On this podcast, Jill Hannemann, our Director of Advisory Services, joins us on the Digital Workplace Today Podcast to talk all about Office 365 and SharePoint governance, including: What is governance? What are some best practices? What things should be avoided?
Listen to this episode to hear it all, or read the show notes for an overview of the conversation and links to some of the key items we discussed.
 |
 |
SHOW NOTES
What is Governance?
When we talk about governance in the context of Office 365 and SharePoint, what we’re trying to ensure is that whatever we design, from a governance perspective, is going to support the natural growth and management of these systems.
With governance, we’re talking about establishing roles and responsibilities, establishing policies, and setting the “rules of the road” for people to use these systems. The goal of all of these things is to support the end users, with a good handle on and control of the types of content being put into the system, and that it remains manageable and clean so that users continue to want to use it.
Has Governance Always Been an Issue?
Governance has been a hot topic since its inception – for any portal or information management solutions, really. A lot of the problems and challenges have not simply gone away as technology has improves. It is still fundamentally a people problem, and organizationally it is a change management challenge to adopt a solution like Office 365 and make it work and have it continue to provide value over in the long run.
A big part of migrating to Office 365 is training and user adoption. Click here to learn how our Office 365 experts can help your organization through the planning, development, and implementation process.
What Is the Right Direction for My Governance Plan?
One of the things we really encourage with governance is to find a model that fits with your ways. Don’t introduce change where you don’t need to; instead follow the beat of the drum that you’ve been marching to. Managing and minimizing change are core strategies of making sure your governance really speaks to your organization but also that it is going to work.
Who Should Develop Governance Plans for New Technology?
The ideal scenario for implementation is a combination of the line of business and IT (or corporate communications). Fundamentally with a platform like Office 365 or SharePoint you are looking at two different channels of governance that you are implementing with this very complex system. So you are looking at the way your users use it, and policies and guidelines should really be defined by the business.
So What Are the Top Five Governance Mistakes?
Number one is the notion of “If you build it, they will come” and prioritizing beautification over functionality. The second mistake is making governance too loose or too tight. Beyond that? You’ll have to listen to the podcast for the full list and key discussion points.
Listen for More…
Listen to the full podcast to hear our full conversation with Jill, as we dive deeper into the top five Office 365 and SharePoint governance mistakes and the best ways to avoid them.
MOMENT OF THE WEEK
Microsoft has extended their adoption incentive for Office 365. It used to include only organizations adding 150 seats or higher. Now it include 50 seats and higher. We suspect this will be a very interesting incentive for smaller organizations.
Find out more here.
DON’T FORGET…
If you missed our last episode, head over and listen to our conversation with Tatiana Baquero – Senior Knowledge Management Consultant at Portal Solutions, as we talked all about workflows. In the podcast prior to that, we spoke with COO Dale Tuttle about democratizing data analysis with Power BI.
SIDE NOTE:
Microsoft’s legal team created a product called Matter Center which is a legal focused extension of SharePoint in Office 365 to allow the management of legal matters and documents. Microsoft has decided to open source this product, and it is available on GitHub. If you’re thinking about using SharePoint for legal, for an attorney, or for a law firm, it’s an excellent, very affordable alternative.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
Do you enjoy listening to our conversation on the latest trends and insights in the digital workplace?
Consider subscribing to the Digital Workplace Today podcast on iTunes or Stitcher.
And if you can, take a moment to review the podcast. Your feedback is helpful, and we’d love to hear what topics you would like us to cover in future episodes.
