Don't Let SharePoint Grow Like Kudzu

SharePoint is a great product, but it is so easy to use and offers so many options for how you organize your sites and content that it can grow out of control.  In a large organization, the depth and quality of content varies widely from one department to another, and even site navigation can become confusing.

After a few years of using SharePoint, your intranet can become like the wild west, sprawling and lawless.

To get the most out of SharePoint, you need governance which matches the cultural style and policies of your organization.  Consider questions like these:

1. Do you want a single consistent graphic design and theme throughout your sites?  Should departments "brand" themselves in a different way than the overall organization?
2. Can users create sites without permission from administrators?
3. How long should sites last?  How can users know when content is still current?  Are old sites deleted or archived?
4. Does the site navigation reflect the popularity of sites and pages?  How does it evolve as new content is created?
5. Do you want the site to look like SharePoint out of the box, or create a more custom website appearance?
6. Should you have a collection of formal sites as well as a separate set of informal, ad hoc sites for collaboration?

InfoStrat helps clients not only with the technical side of SharePoint, but with planning, design and governance.  Be sure to write down the vision for the intranet, and keep updating your objectives over time.

Agile project approaches are well suited to SharePoint because they engage the project stakeholders.

Upgrading to a new version of SharePoint provides an opportunity to institute governance and clean up your sites. Learning about which new features you will need is a great way to increase overall knowledge of SharePoint and give your intranet a fresh start.