SharePoint Saturday Redmond - Don't Be Afraid of the "G" Word
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The document provides an overview of a business analyst's experience and interests. It then discusses the importance of governance for successful SharePoint deployments and treats governance as a living process. Finally, it outlines a framework for measuring governance maturity across different categories like foundation, administration, communication, and adoption.
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SharePoint Saturday Redmond - Don't Be Afraid of the "G" Word
- 2. Position: Business Analyst, GTconsult Responsibility: Make collaboration productive Experience: SP since 2007, 10 years at Sony Love: Business/IT Mediation, Governance Interests: Music, crazy shoes, all things art Twitter: @TrulyMelinda LinkedIn: /in/melindamorales Web: TrulyMelinda.com About Me
- 4. As with most user-driven technologies, SharePoint is often unleashed without proper planning or governance structures and most administrators find themselves needing to retroactively apply standards across their environment. Healthy governance is essential to any successful SharePoint deployment. In cases where we have seen a successful implementation of a governance strategy there have been great increases in user adoption, management support, end user productivity, and business value. Governance is not a one-time exercise. It is best treated as a living process, to be revisited and refined as the business evolves.
- 5. Recognizing that governance is a strategy and requires a holistic, practical approach to ensure sustainability.
- 6. Foundation •Platform •Structure •Support •Mgmt Buy-in Administration •Teamwork •Role Definition •Roadmap •Controls & Monitoring Communication •Methods •Ownership •Committee/Board •Soft Skills Adoption •Excitement •Knowledge •Engagement •Recognition
- 7. Measuring governance maturity Establish a baseline Understand how close (or far) your organization is to the outlined best practice Identify gaps and set goals Establish a clear path for growth
- 8. Chaotic Reactive Proactive Optimized Level 0 Level 3 • Unmanaged • Undefined • Confusing • Under Used • Roadblocks • Fire fighting • Issue resolution focus • User frustration • Reluctance to adopt • User confidence • Minimal confusion • Explorative • Future Focused • Plan and Execute Methodology • Collaborative Admin • User Empowerment • High Engagement • Governed • Compliant • Fully Supported Level 1 Level 2
- 9. Establish the very basic structure and support for your platform. •Technology decisions: on-premise, Office 365, hybrid? •Upgrade or update scheduling •Execution of enhancements or customizations aligned with SDLC •IT security regulations applying to infrastucture Platform •Information architecture and content management strategy •Alignment of site structure to user content engagement patterns •Administrative support and rolesStructure •Clear outline of resource availability and service expectations •SharePoint specific SLA’s •Sharing support accountability with business partners vs. solely ITTech Support •Align business and IT management •Gain executive support •Drive governance team accountability •Incentivize user interaction Buy-In
- 10. Set the stage for how you will uphold policies and maintain the integrity of your platform •Establishment of co-operative partnership for governance team •Form a bridge between IT and business •Ensure team members are passionate Teamwork •Clear outline of expectations for team members •Established responsibilities according to role •Commitment from all parties Role Definition •Your vision for the future of the platform •Planning and design for your governance implementation •The should’s and should not’s Roadmap •Find the balance between control of functionality and activity monitoring •Decisions for which controls will require custom work •Monitoring processes and methods Controls & Monitoring
- 11. The path to a strong and beneficial relationship with your users • Communication plan • Established channels • Communication methods Methods • Established points of contact • Clear delineation of ownership per method or channelOwnership • Active decision body • Presents a united front to users and management • Regular meeting cadence with structured agenda Committee/ Board • Focus on key soft skills: ability to work as a team, patience, flexibility, conflict resolution • Leverage exceptional business team members who excel in soft skills Soft Skills
