If you ask anyone using SharePoint what is governance you can bet that they will all have a different answer for what governance is. But as we are using SharePoint we should consider what Microsoft has to say what governance is. According to Microsoft “governance is the set of policies, roles, responsibilities, and processes that guide, direct, and control how an organization’s business divisions and IT teams cooperate to achieve business goals.” Basically what this means is how you will set-up and run SharePoint to meet your needs and run your organization efficiently, in essence a how-to instruction manual.
You should take a look at this interesting article at CMS Wire which shows that the word governance is overused and does not address or focus on the issue of implementation, which means solving the problem.
So if this word is such a mixed bag of opinions what can you do about ensuring your organization can successfully implement SharePoint, and with SharePoint 2013 successfully migrate to SharePoint. The key to doing this is to ensure that you have clear goals in mind, such as, how you want to use SharePoint. Break it down into smaller components and see how departments (hr, sales, etc.) will use SharePoint and then look at the big picture, how each of these components will interact with each other and with the organization as a whole.
The second thing is to experiment and work with out-of-the box SharePoint. See how it works and what you can do with. Can you get away with just using base SharePoint or are you going to have to invest time and money into tweaking it so it works just right for you? Understanding SharePoint and how it works and how you can make it work for your organization will help you with the third point.
The third thing is to look for solutions, either by spending the time to build your own web parts and add-ons to increase the functionality of SharePoint or by purchasing these items off the shelf from a plethora of companies out there. Although no one really goes out there and says I want “governance”, what you need to do is ensure that your organization achieves “governance”, for lack of a better term, and ensure that the use of SharePoint in your organization goes smoothly.
Here at BoostSolutions we have a number of products that you can choose from that will make using SharePoint easier, as our motto says “We make your SharePoint life easier.”
Let us take a look at an example of governance. In your organization governance could mean implementing a solution so that your workers can change their passwords every month to increase security. With that in mind, BoostSolutions can offer SharePoint Password Change & Expiration, as one solution, which will enable users to change their own passwords and with a reminder function so they will not forget to do it.
So remember, don’t get bogged down in the terminology and complexity of SharePoint. Knowing what SharePoint can do for you and having a clear plan will help you in the end to achieve “governance” within your organization.
References:
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/why-the-term-governance-for-sharepoint-is-overhyped-022414.php
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff598584(v=office.14).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263356(v=office.14).aspx
http://www.avepoint.com/misc/DocAve6-Beta/images/White_Paper_Governance.pdf
Please email us if you have any comments or questions: inquiry@boostsolutions.com.