Don't Panic! Salvage Your Failed SharePoint Deployment

Let's face it, even the most meticulous SharePoint deployments can hit a snag. You've poured in hours of planning, customized features, and user training, only to encounter a critical error or realize your initial approach wasn't quite right. Before you resign yourself to starting from scratch, take a deep breath. In my 20+ years of experience, I've seen my fair share of "deployment disasters," and let me tell you, a complete restart isn't always necessary. In this post, we'll explore the art of the SharePoint salvage operation, giving you a roadmap to identify the issue, assess the damage, and get your project back on track!

Understand the Current State

Before we jump into repairs, we need to diagnose the problem. This means getting a clear picture of your current SharePoint deployment. Here are five key actions to achieve this:

1. Review Configuration Logs: SharePoint logs detailed information about errors, warnings, and successes during setup and ongoing use. Analyze these logs to pinpoint potential issues. For example: A recurring error message about missing permissions might indicate security configuration problems.

2. Document Workflows and Processes: Map out the existing workflows and processes built on your SharePoint site. For example: Visualize how document approvals flow between departments or track how a team uses a custom list for project management.

3. User Interviews: Talk to your users! Understand their experience with the current deployment. Are they encountering difficulties? What features are they using most, and which ones are underutilized?

4. Inventory Content: Take stock of your existing content libraries, lists, and sites. Are there any inconsistencies or redundant data? For example: You might discover multiple teams using separate document libraries for similar purposes.

5. Review Site Analytics: If you have site analytics enabled, analyze usage data to identify areas for improvement. For example: Low traffic on specific pages might indicate a need for better content organization or navigation.

Document and Backup

Once you've gained a solid understanding of the current state, it's crucial to solidify your foundation for the potential recovery process. Here are five key actions to take:

1. Document Existing Configuration: Capture detailed notes on your current configuration settings, security groups, and any customizations implemented. For example: Document the specific workflow stages in a custom approval process or note any custom site columns created.

2. Backup Critical Content: While SharePoint offers some built-in redundancy, create a separate backup of critical content libraries and vital site collections. This can be done through manual export or utilizing third-party backup tools. For example: Export a copy of your company policy documents library or the project team's task list.

3. Version Control Key Documents: Ensure all crucial documents within SharePoint have version history enabled. This allows you to revert to previous versions if necessary.

4. Identify User Permissions: Document the user permissions assigned to different groups and individuals across your SharePoint sites. For example: Note which users have edit access to specific document libraries.

5. Backup Customizations: If you've implemented custom code or solutions within SharePoint, create a secure backup of these files. This will save you time and effort if you need to redeploy them later.

What Went Wrong?

Now it's time for some troubleshooting! By analyzing the information you gathered, we can pinpoint the root cause of the deployment issues. Here are five key actions to identify the culprit:

1. Compare Configuration to Best Practices: Review your configuration against recommended security settings, performance optimization techniques, and best practices for your specific SharePoint version. For example: You might discover a permission group inadvertently granted excessive access, leading to security concerns.

2. Analyze Error Logs for Patterns: Revisit the SharePoint logs you reviewed earlier. Look for recurring error messages or patterns that can shed light on the problem. For example: A consistent error related to a specific workflow component might indicate a malfunction in that particular feature.

3. Correlate User Feedback with Issues: Match user pain points with potential causes. For example: Difficulty finding documents might be linked to a poorly structured information architecture or inadequate search functionality.

4. Review Content Inventory for Redundancies: Analyze your content inventory to identify duplicate data or content scattered across multiple locations. This might indicate a need for consolidation or improved organization structures.

5. Evaluate Analytics for Usage Insights: Look for anomalies in your site analytics data. For example: A sudden drop in traffic to a specific department's site might suggest navigation issues or a lack of awareness about the site's existence.

Define Success Criteria and Goals

Before diving into recovery efforts, we need to establish clear goals and how we'll measure success. This will be your roadmap for navigating the salvage operation. Here are five key actions to define your success criteria:

1. Identify Desired Outcomes: Outline what a successful "salvaged" deployment looks like. For example: Improved user experience, enhanced security posture, or streamlined workflows.

2. Set Measurable Objectives: Translate your desired outcomes into specific, measurable objectives. For example: Reduce user support tickets by 20% or achieve a 99% uptime rate for your SharePoint site collection.

3. Prioritize Recovery Steps: Rank the recovery steps based on their impact on achieving your objectives. Focus on critical issues that will yield the most significant improvements first.

