Welcome to my new series on how to get the best out of Microsoft Office 365.

I’m Lesley, I’m the Project Administrator here at SR1 Development. This series is about how I use Office 365 to assist me not just with planning, organisation and project management, but also how to stay motivated and inspired.

Change your ring tone

Are you tired of the default ringtone and would like some inspirational tunes?

Go to settings in your Teams channel. Scroll down to calls and select a new ring tone.

Add a co-organiser to a meeting

A co-organiser has the same capabilities as the meeting organiser and is able to edit the meeting options. (Date, time, add attendees etc.)

The co-organiser must be part of your organisation and on the attendees list.

Automatically record a Teams meeting

This feature can be used record future meetings in advance and is handy if you are unable to attend the meeting. It can also be very useful if you work part-time or are unable to attend a meeting whilst on leave. Please remember to let your team know that the meeting is being recorded.

Set a status message in Teams

Have you ever been really busy with a task and receive Teams messages even when your calendar is blocked out? You can set a busy message to let your colleagues know that you are unavailable and you may not be able to respond right away. Click on your profile picture.

How to brighten your day in Teams – Part 2 Teams will include:

• How to reduce background noise.
• How to create your own memes.
• How to appear like you are maintaining eye contact in Teams (even if you’re not looking at the camera).
• Keyboard shortcuts.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Please use the comment section below if you have any questions.

Tip 1

Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to Office 365 and SharePoint. Enabling MFA for all users in your organisation can help prevent unauthorised access.

Tip 2

Limit Access to Sensitive Data: Limit access to sensitive data by assigning permissions only to those who need it. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to assign specific roles to users based on their job function.

Tip 3

Use Strong Passwords and Enforce Password Policies: Require users to use strong passwords and enforce password policies that require periodic password changes. This can help prevent password-based attacks.

Tip 4

Keep Software Up to Date: Keep Office 365 software up to date with the latest security patches and updates. Regularly review security advisories and apply updates as soon as possible.

Tip 5

Conduct Security Training: Educate users on best security practices and conduct regular security training sessions. This can help prevent accidental data leaks and phishing attacks. Get in touch with us at SR1 Development if you would like us to handle your Office 365 and SharePoint Security and best practices training.

Tip 6

Conduct Regular Security Audits: Consider hiring a third-party company, such as us at SR1 Development, to review your security processes and conduct regular security audits. This can help identify vulnerabilities in your Office 365 and SharePoint environment and provide recommendations for improving your company’s security.

By following these best practices, you can help ensure that your Office 365 and SharePoint environment is secure and protected from cyber threats. If you need help implementing any of these security practices, or if you’re interested in conducting a security audit, get in touch with us at SR1 Development. Our team of experts can provide you with the necessary guidance and support to help safeguard your organisation’s sensitive information.

At SR1, we are excited to offer SharePoint Online as a solution for businesses looking to improve collaboration and document management. SharePoint Online is a cloud-based platform from Microsoft that allows businesses to share and manage content, knowledge, and applications.

One of the key benefits of using SharePoint Online is that it allows your team to access company information and collaborate on projects from anywhere, on any device. This can help improve productivity and communication, as your team can easily share files, provide feedback, and work together on documents in real time.

Another benefit of SharePoint Online is its ability to integrate with other Microsoft tools and services, such as Office 365, OneDrive, Power Platform, and Teams. This allows you to manage all of your business content and applications in one central location, making it easier to search, access, and share information.

In addition, SharePoint Online provides a wide range of tools and features to help you organise and manage your content, including document libraries, lists, web pages, automations of tasks, and custom applications. We can also customise the look and feel of your SharePoint sites to match your branding and business needs.

Furthermore, we would set up your SharePoint environment to utilise the robust security and compliance features that are offered with SharePoint to protect your business data. This includes data loss prevention, encryption, and the ability to track and manage access to sensitive information.

Overall, using SharePoint Online can help improve collaboration, productivity, and security within your organisation. By providing a central platform for managing and sharing information, SharePoint Online can help your team work more efficiently and effectively. Contact us today to learn more about how SharePoint Online can benefit your business.

At SR1, we understand the challenges that businesses face when it comes to improving collaboration, communication, and productivity. That’s why we are excited to offer the Microsoft Power Platform as a solution. 

The Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of low-code, business application development tools that allows users to create custom solutions for their specific business needs. This includes PowerApps, which allows users to create custom business apps; Power BI, which allows users to visualise and analyse data; and Power Automate, which allows users to automate workflows and business processes. 

At SR1, we believe that the Microsoft Power Platform can help your business in a number of ways. First, it can improve collaboration and communication within your organisation. With PowerApps, you can create custom apps that help your team share information, create company requests, manage client information within a CRM, and work together on projects more effectively. And with Power Automate, you can automate repetitive tasks and processes, freeing up time for your team to focus on more important work. 

Second, the Microsoft Power Platform can help you make data-driven decisions. With Power BI, you can connect to a wide range of data sources, create interactive dashboards and reports, and gain insights into your business performance. This can help you make more informed decisions and optimise your operations. 

Third, the Microsoft Power Platform is easy to use and customise. This means that we can quickly and easily create solutions that are tailored to your specific business needs. 

