SharePoint Tip of the Month

July, 2008: Top 10 Things to Think About When Implementing Your SharePoint Governance Plan

SharePoint Governance is the definition and implementation of the policies related to a SharePoint roll-out. Before the first site is created or any document is routed for approval, IT managers should be establishing a plan for SharePoint implementation and policies for its usage. A SharePoint governance plan can include many things, some of which do not apply to all organizations. But below are the 10 topics that every organization should include in its governance plan, along with some of the standard questions that it should address:

1. Network topology and accessibility — Should SharePoint be accessible outside of the firewall? Which types of users can access SharePoint? Employees? Contract workers? Partners? Customers? Will users be authenticated against Active Directory or a database repository? Do we have sufficient CALs to support the user base?
2. Backups and disaster recovery — How long should items remain in the Recycle Bin to allow for recovery by end users and site owners? How often should site-level and database-level backups be performed? For how long should backups be retained? What is the process for recovering lost or deleted sites? Where will backup files be stored? How quickly must the system be restored following a disaster?
3. Capacity Planning — How fast is SharePoint usage expected to grow over time? How many sites are expected? How many users will be accessing the system, and how often? How big will sites get? How many servers will be needed for front-end web, database, indexing, and other services?
4. Records retention and expiration — What corporate records are subject to long-term retention? To what industry standards and compliance policies must the company adhere? Will users be responsible for submitting records for retention, or should it be automated? For how long should records be retained? Should expired documents be deleted automatically or routed for periodic review?
5. System support — Who will provide first tier help desk support? How will support issues be logged? What is the escalation process for support items? What level of support should be purchased from Microsoft and third-party vendors?
6. Size limits — How much disk space is available for content? What, if any, should be the maximum sizes for sites? Do different size limits apply to different types of sites? What is the maximum file size for uploaded files?
7. Site requisition — Who has responsibility for creating new sites? How will new site requests be received? What features will be required by the site? What, if any, training, should be required in order to become a site administrator?
8. Custom extensions — What types of extensions will be allowed? Custom web parts? Custom workflows? What can run in the Global Assembly Class? What naming conventions and other development conventions should we require? Do custom items need to go through a code review process?
9. Branding — Do sites need to be branded with the corporate colors? Are there required design templates to which sites must adhere? Are custom themes allowed?
10. My Site and My Profile — Are employees allowed to create personal sites? What content must be restricted on personal sites? What custom properties should be tracked in the user’s profile, and who should be allowed to see them?

Many companies implement SharePoint for discrete business function or department use before deploying to the entire organization. All governance issues need not be tackled before the first SharePoint site is established. It is important, however, to address the governance issues outlined above before deploying SharePoint massively across an organization.