SPC261

Practical Approach to SharePoint

Governance: The Key to Successful
SharePoint 2010 Solutions
Susan Hanley (@susanhanley)
President
Susan Hanley LLC
sue@susanhanley.com
• Strategy • User Adoption,
• Governance Training, and
• Information Communications
Architecture • Security
• Social
Computing

www.susanhanley.com
SharePoint success is not just about technology
20%

Support Technology

Communications Documentation

Policies Deployment Training

It’s easy to make mistakes …
 No Policies
 Not Enough Training
 Letting Users Manage Security Too Early
 Forgetting SharePoint = Enterprise Application
 Forgetting Information = Enterprise Asset
 No Plan for Scale and Growth
 Not Managing as a Centralized Service
 Not Testing Backup
… so it’s especially important to plan!
 Avoid sprawl
 Ensure quality
 Deliver a great user experience
 Clear decision making authority
 Align with business objectives
 Comply with record retention guidelines
 Communicate best practices
Why do we need to invest in Governance?
Guidelines

Starbucks
Next Exit

Policies
As Francis Ford Coppola said …

“Anything you build on a

large scale or with intense
passion invites chaos.”
Governance Planning Top Ten
1. Identify an Inclusive Team
2. Start with “Framing” Decisions
3. Determine Your Deployment Model
4. Define a Clear Vision
5. Identify Roles and Responsibilities
6. Develop Guiding Principles
7. Decide Your Organizational Comfort Level with Social Computing
8. Define Policies and Guidelines
9. Document the Plan
10. Socialize and Promote
 1. Getting Started | Be Inclusive
 Small team to frame
 Team must be able to make decisions!
 Reach out where appropriate

 Then, engage a larger  IT

governance committee to  Training
review decisions  HR
 Communications
 Knowledge Management
 Legal
2. Start with Framing Decisions
 Who creates new sites?
 Who manages navigation?
 Can site owners re-design? How much?
 Who controls branding?
 Who manages metadata?
 Who controls security?
 What is the default access?
 What happens with non-compliance?
 Who maintains the Governance Plan?
 3. Determine Your Model | Governance based on “reach”
Home Page
“PUBLIC” SITES: Open Tightly
to all employees controlled,
formal
Functional Areas governance

Departments – “Public”

“PRIVATE” SITES: Open Some control,

to business group some formal
Departments – “Private”
members governance

TEAM SITES: Generally Looser control,

open to team members Team Sites less formal
governance

Personal Sites– My Sites

4. Establish a Clear Vision
 Business Goals
 Improve collaboration
 Share best practices
 Replace shared drives
 Business Outcomes, such as:
 Easier information access
 Move work between business entities
 “One stop shop" for authoritative information
 Improve the "time to talent"
 Capture knowledge of retiring employees
Sample Vision Statement
 The vision for [the Intranet] is to become the online work
environment for [our Organization].
 [The intranet] enables operational excellence by consolidating
communications and providing a structured, process-driven
environment for employees to share and collaborate.
 Information on [the Intranet] is organized to support work and make
it more efficient by becoming the trusted spot for sources of truth
about all the work we do.
5. Roles and Responsibilities | Identify the Key Players
 It takes a village!
 Put the right team together… early
 Communicate roles
 Don’t assume existing resources
 Not all “net new”
Enterprise Roles | Typical

Executive Sponsor Steering Committee

Business Owner

IT Solution Administrator

Power Users
Technology Support Metadata Manager
Community
Enterprise Roles | Best Practice

Communications Training

Change Management/ Center of Excellence

Adoption
 Site Roles
Site Sponsor/Owner

Approves request for site, ultimately

accountable for content
Site Users

Site Steward/
Site Designer Member Visitor
Manager

Follows best Manages the site day-to- Uses site to access and HasThe
“read only”
Owner is
practices to create day. Monitors site security. share information. Has the permissions
accountable,onbut
the
site design and Serves as content “curator.” ability to contribute site. we’re all
security plan content to the site. responsible!
6. Develop Guiding Principles
 Preferences that support the vision
 Reflect best practices
 Make them memorable
 Several types:
 General
 Content
 Design
 Security
Example Guiding Principles
 Policies are tied to the scope and intention and audience of the site.
Onearesize
Governance policies moredoes
flexiblenot fit all.
for sites with more limited
access than they are for sites that are shared with a broad audience.

No more email attachments!

 Send links to content whenever possible rather than e-mail
attachments.

