Even if your company is good at SharePoint governance — you’re managing size limits for your SharePoint farm, have a good idea of what’s in it, users like it and actually use it — you could probably still find ways to improve your information governance strategy. After all, it’s an ongoing process.
In a perfect world, you’d review every governance plan either quarterly or twice a year. Essentially, you’re assessing the overall health, use and effectiveness of your SharePoint environment: Are people adopting it? Does the navigation still make sense? Are people able to find and access the content they need?
Here are three reasons to regularly review your information governance strategy.
- New technologies in the digital workplace: SharePoint is going through a transition. Microsoft’s introduction of Yammer and OneDrive for Business into the digital workplace is changing the role of SharePoint and any of the information resources around it. As these new technologies impact collaboration and information management practices, make sure your governance plan addresses these new tools and includes them in SharePoint growth and management planning.For up-to-date SharePoint administrators and organizations, this is a good opportunity to expand the dialog and incorporate some of these new technologies into your information management and IT strategy with a clear understanding of how they impact your governance.
- Upgrading to SharePoint 2013 or Office 365: If your organization has been using SharePoint for quite a while without firm governance, you’ve probably accumulated some debris, from dead links to obsolete content and abandoned sites. When you’re planning to upgrade to SharePoint 2013 or Office 365, it’s a good idea to review your governance plan, evaluate your current platform and clean up your information before moving it into the new environment.
- New opportunities for application: Once you’ve invested in a platform, it makes sense to explore opportunities for new ways to expand its business use. Many companies are upgrading to a SharePoint intranet, for example, and some also want to use an extranet to improve communication and collaboration with external partners. That kind of expanded use requires you to revisit your governance plan.
The specifics may vary, but your information governance strategy should dictate and determine what SharePoint’s role is for your organization and what type of information should be stored there. There are lots of questions to answer about your intent with SharePoint and how you use certain features — questions about tagging, search, metadata and document lifecycle, for instance.
Getting business users involved early in the process helps to answer these questions and shape effective governance. It’s a good idea to gather input from business users in the design process. Then, follow through to bring these users on as stakeholders and business liaisons for IT, improving execution and enforcement.
Learn more about creating the right information governance strategy for your organization by contacting Portal Solutions.
