SharePoint Governance Framework* V. (Bala) Balasubramanian, PhD, MBA Version 1.5 April 1, 2013 SharePoint White Paper Series *Excerpts of Framework Presented at AIIM 2012 Conference Being Presented at ShareFest 2013
SharePoint Governance Framework V. (Bala) Balasubramanian, PhD, MBA 1.0 Introduction Microsoft SharePoint is increasingly becoming a game changer in the collaboration and content management arenas, due to its business centric approach to information management. This requires business users to work closely with IT to implement and manage the platform, sites or applications. Due to its power and simplicity, SharePoint has seen grassroots adoption in many industries. While SharePoint empowers end users with the ability to collaborate, add content and data elements, make changes to site navigation and so on, it also makes it easy for any enterprise implementation to quickly turn into chaos if there are no proper controls or governance mechanisms put in place such as site classification standards, information architecture, taxonomy, etc. Without proper governance, it is easy for SharePoint sites to become glorified shared drives or disorganized and unsearchable content repositories yielding very little business value to end users. An AIIM survey reported that governance is sadly lacking in the majority of installations, with little thought being given to e-discovery, retention policies, and most of all, classification schemes and metadata standards [2]. Very few organizations have taken the time to define governance upfront, before deploying SharePoint for broader business use. As most organizations get ready to deploy SharePoint 2010 across the organization, it is important to focus on governance and get it right before broad deployment and adoption. Governance is required in order to balance user empowerment with appropriate controls. We define SharePoint governance as the set of policies, processes, roles and responsibilities that need to be established in an enterprise to guide, direct, and control how SharePoint capabilities are used to accomplish business goals. In this white paper, we explore some of the challenges with standard SharePoint implementations, highlight the need to define business drivers first before deploying SharePoint broadly, identify the limitations of the governance framework proposed by Microsoft as part of SharePoint 2010 and introduce our comprehensive framework addressing these limitations. This paper is aimed at business and information management professionals who are continuously looking into facilitating innovation, enabling collaboration and improving organizational efficiencies using SharePoint, at the same time balancing it with the right controls. This white paper is based on the framework we have developed after a careful evaluation of the limitations of Microsoft s governance model combined with best practices and lessons learned from our governance implementations at various clients. This white paper addresses the what around developing governance standards and guidelines, but does not address how governance is implemented and managed such as organizational model, processes and roles and responsibilities. The how aspects would be addressed in another white paper. 4/9/2013 Cabeus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2
2.0 Challenges with SharePoint Implementations SharePoint is a multi-faceted platform that can serve many purposes such as collaboration, document management, business intelligence, searches, portals, application development platform and so on. Not surprisingly, there has been tremendous adoption of SharePoint in a relatively short period of time. In many organizations SharePoint implementation has been a grass-roots movement, usually through internal IT adoption and subsequent mushrooming of sites and usage by business divisions. However, due to its fairly open architecture and capabilities, it is easy for business divisions and end users to create an unmanageable environment very soon, thereby hindering the expected business value or even become a major source of risk. An AIIM survey in 2010 aptly captured the following as major challenges with SharePoint implementations, perhaps leading to adoption failures: SharePoint implementations are treated purely as an infrastructure initiative by most organizations Most implementations have been viral in nature with no proper business case, policies or guidelines Inadequate positioning of SharePoint around scope and boundaries of usage, with respect to other enterprise capabilities such as document management, business intelligence, etc. Lack of guidelines around self-provisioning and end-user management of sites Lack of knowledge or expertise to leverage SharePoint as a development platform for custom applications Lack of integration with legacy systems 3.0 Understanding Business Drivers for SharePoint Similar to understanding the business rationale behind the deployment of any large enterprise platform, it is important to understand strategic business drivers that can be addressed by the deployment of SharePoint as an enterprise capability. This requires close partnering with both business and information management teams to understand key drivers. For example, one of the drivers could be reducing total cost of ownership by replacing complex web sites or legacy applications with simple-to-use, self-service SharePoint portal sites or applications. Based on these drivers, the appropriate boundaries of usage for SharePoint can be defined, which help the organization focus on building the right capabilities that provide maximum business value. Example Business Drivers Speed to market Example IM Drivers Provide access to single authoritative source of information to the right people at Example SharePoint Usage Scenarios Provide document libraries so content can be managed centrally 4/9/2013 Cabeus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3
