2
Planning for SharePoint
WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?
- Introducing topics that should be considered before and during a SharePoint implementation
- Discussion of some implications of decisions made during the planning phase
- Suggested strategies and methods to prepare for deployment and mitigate challenges
Effectively planning for a SharePoint platform in an organization is critical to the platform’s success in the long term. Similar to the importance of requirement-gathering and design before custom development, SharePoint deployment requires forethought and diligence before rolling out an implementation. And as with development efforts, you can either put the effort in beforehand, or you’ll be forced to do more work catching up later.
Many organizations have experienced SharePoint’s tendency to grow “organically” in an environment when given the chance. Because SharePoint works well with existing client tools and because it enables people to work better together, once users start experiencing the benefits they usually want to use the tool for all kinds of purposes.
The term “governance” has been used and abused over the past few years as an all-encompassing term for planning and operations preparation for SharePoint. Unfortunately, it’s been overused to the point where the word itself has lost value. But whatever name you put on it, planning is required for successful implementation.
Also bear in mind that not all organizations will need answers for every planning topic, but at a ...