At SR1, we are committed to helping businesses like yours succeed. That’s why we offer the Microsoft Power Platform as a solution for improving collaboration, communication, and productivity within your organisation. Contact us today to learn more about how the Power Platform can benefit your business. 

In today’s blog, we’ll be going over a common question for new SharePoint users: How do I sync a SharePoint Library to my desktop?

1. Open SharePoint and go to the site that you’d like to sync a library from.

2. Click the cog in the top right corner to bring up the settings menu.

3.Select Site Contents from the menu.

4. Open the document library that you’d like to copy.

5. Click the sync button at the top of the page.

6. This will up a window asking you to open OneDrive. Choose the option to open OneDrive.

7. This will start the syncing process. Now you can open your File Explorer on your Desktop, and you should be able to see the library that you have synced. Please note: This process may take a while if you have a large number of files in your library.

Lesley Dickinson recently joined SR1 Development, after over a decade out of the workplace. Here she gives an interesting insight into what it is like to return to the new modern workplace.

Hi my is Lesley, I’m the Project administrator at SR1 Development Ltd.  I started my position here during October 2021. My background is in Project Administration, and I have over 20 years of experience. However, I had career break which ended up lasting over 10 years. Needless to say, technology has changed enormously during this time. The pandemic has significantly changed the way we all work, with thousands of businesses now incorporating remote working. Business operations are vastly different from what they were in 2011. For example, working from home and flextime were something I could of only of dreamed of. I find myself thinking that if my previous companies had been able to offer a flexible approach to sustaining a career, how different mine and my families lives would have been.

My organizational and communication skills have continued to be my strengths not just at work but in my everyday life. I’m an active member of The Women’s institute and have served on many committees. My technical skills however, were very outdated.  The first few weeks as a ‘modern’ Project Administrator were incredibly challenging. SharePoint is an excellent communications platform for any business, however getting my head around all of the features took a little while. Initially my challenge was to learn Teams and the 2021 style of working. Being a Project Administrator in my previous roles involved observing, listening and studying business operations and learning as much as I could about everyone’s roles and responsibilities. This process typically took around 6 to 12 weeks. Once I had completed my observation period my main goals were to streamline processes and increase efficiency.

In three of my roles the objectives were to gain ISO accreditation or ascertain funding. As a Project Administrator the job description varies from post to post but always involves either creating or updating company policies and procedures, day to day admin, diary management, information dissemination and event planning. In my current role everyone is primarily working from home, so the process is managed in a completely different way. Instead of observation in the workplace we schedule meetings and share our screens. This initially takes more time and planning and I asked many questions. However, most of the skills required to be a Project Administrator are the same and so are the outcomes.

When I worked for West Lindsey Women’s Aid, the administration and policies were updated weekly. The manager and support workers assessed all new versions of record keeping documents and policies and I updated them according to business requirements. It was widespread practice back then to have numerous versions of the same paper document. We could never be 100% sure that every employee was using the most recent version, which sometimes led to confusion and streamlining problems with client record keeping, therefore leading to difficulties with funding or award applications.

In my previous posts I used Office XP for Word, PowerPoint and Excel etc. I have to say the fundamentals of these programs are still the same, although many new features have been added. But paper diaries are no more and files and files of paperwork around the office is outdated and unnecessary. I am aware that cloud-based systems have been around for a while but with SharePoint everything is integrated. You have the company intranet, built in storage and versions of documents are updated automatically and can be shared with colleagues and clients in real time via teams.

Working at SR1 Development Limited is a wonderful opportunity for me and I really enjoy working here. All staff are encouraged to be autonomous, and we trust and respect one another. Learning new software and organizing a team virtually is a huge learning curve for me and every day brings a new and rewarding challenge. Technology cannot give a person organizational, planning and communication skills, but it does provide us with fantastic tools which are always evolving. There are endless benefits to the systems we have available to us today. SharePoint is a primarily a document management and storage system that integrates with other Microsoft products, SharePoint allows access to staff directories, company information, company forms and many other things. Visit our client testimonials to see our customer feedback.  https://www.sr1development.com/case-studies/

Lesley’s Top Tips

Stay Connected – Prior to this post I believed it wasn’t possible to really connect with other people unless you had regular face to face contact, I was wrong. It is possible to build relationships with colleagues virtually.  It just takes a little more effort i.e. remembering those colleagues who live in a different country or work from home full-time.  A little message or email to say Hi takes a few seconds and can help us all keep up to date and achieve a great team spirit. Now that we are nearing the end of all Covid restrictions it is very important to plan regular team events where we can all meet in person and have a fun time.

Embrace Technology – I’m 58 years old and if I can learn new tech skills then so can anyone. Although it can be overwhelming at first stick with it you will be surprised at your own abilities! There are many helpful free online learning resources. These are the ones I found useful.

I’m currently learning how to edit and add articles our intranet and I’m also doing tutorials on Microsoft Project.  I’ll let you know how I get on in my next post.

Thank you for reading my blog, I will keep you posted about my journey!

Take care and remember:

“Patience is a key element of success.” –  Bill gates

Lesley

Project Administrator