the right time Cost reduction Leverage partnerships Reduce total cost of ownership by replacing legacy systems Enable internal and external collaboration Replace myriad of dissimilar web sites with standardized portals Set up team sites for collaboration between internal and external entities 4.0 Need for SharePoint Governance Even more than traditional IT projects, SharePoint implementation requires closer partnership between the business and IT, not only during the initial implementation stages but also during ongoing operations and life cycle management of sites and/or applications. If it is treated purely as an IT initiative, failure is likely due to the creation of disorganized silos of information leading to low user adoption. Without proper controls or governance, many organizations that have adopted SharePoint have seen the following issues: Explosion of content, sites and applications with no standards or clear ownership Lack of information architecture standards and/or duplication of content types with slightly different meta-data for similar use cases, leading to inefficiencies while searching for information Inefficiencies due to lack of proper support organization, processes, escalation paths, roles and responsibilities Insufficient capacity planning to address growing needs of the business Risk of downtime due to poor business continuity measures and/or operations management Perception that SharePoint is an IT initiative and failure to align it with legitimate business requirements In order to increase adoption and encourage the business to achieve sustained value, SharePoint deployment across the enterprise requires the same discipline, rigor and governance as other large-scale enterprise capabilities or services such as ERP, BPM and so on. Governance is the set of policies, roles, responsibilities, and processes that we establish in an enterprise to guide, direct, and control how technology capabilities are used to accomplish business goals. Effective governance addresses the needs and goals of the organization's business divisions, users and IT teams. It involves striking a careful balance between user adoption/empowerment and implementing the right IT controls for the purpose of management, access and security. A plan that clearly explains the rationale for proper SharePoint governance along with implementation steps is required to gain early support from key stakeholders across various organizations. It enables consensus and designates ownership for various elements of the infrastructure, processes and capabilities. Ultimately, a governance plan is a critical tool in avoiding SharePoint chaos. 4/9/2013 Cabeus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 4
Figure 1. Governance is about balancing user empowerment with IT controls 4.1 Microsoft s SharePoint 2010 Governance Model As part of the introduction of SharePoint 2010, Microsoft issued a governance model (see Figure 2 below) with three major components information management, application management and IT governance. Figure 2. Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Governance Model (Source: Microsoft) While the Microsoft governance model is a great starting point for effective governance, we believe that it has some limitations: The model is too simplistic and it does not explicitly address critical components such as stakeholder management, business support and services, education and training, etc. Experience has shown that failure to address these key aspects of governance within the model leads to suboptimal implementation and use. It does not fully address service management aspects of providing SharePoint as a service. The model is not sufficiently detailed to enable those new to SharePoint to effectively address multiple domains of proper governance. 4/9/2013 Cabeus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5
Governance must mature as SharePoint usage grows. The Microsoft model lacks a continuous improvement process. 4.2 Cabeus SharePoint Governance Framework In order to address the limitations of the Microsoft Governance Model, we at Cabeus have adapted and extended the model further in order to be more comprehensive and complete. We have layered aspects of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) to bring service management rigor into SharePoint implementations. We have successfully proposed and implemented this framework for our clients and we are committed to continuously refining this framework based on best practices, gathered from each implementation. At a very high-level, the Cabeus SharePoint Governance Framework is made of six major domains or facets as shown in Figure 3 below. Figure 3. Cabeus SharePoint Governance Framework Stakeholder Management includes the understanding and management of various stakeholders, from business units or functions to the client IT teams to the back-end teams responsible for supporting the infrastructure as well as support teams. This includes building the right organizational constructs, roles and responsibilities to support the effective and efficient functioning of the SharePoint environment, sites and applications. Information Architecture and Management generally involves the set up of out-of-the-box (OOTB) sites including information architecture, taxonomy, navigation, branding, templates, approved web parts to maximize information accessibility, usability and manageability. Application Management involves providing the right framework for developing custom applications. While some of the aspects apply even for OOTB governance, this component specifically includes demand management and deployment, configuration, applications development, standards, testing, architecture reviews, allowed customizations, code and release management. 4/9/2013 Cabeus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 6
