SharePoint is a powerful collaboration tool used by organizations worldwide to manage documents, projects, and internal communications. However, to maximize the potential of SharePoint, strong governance is essential.
Governance refers to the policies, roles, responsibilities, and processes that control how an organization's business divisions and IT teams work together to achieve business goals. In this article, we will explore the best practices for SharePoint governance and the common challenges organizations face.
Best Practices for SharePoint Governance
1. Define Clear Governance Policies
To ensure SharePoint is used effectively, it is crucial to establish clear governance policies. These policies should establish a foundation for how your organization uses SharePoint and address aspects such as site provisioning, content management, user permissions, and compliance requirements.
For example, uncontrolled site creation leads to chaos. Individuals have wildly divergent preferences regarding site design, so implementing a structured site provisioning process ensures new sites are created based on specific guidelines and approval workflows. Well-written policies create consistent site structures and prevent the proliferation of redundant or obsolete sites.
2. Establish Roles and Responsibilities
Clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved in SharePoint governance is critical. This includes explicitly naming site owners, content managers, administrators, and governance committee members as well as detailing each role’s responsibilities. Responsibilities should reflect expectations and refer to concrete action items to ensure accountability.
Without accountability, it is impossible to govern the platform effectively.
3. Enforce Security and Compliance
SharePoint governance must include robust security and compliance measures, including setting up permissions and monitoring site access. While smaller organizations may opt to manage permissions on an individual basis, larger organizations are advised to utilize group-level permissions to streamline their access policies. Implementing data loss prevention (DLP) policies and regular security audits helps protect sensitive information.
Your organization will want to establish measures that guarantee compliance with industry regulations as well as broader organizational policies.
4. Monitor Usage and Conduct Content Reviews
Leveraging analytics tools to monitor SharePoint usage can provide valuable insights into how your organization utilizes the platform. Analyzing usage patterns can help identify areas for improvement, optimize performance, and ensure that governance policies are being followed.
Similarly, regular content reviews and audits are vital to maintaining SharePoint’s integrity. Without proper content management practices, organizations can quickly find themselves with an overwhelming amount of redundant, outdated, or trivial content.
Establish a schedule for reviewing content to ensure it remains relevant to your organization’s goals. Archiving or deleting obsolete content helps keep the system clean and enhances search performance.
5. Provide Ongoing Training and Support
Continuous education and support play a significant role in effective SharePoint governance. Providing regular training sessions for users and administrators ensures they are aware of the latest features, best practices, and policies.
Additionally, having a support system such as an internal IT helpdesk can help address issues promptly and efficiently.
Common Challenges in SharePoint Governance
1. Inconsistent Policy Enforcement
Inconsistent enforcement of governance policies leads to confusion and non-compliance. It is essential to ensure that policies are consistently applied across the organization and that there is a mechanism to monitor and enforce compliance.
2. Resistance to Change
User adoption is critical to the success of SharePoint governance. Unfortunately, implementing new governance policies and processes is often met with resistance from users.
Change management strategies, including communication, training, and support, are necessary to help users adapt to new ways of working. Be sure to encourage user engagement, provide adequate training, and investigate whether or not the platform genuinely meets your users’ needs.
3. Overcomplicating Governance Structures
While it is important to have comprehensive governance policies, overcomplicating the governance structure can be counterproductive. Keep governance policies simple and manageable. That way they remain accessible to all users and can be effectively implemented.
