SharePoint is a technology that has the capabilities to create complex document management that can easily meet the business requirements, be it any size or domain. For instance, the SharePoint technology can easily prove its effectiveness as a legal DMS (Document Management System). But if SharePoint is not implemented properly or is left unattended after the implementation, then it can make the DMS a complete mess and business can face some problems like document loss or duplication, non-structured storage, poor navigation, low security, inferior user adoption, no compliance support, and poor document search. Therefore, perfect implementation of SharePoint DMS is very important. And there are some amazing practices that can be followed to have an efficient SharePoint DMS. Today, in this blog, we are going to discuss such SharePoint document management best practices.
Top 7 SharePoint Document Management Best Practices
Here are some of the top practices of SharePoint document management that every business must follow whether they are using SharePoint On-premises or SharePoint Online.
1. Document Versioning Control Should Be Turned On
It happens to many of us when we open an important document and find out that it got corrupted or when we try to save a file to the current version and don’t have its backup, then the file gets lost. To avoid such situations and secure the important documents, turning on the SharePoint document versioning feature is necessary. Versioning is nothing but an option that enables you to store, restore, and track different files in SharePoint as they get changed or updated. Basically, SharePoint versioning can be a lifesaver as it enables the users to locate a particular file version or compare the changes between two versions.
When the business has SharePoint Online, there are high chances that it already has the versioning control. But in the on-premises deployment, this may not be the case, so the business owner will have to turn on the document versioning.
2. Index the Columns of SharePoint Documents
When the number of files and documents increases, managing it becomes more difficult. But the businesses need to smartly organize all the data if they don’t want to lose it. There are some important list and library features that can be used to manage a large number of files or documents. The business can take the help of the SharePoint developer to index a column of the large library or list. The index of the column helps SharePoint to find particular data that is present in the library or list at a faster rate.
Besides this, one can also search thousands of documents in minimum time with the help of the indexing feature. All one needs to do is apply a filter to search documents and files in the columns that are already indexed. Besides this, the additional indexes come with additional space in the database system and this can be very useful to store more data. Therefore, every business must create additional indexes on the libraries and lists that are frequently used.
3. Document Libraries Must Be Planned
Document libraries are the key part of SharePoint’s organizational structure. The libraries hold a collection of documents and files on the SharePoint server that can be used by other site users. When the business owner has particular requirements, he must consider the exact type of document library that matches those requirements. And if the organization decides to create document libraries for multiple locations, then it must have a perfect plan for the content flow from one website to another. And these document libraries don’t easily share all the information and because of this, a tool like OnBase is used to store and share data from multiple libraries with users no matter the library or the location. So, every organization must give training on such tools to their employees so that they can come up with wonderful solutions.
4. Document Library Alert Should Be Set
If the organization has some sensitive documents or files to keep track of and if it needs to get alerted if anything changes in those documents, then the best option is to set an alert in SharePoint and this will notify the employees of the organization if any particular document or file in the library has been changed or deleted. This is a feature that gives peace of mind to the users as they can feel safe knowing that their data is secured and if it gets tempered then the system will notify them instantly. Any user can set this alert, without even having the administration rights and they can be configured at the document level.
5. Follow File Naming Conventions in SharePoint Site
The document libraries must be given a logical name for the perfect identification of the document type the company stores. The business owner should not use any special characters to name the document library but should use intuitive and short URLs. And there should be no space in the internal names of the library. This naming practice enables any user to find the files or the folder of files easily.
6. Use Meta Tags in the Content Organization
Every business organization must have a practice of tagging the documents they upload with meta tags to have quick and easy retrieval. To have a more advanced meta-tagging, one can also use content types by leveraging SharePoint’s Content-Type Functionality. With the use of this feature, businesses can set meta tags and dynamic properties for various document types. One can even use a tool like OnBase that helps in taking a step further where the Dashboard Portlet or Custom Query would utilize meta tags as data that can be offered in the report or a graphical chart. Besides this, though meta tags are the primary way to find the documents, one can also use those meta tags in OnBase for graphical analytics dashboard, reporting, and identifying relevant documents.
7. Use a View for Managing Data
After setting up the meta tags, you can create a view and make wonders. By creating views and making them public, you can display all your data using different filters, groups, & sort functions. It can help any business to manage the space on their page. And especially when any business has a lot of libraries and lists on a page and it needs to be fitted, the business owner will have to use a simplified view that comes with a feature that allows capturing important data in a few columns.
Conclusion
As seen in this blog, SharePoint is a technology that is a complete package of features to keep all the business-related documents organized, managed, safe, and secured. Basically, SharePoint offers the best document management system that can solve all the data management-related issues very easily. Therefore, the majority of the business opt for SharePoint Document Management System. And to make SharePoint more worth using, companies should follow the above-listed practices to keep their documents and files organized as per their policy.
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