One of the biggest advantages of SharePoint for small to mid-sized businesses is the reduction of what can often amount to a mountain of paperwork. But SharePoint goes much further in improving office productivity. SharePoint has the power to accelerate training management in a variety of ways, especially for managers that are willing to lead by example and encourage the use of SharePoint from the top down.

Once you've made the migration to SharePoint, there are many ways you can use the built-in systems in an intelligent and structured way.

Limit Excessive Files

Create policies requiring employees to upload project files to a dedicated project site, not on their own computer or in paper folders. When sharing work, encourage employees to include links to project files stored this way rather than attaching documents directly to the email.

Make sure everyone in your department is familiar with the process required to check out and edit documents stored on a dedicated project site.

Streamline Common Tasks

SharePoint allows users to create custom site templates that can be used repeatedly by anyone with access to the template. This encourages the use of SharePoint for key organizational tasks. Users can elect to receive alerts whenever items are modified or added to a list/library.

Don't forget about some of the more exotic but useful features, such as colored bars representing how busy each department is, or how long an individual file has been in any given queue.

SharePoint's Core Components

Pages and Sites: Just like with normal websites, SharePoint sites give users a good way to share information, plan tasks, manage assets, and create new documents. Web Parts make creating pages easy, offering different features and information based on the page needed.

Lists: SharePoint 2013 is built on lists, which include surveys, discussion boards, contacts, calendars, and announcements. You can even create custom lists to track data important to your organization.

Libraries: Libraries give users a way to organize files into easily accessible archives. Libraries can be created for a variety of media, including normal text documents and images.

Keep the core components of the system in mind when brainstorming ways to accelerate training management through SharePoint. You should constantly ask yourself how the core items are being used in your organization, whether they're being used effectively, and whether some need to be used in a different way.