4. Establish Benchmarks: Identify benchmarks to track your progress. For example: Use pre-existing user satisfaction surveys or analyze baseline website traffic data before the salvage operation.

5. Define Completion Criteria: Determine the specific conditions that signify a successful salvage operation. For example: Successfully migrate all critical content to a new, optimized site or resolve all security vulnerabilities identified during the troubleshooting phase.

Evaluate Current Architecture

With a clear understanding of the current state and potential issues, it's time to assess the underlying architecture of your SharePoint deployment. Here are five key actions to take:

6. Review Site Collection Structure: Analyze the organization of your site collections and subsites. Are they logically grouped based on content type, department, or project? For example: You might discover a site collection overflowing with unrelated content from various departments, hindering information discovery.

7. Evaluate Storage and Performance: Review your storage quotas and analyze SharePoint's performance metrics. Are there bottlenecks or limitations hindering user experience? For example: Limited storage space could be causing issues with uploading large files, while inefficient indexing could lead to slow search results.

8. Audit Security Configuration: Scrutinize your current security settings. Are permissions assigned appropriately, and are there any unnecessary access levels granted? For example: You might identify user groups with excessive edit rights across multiple sites, posing a security risk.

9. Analyze Customizations and Integrations: Evaluate the effectiveness of any custom code or integrations implemented within SharePoint. Do they contribute to the desired functionality, or are they causing conflicts? For example: A custom workflow might be malfunctioning due to incompatibility with a recently installed third-party app.

10. Review Disaster Recovery Plan: Assess your existing disaster recovery plan for SharePoint. Does it adequately address potential data loss or site outages? If not, consider implementing a more robust backup and recovery strategy.

Cultural Considerations and User Training

A successful SharePoint deployment hinges not just on technical functionality but also on user adoption. Here are five key actions to consider cultural factors and optimize user training:

1. Understand User Habits: Analyze how your users typically collaborate and access information. Do they prefer a centralized knowledge base or departmental-specific sites? For example: A sales team might be more comfortable with a collaborative team site for sharing customer proposals, while a research department might prefer a central repository for storing academic papers.

2. Tailor Training to User Roles: Develop training programs specific to different user roles and needs. Don't overwhelm everyone with advanced features; focus on the functionalities most relevant to their daily tasks. For example: Train managers on workflow approvals, while content creators might benefit from training on metadata tagging for improved searchability.

3. Offer Training in Multiple Formats: Accommodate different learning styles by providing training materials in various formats, such as video tutorials, interactive modules, or in-person workshops. For example: Offer short explainer videos alongside downloadable cheat sheets for quick reference.

4. Promote User Champions: Identify enthusiastic and tech-savvy users within your organization. Train them extensively and empower them to act as "champions" who can answer peer questions and provide ongoing support.

5. Foster a Culture of Collaboration: Encourage open communication and feedback from users. Gather their input throughout the process and address their concerns. This fosters a sense of ownership and promotes user buy-in for the SharePoint platform.

NOW… Move Forward the Right Way

Now that you have the information you need to succeed, create a workable plan to salvage your SharePoint deployment. Here are five key actions to get you started:

1. Prioritize Recovery Steps: Based on your evaluation and troubleshooting, prioritize the recovery steps you'll tackle first. Focus on critical issues that will yield the most significant improvements for your users and the overall functionality of your SharePoint environment. For example: If security vulnerabilities are a major concern, address permission configurations and access controls before tackling navigation improvements.

2. Develop a Rollback Strategy: In case unforeseen complications arise during the salvage process, have a rollback strategy in place. This could involve reverting to a recent backup or having a contingency plan to restore specific configurations.

3. Outline Communication Strategy: Develop a communication plan to keep stakeholders informed throughout the salvage operation. Explain the challenges identified, the planned course of action, and anticipated timelines. For example: Regular email updates or team meetings can address user concerns and ensure everyone is on the same page.

4. Identify Resource Requirements: Determine the resources needed to execute your plan. This might involve IT staff expertise, budget allocation for additional tools or training materials, or collaboration with external consultants if necessary. For example: You might need to allocate additional IT support hours to address complex security configuration changes or invest in user training materials specific to the new functionalities implemented.

5. Set Realistic Milestones: Establish achievable milestones throughout the salvage process. This will help you track your progress, identify potential roadblocks early on, and make adjustments as needed. For example: Set a milestone for completing security audits and permission configuration by a specific date, followed by a milestone for migrating critical content to a newly optimized site structure.

Remember, each organization’s SharePoint deployment is unique, so adapt these samples to fit your specific context.