Many organisations think that Office 365/SharePoint deployment and configuration is both simple and quick only to find the reality quite different once the system is used in anger. But a well-timed health check of SharePoint can save a lot a pain and stress down the road.
When to do a health check
A health check can be done at any stage of SharePoint implementation for many different purposes. For instance a health check may be done during a pilot or pathfinder exercise to check that the project is going in the right direction. Or the health check may be used for older implementations that may be experiencing issues for the purpose of root cause analysis.
It’s not just about the technology
The technical configuration of your Office 365/SharePoint system is important, but so too is how your information is organised within your implementation. Failing to understand your information management needs is often overlooked in Office 365/SharePoint deployments which can result in expensive, unusable, or even a failed system. We recommend any health check considers ongoing information management as well as the technical management.
What a health check should cover
With that in mind we recommend a SharePoint health check should consider both standard areas of functionality as well as information governance, management and strategies. The health check should consider the following aspects though depending on how SharePoint is configured may want more attention on some areas than others.
- High-level Office 365 configuration
- Site collection and site architecture
- User permissions and user access model
- Content types and columns
- Term sets
- Search configuration
- Libraries, views and folder configuration
- Navigation and high-level user interface
- Usability and look and feel
- Information governance and policies
- Training and support
- Culture and change management
Who should do the health check
Ideally a neutral third party should conduct a health check, so they can provide an independent and impartial assessment of the system. The third party may be a person or team within your organisation that has not been heavily involved in implementation. That internal resource would need to have the skills and expertise to complete a thorough health check. Alternatively external resource with the skills and experience may be contracted to do the work. The benefit of getting a health check from a skilled professional is assurance of quality of work as well as the ability to provide results quickly and accurately.
Metataxis SharePoint health checks
Metataxis can provide independent health check of your Microsoft 365 and/or SharePoint deployment to discover potential problems before they become actual problems. The Metataxis team has the unique skills and experience to bridge the world of technology and information management, to provide a unified and thorough analysis. Metataxis has a simple health check methodology that provides quick results. This is based on the many implementations we have worked on.
- Analyse: A Metataxis consultant conducts an audit of your Office 365/SharePoint environment.
- Document: The consultant documents their findings to produce an organisation specific set of recommendations.
- Review: The consultant discusses the recommendations with the organisation, refining them as required.
- Support: Follow-up advice is available via email or phone after the delivery of the recommendations.
We can scale any health check to the requirements of your organisation and point you in the right direction to give you the right information governance, architecture and strategy to help you on your way. Get in touch with us today to talk using the contact form on the right.
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