Driving Business Efficiency Through Smart SharePoint Customization

Microsoft SharePoint is a primary tool for many modern teams, but it does not provide enough functionality by itself to handle all of the workflow and document management needs of an organization. Businesses need to customize their SharePoint implementation so that it aligns with their business objectives. Therefore, organizations should consider how to customize their SharePoint implementation to create a powerful, integrated productivity platform.

The purpose of this article is to examine how organizations should approach SharePoint customization, what the key components of successful SharePoint customization are, and why it is critical for organizations to plan for customization as much as they plan for utilizing SharePoint technology itself.

Laying the Foundation With the Right Deployment Strategy

Every successful SharePoint initiative begins with a well planned rollout. A structured SharePoint deployment ensures that the platform is configured to support users from day one. Without a clear deployment roadmap, organizations often struggle with low adoption, inconsistent usage, and fragmented content.

The decisions made during deployment will define how your site is structured, what permissions are given, how your site integrates with the rest of your organization's applications, and how scalable it will be. Many times, customizations will occur once a hurried deployment has occurred and this will create additional rework and complexity. Taking a thoughtful approach when deploying SharePoint will provide a strong base on which all future enhancements will be built upon.

Enhancing Functionality Through Targeted Development

Customizing SharePoint involves more than just designing an attractive user experience or changing the layout of your page. Rather, custom SharePoint development provides business users with extended functionality to support their business processes and meet their operational goals. Typical customizations include things like custom workflow automation, customized approval processes, customized dashboard displays and integration with other third-party platforms.

A well-designed SharePoint solution should be intuitive for users. Features of a SharePoint solution should help users perform their tasks more simply and easily, not make the job more complicated. If the development process is an effort to respond to a user's suggestions or address a user's operational need, it is more likely to create a SharePoint solution that users will use daily rather than avoid.

Organizing Content With Strong Information Architecture

As SharePoint environments grow, content organization becomes increasingly important. Poor structure leads to duplicated files, outdated documents, and frustrated users. A well defined SharePoint information architecture provides clarity by establishing logical site hierarchies, metadata standards, and navigation paths.

Information architecture ensures that users can find what they need quickly, regardless of department or location. It also supports scalability, allowing new sites and libraries to be added without disrupting existing content. Customization efforts are far more effective when built on a clear and consistent content structure.

Maintaining Control Through Governance Best Practices

Without proper governance, customization can lead to rapid expansion, which can create additional opportunities for security vulnerabilities. Therefore, SharePoint Governance provides clarity and direction for organizations when customizing SharePoint. Governance governs who creates sites, how content is managed, and the standards that an organization must adhere to in all phases of customization.

Strong SharePoint governance does not prevent an organization from being innovative; rather, it creates a framework that allows organizations to achieve their business goals while protecting the integrity and compliance of their data. By establishing formal governance, organizations can establish the parameters and policies needed to achieve the appropriate level of customization, with the added benefit of retaining complete control over access, retention, and performance of the system.

Aligning Customization With Business Goals

Successful SharePoint systems develop along with their business. Organizations that wish to customize SharePoint must develop measurable goals for the type of collaboration they want to improve, the speed of getting approval requests through their departments, and the quality of knowledge sharing that can occur within their organization based on the use of SharePoint. Regularly reviewing enhancements ensures that enhancements continue to give you value over time.

When the strategy is aligned with the decisions for customization on the SharePoint platform, then SharePoint is no longer just another technical project, but rather a vehicle for enabling. By aligning the two, it will be easier for SharePoint to be adopted, and it will give the company a greater chance of achieving the long-term return that an investment in SharePoint can provide.

Conclusion

Customized SharePoint deployment can provide more value to an organization when it is treated as a strategic project versus a series of individual projects. By focusing on SharePoint deployment, thoughtful SharePoint development, structured SharePoint information architecture, and clear SharePoint governance, organizations can build a platform that truly supports their teams.

When an organization properly plans and implements SharePoint through effective governance, SharePoint will grow into an adaptive, user-friendly environment with the ability to change according to the organization's business model. The SharePoint environment can continue to provide consistency, security and performance as business needs evolve.