- 12. Maintain the visibility and importance of your platform •Schedule of events to garner excitement •Marketing activities for your platform •Long term approach vs. launch onlyExcitement •Training delivery through varied mediums •Resource and tool availability •Visibility promotes knowledge growthKnowledge •Give your users reason to interact with the platform •Prompt for declaring SharePoint as the collaboration tool of choice •Garner management support to direct employees •Reach out often Engagement •Reward the people who are doing exceptional things •Incentivize use of the platform •Motivate explorationRecognition
- 14. FOUNDATION Chaotic 0 Reactive 1 Proactive 2 Optimized 3 Platform 2.5 Un-patched or unsupported version of SharePoint. Managed but out of date version. May be on SP1 but behind on CU’s. Up to date on all patches and CU’s with regular schedule for additional updates. Aware of cloud change model. Cloud-ready or on O365. Up to date on the latest and greatest versions or upcoming changes to O365. Structure 2 Free-for-all site provisioning. Growth is unchecked. No method for decommissioning. Sites are provisioned through a defined method without tracking or approval. Site structure is defined by end-users. Decommission is on-demand only. Site provisioning is tracked. Site collection structure is defined and implemented to fit business needs. Decommission needs are assessed occasionally. Site provisioning is automatic or is tightly managed. Decommissions are performed regularly. Site collections are structured and controlled. Tech Support 2.5 Little or no IT technical support in place. Support is break/fix only. Response times are not ideal. Part time or shared support resources. Dedicated support resources for SharePoint. Support is inclusive of break/fix and enhancements. Dedicated support resources for SharePoint. Support is shared by business and IT. Support includes front-end user driven solutions. Buy-in 1 Management views SharePoint solely as a file sharing solution. Management is aware of the platform for team based solutions involved more around escalations or pain points. Management is aware of the platform, aware of uses outside of file share and in support of business exploration. Visibility is solely on IT side. Management is an advocate for the platform. Utilization of the platform for solutioning is considered. Awareness is driven by both IT and business.
- 15. ADMINISTRATION Chaotic 0 Reactive 1 Proactive 2 Optimized 3 Teamwork 1 SharePoint specific policy is undefined. Platform is managed by a single group without input from business stakeholders. Administration is reliant upon a single individual. SharePoint specific policy is defined but focused solely on technical compliance. Business stakeholders are engaged when issues arise or are escalated. Business users are interfering in the administration of the platform. SharePoint policy is defined and aligned with other corporate policies. Business stakeholders are informed of day-to-day administration. Business users are contributing to the administration of the platform. SharePoint Policy and governance are co-owned by IT and business stakeholders. Both IT and business work together to administer and support the platform as a business solution. Role Definition 1.5 Roles are not defined for users or administrators. Administrators step in for issue resolution based on availability. Users tend to see a long response time for assistance and experience confusion on what resources are available. Administrator roles are defined. User expectations are set based upon the roles defined for the administrative teams. Roles for administrators and users are clearly defined and communicated. Roles are evaluated on a regular basis to ensure relevancy. Roadmap 2.5 No current strategy for growth of capability in the platform. New capabilities are not enabled or requested. Capability in the platform is explored and added for the business groups that speak the loudest. New capabilities are being explored and implemented based on anticipated need of business users. Strategy is clearly defined and a clear progressive view of capability expansion is underway or planned. Administrators are aware of any new capability and have a plan to implement with the business impact in mind. Controls & Monitoring 1.5 The platform is not considered for overall policy compliance. Utilization of the platform is largely unchecked. Controls are put in to place when risks are brought to the forefront. Often these require an escalation to management before any controls are in place. Monitoring has been implemented for areas of known risk. Controls align with corporate policies. Users are aware of the controls and monitoring in place. Monitoring practices have been automated where possible. Controls are implemented only where absolutely necessary. Users are empowered to explore but aware of parameters. A process exists to track and correct any violations of policy.
