4 SharePoint Governance Features and How to Set Them Up 

Modern organizations often rely on SharePoint for collaboration, document management, and internal knowledge sharing. However, we often notice that SharePoint governance features remain widely underutilized. 

Most enterprises or government agencies start using SharePoint with the simple goal of designing a shared workspace on the cloud. However, as your environment grows rapidly, more sites are added and permissions are multiplied, SharePoint data governance starts to become a major issue. 

You start to experience SharePoint sprawl issues, inconsistencies in permissions, increased exposure to compliance risks and the likes. 

In this article, we will explore four powerful yet underutilized SharePoint governance features, how to configure them, and how we help you to derive more value from them as SharePoint governance consultants. 

What are the SharePoint Data Governance Features to Use? 

Let’s get straight to the features. We will look at what they are, how to set them up, the major issues that you can face, and our SharePoint governance consultants can help you solve them. 

• SharePoint Sensitivity Labels 

What is it? 

With SharePoint sensitivity label setup, you can protect confidential information by automatically applying set security policies based on data sensitivity. For example, if a certain document is labeled ‘Confidential – Finance’, only certain members of the finance team will be able to access it, and external sharing will be restricted. 

SharePoint sensitivity labels can control external sharing, access restrictions, conditional access, and even document watermarking. 

How to set it up? 

• Open Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal. Learn more about Microsoft Purview. 

• Go to ‘Information Protection’ and then to Labels. 

• Create a new sensitivity label. 

• Define the security rules for the label. 

• Publish the label to the target users and groups. 

• Enable label application within SharePoint libraries. 

Problems you can face 

• You might not have clear document classification frameworks. 

• Your security policies don’t align with your processes. 

• There might be resistance from existing users. 

How can we help? 

• We can help you design practical SharePoint data classification models. 

• Deploy automated labeling processes with the help of Power Automate. 

• Integrate labels into existing operational processes. 

Explore More About SharePoint and Purview Integration 

Read our blog on SharePoint and Purview integration and discover how can combine the two platforms.

• SharePoint Site Lifecycle Governance 

What is it? 

No real control over site creation is one of the biggest reasons behind SharePoint sprawl issues. Without SharePoint site lifecycle governance policies, you will have sites that you never use, broken permissions and outdated documents.  

Once you implement site lifecycle governance, the system will make sure that only certain individuals can create sites. The sites are reviewed periodically, and if they are not in use, they are archived or deleted. 

How to set it up? 

• Go to SharePoint admin center and define site creation policies. 

• Specify who can create sites. 

• Create standardized site templates. 

• Implement expiration policies through Microsoft 365 groups. 

• Setup notifications for site owners. So, when a site is deleted or archived, they receive the notification. 

Problems you can face 

• Site ownership responsibilities might not be clearly stated. 

• Teams freely create sites without any standardized templates. 

• There are no well-defined site creation policies in place. 

How can we help? 

• We can help you automate site provisioning. 

• Our team will make sure that lifecycle policies are aligned with the way you work. 

• With our help, you can setup custom governance dashboards for administrators.

• External Sharing Governance Controls

Businesses share SharePoint documents with users from outside the organization all the time. This exposes them to security risks. We have seen organizations either disable external sharing entirely or enable it without proper control. 

If you set up external sharing governance controls without exposing sensitive data. 

How to set it up? 

• Open SharePoint Admin Center. 

• Click on Policies and then Sharing. 

• Configure tenant-level sharing policies. 

• Set sharing permissions at the site level. 

• Set expiry for guest access 

• Configure domain allow/block list to set which domains can be used to access the documents. 

Problems you can face 

• You can’t figure out how to balance security and collaboration when it comes to external sharing in SharePoint. 

• Permissions are configured at tenant level. But, site-level permissions are poorly configured, if at all. 

• Your IT teams lack visibility into how external users are accessing shared content. 

How can we help? 

• We can strategically implement structured external sharing frameworks for SharePoint that balance security and compliance, along with collaboration. 

• Our team can also configure automated monitoring and alerts for suspicious activities.

• Retention Policies for SharePoint Data Compliance

Document lifecycle management is another crucial aspect that is often overlooked. Implementing retention policies ensure that your business records are stored for required periods, protected from accidental deletion and disposed properly, when they are no longer needed. 

How to Set it Up?  

• Go to the Microsoft Purview Compliance center 

• Click on Data Lifecycle Management. 

• Create a retention policy 

• Set the duration until the document is retained in the system. 

• Apply policies to relevant SharePoint libraries and sites 

• Enable automatic deletion or rules for archiving the data. 

Problems you can face 

• Your IT and compliance teams struggle to agree on the retention timelines. 

• The organization is unsure which documents qualify as records. 

• Administrators are worried about the accidental deletion of important records. 

How can we help? 

• We can plan and strategically align retention policies with regulatory requirements. 

• Implement automated lifecycle management. 

• Take necessary precautions to reduce risks during audit and compliance reviews. 

Is your current SharePoint Governance framework enough?

Schedule a system health check with our team of SharePoint governance consultants and get a detailed analysis along with actionable insights to improve data governance.

Get a Health Check Now 

How Evolvous Helps You to Implement the Right SharePoint Governance Features?

We are a Microsoft Solutions Partner, and we help you to implement the right SharePoint governance features, perfectly aligned with your needs. 

Here is an overview of the process that we follow to set up SharePoint data governance: 

• SharePoint Governance Assessment

We will: 

• Analyze existing site structures. 

• Identify governance gaps. 

• Evaluate the existing and potential business risks. 

 

• Governance Framework Design 

Next, we will: 

• Define custom policies for site lifecycle, permissions, and data classification. 

• Create and implement security and compliance standards. 

 

• Technical Implementation 

At this stage, the team will proceed towards implementing the systems that are designed. We will: 

• Configure SharePoint governance features across the environment. 

• Automate the monitoring and enforcement of the policies to reduce gaps.

• Security Integration, Testing & Deployment 

Before we deploy the rules, we will be integrating SharePoint with Microsoft Purview and other relevant tools. At this final stage, our team will: 

• Integrate SharePoint with the right Microsoft and third-party security tools. 

• Test the system against possible scenarios and deploy them to the live environment. 

Get a Detailed SharePoint Governance Roadmap

Get a custom roadmap for SharePoint data governance setup. Discuss your current challenges with our team to get started. 

Schedule Consultation 

Also read: – ShareFile to SharePoint Migration

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is SharePoint governance? 

SharePoint governance refers to the policies, processes and tools used to manage the content, its access, and security within the SharePoint environment. 

• Why do I need a SharePoint consultant? 

A SharePoint consultant will help you conceptualize and implement a practical SharePoint Governance Framework. They will also configure the right SharePoint governance features to reduce site sprawl and permission issues. 

• How long does SharePoint governance implementation take? 

In most cases, the entire process, from analysis to implementation, takes around 4 to 12 weeks. However, depending on the existing issues and the volume of data, it might take longer in some cases. 

• Will my day-to-day work be disrupted? 

No. We focus on automation and AI to implement the frameworks faster and also reduce the effort required to maintain the system. Therefore, you can continue with your operations while the SharePoint governance features are being implemented.