Everyone knows the concept of “governance” is important when working with components of Office 365. But what is governance really, and where should you start when creating an Office 365 governance plan for your own organization? Read on to learn what governance is, and look at a process you can use when deciding how to create a governance plan.
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What Is Governance and Why Does It Matter?
Governance is a part of everything you do within an organization. For example, a typical corporate governance plan defines roles and responsibilities, levels of accountability, processes and systems, and rules for how employees work together.
Those general governance principles also apply to productivity tools like Office 365, and so you should develop and implement an Office 365 governance plan. In doing so, you will answer important questions, such as how you will leverage the components of Office 365, who is responsible for what, who to go to for help and service, how the components will be used, what reasons you are using each component and what reasons you are not using each component.
Step 1: Decide What You Are Going to Use (and Not Use)
Now that you understand why you need governance for your Office 365, the first step in its development is to determine which Office 365 components you’re going to use, as well as which you are not going to use. The feature components of Office 365 are Exchange/Outlook/Mail, SharePoint Sites, Yammer, One Drive for Business, Power BI, etc.
Armed with this knowledge, create simple, accessible explanations for what each feature does and how it is intended to be used. For the features you do not intend to use, you have two options. You can either document the status of these features, or you can opt to hide or disable the feature. Some companies find the latter to be a preferable option, as they do not want to have what some perceive to be a needless conversation.
Step 2: Determine Who Is Administering Office 365 Business Usage
After you determine which components you intend to use, the next decision you will need to make is who will be administering the system. (Typically administration falls under the purview of the IT department.) Questions that will need to be addressed include:
- Who is responsible for caring for the system?
- Who is responsible for making sure users can login?
- Who is responsible for renewing licenses every year?
- Who is responsible for decommissioning a user who has left the company?
Along with determining the people responsible for technical support, you will also need to decide who will administer the business usage of the components. This is because each component will need its own governance plan.
For example, you will need to be able to answer:
- How will employees use OneDrive for business?
- What will the rules be for using SharePoint online?
- How will we administrate Yammer?
Under the governance plan for each component, you should outline:
- Corporate usage policies
- Roles and responsibilities
- What business function each component is intended to serve (and not intended to serve)
Finally, have a conversation with each player in the department. Explain the individual components, as well as the role they will play in their business function.
Step 3: Create Usage Policies and Set Security Levels
Next, you will need to create usage policies and security provisioning. Your biggest challenge in this regard will be figuring out how you’re going to utilize the different components. This is because each component must align with a corresponding business value. If you just open up an application to the employees without aligning it with the business value, it has a high likelihood of failure.
Finally, determine the security provisioning for all components individually. Depending on their business function, security levels can be set for each component, and often the elements within them. This step will require the combined efforts of your technical administrator and the person responsible for administrating the business policies of the components.
Final Thought: Defining Your Components Is the Key
These three steps are the cornerstones of a good Office 365 governance plan. However, do not get wrapped up in trying to develop something perfect right away. The guidelines and best practices discussed here will get you started, but you can and should expect to work through and address other more organization-specific details as you implement the plan.
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