Another report that I almost got done before Christmas and the New Year hit was the first chapter in SharePoint Roadmap Governance Themes: Governing SharePoint to Enhance Business Collaboration. It is now done … and is available immediately.

The report (to become a chapter later in the year) looks at the governance theme of Site Creation Rights when using SharePoint for collaboration. From the Executive Summary:

“What you decide about who is permitted to create a new site in SharePoint, under what conditions, with what approval process, and through what method, has a huge bearing on the effectiveness of your use of SharePoint for collaboration. Get it right, and people will have a clear picture of what is required when creating a new site, thus setting the framework for effective use. Get it wrong, and your SharePoint implementation will result in site sprawl, unused team sites, and poor findability.“

Rob, a reviewer in the US, sent back this comment yesterday:

“This is great stuff. It is very thoughtfully put together and really emphasizes the point that system planning is key with a SharePoint install. With site provisioning and with many other features in SharePoint, forethought is absolutely vital to creating a successful system that doesn’t become convoluted and hard to use. And, of course, if a SharePoint Portal is hard to use, the reality is that users will not use it.“

So … the report is available immediately if this is of interest and relevance to you.

And my thanks to the numerous people who filled out the site creation rights survey. That was neat … and if you gave me your contact details, then I have sent out your complimentary copy today.

Now … back to the next theme, on user adoption strategies. You have taken the survey already, right?