Every SharePoint environment starts organized. Someone creates a structure, defines a few standards, and launches with good intentions. Eighteen months later, that same environment has hundreds of sites nobody owns, duplicate document libraries nobody can find, and permissions that nobody understands.
This isn’t a technology failure. It’s a governance failure.
SharePoint governance means establishing rules, responsibilities, and processes that keep the environment useful as it grows. Without governance, SharePoint becomes another digital junk drawer. With governance, it remains a productive platform that helps people work.
This guide covers what SharePoint governance includes, why it matters, and how to implement governance that actually works.
What Is SharePoint Governance?
SharePoint governance encompasses the policies, processes, and responsibilities that control how SharePoint is used and managed. It answers questions like:
- Who can create sites, and under what circumstances?
- Who owns each site, and what are their responsibilities?
- What standards apply to content, metadata, and organization?
- How long is content retained, and what happens when it expires?
- Who can share content externally, and what controls apply?
- How are permissions managed and reviewed?
- What happens when sites are no longer needed?
Governance isn’t about restricting users or creating bureaucracy. It’s about maintaining an environment where people can find what they need, trust what they find, and accomplish their work without fighting the platform.
Why Governance Matters
Without governance, predictable problems emerge:
Site sprawl. Anyone can create sites, so everyone does. Hundreds of sites accumulate with unclear purposes, overlapping content, and no owners. Finding the right site becomes impossible.
Content chaos. Documents scatter across libraries with inconsistent naming, missing metadata, and no organization. Search returns hundreds of results, none clearly the right one.
Permission confusion. Permissions granted for one-time needs become permanent. Nobody knows who can access what. Security risks accumulate invisibly.
Stale content. Outdated policies, obsolete procedures, and irrelevant announcements persist because nobody reviews or removes them. Users lose trust in content accuracy.
Storage waste. Duplicate files, abandoned projects, and forgotten archives consume storage without providing value. Costs increase while utility decreases.
User frustration. When SharePoint becomes unreliable and unusable, employees work around it—returning to email attachments, personal drives, and shadow IT.
Governance prevents these problems by establishing expectations and accountability before chaos develops.
Governance Framework Components
Effective SharePoint governance addresses several areas:
Site Governance
Site creation policies. Define who can create sites and what process applies. Options range from open self-service to IT-controlled provisioning. Most organizations land somewhere in between—self-service with guardrails or lightweight approval.
Site templates and standards. Standard templates ensure consistency. Define what metadata is required, what structure sites should follow, and what branding applies.
Naming conventions. Consistent naming makes sites findable and manageable. Define patterns for site names and URLs.
Site ownership requirements. Every site needs an owner responsible for its content and management. Document ownership and establish what owner responsibilities include.
Site lifecycle management. Sites created for projects or temporary needs should have expiration dates or review cycles. Archive or delete sites that no longer serve active purposes.
Content Governance
Content types and metadata. Define standard content types for recurring document categories. Establish required and optional metadata that helps organize and find content.
Naming conventions. Guidelines for file naming create consistency and improve findability.
Version control policies. Configure versioning appropriately—too few versions risk losing important changes; too many versions waste storage.
Content review requirements. Require periodic review of important content to ensure accuracy. Define review cycles and what happens when content fails review.
Retention and disposition. Define how long different content types are retained and what happens when retention periods expire. Automate where possible.
Permission Governance
Permission models. Define standard approaches for permission assignment. Prefer groups over individuals, standard levels over custom configurations.
External sharing policies. Determine what external sharing is permitted, what approvals apply, and how external access is monitored.
Permission review cycles. Regular permission audits catch inappropriate access. Define review frequency and who is responsible.
Access request processes. Establish how users request access and how requests are evaluated.
Compliance Governance
Information classification. Define classification levels (public, internal, confidential) and how classification affects handling.
Data loss prevention. Configure DLP policies to prevent inappropriate sharing of sensitive information.