- 16. COMMUNICATIONChaotic 0 Reactive 1 Proactive 2 Optimized 3 Methods 2.5 Changes or updates to the platform are not communicated. If there are communications, they usually occur in a 1:1 format via email or phone. Communications regarding system down time are provided only when a severe impact occurs. Users typically reach out to IT to find out why things are not working before the issue is communicated to a wider audience. Typically email is the primary vehicle. System down times are planned and communicated in advance. Email and perhaps one or two other methods of communication are utilized. Users are able to submit feedback. Multiple communication channels have been established. Each channel has a purpose for audience, reach and communication type. Two way channels have been established allowing a dialog between users and/or administrators (Yammer, discussion boards, etc). Ownership 2.5 No clear ownership of communication activities. Any outreach occurs based on ticketing systems or word of mouth. Conversations are typically conducted and managed through IT channels only and relate mostly to break/fix. Ownership of communications have been established based upon comm type. A central point of contact/outreach typically exists. All user interactions are owned by a governance team. Corporate communications, IT and business stakeholders are usually involved. Committee/ Board 0 No established governance committee or board. A process within IT has been established to escalate governance issues. Typically in response to an audit or known risks. An official governance board has been instated to serve as a vehicle for regular check-ins on risk management and capability planning. A governance board is established and includes key stakeholders. The board serves as a management escalation platform, sets strategy and policy. A smaller governance team may also be in place to ensure completion of tasks and communications. Soft Skills 3 Resources dealing with governance tend to focus on technical expertise. Individuals with technical expertise are having to push themselves to interact with users. Users may not be having the best experience coming out of discussions. Team members assigned to handle communications will begin to have increased interpersonal skills. Individuals who rise to the top will typically be both technical and strategic. All key communications team members will have both technical and interpersonal skills. Team members will also be promoting the technology and increasing user excitement with every interaction.
- 17. ADOPTION Chaotic 0 Reactive 1 Proactive 2 Optimized 3 Excitement 1.5 Users are averse to utilizing the platform. Confidence in the platform is established only when an issue is solved in a timely fashion. No independent strategies for garnering excitement exist. Planned methods for generating user excitement and confidence in the platform are in place. Power Users are relied upon to spread the word about the benefit of the toolset. KPI’s are in place to measure user excitement and confidence. Events and/or outreach methodologies are in place. Specific individuals are responsible for garnering excitement for the platform. Knowledge 1.5 Users are unaware of the various uses of the tool and no methods exist for imparting knowledge. Users are trained on specific usage scenarios as needed. Overall user base knowledge of the toolset is extremely limited, or self-driven. Training and knowledge sharing options are readily available to users. However, focus may only be on general usage of the tool. Training exists for all levels of user. Methods are in place to assess user knowledge and growth. KPI’s exist around training and are focused on growing front-end solution utilization. Engagement 2 Users avoid interacting with the platform and may be seeking other methods of collaboration. Users tend to only engage with the platform when directed by management. No direct methods to promote engagement exist. Methods to promote user engagement exist but may be under utilized. Engagement has seen organic growth. Regular methods for engagement have been established. A focus on fun and business benefit is utilized to increase user engagement. A voice of customer exists and is heard. Recognition 0 No method for user recognition is in place. Kudos are given to users who engage quickly and help solve issues. This activity typically occurs within the individual’s area of business and is limited. Recognition primarily resides outside of the platform (example: email). User recognition is a known area of interest and mechanisms are built within the platform to provide greater visibility of successes. Power Users are recognized and engaged to lead solution builds. A structured recognition and rewards strategy is in place. Users understand and are receptive to the benefit of being engaged in the platform. Recognition for engagement within the platform is widespread and sponsored by management.
- 19. Assessment Results 3 - Optimized • Collaborative Admin • User Empowerment • High Engagement • Governed • Fully Supported 2 - Proactive • User confidence • Minimal confusion • Explorative • Future Focused 1 - Reactive • Fire fighting • Issue resolution focus • User frustration • Reluctance to adopt 0 - Chaotic • Unmanaged • Undefined • Confusing • Under Used • Roadblocks Overall 2.0 Proactive Overall 1.6 Reactive Overall 2.0 Proactive Overall 1.3 Reactive AdministrationFoundation The very basic structure and support for your platform. Your environment is in a good place and you are most likely ready to approach a holistic governance strategy. Focus on any remaining pain points when appropriate. Sets the stage for how you will uphold policies and maintain the integrity of your platform and its data. A reactive ranking in Administration is common for an organization that is just starting down the path to governance. Policy