Project Management Software Development for a Government Agency

Summary

A US federal agency responsible for forest resource monitoring needed a way to streamline how it creates, joins, and contributes to projects, especially when several run at once. Through a US consulting and technology partner, INNERLUXES built a project management system on SharePoint Online with security-scoped project spaces, an auto-filled project template, custom workflows and an EventReceiver for document notifications, and central archiving. Delivered in three months, the system is now in active use.

About the Client

The direct Client is a US consulting and technology company focused on the design, development, and integration of enterprise custom applications across major platforms. The end client is a US federal agency responsible for forest resource monitoring, which requested help creating a project management system.

Streamlining Work Across Many Simultaneous Projects

The main goal was a solution that would streamline project creation, participation, and contribution, especially for simultaneous projects. With its SharePoint experience, INNERLUXES was commissioned to develop a project management solution based on SharePoint Online.

Security-Scoped Project Spaces With Templated Automation

INNERLUXES built the solution on both out-of-the-box and custom SharePoint features, designed around secure, convenient access:

• Security-scoped project spaces — every project was allocated to its own space, so that under the security rules users can access only the projects they take part in.
• Auto-filled project template — created together with the agency, the template carries user groups, a document library, security rights, a folder structure, calendars, events, and reminders; a custom workflow fills the template in automatically as soon as a project is started.
• Document-aware workflows — additional custom workflows handle events such as notifying the responsible manager when documents are uploaded or existing files are modified, with a SharePoint EventReceiver collecting document activity to drive those notifications, and all project information archived in central storage.
• Day-to-day project work — users can access their assigned projects, find and study documents and files, track progress, assign and manage tasks, and create calendar events and reminders.

A Streamlined Project Workflow in Active Use

• After three months of work, the federal agency received the project management solution.
• Once implemented, it streamlined the projects workflow and provided convenient access to separate project spaces holding all relevant project materials.
• The solution is currently being used by the agency.

Technologies and Tools

SharePoint Online, JavaScript, jQuery, CSS, SharePoint Designer, Workflow Designer.