Team Collaboration Using Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services

Introduction
This half-day, scenario-based course provides students with a better understanding of how to improve team collaboration by using Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 2.0 and other Microsoft Office 2003 applications. This course is for people who are looking to improve their business skills through hands-on exercises and facilitated group discussions on the latest trends, challenges, and technologies that are reshaping the traditional concepts of team collaboration. The integration of Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 with other Microsoft Office System tools will be used to demonstrate creative and user-friendly techniques that can lead to more effective team collaboration.

Audience
The audience for this course is experienced business professionals who rely on team collaboration to achieve business and personal objectives.

This audience recognizes the importance of standard Microsoft desktop tools in supporting team collaboration (that is, Microsoft Excel®, Outlook®, PowerPoint® and Word), but may not have the time or opportunity to explore how Microsoft technologies can be better leveraged in their every-day work environment.

At Course Completion
After completing this course, students will be able to:

- Describe current trends in team collaboration and its role in helping organizations to achieve business objectives.
 
- Recognize how new teams can quickly achieve operational readiness under complex, time-driven circumstances.
 
- Identify and resolve problems that can threaten team success.
 
- Better utilize the talent and creativity of individuals in a team environment.
 
- Leverage Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office 2003 technologies to help promote team collaboration.
 

Prerequisites
Before attending this course, students must have:

- Experience as a business skills worker who often participates in complex team environments (directly or indirectly) as a manager, supervisor, team leader, consultant, or subject matter expert.
 
- A working familiarity with standard Microsoft Office applications (such as Outlook, Word and Excel), as well as a general awareness of Web navigation tools, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.
 
- Hands-on experience with SharePoint Services 2.0 is beneficial, but not required.
 

Course Outline
Module 1: Trends in Team Collaboration

This module presents the current business trends associated with team collaboration. Because you and your fellow students may have different perspectives on team collaboration, this is designed to help to create a common basis of understanding on which the remainder of the course will be based.

Topics and Activities

- What Is Team Collaboration?
 
- Exercise: Identifying Key Traits of Team Collaboration
 
- Traditional vs. Virtual Teams
 
- The Challenge of Virtual Team Collaboration
 
- Expert Video: Industry Trends in Team Collaboration
 
- Demonstration: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
 

After completing this module, students will be able to:

- Describe the business concept involving team collaboration.
 
- Identify the primary traits of team collaboration from your work experience.
 
- Explain the basic differences between traditional and virtual team environments.
 
- Describe the current challenges of virtual team collaboration.
 
- Recognize recent trends in team collaboration based on an expert's insights.
 

Module 2: Accelerating Team Effectiveness

This module introduces the business scenario involving a fictional company, called Adventure Works, which provides the foundation for the hands-on exercises in the course. In this module, students will create and explore a Windows SharePoint Services team Web site.

Topics and Activities

- Introduction to Adventure Works
 
- Establishing Team Priorities
 
- Exercise 1: Exploring Windows SharePoint Services
 
- Exercise 2: Reviewing Team Web Site Features
 

After completing this module, students will be able to:

- Describe the overall business scenario used in this module.
 
- Examine the priorities of a team leader when creating a virtual team environment.
 
- Recognize some of the essential activities that occur during the creation of a virtual team.
 

Module 3: Addressing Team Complexity

This module focuses on creative ways to overcome common challenges faced by team challenges and demonstrates how students can address the complexity of virtual teams with the right combination of teamwork and enabling technologies. This module also illustrates Windows SharePoint Services as a key enabling technology and demonstrates how it can be easily integrated with a variety of Microsoft Office 2003 applications.

Topics and Activities

- The Challenge of Team Complexity
 
- Exercise 1: Managing Team Documents
 
- Exercise 2: Solving Problems
 
- Exercise 3: Streamlining and Improving Processes
 

After completing this module, students will be able to:

- Describe the key factors of team complexity, and the challenges that are often faced in a virtual team environment.
 
- Explain how team documents can be shared, updated, and controlled from a central Web repository in Windows SharePoint Services.
 
- Recognize how team issues can be effectively tracked and managed in Windows SharePoint Services and then downloaded to Microsoft Office Excel for more in-depth analysis.
 
- Identify ways to streamline and simplify processes by using Microsoft Office Visio® and Windows SharePoint Services to improve team and organizational performance.
 

Module 4: Promoting Team Creativity

This module discusses how Windows SharePoint Services can promote the creativity and skills of team members, as a group and as individuals.

Topics and Activities

- The People Side of Collaboration
 
- Exercise 1: Brainstorming in a Virtual Environment
 
- Exercise 2: Responding to Client Needs
 

After completing this module, students will be able to:

- Understand the importance of creativity and innovation, especially for teams working in a virtual environment.
 
- Describe how teams can effectively brainstorm ideas using a central Web site designed specifically for that purpose.
 
- Utilize creative concepts, such as online surveys, that can deliver fast results and improve client and/or management relationships.