Governance is definitely THE hot topic for SharePoint deployments. But just what does the “G” word really mean? And more importantly, how do you define a governance plan that makes sense for your organization as a whole - for your users, for IT, and for content managers?

A SharePoint solution without a governance plan is like a day without sunshine. It’s sad, it’s depressing, and you often have to change your plans and expectations, which leaves a lot of people dissatisfied! A good governance plan is necessary, but not sufficient to ensure solution success. You still have to ensure that the governance plan is applied, which means your plan needs to be realistic, practical, and consumable.

Lessons:

• Best practice examples of governance approaches that work
• Suggested approaches for making sure governance plans are “consumable” by users
• Templates and examples you can immediately apply to develop your governance plan

Susan Hanley, Susan Hanley LLC
Susan Hanley is a business consultant with a specialization in information architecture, user adoption, governance, and business value metrics for SharePoint solutions. Her clients include many of the Fortune 500, along with some of the world’s leading academic, professional services, and non-profit organizations. She is a frequent writer and speaker, and the co-author of Essential SharePoint 2010: Overview, Governance, and Planning and the upcoming Essential SharePoint 2013. She blogs about SharePoint for NetworkWorld.com. Prior to establishing her own consulting firm, Sue led the national Portals and Content Management Practice for Dell Professional Services. You can follow Susan on Twitter @susanhanley, or visit her blog at www.networkworld.com/community/sharepoint.