Using Governance to Manage SharePoint Adoption

Are you thinking about deploying Microsoft SharePoint 2010 in your organization? You won't have to do much research before you come across the big "G" word—governance. Just the word itself is somewhat imposing, and definitions for it will vary. In fact, if you ask three different experts what governance means, you're likely to get four different answers. And while I have yet to find that one, perfect definition of governance, I like this one: "Governance defines the processes, people, policies and technologies that deliver a service." Or, less formally, it is the "how-to" guide for SharePoint success.

Why do we need governance? Because we want to ensure—or even better, assure—that the service delivered actually achieves the business goals. With complex systems like SharePoint, users need guidance on what they can do and how they do it. You're making a big mistake if you assume users will figure it out themselves. Many organizations struggle with the adoption balance. I say "balance," as too little or too much can be a problem. With too little use, SharePoint doesn't give you the collective, synergistic benefits that you expect. You don't have true collaboration if only some of the people collaborate. On the opposite end of the spectrum, too much use can lead to a struggle managing growth and maintaining a quality service offering.

Governance helps address the adoption balance by providing clear guidance on who should use SharePoint and how. Perhaps SharePoint is deployed selectively across the organization starting with small teams, then moving on to business units and, eventually, to the organization as a whole. Or, perhaps, you incrementally grow by adding new features. For example, you start off with document collaboration and grow over time into enterprise content management (ECM).

Moving past the "what" and "why" of governance, an even harder question to answer is how to implement SharePoint governance. Part of the challenge here is that there is no panacea for governance. How SharePoint can be used varies greatly, and for that reason, you'll never find a master template. Nonetheless, there a number of suggestions I'd like to share on how you can effectively implement SharePoint governance.

Start small. There are many reasons why organizations avoid governance altogether. Many don't know where to start, as they believe that due to the overarching nature of governance that it is simply overwhelming. Others dive in and start setting policies on everything without truly finishing, due to not realizing the entire scope from the very beginning. In overly optimistic companies, they assume or expect users will somehow collectively develop the plan over time. Be careful to avoid these common traps.

One of the best practices for a SharePoint deployment also applies to your governance plan: start small and grow it incrementally. For example, I never recommend you turn on every SharePoint feature on the first day you deploy the platform. Why? SharePoint does way too many things. Turning on everything confuses users and makes governance planning impossible. Instead, start by enabling a small subset of features to address just some of your business needs. For example, maybe you only start with social collaboration or enterprise search. Then, have the governance plan focus on just this area. As SharePoint expands, you revise the governance plan. Be sure to recognize that the degree of governance will vary depending on your specific business goals. For example, if you plan on using SharePoint for informal team collaboration, you'll need fewer rules than if you're a hospital managing sensitive patient records.

Consider your organization's readiness. Assess your company's culture and determine what I like to call governance readiness. Do you have clearly defined policies and procedures in other systems? Are users comfortable with these policies? Governance policies you create should match the readiness or maturity level. For example, if your company has been lenient on how expense reports are approved, you don't want the new process to be rigid and tightly managed. People adapt slowly, and your governance plan must keep that in mind.

If this is your organization's first attempt at governance, you might consider holding off on some of SharePoint's advanced features—such as records management-as they often involve complex governance planning. And, even if you can articulate the ideal governance plan, it's not likely the users will be ready for it. As time passes, the organization and its staff will adapt and evolve. When it does, then you can tackle the more complex business problems.

Form a governance board. SharePoint is both a business and technical solution: Therefore, you should have a cross-functional board of business and IT personnel that develop the plan. Membership should include key departments that are affected by the SharePoint solution. In many cases, your board consists of the major stakeholders. In all cases, SharePoint involves people—make sure HR has a seat at the table. If SharePoint will be protecting and preserving legal records, make sure legal is present as well. It's common for corporate communications and IT to also be involved. While the board functions like a steering committee, don't make it too large. If possible, try to limit the membership to no more than six to eight people to avoid committee paralysis.

Here's another important reason to have a cross-functional board membership: Your organization may have other governance plans that are owned and enforced by other business units. When you develop a SharePoint governance plan, be sure that it aligns with other plans. For example, you may have an IT policy that states "no personal files shall be stored on any corporate system." This policy should then be inherited by SharePoint's governance plan.

Answer common questions. As I have mentioned already, getting users to accept and properly use a new system is not easy. A typical reason is because there is no guidance on how the system should be used, and who should be conducting certain tasks using SharePoint. The governance plan should provide clear guidance, like an easy-to-follow recipe. Remember, it's the "how-to" guide. The best way to do this is to make sure that it answers common questions. Believe me, with SharePoint you'll have a lot of them—here are just a few:

• How/when do I create a new website?;
• How do I find/publish/protect/preserve/expire/recover content?;
• Where do I store this type of document?;
• How do I apply metadata to classify this document?;
• Who owns this content and what are this person's responsibilities?; and
• Should I still store files on the file server?

The questions you come up with should be based on how your organization will specifically use SharePoint. Remember, there is no silver bullet for governance, so there isn't one for common questions, either. When answering the "how" questions (e.g., How do I create a new website?), don't just fill in the how-to-do-this-in-SharePoint answer. Really think about how users should be using SharePoint for this task. For some organizations, the built-in way to create a new website works. For others, there may need to be a request and approval process.

Answers to the "who" questions become the roles and responsibilities part of your plan. This is essential to make sure that users understand and are empowered to fulfill their duties. You should know that SharePoint often creates new roles, and these roles may need to be filled by new or reallocated employees. Be sure to consider who will be responsible for content areas that have special rules, such as security or data quality.