Legal hold capabilities. Establish processes for preserving content subject to legal requirements.
Audit and reporting. Enable audit logging and establish regular review of audit data.
Governance Roles and Responsibilities
Governance requires people, not just policies.
Executive sponsor. Senior leader who supports governance initiatives and provides authority for enforcement. Governance without executive support often fails.
Governance committee. Cross-functional group that develops policies, resolves disputes, and adapts governance as needs evolve. Include representatives from IT, legal/compliance, communications, and major business units.
SharePoint administrators. Technical staff who implement governance policies through configuration, automation, and monitoring.
Site owners. Business users responsible for individual sites. They ensure content is current, permissions are appropriate, and site purpose remains valid.
Content owners. Individuals responsible for specific content areas within sites. They maintain accuracy and handle updates.
Creating a Governance Plan
A governance plan documents your governance framework. It should include:
Scope and objectives. What SharePoint environments does governance cover? What outcomes is governance trying to achieve?
Roles and responsibilities. Who does what? Define governance roles and who fills them.
Policies. Document policies for sites, content, permissions, and compliance. Be specific enough to guide decisions but flexible enough to accommodate legitimate variations.
Processes. Define processes for common governance activities—site requests, access reviews, content disposition, exception handling.
Standards. Document technical standards—naming conventions, metadata requirements, template specifications.
Communication plan. How will governance be communicated to users? How will training be provided?
Review cycle. Governance should evolve. Define how often the governance plan is reviewed and updated.
Keep the governance plan accessible and keep it current. An outdated governance plan is worse than none—it creates false confidence that governance exists.
Implementing Governance
Start With Pain Points
Don’t try to implement comprehensive governance all at once. Identify the biggest current problems and address those first. If site sprawl is the issue, start with site governance. If stale content undermines trust, start with content review processes.
Automate Where Possible
Manual governance doesn’t scale. Use automation to enforce policies:
- Site provisioning workflows that capture required information and apply templates
- Retention policies that automatically archive or delete expired content
- Access review reminders that prompt owners to verify permissions
- Compliance policies that prevent inappropriate sharing automatically
Make Governance Visible
Users comply with governance they understand. Communicate policies clearly, explain the reasoning, and make compliance easy. Hiding governance in documents nobody reads guarantees non-compliance.
Enforce Consistently
Governance without enforcement is suggestion. When policies are violated, address violations promptly and consistently. This doesn’t mean harsh punishment—often education and correction suffice—but ignoring violations undermines the entire framework.
Measure and Improve
Track governance metrics:
- Number of sites without identified owners
- Sites inactive for extended periods
- Content without required metadata
- Permission exceptions granted
- External sharing volume and patterns
Use metrics to identify problems and demonstrate improvement.
Common Governance Mistakes
Over-governing from the start. Excessively restrictive governance frustrates users and generates workarounds. Start with essential controls and add restrictions when problems demonstrate need.
Under-resourcing governance. Governance requires ongoing attention. Staff who establish governance must have time to maintain it. One-time governance projects that nobody sustains don’t work.
Treating governance as IT’s problem. Governance is an organizational function, not a technical one. IT implements governance; the business defines and owns it.
Creating governance that ignores reality. Policies that conflict with how work actually happens will be ignored. Design governance that supports legitimate work patterns.
Never updating governance. Organizations change. SharePoint evolves. Governance must adapt. Regular reviews ensure governance remains relevant.
Governance Supporting Business Value
Governance sometimes feels like overhead—effort that doesn’t directly produce value. Reframe governance as value protection. The SharePoint environment represents significant investment in technology, content, and user training. Governance protects that investment by ensuring the environment remains useful rather than degrading into chaos.
Well-governed SharePoint environments support modern intranet initiatives by maintaining the foundation those initiatives depend on.
Need help developing or implementing SharePoint governance? Reach out to discuss creating governance that works for your organization.