Effective Portal Governance

Effective SharePoint Governance
Successfully Empowering Users to Maximize the Potential of SharePoint

Jeff Block, Director of Consulting Services
Neudesic, Midwest Region
jeff.block@neudesic.com | 630-743-5617

© 2001-2009 Neudesic, LLC. All rights reserved.

Agenda

Introduction

Why Governance?

What is Governance?

Making Governance Actually Work

Some Ancillary Issues / Topics

Next Steps

Q&A

2 © 2001-2011 Neudesic, LLC. All rights reserved.

Agenda

Introduction

Why Governance?

What is Governance?



Next Steps

Q&A


Introduction
Who Am I?
• Jeff Block
– Director of Consulting Services, Neudesic Midwest Region
– Consulting for 16 years
› Experience with many competing technology platforms
› Business Intelligence
› Strategic Partnership between the Business and IT
– A number of governance-related engagements for global companies
– http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffblock
• Neudesic
– Pure-play Microsoft consultancy, with seven practices:
› Portals and Collaboration (SharePoint)
› Mobility (Windows Mobile 7, iPhone/iPad, Android, Blackberry, etc)
› Connected Systems (BizTalk)
› Custom Development (.NET)
› Business Intelligence (SQL Server, SSR/A/IS, PerformancePoint, Office)
› CRM (Dynamics)
› User Experience (Information Architecture, Visual Design, etc)

Agenda

Introduction

Why Governance?

What is Governance?



Next Steps

Q&A


Why Governance?
The Universe Tends Toward Chaos
Newton’s 2nd Law of Thermodynamics:
The entropy of an isolated system always increases
in the course of any spontaneous change.

• Translation: Unless you add energy to the system, the system will
tend from order to disorder
• Your Intranet infrastructure, corporate culture, and software
development processes are no different
– Unless you intentionally invest in them, they will tend toward chaos as well


Why Governance?
Information Technology Chaos?
• Site (and Content) Proliferation
– Sites with no ownership, responsibility, accountability, plan, vision, etc
– Sites with unusable or obsolete “junk” in them
– Retention policy? Consistent approach to content management?
• Server Proliferation
– IT doesn’t meet needs rapidly enough, so set up an additional system
– Avoid “throwing another server at the problem”
• Technology Proliferation
– Inconsistency in technology usage
› Desktop storage, file servers, public folders, document management systems, email
attachments, external drives, online SkyDrives, etc.

• All resulting in User Confusion
– Where do I post a discussion or document?
– How do I find the information I’m looking for?


Why Governance?
With great power comes great responsibility
Defining SharePoint...

• What is an application?
– A tool to accomplish a specific, pre-defined task
• What is a framework?
– A platform on which to build tools to accomplish many as-yet-undefined tasks

• SharePoint is a framework, not an application
– As such, it is very powerful and must be accompanied by human support,
standards, policies, processes, etc in order to prevent the natural decent into
chaos

• Applications require… Training
• Frameworks require… Governance


Why Governance?
The Key to Maximizing SharePoint

Good People Good Plan

Effective Staff + Governance = Maximum Return on Investment

 Increased productivity and efficiency
 Reduced cost
 Faster time-to-value
 Increased, accelerated adoption
 Greater predictability
 Improved morale
 Etc


Agenda

Introduction

Why Governance?

What is Governance?



Next Steps

Q&A


What is Governance?
Governance is…
• Intentional Vision and Strategy
– High-level strategic objectives
– Initiative success criteria / key performance indicators
– Organizational values and priorities
– Target focus areas (where SharePoint can return the greatest in the least time)
› Business Intelligence
› Business Process Management / Automation
› Collaboration
› Communication (internal and/or external)
› Knowledge Management
› Project and/or Task Management
› Relationship Management (customers, vendors, etc)
– Target business units
› Who will drive adoption?
› Who will provide thought leadership?
› Who is funded?
› Who is politically connected?


What is Governance?
Common Business Case Elements

Encourage Provide
Reduce TCO Standards and Service and
Consistency Solution

Empower
Optimize Brand
Business

Reduce
Remove Empower
redundant
legacy Teams
technology

Provide
Drive Empower
best
Efficiency End Users
practices


What is Governance?
Governance is…
• Intentional Plan (Roadmap)
– Strategic roadmap for first year or two
› More than that is just silly in today’s world
– Focus on first six months for details; leave the rest high-level
– Must deliver significant value with first release, and at least quarterly thereafter
– Interview stakeholders to understand business priorities and requirements
– Central representative governing body (with C-level authority) juggles priorities
and adjudicates conflict
› The “Governance Board”


What is Governance?
Governance is…
– Strategic roadmap for first year or two
– Focus on first six months for details; leave the rest high-level
– Must deliver significant value with first release, and at least quarterly thereafter
– Interview stakeholders to understand business priorities and requirements
– Central body (with C-level authority) juggles priorities and adjudicates conflict


