Did you know SharePoint can be extended with BrightWork for full project request management to track the progress of your project request, from initial request to approved project creation?

Here are four best practices to help you get started with project request management on SharePoint!​

1. Define a Process (the non-technical stuff)

Before you start using a tool to implement a process (or any process really, not just Project Request Management), you want to get it down on paper first. But when it comes to your process for Project Request Management, for example, you will need to decide things like:

• Is there going to be a committee to approve projects? And if so, who is going to be on it?
• What kind of data about the project requests will be required?
• What is the timeframe for approving projects?

2. Create a Command Center (including reports)

Second, you’ll want to have a PRM “Command Center” in SharePoint, a one-stop-shop where particular departments, or perhaps the entire organization, can go to submit their project requests and track the progress. You’ll also want to include reports that where requesters can check on the status of their various requests, maybe some metrics, etc.

Here’s a sample of our command center, where you can travel through the entire project request life-cycle – from logging  a request all the way to project site creation after the project is approved.

3. Define the Intake Form

If you didn’t do this when you defined the PRM process, you want to create a project request form in SharePoint. If you ask for too little data, there won’t be enough information as to what it is you are proposing. If there is too much information, folks can get turned off and simple pick up the phone or start emailing, defeating the purpose of the SharePoint template! Here is a sample intake form:

4. Notify and Update Interested Parties Automatically

Finally, you can’t rely on people to regularly visit the site  to find out that there is something waiting in their queue for approval. In the form above, you can see some fields “Requested By,” “Reviewer,” and “Approver.”  All of these people have to take some sort of action on the project request, and in SharePoint they can be alerted automatically that there is a request waiting for them to review, or that your project has been approved – and you are now responsible to manage it!