As companies adopt SharePoint for document management and collaboration, one challenge quickly becomes apparent – finding information in these sprawling sites can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Without a carefully planned folder structure and metadata strategy, even the most potent SharePoint solutions will become confusing clutter.
According to McKinsey, employees spend about 1.8 hours daily searching and gathering information, nearly half failing to find what they need to do their jobs. Getting the organisation right for IT teams implementing SharePoint is crucial for driving user adoption and realising ROI from this powerful platform.
This article will explore SharePoint folder structure best practices and tips on organising SharePoint sites. With the right approach, SharePoint can add tremendous business value by facilitating knowledge sharing and easy access to critical documents across an organisation.
Keep reading to find out.
How to organise SharePoint sites
1. Establish a Governance Model for SharePoint
Before creating a single site or document library, your SharePoint governance team must make critical decisions about the standards defining your implementation. Your governance team establishes site creation policies, content architecture, metadata standards, and user access controls. Think of governance as the constitution determining how SharePoint content and sites will be organised and utilised in your company. Simple.
Governance establishes authority over critical areas like:
- Content type definitions: Standardizing document types to control metadata
- Site templates: Consistent site planning for departments and groups
- Folder structure guidelines: Hierarchical standards for sites and document libraries
- Automated policy enforcement: Using scripts to reinforce standards
- Security protocols: Permission levels, external sharing policies, auditing
Crafting this governance model upfront provides the blueprint for all future SharePoint organisations regarding sites and content, helping you avoid the pitfalls of a purely ad-hoc decentralised approach.
Looking to scale beyond just folder structure?
A well-organised site is just the beginning. Explore how our SharePoint intranet development solutions can help you build a dynamic, centralised portal for content, communication, and collaboration.
2. Adopt a Hierarchical Folder Structure
For individual sites and document libraries, we recommend SharePoint folder structure best practices that adhere to a hierarchical structure up to 3 levels deep:
- Departments at the root level
- Primary functions or initiatives under departments
- Specific projects associated with functions
Hierarchical folder structure avoids the deep nesting of folders that make content difficult to find while allowing adequate structure. You must standardise this hierarchy across sites whenever possible.
When naming folders and sites, use descriptive names that convey the content. Some naming convention tips that you should consider following:
- Separate words with hyphens (not underscores or spaces)
- Use consistent date formatting, for example. DD-MM-YYYY
- Begin folder names with the project, function, or object name – not generic labels like “Report” or “Documents.”
By applying a hierarchical model to your SharePoint information architecture, users can more easily navigate where they expect the content to be.
3. Leverage the power of Metadata
In addition to a hierarchical folder structure, leveraging metadata can significantly enhance the organisation of your SharePoint sites. Metadata allows you to tag documents with additional information such as project name, author, department, or document type, making searching for and filtering documents more accessible based on specific criteria providing users with a more efficient way to locate the content they need.
Some best practices for managing metadata to your advantage include:
- Only create metadata fields that are likely to be used
- Avoid hierarchies more than three levels deep
- Provide input synonyms to find tags more easily
Combined with the folder structure, navigating the metadata taxonomy helps users classify content for easy discovery later.
Want more than just well-structured sites?
Take the next step with custom SharePoint intranet development that brings structure, communication, and collaboration into one unified experience.
4. Utilize Document Sets
Document sets are a powerful feature in SharePoint that allows you to group related documents. This is particularly useful for managing projects or cases where multiple documents must be treated as a single entity. By utilising document sets, you can streamline content management and ensure all relevant documents are easily accessible.
5. Guide Users with Visual Aids
Consider simplifying orientation for your users by creating an easy-to-understand visualisation of your SharePoint taxonomy.
Easy-to-understand visualisation can be achieved through:
- A PowerPoint diagram summarising your content types, hierarchy, conventions, examples
- An interactive Visio diagram with links to sample sites
- An actual SharePoint site displaying the model
Including screenshots of properly organised sites and document libraries grounds the guidelines for users unfamiliar with information architecture theory.
6. Simplify SharePoint with Templates
Are you looking for specific SharePoint requirements?
Templates provide a standardised and efficient way to create consistent structures for sites, libraries, and lists. User navigation and ease of use will improve the experience if they know what to expect, encouraging productivity by reducing frustration.
Here are some SharePoint templates for you to consider implementing:
Site Templates
Create a blueprint for your SharePoint Communication Site using site templates. Whether it’s a team collaboration site or a project management hub, having predefined templates ensures each site follows a consistent structure.
Document Library Templates
Configure document libraries efficiently by defining metadata, views, and structure in an easy-to-reuse template. Library templates encourage consistency with organization-wide document standards and filing best practices.
List Templates
Rather than building lists from scratch, using pre-configured templates helps facilitate uniform data capture and simplifies cross-department data consolidation and reporting.
7. Automate Structure Enforcement
If you frequently Goog “how to organise SharePoint sites,” you may miss out on the power of automation for managing SharePoint. Manually organising SharePoint can become tedious and time-consuming, especially as your number of sites and users grows. This is where automation comes in.
Once you have successfully set up the SharePoint organisational model, using automation to enforce governance frees admins from constantly monitoring permissions, structures, and policies across sites and restricts users from deviating from consistent sites or nesting.
Some key automation opportunities include:
- Site closure after inactivity
- Enforcing folder structures in document libraries
- Folder deletion policies to automatically remove unused folders
- Setting default metadata values on sites
- Running reports to find unclassified content
Where governance sets the policies, automation can ensure compliance. Setting these standards is step one – automatically enforcing your policies ensures they become ingrained habits across your SharePoint ecosystem.
8. Continuous Improvement of Information Architecture
Information architecture is not a one-time project but an evolving discipline requiring ongoing governance. As your business grows in complexity, so too will your SharePoint deployment.
Consider revisiting your taxonomy twice per year and identify new site plans, content types, and metadata demanded by changes in business priorities. Expand your model vertically rather than allowing new hierarchies to develop independently.
Appointing a site administrator team is vital to sustaining standards over the long term. They represent the stewards curating your SharePoint ecosystem.
Conclusion
This article will explain how to organise SharePoint sites and folders effectively. Organising SharePoint is not just a task; it’s an investment in your team’s efficiency and productivity. By implementing the discussed best practices, you can transform SharePoint into a powerhouse of collaboration.
If you need help designing and implementing a SharePoint organisational framework tailored to your business environment, our team at Neologix offers full lifecycle planning and support around SharePoint ecosystems. Our team of experts will assist you in quickly deploying a SharePoint solution with minimal interruption to your business operations.
Contact | Call us to get started or to schedule a free consultation.