What is Governance?
Governance is…
• Intentional Marketing, Training, and Communication Plans
– First, call your initiative something! Market it. Make it trendy.
– How will the organization become aware of SharePoint and how to use it?
– How will detractors be identified and converted to active supporters?
– How and when will users be trained on new functionality?
– How and when will new capabilities be socialized within the organization?
– How will business priorities be gathered, prioritized, and expectations managed?
– A few recommendations for delivery vehicles:
› Webinars
› Newsletters
› Promotional items – Hats? Shirts? Pens? What else?
› Lunch-and-learn sessions
› Launch parties


What is Governance?
Governance is…
• Intentional Authority, Roles, and Responsibilities
– A governing body or steering committee who provides leadership
› Owns and maintains vision, strategy and roadmap
› Comprised of representatives from business units and IT
› Prioritizes projects and other tasks in the context of overall business objectives
› Manages the budget and schedule
› Ensures availability of Intranet services
› Enforces processes, adjudicates conflict – the final arbiter of decisions related to Intranet
– Establish who does what when and how
› Ownership
› Organization structure, span of care
› Security and user access
– Works with (does not replace) IT steering committee


What is Governance?
Governance is…
– A governing body or steering committee who provides leadership
› Owns and maintains vision, strategy and roadmap
› Comprised of representatives from business units and IT
› Prioritizes projects and other tasks in the context of overall business objectives
› Manages the budget and schedule
› Ensures availability of Intranet services
› Enforces processes, adjudicates conflict – the final arbiter of decisions related to Intranet
– Establish who does what when and how
› Ownership
› Organization structure, span of care
› Security and user access
– Works with (does not replace) IT steering committee


What is Governance?
Governance is…
• Intentional Standards, Policies, and Processes
– Security and user access – identifying users playing admin, owner, contributor,
approver, and reader roles in SharePoint
– Site provisioning – delegation of authority to provision new sites and components,
including team sites and MySites
– Site management – backups, site expiration, data retention, quotas, etc.
– Content management and discovery – storing, browsing, and searching for
content, including metadata strategy
– Design, Development and Deployment – frequent, successful, repeatable delivery
of powerful, manageable, intuitive SharePoint solutions by multiple teams
– More? Others? – What is necessary in your unique environment?


What is Governance?
User Access Matrix


What is Governance?
Inherited Security Hierarchy


What is Governance?
Physical Deployment Model


What is Governance?
Software Development Lifecycle


What is Governance?
Governance is…
• Intentional Standards, Policies, and Processes
• Intentional Design
– Information Architecture
› Defines the structure of web applications, site collections, and sites in the enterprise
› Formalizes how content will be stored and organized
› Metadata strategy
– User Experience
› Formalizes how content will be discovered, presented, and consumed
› Visual design, site templates, page layouts, etc


What is Governance?
General Information Architecture

Controlled
 Tightly governed
 Content approved
 Content pushed from HQ
Permanent
Dashboards, BI, BPM, Applications
Intranet Portal
Permanent
Knowledge Management, Info Sharing

Global Department Portals
Transient
Collaboration
More Ad-Hoc
 Loosely governed
 Few approvals
Regional / Entity Portals Permanent
 Collaborative Personal profiles / info

Collaborative (Team / Project) Sites

Personal MySites


What is Governance?
Did I mention Intentionality?
• Can anyone tell me what the theme of governance is?

• This means three things: planning, executing, and measuring
– Take the time (energy, money, focus) to develop a plan
– Plan includes definition of success (KPI’s) and metrics to guide you
– Execute the plan; don’t wander off the path
– Frequently evaluate if the plan is working
– If not, change the plan


Agenda

Introduction

Why Governance?

What is Governance?



Next Steps

Q&A


Making it Work
Who Needs Governance Anyway?
• If my Aunt Ruth used SharePoint, she’d need a governance model
• We already agreed that the universe tends toward chaos
• So, you have a choice:

The natural evolution toward chaos
– or –

An intentional governance model


Making it Work
Where the rubber meets the road

Five things to consider when rolling out a governance plan…

1. Practicality
2. Making it accessible
3. Supporting it
4. Engraining it in the Culture
5. Proving it


Making it Work
Governance must be Practical
Who’s heard of the “Goldie Locks Principle”?


Making it Work

Process Balance
• Too much process
– We bog down in bureaucracy, and implementation team wants to find a new
habitable planet
• Too little process
– We bog down in chaos, and support staff wants to find a new habitable planet
• In either case, management wants to switch their focus to discovering
warp drive
• One size does not fit all; must be personalized to your culture

• Rule of thumb
– In order to be institutionalized, every process, policy, standard, process, etc must
include stated goals which can be mapped to top-level KPI’s (key performance
indicators)
› If it doesn’t, then it shouldn’t be allowed to become “law”


Making it Work

Process Balance
• Too much process
– We bog down in bureaucracy, and implementation team wants to find a new
IT Control
habitable planet
• Too little process User
– We bog down in chaos, and support staff wants to Empowerment
find a new habitable planet
• In either case, management wants to switch their focus to discovering
warp drive
• One size does not fit all; must be personalized to your culture

• Rule of thumb
– In order to be institutionalized, every process, policy, standard, process, etc must
include stated goals which can be mapped to top-level KPI’s (key performance
indicators)


Making it Work

Vision Balance
• Too short-term
– We wander aimlessly, because we have not defined a big picture to shoot for /
against which to measure success
• Too long-term
– We try to create a grand vision without making concrete progress, and never get
off the ground

• Rules of thumb
– Avoid extremes; for every objective, ask what the short- and long term returns are
› Value delivered in 30-60 days?
› Value delivered in 9-12 months?
– Identify 3-4 quick wins for every year of strategic roadmap


Making it Work
Governance must be Accessible
• Intentional communication, marketing, and training plans are not
optional
• If people don’t understand it or know how it works, it will fail
• If people can’t find resources they need, it will fail
– Metadata strategy? Information architecture?
– How will content be consistently and effectively stored, searched, browsed?