is defined but encompasses only technical compliance. Users are interfering with administration of the platform as a whole. Reactionary issue resolution due to unclear roles. Users experience confusion on available resources. Capability expansion explored for those who ask Management escalation prompts controls to mitigate risk Methods Ownership Committee/ Board Soft Skills 2.5 1 Roadmap Controls & Monitoring Platform Structure Tech Support Buy-in Teamwork Role Definition 1.5 2.5 1.5 Communication Adoption 2 2.5 Up to date on-prem environment with awareness of cloud Defined site structure with tracking in place to control sprawl Dedicated support resources for SharePoint Management is in support of business exploration in the platform with awareness of expanded capability User confidence relies on resolution of tickets Users trained only on specific use scenarios Users only engage when direct by management Recognition occurs in small groups or teams Putting your defined strategy into practice. Ranking in the proactive realm of communication indicates you are in a user focused culture. If you are not quite hitting the optimized mark, perhaps shift focus to building soft skills in your team members and solidifying your governing body. Ensuring your platform is utilized and accepted. Reactive is common ground for many organization who are operating solely in an IT silo. Start paying attention to how your users are interacting with the tool to identify areas of improvement and move into the proactive zone. Excitement Knowledge Engagement Recognition User feedback is considered. Structured methods of communicating ahead of downtimes are in place. A central point of contact exists Official governance board in place Focus on growing interpersonal skills in your comms team 0 2.5 2.5 0 3 1.5 1.5 2 1
- 20. Goal Setting Users are averse to utilizing the platform. Users are unaware of the various uses of the tool and no methods exist for imparting knowledge. Users avoid interacting with the platform and may be seeking other methods of collaboration. No method for user recognition is in place. Planned methods for generating user excitement and confidence in the platform are in place. Power Users are relied upon to spread the word about the benefit of the toolset. Training and knowledge sharing options are readily available to users. However, focus may only be on general usage of the tool. Methods to promote user engagement exist but may be under utilized. Engagement has seen organic growth. User recognition is a known area of interest and mechanisms are built within the platform to provide greater visibility of successes. Power Users are recognized and engaged to lead solution builds. Confidence in the platform is established only when an issue is solved in a timely fashion. No independent strategies for garnering excitement exist. Users are trained on specific usage scenarios as needed. Overall user base knowledge of the toolset is extremely limited, or self-driven. Users tend to only engage with the platform when directed by management. No direct methods to promote engagement exist. Kudos are given to users who engage quickly and help solve issues. This activity typically occurs within the individual’s area of business and is limited. Recognition primarily resides outside of the platform (example: email). Regular methods for engagement have been established. A focus on fun and business benefit is utilized to increase user engagement. A voice of customer exists and is heard. A structured recognition and rewards strategy is in place. Users understand and are receptive to the benefit of being engaged in the platform. Recognition for engagement within the platform is widespread and sponsored by management. KPI’s are in place to measure user excitement and confidence. Events and/or outreach methodologies are in place. Specific individuals are responsible for garnering excitement for the platform. Training exists for all levels of user. Methods are in place to assess user knowledge and growth. KPI’s exist around training and are focused on growing front-end solution utilization. Adoption - Excitement Adoption - Knowledge Adoption - Engagement Adoption - Recognition Reactive Proactive Current State To Be Kick Starts: • Workshop to assess results • Brainstorming ideal state • Outlining areas of activity to reach ideal state
- 21. Prioritization and Planning Deliverable Name Effort Priority Track 1: Content Management Publication Site Map 2 3 Taxonomy 5 3 Metadata & Content Types 5 3 Targeted Content 4 3 Navigation 3 3 Search Continuous Crawls 5 3 Newsfeeds 2 3 user tagging 1 3 Track 2: User Education Staffing & Training Training Plan 5 3 Resource on site (high tech) 5 3 Open Office Hours 3 3 Communicate plan to upgrade 1 3 People & Communities Active Collaboration governance plan 3 3 Community Governance Structure 3 3 Community Management Process 3 3 Collaboration Site Request Form 2 3 Help Request Form 2 3 Track 3: Capability Growth Composites & Applications Wider use of apps OOB 3 3 Business Process Audit capabilities 3 3 Kick Starts: • Filter identified areas of activity into groups based on benefit • Assign a rating for effort required and priority Kick Starts: • Begin to assess ideal time to implement • Take prioritization efforts into consideration when planning
- 22. 2015 2016 Today Oct Nov Dec 2016 Feb Oct 17 - Oct 24Team Initiation Oct 25 - Oct 29Roles and Responsibilities Nov 2 - Nov 10SharePoint Policy Nov 10 - Nov 13Mgmt Buy-in Nov 18 - Dec 2Site Structure Nov 26 - Dec 10Control mapping Dec 4 - Dec 7Monitoring process Dec 12 - Dec 15Governance Documentation Dec 28 - Dec 31Communication plan Jan 5 - Jan 6Gov Committee Jan 13 - Feb 1Gov site launch Jan 29 - Feb 2Compliance Dashboard Feb 6 - Feb 21Recognition Program Roadmap Kick Starts: • Utilize your prioritization and planning work as the base for your SP roadmap!
