SharePoint can be a powerful tool for businesses. With the right guidance from your team and IT, you can make the most of it to organize your company’s information and make it readily accessible. According to Microsoft, more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies are using SharePoint for its reliability and business productivity benefits.
However, even easy-to-use and intuitive platforms can be difficult to get used to when they are first introduced. Learning how to best use SharePoint will smooth the way for your end-users.
What is SharePoint?
SharePoint is a cloud-based platform that any business can use to manage and share information.
It can be used to create and publish content, track information, collaborate on projects, and manage all types of information, including customer contact information, internal documentation, and business processes.
SharePoint also provides document management, records archiving, and document collaboration services from a central location. It can be used to host business applications as well as file shares for individual users.
By allowing users to share documents on the same platform, team members can collaborate more easily across groups and departments. SharePoint also has built-in analytics tools that allow administrators to see how many documents are being shared or who is editing them.
Tag and find documents
You’re organizing information. You want it to be searchable, but you also want to make it easy for people to read, too. That’s where tagging comes in.
It’s simple to tag content with a keyword. You can tag multiple items at once, allowing you to tag the whole document, or just specific parts of it. You can tag an item from almost any page or from a custom page. Once tagged, the item will appear in search results, along with any relevant tags for easy navigation.
Consistent file naming
Improperly named documents are one of the top reasons for document issues. Poorly named files can make it difficult for users to find certain documents and for IT to manage and troubleshoot issues. To avoid confusing users, your organization’s documents should follow consistent naming standards. By following a specific naming convention, users will be able to find and access information more easily.
Lock and secure documents
SharePoint offers a way to lock documents so only certain users can edit them. You can also set a deadline for the item, so once it’s reached, it expires and becomes editable again.
Lock documents from a page or from a custom page. You can choose to lock or unlock a specific item or a set of documents.
When locking or unlocking, you can also choose different locking options, such as a time frame or a set of users. This feature offers a great way to control access to sensitive documents, including contracts and other legally binding agreements.
Restore lost library data
If you’re creating and publishing content in your organization’s SharePoint site, the content is searchable and useful to your users, but if the SharePoint server crashes or has an outage, everything you’ve done is gone. This is a common issue that causes panic and a scramble to find information again.
You can prevent this issue by saving your content as a backup. This can be as simple as saving your file name in a text file on your computer. Once you have your backup, you can use it to restore the content on the server or another computer.
Restrict library permissions
Using SharePoint, you can limit content access based on permission levels in order to improve security, and save time and resources. The goal of this strategy is to restrict access to proprietary data or employee communication in order to boost security and save time and resources.
Shared content, such as public libraries or online communities, may be restricted based on permissions. Users will not be able to share sensitive or confidential material if they accidentally share it.
To manage user library permissions and access restrictions, open the Library Settings page, and select Permissions.
Manage access requests
SharePoint provides a request-based permission system that allows you to review, approve, or reject access requests. This can help prevent malicious access requests or accidental errors.
You can set up a process for approving or rejecting access requests. This can help prevent users with malicious intentions from accessing content that wasn’t intended for them. This is a great way to manage and audit permissions for SharePoint.
You can track which users have been granted access, which content has been accessed, and when the access took place.
Train your staff
The biggest hurdle that many SharePoint users face is the learning curve. After all, the platform is designed to be flexible and intuitive, which makes it a great fit for power users and experts but can be a barrier for those who need to get up to speed quickly.
By training your staff on the basics of SharePoint, you will be increasing your productivity and reducing errors. The more familiar employees are with the software, the better they will be at using it and the less likely they are to make mistakes.
Get the most out of SharePoint with the experts
SharePoint is a powerful tool, but it comes with challenges. When it comes to managing user access and permissions, there are a few best practices that you can follow to improve security, save time and resources, and avoid potential issues.
The Microsoft consultants at Technology Solutions can help you fast track your business’ transition to using SharePoint, train your users in how best to use it, and help you manage and monitor your Microsoft environment.
