SharePoint 2010 governance strategy in action
January 5, 2011 at 9:25 am | Posted in best practice, governance, intranet, publishing, SharePoint 2010, standards, strategy | 22 CommentsTags: best practice, bt intranet, governance, sharepoint 2010, strategy
Based on my recent experience of the past few months implementing many SharePoint 2010 (SP2010) features I wanted to share the knowledge I have gained with others who may about to start what I have done.
SP2010 may be “the best sweetie shop in town” for all its range of features for people to use but the governance raises for intranet professionals a different set of challenges.
The strategy for SP2010 governance has to be very different to other publishing or collaborative tools.
I believe there are three approaches which can give you the governance your organisation needs with SP2010. You don’t have to use just one but can combine some of each. What works best for you will depend on a number of different factors. Among them:
- Restricting use – stopping some features from being used e.g. SharePoint Designer
- Encouraging best practice – guidance and training available
- Preventing problems – checking content before it is published
Each of these approaches can support your governance strategy for SP2010. The key is to understand what you need to use SP2010 for.
I’ll post more on the strategic benefits of each approach and some of the benefits and drawbacks you need to consider.
22 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a Reply
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Mark
Ref the second bullet point – an element of intranet governance at my old employer, The Open University, that I always liked was that you did not get your log in / access to the intranet (in-house developed) CMS until AFTER you had completed the half day training course.
I think this is a good strategy whatever the tool is, but strangely enough not one I have ever seen replicated anywhere else. What do you guys do on this front ?
Comment by Jed— January 5, 2011 #
Jed,
For our existing publishing tools, publishers must have completed training on standards compliance including usability and accessibility that need to be re-taken every two years. See more details here http://markmorrell.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/training-publishers-to-understand-intranet-standards/.
However we will need to take a different approach with SharePoint 2010 as you can publish ‘formal type’ accredited content in several ways and places without going down the route used for existing publishing tools.
I believe making it as simple and easy to encourage the people to use the right tools with very clear guidance – podcasts, etc – to show what best practice is more appropriate than a mandatory training step which can be avoided.
What’s your take on this?
Mark
Comment by markmorrell— January 10, 2011 #
Looking forward to reading the rest Mark. We’re going down the 2010 route and unfortunately haven’t gotten the governance piece pegged down yet.
Comment by Zeb— January 6, 2011 #
SharePoint 2010 governance strategy in action « Mark Morrell…
This article has been submitted to IntranetLounge, a website with a collection of links to the best articles about intranets…
Trackback by IntranetLounge— January 7, 2011 #
Mark
Many thanks for the response and the link to the previous article. I have no experience with 2010 yet, but I understand your comment ref making it easy for people. However some times we are bound to suffer from the “you can lead the horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” syndrome, so I think there may still be a case for some ‘mandatory’ basic training.
Certainly I know I get requests for help from people who may have done a half days training 2 years ago when MOSS2007 was introduced into the business, but don’t use it day in and day out, and apparently would rather email me than sit through the training video’s on IT’s portal ! So of course we will never have a perfect system, and organisations and their workforces will be contextually different, but I look forward to hearing how your 2010 implementation proceeds with respect to this issue.
Cheers
Jed
Comment by Jed— January 10, 2011 #
Jed,
Actually I do agree with you that you do need some enforcement rather than just relying on encouragement. The difficulty I’m finding with SP2010 is how is an effective way of doing this.
In BT every person can be a site collection administrator and has a MySite and MyProfile so has the means to publish all types of content if not in the right place.
To restrict these from ‘on demand’ to ‘by request’ or switch off features like SharePoint Designer seems the only way to be able to mandate training and it be effective.
The loss of innovation is seen as too high a price to pay.
Have I got the balance wrong? Am I missing something which you have used successfully?
Mark
Comment by markmorrell— January 10, 2011 #
Mark
Ref: “The loss of innovation is seen as too high a price to pay.”
And therein lies the crux of the matter eh !
“Have I got the balance wrong? Am I missing something which you have used successfully?” – nope, not at all, your organisation (from what I know through your writing and other public outlets) is well ahead of mine in terms of innovation. As for the balance, well I don’t have enough information to comment really. I would ask though, why is everyone given site collection admin rights – could you not allow innovative use without the blanket high level of permissions ?
