution. While it is a powerful database option, its user-centric design, similar to a file share, limits its information sharing and collaboration capabilities beyond ad hoc file sharing.

SharePoint Site Contents "database"

Sites. Users need a way to access the system to view reports, search data, and act. While users can navigate to all the Microsoft 365 services using their Microsoft 365 portal, it can be a bit overwhelming. Building SharePoint sites or Teams sites allows you to aggregate data and simplify navigation. It also facilitates security and permissions to restrict sensitive information to only the users you want to access. However, consider how users will find information carefully, so planning the navigation and information architecture is critical to ensuring usability.

SharePoint site

Workflow. Power Automate is the workflow engine in Microsoft 365. Power Automate can connect data across all Microsoft 365 services and external sources (requires an on-premises data gateway). Most Microsoft 365 plans include some licensing level for Power Automate; however, more advanced features generally require additional licensing. Also, there are many third-party add-ons that you can leverage that typically have different licensing requirements.

Power Automate workflow

Permissions. Microsoft 365 and SharePoint have some incredibly powerful permissions and access management controls for managing both licensed users and unlicensed guest users. 

Microsoft 365 Groups

• Groups control access across all Microsoft 365 services. There are two roles, Owner and Member. Owners can change the settings and the membership of the Group. Members can remove themselves, add members to a Public Group, and recommend Guest users be invited. 
• You can assign access to your team as Owners or Members to any Microsoft 365 service.
• Managing Groups and adding members is performed through the Microsoft 365 Admin center. Unfortunately, not everyone will have access to the Microsoft 365 tenant Admin center, and this is where SharePoint Permission Groups, come into play for more granular permissions controls.

Admin center - 365 Group administration

SharePoint Permission Groups

• SharePoint Permission Groups assign permissions to SharePoint-specific content (Sites, Lists, Libraries, etc). 
• SharePoint Groups provide permissions levels such as Read, Write, and everything in between. Every Group can have its own unique permission levels and be assigned to any SharePoint content. 
• If you selectively grant access to content within your SharePoint sites, make sure to map out a permissions strategy and develop auditable permissions templates, especially with guest users.

SharePoint permissions levels

Reporting. The primary reporting service in Microsoft 365 is Power BI. It is a powerful dashboarding and analytics tool. For paginated reports (like a log report of many records or a printable version of a form), you will most likely need to consider additional Power BI licensing (see our prior post "Microsoft Power BI and Paginated Reports for Construction"), SQL Server Reporting, or other third-party reporting tools.

Power BI status report

With this blog, we have covered the critical infrastructure services required for building a construction management solution in Microsoft 365. While the path can differ for every organization depending on your budget, resources, and processes, we hope this series will provide insight into how you can use Microsoft 365 to manage your construction projects.  Our upcoming third part in this series will cover construction-specific functionality like scheduling and cost management. 

If your construction organization needs help setting up your Microsoft 365 environment, you can request a free one-hour consultation. If you are looking for a turnkey construction project management solution or a specific construction app for Microsoft 365/SharePoint, check out ConstructionViz.com.