Are you looking to get the most out of your SharePoint deployment? SharePoint is all about ensuring that you documents are as easy and simple to read as possible. Here are a few of the top six SharePoint best practices that you should follow.
1. Develop and Maintain an Easy-to-Use Navigation Bar
Always link your most important information in an easy-to-use, persistent top navigation bar. This will make it far easier for others to quickly scan and find your information. Employees will only need to load the page itself to see what information it has on it and what the document's general structure is.
2. Create a Consistent Naming System for Documents and Resources
Consistent naming makes it easier to link and find documents throughout your SharePoint files. A document name is the first thing employees will see when they are looking for data -- and a lot of time is going to be spent looking for data. By creating a consistent system, you'll be able to navigate much faster.
3. Keep Everything as Concise and Simple as Possible
Try to avoid over-formatting your documents. Though SharePoint includes may multimedia options -- including the ability to add images, sounds, and even some animations -- these options will usually only distract from your content. In addition to simplifying your content, you should make each document as concise and simple as possible. Try to put all the most important information "above the fold" (at the top of the screen) so that it can be reviewed quickly.
4. Set Alerts for Document Changes and Deletions
An alert system will ensure that you're given notification every time a document is changed, deleted, or otherwise modified. This can make it much easier for you to keep abreast of changes. If something goes missing or a file is incorrect, you'll be able to find who modified it last and you'll be able to make sure that these problems don't occur again.
5. Use the Checkout System to Maintain Control Over Documents
Rather than simply letting employees modify documents at will, a checkout system will make it so that employees can't modify the same documents at once or potentially overwrite changes. Checkout systems, along with alert systems, become more valuable the larger a company is. If there are only a few employees, it may not be necessary -- if there are dozens, it can be critical.
6. Automate Small, Mundane Tasks When Possible
Automation can be a double-edged sword. SharePoint provides many automation tools, but it's usually best applied to smaller, mundane SharePoint tasks. Automating small tasks can save a lot of money and time for a business. You can automate more complex tasks as well, although they sometimes instead introduce problems down the line, especially when it comes to the accuracy of data and document storage.
Do you want to learn more about SharePoint best practices? An experienced partner can help. IES has specialized, knowledgeable employees standing by to educate you on the best and most effective uses of the versatile SharePoint system. If you want to know more about SharePoint and the proper use of SharePoint, you can learn more by contacting us.