• Highly recommend building a governance site into SharePoint, not
just delivering some Word document
– Will be out of date the second it’s published
– Will sit on a shelf and not be read
– If you’re delivering knowledge management, shouldn’t the governance model be
included?


Making it Work
Governance must be Supported
• Executive sponsorship mandatory
– The right person will self-identify
– Would he say in mixed company that SharePoint and related governance are
“necessary” and “critical” or “nice to have”?
– What has he/she done (not said) to lend support to the initiative?
• Direct involvement from someone at the C-level
– If not direct, then strongly endorsed
• Initiative sponsored by someone who cannot be overruled
– Don’t underestimate their golf game
• SharePoint and related governance cannot be an IT initiative
• Avoid silos and the domination of a single business unit
– Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations
– All are critical; none are an island or the only game in town
• Make sure policies, processes, and technology will receive
the proper care and feeding
– Neither SharePoint nor your governance model will maintain itself


Making it Work
Governance must be Engrained in the Culture
• Won’t be enough for a couple people to be really excited
– Intentionally enact policies which drive adoption broadly and deeply
• Identify champions early and involve them
– They will naturally get others on-board
• Also intentionally target the nay-sayers
– Do what it takes to turn them into advocates
– Even if it’s a one-off, label it “SharePoint” or “Governance”
• Communication, marketing, and training plans are crucial
• Strike the delicate balance:
– Make everyone you can feel involvement and ownership
– Don’t get too many cooks in the kitchen


Making it Work
Governance must be Proven
• Develop key POC’s in parallel with governance model development
– Wins over detractors
– Mitigates risk / eliminates unknowns
– Gives you demo fodder
• Identify pilot projects as governance comes online
– Proves the governance model
– Drives adoption
• Select pilots / target business units based on
– Business value
– Political influence within the organization
› Don’t underestimate!
– Technical feasibility / Level of effort
› Hard enough to offer value / prove some things
› Easy enough to accomplish quickly with fairly low risk
– Level of support a quick win in this area will secure for the initiative


Agenda

Introduction

Why Governance?

What is Governance?



Next Steps

Q&A


Ancillary Topics
Driving Adoption of SharePoint
• Broad and deep adoption are the signs of success (duh!)
• Governance first helps drive adoption by not being in the way of it
– Overly complex or inaccessible models are their own worst enemy
• Communication, training, and marketing are key
– Nobody will dive into something they don’t understand or don’t know how to use
• Pilot projects are also very important
– Ask the business what they need (again, duh!)
– It’s almost certain SharePoint can help solve their problems; the question is
whether or not you truly understand their problems
• Remember, you have to sell it
– The default behavior is to not adopt (or fund) something new
– There has to be a legitimate business case


Ancillary Topics
What if it’s SharePoint in the Cloud?
• On-prem and cloud deployments require you to consider:
– How will environment be supported?
– What are the QoS requirements / SLA’s to your users?
– How will you ensure availability, scalability, performance?
– Etc
• Both require unique / specific governance considerations
• If on-premise, then you need
– Significant knowledge / skills in-house to maintain environment
– Protective process “walls” to prevent cowboys in your IT group from making unwanted,
unauthorized changes
• If BPOS / Office 365, then you need
– Experts to liaise with Microsoft
– Non-trivial to know all the ins and outs of what you can and cannot do in the constantly
changing BPOS environment
– Preparing High-Level Design (HLD) documentation – actually quite complicated
– A LOT of extra time / room in the schedule for changes to make it to production
• Managed hosting services is the compromise between
on-premise and BPOS


Agenda

Introduction

Why Governance?

What is Governance?



Next Steps

Q&A


Next Steps
Two Concrete, Immediate Next Steps
1. Learn more about SharePoint governance
– http://www.sharepointgovernance.org
(SharePoint User Community, focusing on governance)
– http://office.microsoft.com/download/afile.aspx?AssetID=AM102306291033
(Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Governance Checklist)
– http://governance.codeplex.com/
(CodePlex SharePoint Governance and Manageability)

2. Call in Expert Assistance
– Governance Assessment – In a one-week engagement, Neudesic can evaluate
the state of your existing SharePoint governance model, and deliver a plan for
improvement and implementation of best practices
– Governance Model Development – In a 4-to-8 week engagement, Neudesic can
assist you in establishing the right governance model for your enterprise
– Feel free to shoot me an email or chat with me afterwards


Agenda

Introduction

Why Governance?

What is Governance?



Next Steps

Q&A


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