- 23. Get your FREE whitepaper and Assessment Survey https://www.gtconsult.com/other/trials/governance/
Editor's Notes
- Platform: First you need to consider and set goals around the platform you use and how you manage it. Will you be on-prem, O365 or both? If you are on-prem or hybrid, you may need to set expectations for regular updates and application of patches or upgrades. You will also want to include specifics on execution of changes or customizations aligned with your software development lifecycle (SDLC). Any IT security regulations pertaining to infrastructure could also be referenced in this pillar. Remember that when defining your platform strategy, you must consider both the IT and business needs. STRUCTURE: This will involve some exploration of content in your organization and how you would like to present that for you users. The basic structure of your sites should align with how users engage with content. Many of us see ‘structure’ and automatically think of creating our environments around organizational structure or business groups. However, that may not be the most effective way to organize your content. Going through the exercise of defining a managed metadata term-store is a great way to flesh out your content structure and lead-in to your overall site structure. SUPPORT: In your governance strategy, you need to consider support. Although this may be a function solely owned and defined by a specific group in your organization, the need to very clearly outline expectations and availability of resources is key. You may find that your current support does not put enough emphasis on SharePoint or that it does not allow for growth of the platform. You may want to consider creating SharePoint-specific service level agreements (SLAs). The emphasis of support as a section in your SharePoint-specific governance strategy will place accountability on the organization as a whole to ensure that your users are covered and your platform receives the attention it needs. BUY-IN: Once you have outlined the specifics about what you will use, how you will use it, and how you will support it, you are in a good position to reach out for management support. Rolling out a governance strategy without the full support of management almost always results in very short-lived governance activities. Full management support is the cornerstone to an effective, supportable strategy. It gives you the weight to start laying down parameters, becomes the driver to incentivize user interactions, and holds your governance team accountable. Management buy-in is essential to the success of governance strategies across the board. We even make the recommendation that both business and IT management be in agreement to ensure customer needs are met.
- TEAMWORK: In relation to the overall ownership of governance and administrative tasks, teamwork is critical. Establishing a solid partnership early in the governance game will serve you extremely well down the road. These parties are able to share the burden for all aspects of administration of the environment, with governance being a primary focus. Organizations may differ in structure and function, but the key is to have accountable parties with both a business and IT focus and for the team as a whole to govern the platform. This co-operative ownership will not only grant additional bandwidth for administrative tasks, but also increased visibility into how tools are actually being used and by whom. ROLE DEFINITION: As with any significant efforts that are team related, role definition will serve you well. First things first, start by outlining what your administrative teams will be doing. Play to your resources’ strengths. Use your IT focused resources to manage support and define policy to ensure any IT security requirements are being met while leveraging the soft skills of your business focused resources for communication, user interactions and advocacy. While you are mapping out accountability, you will most likely start to get into discussions on overall strategy and direction on the platform since some of the activities you are mapping might not yet be in place. This leads in to the next step of putting together an official roadmap. ROADMAP: Now that you have set the Foundation for your platform, assembled your team and assigned accountability, you are ready to take a look at the future. Before defining what users should and should not do you need to have a clear picture of where your organization would like to go with the technology. With your newly established team of outstanding, knowledgeable people hold a meeting (or three) to dig in and brainstorm. Make sure to keep your eye on the O365 product roadmap (even if you are on-prem) so that you know what could be changing in the future, and what new innovations might be beneficial to your organization down the road. CONTROLS AND MONITORING: This is often part of the strategy that everyone thinks is most important. At GTconsult, we have seen many plans fail because this is their number one concern – when it should be just one factor in the overall strategy. The reason that this does not come earlier in the framework is because you need to know what you are using, who is using it, who is running it, and where you are going with it before you can set any rules around how to use it. This is practical governance at its finest. To set some context: controls are prevention or lessening of functionality while monitoring is allowing functionality but focusing on reporting. Swaying too much toward either side could be detrimental. You want to make sure you have a good balance, allowing users to explore and grow.
