We use Harvest to track time spent on projects, and SharePoint to manage project documentation. Many of our clients do the same, but often struggle with keeping SharePoint organised. To bring structure and consistency to their document management, we’ve worked with them to build project navigation dashboards in SharePoint.

These dashboards present projects as cards that link directly to both Harvest and SharePoint resources. Search verticals (powered by PnP Modern Search) surface relevant sets of cards, such as My Projects (based on Harvest team membership) or Recent Projects (based on the latest timesheet entry). Verticals can also highlight Active, Archived, or Overspent projects. In practice, any Harvest metric can be used to enrich the SharePoint dashboard experience.

While Harvest and SharePoint are standard platforms, every organisation configures them differently. As a result, each integration shares common foundations but requires tailored implementation.

Below are key options and approaches to consider when connecting Harvest with SharePoint:

• SharePoint Project Register:
  Every integration includes a Project Register that stores project data for card display and drives Power Automate processes. It combines Harvest data with business‑specific fields, sourced from other systems or entered manually via a SharePoint form. The form uses simple formatting rules to guide data entry and ensures Harvest‑sourced fields remain read‑only. The register is readable by all users but editable only by project admins. Sensitive projects can be hidden or restricted.

• Dashboard Cards:
  Cards pull data from the register and link to key project resources such as the document library, OneNote, or the Harvest project page. This centralised approach improves governance and makes navigation effortless.

• Project Approval Process:
  Not every Harvest project should automatically exist in SharePoint. Automated and manual checks help ensure only valid projects are provisioned. These checks can validate fields, flag missing or incorrectly formatted data, and detect duplicates or spelling errors before creation.

• Single or Multiple Sites:
  A single SharePoint site can comfortably manage hundreds of active projects. However, separate sites per project or per project type may be appropriate for geographical, organisational, volume, or security reasons. Our preferred model uses one library for Active projects and another for Archived projects, with each project represented as a top‑level folder.

• Team Channels, Document Sets, and Folders:
  Teams channels can be organised by client or project, but they come with constraints such as name length limits and a 1,000‑channel cap. When Teams is too restrictive, Document Sets or standard folders are alternatives. Document Sets offer consistent metadata across all documents within the set, improving search and automation.

• Permissions:
  We encourage open access by default, but some project areas require restricted visibility. Permissions can be aligned with Harvest team membership and updated automatically as teams change. Specific folders-such as Admin or Financial-can have unique permissions.

• Staged Creation of Subfolders:
  Projects evolve, and so does their content. Instead of creating every folder upfront, subfolders can be created dynamically based on project stage or type.

• Project Naming and Metadata:
  Additional metadata can be added to project cards to improve discoverability and management. This may be manually entered or sourced from other systems. Harvest financial data can also be surfaced to show spend and remaining budget.

• OneNote and Planner:
  OneNote notebooks can be stored within project folders, while Planner plans require a Team site. Both tools can support project management activities.

• Client or Project‑Oriented Structure:
  Projects can be grouped by client or by project, with secure administrative folders for contractual or financial information.

• Archiving:
  When projects are archived in Harvest, their SharePoint files can be moved to an Archive library. Dashboards can automatically hide archived projects from active views.

• Project and Client Updates:
  Harvest IDs are used to track projects and clients, ensuring updates flow consistently into SharePoint-even for archived items.

• Logging and Rollbacks:
  SharePoint’s version history provides an audit trail accessible from the Project Register. Automations can also support moving projects between Active and Archive, ensuring full lifecycle management.

• Project Time Reports:
  Power Automate can extract and process summary data from Harvest, giving instant visibility into project health and progress.

• Power BI Integration:
  Project data stored in SharePoint can be easily exported to Power BI for deeper analysis.

• Training and Guidance:
  Training ensures end users and admins understand how to use Harvest, OneDrive, OneNote, and related systems effectively.

• New Project Awareness:
  New projects can automatically generate SharePoint News posts. Details from the Project Register can populate the article, including team members.

• Search:
  All Harvest‑linked project files are searchable. Users can search the dashboard to find projects, and search within or across project libraries depending on their permissions.

Learnings:
There is no one‑size‑fits‑all solution, but keeping integrations simple and consistent pays off. Harvest excels at project tracking, and when paired with SharePoint for document management and navigation, the two systems complement each other beautifully.

If you use Harvest-or any other project or time‑tracking tool-and want deeper integration with SharePoint and automated processes, we’d love to help.