SharePoint Planning & Governance — Sample Build Plan
How I would plan, build, and launch a SharePoint resource hub for a regional solid waste agency, from the people who use it down to the file names.
About this sample: Maple Bend Regional Resource Commission is a fictional agency. This plan is a portfolio piece modeled on the kinds of resources a county solid waste agency offers. It is not client work, and every name, file, and date on this page is made up for the sample.
A solid waste agency answers the same questions all day. Can I bring paint? What does it cost to drop off tires? When is the next collection event? The answers usually live in a shared drive, three inboxes, and one person's memory. When that person is on vacation, the front desk guesses.
SharePoint is built for people who sign in, so this hub serves staff, board members, member cities, and partner haulers. It becomes the one place where an answer is written down, owned, and dated. The public website pulls from it. So does every flyer, social post, and newsletter.
Every message the agency sends lives here too, filed with the final version, the audience, and the date it went out. If a resident calls about something we said in March, anyone on staff can find it in a minute.
I start every site with the people, not the org chart. Each persona below came with a question they ask on a normal day, and the site map was built to answer those questions in as few clicks as possible.
“A resident is on the line. Can they bring a mattress?”
“A school wants a tour Thursday. Is the recycling trailer free?”
“Is this load a special waste, and who signs off?”
“Where is the packet for Tuesday's meeting?”
“Did the fee change make it into every channel?”
One hub, four connected sites. The hub carries the shared menu and search, so a person can start anywhere and still find what they need. The menu uses the words people already say. Nobody searches for “diversion programs.” They search for “tires.”
This is the home page champions see during the preview weeks. The countdown, event list, and recent files all use standard SharePoint web parts, so the site owner can keep them current without a developer.
HubQuickReference_Card.pdfHubLaunch_Announcement.docxHubChampion_Guide.pdfMockup. The countdown runs live against a sample launch date set a few weeks out from today, and every date on this page moves with it. File names in Recent files follow the naming rules below.
Most of the work happens before anyone builds a page. The content inventory and the top questions from the front desk call log decide what goes on the home page.
Interview each persona group, inventory the shared drive, and pull the 25 most-asked questions.
Card sort, site map, metadata, and naming rules, signed off by the administrator.
Sites, libraries, columns, page templates, and permissions.
Migrate, rename, and delete duplicates. Owners confirm their content.
Champions test top tasks against a stopwatch. Accessibility check. Short demos at staff meetings.
Go live, hold huddles by shift, and set the shared drive to read-only.
Every launch message, training session, and build milestone on one calendar. It lives on the Communications site as a list with a calendar view, so the plan and the record are the same thing.
This is the Communications Archive view for the launch. Each row links to the final version of the message, so nobody has to ask what was sent or when.
| Date | Message | Channel | Audience | Status |
|---|
Folders hide things. Columns make them findable, sortable, and filterable, so each library gets a short set of required columns and one folder level at most.
| Name | What it holds | Key columns | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Materials A-Z List | Every item people ask about and where it goes. | Material, other names, category, accepted at, resident fee, business fee, and last reviewed. | Operations lead |
| Events List | Collection events, tours, and presentations, shown as a calendar. | Event type, date, location, audience, and sign-up link. | Education coordinator |
| Communications Archive | The final version of every message sent. | Send date, channel, audience, topic, and approved by. | Communications lead |
| Policies & Procedures | Procedures, safety steps, and policies. | Department, document type, owner, and review date. | Operations lead |
| Commission Meetings | Agendas, packets, and minutes. | Meeting date and document type. | Administrator |
| Brand & Templates | Logos, templates, and approved photos. | Asset type and approved for web, print, or social. | Communications lead |
| Education Resources | Lessons, decks, and activity sheets. | Grade level, topic, and format. | Education coordinator |
| Photo Library | Event and site photos. | Event, date, and photo release on file. | Communications lead |
| Content Requests List | Requests for new pages or changes. | Requested by, page, due date, and status. | Communications lead |
One pattern for every file. It sorts itself by date, tells you who owns it, and reads cleanly in a link.
ADMAdministration
OPSOperations
EDUEducation
COMCommunications
BRDCommission
FINFinance
| Before | After | Why |
|---|---|---|
Final flyer NEW (2).pdf | 2027-03-15_EDU_SpringCollection_Flyer.pdf | Version history does the tracking. |
board stuff march.docx | 2027-03-09_BRD_Meeting_Packet.pdf | Anyone can tell which meeting it belongs to. |
Tire fees?.xlsx | 2027-07-01_FIN_TireFees_Schedule.xlsx | SharePoint does not allow a question mark in a file name. |
The style guide is two pages, not 20. If people can't remember it, they won't use it.
Write for a resident on the phone, not a regulator. Short sentences and common words. Aim for an eighth-grade reading level on anything that reaches the public.
Use the name people say. “Paint,” not “latex-based coatings.” Put the technical name in the other names column so search still finds it.
Every page gets an owner, a review date, and a title that answers a question. Four page templates cover most needs: news post, event, material, and policy.
Alt text on every image. A signed photo release for anyone you can recognize. Wide 16:9 images for page headers.
Headings in order, link text that says where it goes, and never put key information only in a PDF or only in color.
Permissions follow the SharePoint groups people already know, with two additions for the board and outside partners.
| Group | Who | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Owners | Communications lead and an IT backup. | Full control of the hub. |
| Members | Staff editors, assigned by site. | Edit their own site's libraries and pages. |
| Visitors | All staff. | Read the hub and connected sites. |
| Commission | Board members and the administrator. | Read the restricted Commission site. |
| Guests | Member city contacts and partner haulers. | Read only the libraries they are invited to. |
Two owners per site, never one. When somebody leaves, the site shouldn't leave with them.
A hub is only useful while people trust it. One wrong fee and the front desk goes back to sticky notes. Governance is the routine that keeps that from happening.
| Content | Review | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Materials A-Z | Every quarter, and any time a rule changes. | Operations lead |
| Fees and hours | After each commission vote. | Administrator |
| Events | Weekly during event season. | Education coordinator |
| Policies & Procedures | Yearly, on the review date. | Document owner |
| Brand & Templates | Once a year. | Communications lead |
The searches that come up empty are my favorite report. They tell you what people need and can't find.
Targets for the first 90 days. These are goals for the sample plan, not reported results.
The sample is new, but the thinking behind it isn't. At John Deere, I audited more than 500 intranet pages, took a phased plan to a vice president for approval, and set up a governance framework that was still in use five years later. The redesign lifted engagement 60%, measured in open rates and read time, with 85% satisfaction.
At Core & Main, I maintained the LEAP SharePoint site for our ERP rollout, and the learning hub was organized by role and task. That is the same thinking behind the personas here. At Ameren, a style guide, templates, and SOPs kept a three-person communications team consistent through a rollout to more than 3,100 co-workers.
A hub like this is never finished. It stays right as long as someone owns it.