Metataxis

Information Management Consultancy

Tag: SharePoint

20 years ago today, part 3: The evolution of SharePoint

Posted by on in Compliance Centre, Information Architecture, Metadata, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, UncategorizedLeave a comment

This blog is a continuation of a series of reminiscences and predictions on all things
information management, to celebrate 20 years of Metataxis.

Once upon a time, there was a new Microsoft software package called “SharePoint Portal Server 2001”. Only a few organisations had it, and it was of course on-premise, not in the cloud. It wasn’t until SharePoint 2003 came along that organisations started to notice this complex and powerful software platform. Many versions and twenty years later we now have the all conquering Microsoft 365. Such deep and all consuming functionality that I sometimes wonder that it might take over everything…  

What’s involved in a SharePoint health check?

Posted by on in Information Architecture, Information Governance, SharePoint, Uncategorized
SharePoint Health Check

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.

Free webinar series offered with Leadership Through Data

Posted by on in Company, Information ArchitectureLeave a comment

Free webinars with Leadership Through Data

Metataxis is very pleased to be participating in a series of free webinars offered by Leadership Through Data (LTD). Metataxis Technical Director, Marc Stephenson will be talking about Information Architecture at 13:00 on the 4th of November 2021. The session is called Design of Information Architecture within Microsoft 365 & SharePoint where Marc will be discussing one of the most important but sometimes least understood aspects of ensuring a successful Microsoft 365 roll-out.

An information architecture is a crucial initial step to the successful implementation of any information system. You wouldn’t start building a house with an architecture and the same logic applies to building a system. A good information architecture requires that content, technology, people, business requirements, and cultural factors are all considered at the same time. To find out more about this you can book here.

This is just one of a series of exciting free webinars LTD are providing over the coming months. Focusing on topics relating to Microsoft 365 and Information Management, these webinars draw on the broad expertise of the trainers and partners working with LTD. This means that there are some fantastic opportunities to about anything from training methods with LTD Managing Director Jacqueline Stockwell, to hearing about the latest releases from M365 MVP Sara Fennah. A list of some of the webinars are listed below:

Or you can visit the Leadership Through Data site for a full list of webinars on offer.

 

Get Control of Retention with the Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre

Posted by on in Compliance Centre, Information Governance, Information Management, Microsoft 365, Retention Management, SharePointLeave a comment

Out of control growth of records and documents held on SharePoint, Microsoft Teams and other applications is a problem common for many. The Compliance Centre provides records and Information Managers with a great toolset to help manage retention in Microsoft 365. But while what is on offer is very sophisticated, it’s not always entirely intuitive. It’s a steep learning curve, especially if you happen to come from an information industry background as opposed to a technical one.

There’s a lot of advice and guidance from SharePoint practitioners, which is really helpful but sometimes assumes a great deal of familiarity with Microsoft products. So we put together a few short demo videos providing an explanation of retention management in the Compliance Centre and how you might want to apply this – from a records management perspective. 

You can watch the snippet of our first demo below or for the full video and access to the full series visit our Youtube channel. We hope you find these useful to add to your learning and if you want to ask us any questions about the Compliance Centre please use our contact form on the right. 

Get control of Microsoft 365

Posted by on in Information Architecture, Information Governance, SharePoint

From March to June of 2020 reported usage of Microsoft Teams increased by a phenomenal 600-800%. It’s undeniable that the way we work together in Microsoft 365 has rapidly changed in the past 12 months, brings opportunities but also many challenges. But these challenges faced in Microsoft 365 are not particularly new – if anything it has only brought into sharp-focus many of the common issues organisations and users have to deal with in their Microsoft environments.

Here is just a sample of some of considerations many face:

  • Search and discoverability – making sure things are structured so it’s easy to find the information you need
  • SharePoint vs Teams – which one to use when, and how
  • Teams bloat – sudden, uncontrolled proliferation of Teams sites and channels
  • Security and risk in Teams – guests, access and permissions

All of this makes Information Governance of Microsoft 365 even more important than ever before, as you need to consider how to effectively adopt new ways of working into your existing Microsoft 365 environment, and possibly need to remediate information structures that were built as a quick response to fast changing situations.

Metataxis has been working with a number of clients over the past 12 months to help make these sorts of transitions as painless as possible. To find out more about how we can help you, see how we use information governance to get control of Microsoft 365 or contact us directly for a conversion today.