Comment by Jed— January 11, 2011 #
[...] Mark Morrell An insight into how intranets are managed « SharePoint 2010 governance strategy in action [...]
Pingback by Strategic benefits and drawbacks of SharePoint 2010 « Mark Morrell— January 12, 2011 #
Jed,
The question “why is everyone given site collection rights?” is one that keeps being asked by people in BT without a clear decision on whether it is changed to something better such as you suggest.
It doesn’t keep me awake at night but I do believe it will need refining if examples of poor behaviour are seen caused by the permission rights given by default.
Mark
Comment by markmorrell— January 12, 2011 #
[...] In my last two posts I have covered the benefits and drawbacks of SharePoint 2010′ restricting use and encouraging best practice and how this fits with a great governance strategy. [...]
Pingback by A SharePoint 2010 strategy to prevent problems « Mark Morrell— January 25, 2011 #
[...] By markmorrell In my recent posts I have covered how vital it is to have a great SharePoint 2010 governance strategy and the benefits and drawbacks of focusing on restricting use, encouraging best practice and [...]
Pingback by Aligning your SharePoint 2010 strategy with your business strategy « Mark Morrell— February 1, 2011 #
[...] your organisation from a practitioner’s view. These have covered how vital it is to have a great SP2010 governance strategy, aligning it with your organisation’s strategy, benefits and drawbacks of focusing [...]
Pingback by Moving to SharePoint 2010? Define your stakeholder strategy « Mark Morrell— February 9, 2011 #
[...] we had in common – whether from a technical or business perspective. The main issues were governance, engagement and cost savings. There were others raised but these seemed the main ones to [...]
Pingback by SharePoint 2010 special interest group « Mark Morrell— March 1, 2011 #
[...] and has published its strategy setting out the priorities and timelines. The KMC programme has a governance model so the implementation is effective, well managed and you can see how the different boards [...]
Pingback by BT Intranet SharePoint 2010 examples « Mark Morrell— March 8, 2011 #
[...] have developed a strategy. You have built a governance framework. You got the buy-in from stakeholders. You factored in the benefits and drawbacks of [...]
Pingback by Measuring the value SharePoint 2010 can bring to your organisation « Mark Morrell— March 16, 2011 #
[...] what the rules of engagement are, then there’s still clear space for improvement. Be sure to publish the governance structure, your intranet strategy, the key personnel contact information and all the rules of intranet [...]
Pingback by 9 Characteristics of a great intranet | Intranetizen— March 31, 2011 #
[...] part of your SP2010 strategy you need to get the governance right for your organisation – restricted if you are highly [...]
Pingback by It’s how you use SharePoint 2010 that decides the value it brings « Mark Morrell— April 7, 2011 #
[...] the end of June. As BT”s intranet manager, I have transformed the BT intranet strategy, governance, standards, knowledge sharing and publishing to an industry leading level of excellence. The [...]
Pingback by I’m moving on to bigger and better things « Mark Morrell— May 16, 2011 #
[...] SharePoint 2010? Do you need help with your SP2010 implementation? Are you unsure of your SP2010 governance, standards, strategy? Are you unsure how to use SP2010 for collaboration, content management, [...]
Pingback by SharePoint strategy + implementation – ask a pioneer! « Mark Morrell— June 14, 2011 #
[...] implementation of SharePoint 2010 depends greatly on having a strategy, stakeholder buy-in, plans that cover best practice and how the features are used. But probably one of most important [...]
Pingback by SharePoint 2010: the human dimension « Mark Morrell— June 20, 2011 #
[...] are many examples of how this can be done in a practical way. I will use SharePoint 2010 because I am familiar with [...]
Pingback by Stopping knowledge leaving with the person « Mark Morrell intranet pioneer— November 16, 2011 #
[...] and has published its strategy setting out the priorities and timelines. The KMC programme has a governance model so the implementation is effective, well managed and you can see how the different boards [...]
Pingback by BT Intranet SharePoint 2010 examples « Mark Morrell intranet pioneer— January 5, 2012 #