Bamboo Solutions knows a lot about SharePoint. They should. Their business is focused on delivering collaborative business solutions based on the SharePoint platform. Their latest solution to hit the pavement is the Project Management Suite for SharePoint and it looks jam packed with functionality any project manager using SharePoint would drool over.
What's in the Project Management Suite
The Project Management Suite is a collection of Bamboo web parts that they consider must-haves for any project manager. Some of these web parts include the following: * SharePoint Project Portfolio Dashboard: A single view of the progress, health and risk level of the projects in your entire project portfolio. It can display a single project or a portfolio of projects. * Alerts Administrator: Administrators can create, edit, delete, group and filter alerts for all users in a single Web Application from one location. * Calendar Plus: Enhanced functionality that includes color coding calendar items, displaying project tasks in a configurable Gantt view, show holidays and events alongside project dates, provide quarterly views of calendar items and show calendar info in other views such as lists or tables. PM Dashboard There are approximately 18 web parts available in the Suite, which you can also purchase separately. Calendar Plus The benefit of purchasing the Suite is that with a Premium Support subscription -- which comes with the Suite -- you get immediate access to any new products added at a later date. According to their site, they are adding new web parts and solutions every month. Alerts Administration
How is the Suite Integrated with SharePoint
The suite can be installed to run on both Windows SharePoint Services and MOSS -- both versions 2 and 3 (or 2003/2007). The suite can be deployed on a single server or as a system across multiple departments.
A Community to Complement Its Suite
One of the nice things about Bamboo Solutions is their community focus -- Bamboo Nation. Not only do they develop and sell SharePoint products, they also have a big community that focuses SharePoint and how to use their products. One community we've talked about previously was for MashPoint, their free data integration platform. In this case, they have started a Project Management community within Bamboo Nation. The Project Management Suite for SharePoint costs US$ 8,000 and the Premium Support Subscription is renewal annually. Certainly a solution to check out if you've made your investment in SharePoint and want to leverage it for Project activities.
About the Author
Barb worked for CMSWire from November 2007 through October 2013. She has over 10 years’ experience as an IT solutions architect focusing on content management and enterprise collaboration. Connect with Barb Mosher Zinck:
