Becoming a SharePoint power user can be a rewarding experience, both professionally and personally. It conveys to other people in the organization that you possess the ability to lead people, coach them and help them solve problems. It also shows that you embrace innovation in the company and are open to change, an essential quality in those selected for promotions and leadership positions in the company. How to become a SharePoint power user requires an understanding of the purpose of using SharePoint, user needs and organizational dynamics.
What Does A Sharepoint Power User Do?
When you become a SharePoint power it user means that you can help your organization get the maximum utility from the features and tools offered by SharePoint. The job of a power user is to increase the organization’s productivity and efficiency in the use of SharePoint resources.
Power users need to invest considerable time into learning the tools of SharePoint and the ways to solve different problems that regular users and visitors might experience in the day-to-day use of the system. Generally, power users serve as the go-to people for regular users as they help them to develop sites, design workflows and undertake simple administrative tasks.
How To Get Nominated As A Power User
Power users are generally nominated by their managers. Any employee who demonstrates a capacity for learning new technical skills, organization skills, communication skills and a helpful attitude may be nominated by their manager as a power user. The next step is for the candidate to undergo a training session to learn the ins and outs of SharePoint.
Training Sessions
SharePoint training sessions are conducted by one or more master users. This has the benefit over self-learning because they have experienced SharePoint for many years and have experienced different kinds of problems. This reduces the need for further trial and error that can help power users to save time. Apart from in-house training, nominated users can also attend boot camps that extend for a week where they get hands-on experience of different tools and techniques of SharePoint.
Online Resources
Becoming a SharePoint power user also means that you can benefit from video presentations. Many such videos are available online that offer guidance on how to use lists, co-authoring tools, metadata, task creation, calendar management, create workflows, develop sites and perform many other functions. These videos can be accessed via any smartphone making the instructions accessible at any time that you may need them.
Many courses are available online that offer a self-paced structure where you can learn the SharePoint skills in order to become a power user at your own pace. You will learn how to customize the different SharePoint features to create systems that produce the best results for your company.
The purpose of such courses is to make the SharePoint power user fluent in different skills such as document management, problem-solving, site creation, relationship management, and so on. Regular quizzes and projects are part of the learning process so that once you become a power user you can answer almost any question posed by any member of the SharePoint user group.
Getting Hands-On Practice
As a SharePoint power user, you need to realize that the value SharePoint brings to the organization arises from its ability to be customized in different ways. Hence, to become a power user you should acquire a lot of hands-on practice in developing customized solutions to the problems at hand. This means that the users should be able to access the website you create from the web browser on any device. A SharePoint power user generally helps other users to use these websites for any desired purpose such as accessing it via emails, tracking documents, manage tasks and manage team projects.
Understanding The Business Value
Having a deep understanding of the business processes of your organization is an essential skill to become a SharePoint power user. Because the main objective of using SharePoint is to create value for the business, understanding the regular business processes can show you ways in which SharePoint can help to improve productivity, output quality and efficiency of the current processes.
By analysing these processes you can identify ways in which SharePoint can streamline these processes, keeping in mind that the process should not become too complicated so that people do not want to adopt the new system. As a power user, your role should involve simplifying things for other users and encourage them to learn the new process.
SharePoint offers a wide range of Apps that help to create different functionalities for regular users. As a power user, you should learn the purpose of each of these apps and how they can be used to produce innovative solutions for the organization. Being a community leader is necessary to become a power user. Hence, you should regularly engage with other users in the company, talk to them about their SharePoint experience and think of different solutions for helping them solve their problems.
Lifelong Learning
You also need to demonstrate a desire to invest in your own professional development for your organization to support you. Not all the training resources that you need to become a SharePoint power user will be available within your organization. There are plenty of resources such as online courses, workshops, boot camps and festivals being organized all the time. It is up to you to keep track of such events and inform your manager about them so that they may allocate time and funds for you to attend these events.
Not only will these events help you expand your technical skills, but will also offer you the opportunity to meet and network with power users from other companies and industries. Learning from their experience will give you better insight into how you can maximize the SharePoint benefits in your company.
Final Word
A SharePoint power user is looked upon by their teammates as a resourceful and innovative individual who possesses the ability to solve problems. Therefore, it is important that you be on the top of every problem and potential change so that you can explain it to other users when the need arises. Working closely with your manager and the IT team will help you stay informed and updated about the latest SharePoint features and tools.