Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices

CHAPTER 16

SharePoint^® Information Governance^*

By Monica Crocker, CRM, PMP, CIP, edited by Robert Smallwood

Microsoft's SharePoint^® server product dramatically altered the content and records management (RM) markets. Previous to SharePoint, solutions were somewhat cumbersome, managed large quantities of documents, and required extensive implementation effort for each business application. SharePoint provided an enterprise level platform for the remaining small-volume, ad hoc solutions.

At a basic level, it is a collaboration platform, but it is often leveraged to be a content repository as well. If properly implemented, SharePoint can reduce duplication of information, automate business processes, serve up a common lexicon for categorizing information, provide a social media platform, give users access to current and historical e-documents, dramatically reduce network traffic loads (by cutting the number of e-mails with attachments), and stop the growth of shared drives. It can also provide a secure platform to support bring-your-own-device (BYOD) mobile programs and other mobile solutions.

Given all its stated capabilities, SharePoint can be used to help organizations govern their information. But, in order to achieve those benefits, the implementing organization must take a structured approach to the deployment of its SharePoint environment. The 2006 amendment to the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require American organizations to produce any and all “electronically ...