MORE
7. Think About Social Computing – What “fits”?
 What does “social” mean to your executives?
 Make sure you know!
 I’ve heard:
 “We should be doing Web 2.0”
 “The ‘millennials’ expect it.”
 There is only one good reason:
 You have a business problem to solve.
Getting Social: Planning the use of SharePoint 2010
Social Features
 Clearly Identify the Business Problem
 Identify Use Cases
 Be Prepared to Respond to Barriers
 Define Your Governance Plan
 Define a “Do-able” Pilot Project
 Prepare a Launch and Communications Plan
Social Computing Governance Considerations
 No anonymous content
 My Sites
 What’s comfortable?
 What’s legal?
 What’s a good example?
 Don’t assume everyone knows what is appropriate.
 “Narrate your work.”
 Give people examples for “About Me” (90/10)
 Set expectations for “Ask Me About”
 How well do I have to know it?
 Ratings: be clear
 Tags: provide good examples
8. Define Policies and Guidelines
 Policies define rules
 Guidelines describe recommended practices
 SharePoint rules shouldn’t conflict – existing rules still apply!
 Publish someplace “findable”
 Regularly review and revise
Examples of Policies and Guideline Topics
 Content
 Posting content to existing pages or sites
 Posting content to the home page
 Content auditing and review
 Records retention
 Design
 Creating new sub-sites
 Page layout and organization
 Content types and metadata
 Content-specific guidelines/policies
 Security
 Branding
9. Document the Plan
 Make it “consumable”
 Keep it alive!
 Deliver in context
 Include:
 Vision statement
 Roles and responsibilities
 Guiding principles
 Policies and standards
Target short sections to your audiences …
Governance Plan Section Description Target Audience
Overview Explains the vision and why governance is important All Users
Guiding Principles Describes the overall governance model and how it is All Users
applied for each site type and the guiding principles
Roles and Responsibilities Describes the key roles required to ensure success Users with a key
role
Content Authoring Describes policies and best practices for content Content Authors
Policies and Guidelines publishing.
Design Policies and Describes what must be done (policies) and best Site Designers
Guidelines practices (guidelines) for site configuration.
Processes and Procedures Describes key processes (request or de-commission a Site Owners
site)
Operational Governance Describes the technical processes required to manage Infrastructure
the infrastructure. Team
… and create supplements to help deliver in context
 Integrate with training
 Surface where users are doing their work
 Add supplements as necessary

Metadata Setting Up
Overview Your My
Site

Content
Guiding Roles and Authoring Design Policies Processes and Operational
Overview
Principles Responsibilities Policies and and Guidelines Procedures Governance
Guidelines

Content Authoring Planning

Style Guide Site Security
Site Design
Quick Start
 Provide a roadmap … for example, a new Site Owner
Read these documents
• Section 1: Governance
Overview
• Section 2: Guiding Principles
• Section 3: Roles and
Responsibilities
• Getting Started Tips for Site
Owners
• Style Guide
Take these courses
• Introduction to SharePoint
• Working with Lists and Libraries
Read these additional documents
Will I be making
design changes, • Section 5: Design Policies and Guidelines
and not just • Planning Site Security
adding content? • Metadata Overview
Take these additional courses
IF YES • Creating and Configuring Document
Libraries
• Creating and Configuring SharePoint Lists
• Adding and Editing Web Parts
Take these optional courses over time
• Advanced Workflows
• Site Permissions and Security
10. Socialize and Promote
 It’s not enough to just write it down
 Find champions

 Communicate persistently – use

“serious anecdotes”
 Be responsive to feedback
My Lessons Learned
 No one cares about governance – until you make it
all about them!
 Less is more – avoid unnecessary bureaucracy
 Create a roadmap
 Build best practices into your site templates
 A governance plan doesn’t replace training
 … and training should include the governance plan
Extras
 Example Guiding Principles
Guiding Principle Remember …
Policies are tied to the scope and intention and audience One size does not fit all.
of the site. Governance policies are more flexible for sites
with more limited access than they are for sites that are
shared with a broad audience.
Design to minimize training requirements for end users: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Use the best (and simplest) feature for each business
objective.
Send links to content whenever possible rather than e-mail No more e-mail attachments!
attachments.
All content is posted in just one place. Create links to the One copy of a document. If you don’t own it, don’t post it!
content on the page of the primary content owner.
Site Sponsors/Owners are accountable, but everyone We’re all responsible for content management.
owns the responsibility for content management.
BACK
 Resources
 Microsoft site
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff800826.aspx
summarizing
governance resources
for SharePoint 2010
 Recent blog post
detailing the key lessons:
http://
www.networkworld.com/commun
ity/blog/5-lessons-i%E2%80%99ve
-learned-about-how-create-memo
r
 october
Conference 2011
3–6 th

anaheim, ca 2 0 11