SharePoint Governance Best Practices
An essential element of SharePoint governance is defining a clear set of policies and procedures that an organisation will implement to safely manage and control its SharePoint environment. Today we will discuss how to properly govern your company’s SharePoint system.
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If a business does not effectively govern its SharePoint, it may be at risk of unauthorised access, data leaks/loss, or issues relating to sprawl. A proper SharePoint governance strategy is a must for businesses who want to promote adoption, maximise ROI and reduce risk. For more details on the importance of data compliance and governance, check out our “Data Compliance & Governance” blog.
Below we discuss some of the best practices for SharePoint governance.
Develop a Governance Strategy
Create a clear governance plan that outlines your organisations policies and guidelines for SharePoint use. The plan should cover areas like site creation and structure, permissions management, security, content management and training and support.
Create a Governance Team
It is important to delegate individual roles and responsibilities for managing SharePoint governance. Having a set team responsible for creating policies and making decisions regarding the SharePoint environment will help promote proper governance across the organisation.
Consider including team members from diverse backgrounds, including both business users and IT professionals, as this will create a more well-rounded and effective governance team.
Some of the key roles and responsibilities of the governance team should include:
An Infrastructure Administrator to highlight any potential issues in the SharePoint environment.
An Analyst to report on usage and search analytics.
Coordinators for training company employees and promoting adoption.
A Business Alignment Analyst to keep the team updated on other technology and marketing initiatives in the organisation. This is important to ensure SharePoint remains relevant to the business.
Train and Educate Your Team
Continuous training and support should be given to all employees to ensure everyone understands SharePoint’s capabilities and the organisation's specific governance policies. Staff must always be up to date on best practices for content management, collaboration and security.
Review Analytics
You should regularly review analytics surrounding user activity to identify usage and performance trends. This information can help you easily identify areas for improvement, allowing you to optimise your SharePoint environment accordingly.
As well as this, consistent monitoring of the platform and its analytics can help safeguard its performance. SharePoint is an intricate platform, so without continuous observation it can be difficult to pinpoint issues that may affect its performance or stability in the future.
Moreover, monitoring analytics will help you quickly detect security breaches or areas for concern. Leveraging a proper governance plan means that your business will have the procedures in place to combat these issues quickly and efficiently, protecting your company’s documents, intellectual property and sensitive data.
Make Continuous Improvements
Finally, it’s important to note that a strong governance strategy means continuously updating the policies and procedures in place. Governance policies should be reviewed and updated regularly to align with changing business needs, advancing technology and user feedback. The governance team should meet periodically to report and discuss areas of concern and improvement.
If you would like to learn more about how to effectively govern your organisation’s SharePoint environment, contact Storm Technology today.
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