Infrastructure and Platform Management is the governance of the SharePoint platform itself and the underlying infrastructure, environment management, operations and service level agreements at infrastructure level. Business Support and Services involves organizational units and processes that provide end user support, communications, training, organizational change management and user adoption. Governance Model Management includes continuous refinement and improvement of the governance framework itself to drive efficiencies and accommodate changing business needs. The six major domains can be further divided into twenty-two components as shown in Figure 4 below. We believe that it is equally important to focus on stakeholder management, business support and services, training, communications, organizational change management, adoption and continuous refinement of the governance model itself. Figure 4. Components of Cabeus SharePoint Governance Framework Each of these components includes a set of principles and guidelines, which will be both prescriptive and best-practices. For example, following are some of the key principles for information architecture: Example Principles around Information Architecture: Create an understanding of Information Architecture for stakeholders and how it fits into the current Intranet strategy. Create a site map to plan the overall structure. Create wireframes for the most important pages within your site. Ensure that all templates for department, team and project sites are reviewed, approved and managed centrally to ensure brand consistency and adherence to design guidelines. Allow room for sub-branding of individual teams or project branding. 4/9/2013 Cabeus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 7
Another example could be a provisioning process for standard sites as shown in the example below (Figure 5). Figure 5. Sample SharePoint Site Provisioning Process In order to develop a comprehensive governance plan that addresses all the domains, components and principles, extensive discussions must occur with all the stakeholders business clients, end user representatives, client facing IT teams, IT infrastructure, records management, legal and regulatory compliance teams among others. The outcomes of these discussions would form the basis for a governance plan document, which would then become the playbook for SharePoint implementation. This plan would be a living document, continuously being reviewed and revised as the implementation progresses based on business drivers and needs. 5.0 Conclusion In this white paper, we highlighted the challenges faced by organizations that have deployed SharePoint in a viral manner without proper controls or governance. We have emphasized the strong need for upfront governance before any broad enterprise-wide deployment of SharePoint. We highlighted some of the deficiencies in the governance model proposed by Microsoft during the launch of SharePoint 2010. We introduced a comprehensive governance framework proposed by Cabeus, including key aspects of ITIL, which we have successfully implemented for our clients. We would be glad to discuss the details of the framework and its use in an enterprise setting as organizations get ready to expand the footprint of SharePoint 2010 in their organizations or as they get ready for SharePoint 2013. We strongly believe that appropriate governance is key to the successful realization of sustained business value with the introduction of collaboration and content management capabilities of SharePoint. 4/9/2013 Cabeus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 8
Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the critical review and insights provided by Dr. Daniel Klingler, a visionary and leader in Information Management, who made significant impact at Hoffmann-La Roche and Bristol-Myers Squibb and who has been my mentor for a number of years. I would also like to acknowledge my colleagues Ravi Krishnamurthy and Nishchal Sehgal at Cabeus for their feedback throughout the development of this paper. About Cabeus Cabeus is an emerging firm with a mission to enable clients to maximize value of their existing and future investments in Enterprise Collaboration and Content Management by transforming business processes, implementing innovative solutions and increasing operational efficiencies through our domain expertise and thought leadership in strategy, process and technology. The team at Cabeus has extensive domain experience in pharmaceutical R&D, financial, publishing and services verticals. About the Author V. (Bala) Balasubramanian serves as the President and Co-Founder of Cabeus. He is responsible for strategy, vision, methodologies and business development. Bala is a seasoned IT professional with over twenty-three years of research, development and management experience, especially in the life sciences domain. Bala has developed regulatory IT strategies for major pharmaceutical companies and has implemented globally harmonized processes and solutions for submissions management, registration tracking and health authority commitment management among other accomplishments. Prior to forming Cabeus, Bala was the Solutions Delivery Head for multiple informatics divisions at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). At BMS, he also established the Regional Regulatory Informatics organization in Singapore to support the Asia Pacific region. Prior to this, Bala has successfully led the design and delivery of large-scale IM capabilities for BMS, Aventis, Roche, Merrill Lynch, AT&T, Bell Atlantic and IBM. Bala holds a Ph.D. and MBA from Rutgers University, M.S. in Computer Science from New Jersey Institute of Technology and B.S. in Electronics Engineering from India. Bala can be contacted at balasubv@cabeusinc.com. References 1. A Pragmatic Approach to SharePoint Governance, V. Balasubramanian and Brian Foley, AIIM 2012 Conference. 2. AIIM 2010 Survey on SharePoint Strategies and Experiences, Summer 2010. 3. Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Governance Model, 2010. 4/9/2013 Cabeus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 9