Microsoft’s newest Project and Portfolio Management tool, Project for the Web, continues to become a more frequently used tool with many robust features which increase efficiency and team collaboration.

Microsoft continues to invest in new features and upgrades that aim to automate many project management processes and project needs throughout the project lifecycle.

The ability to create Word Templates assists in creating project documentation by using your project data already entered in the PPM tool, Project for the Web. Word Templates, one of Microsoft’s more subtle but very dynamic features, allows the creation of pre-configured documents that pull data from specified project fields, in real-time. Word Templates can be designed and tailored to fit the needs of a customer, including letterheads, signature approvals area, and any other additions required by a customer.

If we look at our PPM360 Demo environment, which is Marque360’s pre-configured version of Microsoft’s accelerator, we can see how the fields in the tool are exported into the pre-configured document in real-time. Each time a field’s value is updated in Project for the Web, that is included in any of the pre-configured Word Templates, the document can be re-exported with the updated values immediately reflected. Unlike Power BI reports, which generally run on refresh schedules in 2-hour increments. Additionally, a flow can be created to auto-generate the creation of these documents on a weekly basis at a specified time. The flow can send a copy of the document directly to specified users or be auto saved in a pre-determined SharePoint or Teams folder.

Word Templates are most valuable for exporting Project Charters, Change Requests, and Project Status Reports. However, these templates can be utilized for various purposes. Additional areas can also be added to the pre-configured Word Document, such as a table for PMO signatures for Change Request approvals.