- METHODS: In order to be successful in communicating with your organization, you must first map out how, where, what and when you will communicate. Your plan should include a mix of one-way “push” communications and 2-way “dialogue” communications. The key is to establish trusted methods for your users to learn about what is going on in your platform at any given time. Depending on the way your organization works together, different channels might be better suited for different communications. Be consistent. There is no right or wrong way to slice and dice what should go where, but once you have identified the method it is important to utilize it often and ensure the communications are aligned with your strategy. OWNERSHIP: Just as it is important to be consistent with approach to where and how you communicate, it is imperative to be consistent in who communications. Establishing clear ownership will help your users know who to go to for help, in turn reducing the number of tickets you see on a regular basis. It will also lead to a more cohesive team approach since everyone knows which area is their prime focus. Take a good look at the strengths of your governance team and perhaps where communication activity is already organically occurring in order to get a good idea of how best to parse out ownership. COMMITTEE/ BOARD: Establishment of an official governance committee gives you a united front and allows for quick decisions and enforcement of policies. Our recommendation for governance committees is to keep it simple. Organizations tend to want to bring in everyone who has a stake in SharePoint but in today’s world that can very easily be every business unit. Your board should be the people who you will escalate to, who will review and bless policy changes or improvements to the technology. When selecting who should be in your committee, make sure they are committed to the role and what it may entail. Also be sure to include someone to represent the voice of the business. It is also important to have a regular meeting cadence with a well structure agenda to ensure that the time is used effectively and decisions are made swiftly. SOFT SKILLS: The outreach team for your platform could be interfacing with all areas of your business. Since this is the case, you want to ensure that the people you have assigned to manage communications are strong in “soft skills” such as teamwork, patience, flexibility, and even conflict resolution. By nature of the job, individuals who fall on the technical side of things often come up short with interpersonal skills. Utilizing this framework will help fill the gap and keep your technical resources focused on their technical responsibilities by leveraging the strengths of your teams in the right places. Remember, with the changing landscape of collaboration platforms and the move to more administrative than technical focused tasks, the call for soft skills will only become stronger.
- EXCITEMENT: A quick way to ensure continuation of excitement building activities is to plan ahead. Put together a calendar and schedule events specific to raising the excitement level. Scheduling events around feature or solution launches is a good way to get double bang for your buck. Also make sure you have specific people on your teams who are accountable for focusing on garnering excitement. This will ensure that people know who to go to for finding out what cool event is coming up next. And so you don’t end up with too many cooks in the kitchen. KNOWLEDGE: If your organization doesn’t know how to use the tool to improve their day-to-day then it won’t matter how many exciting events you put together, they will not use it. When looking at knowledge as a player in our governance framework, it becomes more than just putting together a training at launch. The range of people that SharePoint reaches on a daily basis is so wide that any single approach for knowledge growth will not be enough. Find the right mix of knowledge resources to feed the minds of your users. If you struggle with resource or time constraints for training, reach out to your power users. Focus some good time and energy into their education and encourage them to share the knowledge with their teams and peers. Not only does this approach help the people who are most likely building the fanciest things in your environment but it also gives a quick and easy way to empower. ENGAGEMENT: When you have people excited about your platform and they know how to work with the available tools, it is critical to get them engaged. Just knowing how to use something is not enough. Give them reason and incentive to explore. One of the more critical aspects of engagement is to ensure your users have a voice. If they feel like they are not being heard, it will have a direct impact on engagement 100% of the time. Also, always have a positive attitude. You are setting the example for your users and they will engage or disengage according to what you model. RECOGNITION: Often times in the governance realm, the tendency is to focus on what people are doing wrong — and who is breaking the rules. But it is just as important, perhaps even more so, to recognize the people who are doing things RIGHT. Recognition of good behavior or proper use of the toolset will not only drive adoption, it will spread like wildfire. Implement a rewards program to go hand in hand with your recognitions. Gaining management support for an official rewards and recognition program could even result in some funding to provide real, material rewards for outstanding achievements. A great, inspiring example of a well-executed rewards and recognition program was presented by Sarah Haase and Matthew Ruderman at 2014’s SharePoint Conference.