Why Your SharePoint SUCKS! And What to Do About It! (Copilot/AI is NOT a silver bullet!)

Get real — your SharePoint is in desperate need of rescue. Files dumped everywhere, version control is haphazard at best, permissions are a tangled ball Archimedes would run from, and records management? "What's that?" So, nonexistent.

Here’s the kicker: SharePoint isn’t the problem. You are. Or, more succinctly, how your SharePoint was set up AND how you're using it. When done well — including having Microsoft Purview and Power Platform in the mix — it can be a game-changer for information management, compliance, and automation.

So, let’s talk about why your SharePoint sucks and, more importantly, how to fix it.

Oh, and as for your plan that Copilot can be used as a silver bullet that will magically save you from doing the work? Any AI is only as good as the quality of data it has available. A disorganized, ungoverned, "file share in a website" does NOT provide a good training ground. Think of it like asking a librarian to find a book in a room full of unlabeled boxes—good luck with that!

1. Your Information Management is crap

The Problem:

SharePoint is NOT supposed to be a file dump, but many organizations treat it that way. They migrate content from file shares straight into SharePoint without rethinking structure. No metadata, no categorization, no governance—just digital chaos. If your users can’t easily find or identify documents, your SharePoint is failing.

The Fixes:

? Taxonomy matters. Stop structuring your content based on your org chart (as file shares have been structured for years) — it’s the wrong lens. Always has been but the tech just wasn't available to do anything different. Instead, model your information architecture based on "Business Function Decomposition." Start with high-level value streams like "Record to Report" or "Hire to Retire," then break these down into a capability map, then into functions, processes, and finally, tasks. This structure reflects the reality that the way work actually gets done in an organization is cross-departmental. By definition. Not just where roles and departments sit on your org chart.

o Quick Definition: Taxonomy is just a structured way of organizing information so people can actually find what they need.

o Example: the categories or groupings of different items available in pretty much every ecommerce site. Usually displayed on the left, but sometimes across the top of a page. For instance, starting with the most generic of "clothing" and then separating into men's, women's, children. Then to "footwear". Then to "shoes". Then to different shoe types such as "running", "tennis", "formal", and so on.

? Metadata is your friend. Use metadata (tags, categories, dates, authors) instead of folders for faster searchability.

o Quick Definition: Metadata is "data about data" — labels that describe a document so it’s easier to find. Think of it like tagging a photo with keywords.

o Example: If you have ever filled out a form where you supplied data, such as your name, your address, DOB, hobbies, interests, and millions more similar examples, then you have experienced metadata. The metadata is the labels for the fields you provided the data in.

? Content types keep things consistent. Predefine formats, metadata, and retention policies for different document types.

o Quick Definition: Content types define different attributes of content in SharePoint, specifying their related metadata, and rules for handling them. Think of them as predefined templates that ensure consistent capture of data across your content.

o Example: There is an OOTB (Out Of The Box) Content Type named "Content Freshness" that contains columns (aka fields) for:

? Name

? Title

? Authoring Canvas Content

? Banner image URL

? Author Byline

? Topic Header

? Call to Action

o Those columns (fields) can be edited, added to, or taken away from. The point being that by simply applying that "Content Freshness" Content Type to a site, a document library, or your whole SharePoint, the columns will be automatically added to each file for that Content Type. And if any are set as required, your users would be shown a graphical indicator that they need to input or choose the correct data for the required columns.

o Did you know? That there are SIXTY (60) Content Types included OOTB from Microsoft? I have 100% confidence your org is NOT using the vast majority of these:

? Microsoft Purview can enforce governance. Apply retention labels, automate compliance, and ensure proper handling of sensitive documents.

o Quick Definition: Retention policies dictate how long documents should be kept before they can be deleted or otherwise disposed.

o Did you know? Microsoft Purview encompasses all of the M365 workloads including SharePoint, Teams, Exchange (email), and more? Additionally, Purview can also extend to structured data workloads in the Microsoft Azure cloud such as Azure SQL so you achieve data retention and compliance for both structured (databases) AND unstructured (content) using the same labels and policies.

2. Your Records Management is an Afterthought

The Problem:

Documents get uploaded, moved, and forgotten — until an audit (internal or external) or legal request sends everyone into panic mode. Without proper retention, defensible disposition, and compliance tracking, your risk exposure could be massive.

The Fixes:

? Records management is NOT optional. Define what content must be retained for legal, regulatory, or business reasons. The consequences for failure can be substantial. See California PG&E disaster.

o Quick Definition: Records management is the practice of ensuring important documents are properly stored, tracked, and deleted when appropriate based on the types of information it contains.

o Retention is divided into 2 major piles:

? ARCS (Administrative Records Classification System) — data that needs to be retained according to criteria specified by an EXTERNAL party such as government, agencies, licensing bodies and similar. An example for every organization would be financial records that must be retained for specified periods of time by government bodies such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States, Canada Revenue Service (CRA), HM Revenue & Customs in the UK, Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) in Germany, etc.

? ORCS (Operational Records Classification System) — defines any data you wish to retain based upon your INTERNAL business needs. For instance, you could define that sales quotes should be retained for 30 days and then disposed as no longer being in force.

? Microsoft Purview automates retention. Apply retention policies to ensure compliance.

? Auto-labeling with AI helps classify records. Purview can automatically label documents (like contracts or financial records) for sensitivity (ex. “public”, “internal”, “classified”, etc.) based upon training sets you provide. This is an example of how you CAN use Copilot that isn’t just abdicating responsibility and counting on Copilot to be a silver bullet.

? Disposition reviews add oversight. Implement approval processes before final deletion. The review process can be automated through Power Automate workflows in Power Platform.

3. Findability: the Holy Grail you’re NOT achieving

The Problem:

Your stakeholders spend more time searching for content than working on their tasks and productivity gets the pointy end of the stick. Navigation that doesn’t relate for users, lack of metadata, and ineffective search configurations (if ANY were configured at all) lead to frustration and lost time.

The Fixes:

? Establish Authoritative Content: Not all content is of equal worth — clearly define which information is official and up to date. Having 5 different versions of a file with no indication which is the CORRECT, and therefore authoritative, version grinds productivity to a halt while the user attempts to solve the “Who’s on first” conundrum.

? Assign Risk & Value categorization: By creating a Risk and Value matrix (table) you can determine how much governance is applied to different categories of content. Content that you label as “Low Risk/Low Value” would have the least governance applied (ex. Reference material downloaded from a public website) while the “Corporate Work from Home Policy” would likely be “Low Risk/High Value” and therefore subject to more formal reviews and controls and content such as a patent application would almost certainly be classed as “High Risk/High Value” and subject to the most stringent reviews and controls/governance. Each category would indicate the amount of effort, and from what roles, should be applied to governing that content.

? Use Hub Sites for Navigation: Group related SharePoint sites to improve both discoverability and applicability across your teams and departments. Use Hub Sites to group your sites based upon Value Stream, Function/Function Group, and Process (and possibly Process Family for large, complex organizations). Hub Sites can be connected to other Hub Sites to instantiate your Information Architecture within the SharePoint structure hierarchy.

? Configure (and USE!) SharePoint Search: Configure managed properties, refinable filters, and promoted results to make search more intuitive for YOUR users in YOUR organization.

o Managed Properties: These are searchable attributes of your content (like author, title, or custom metadata fields) that enhance filtering and sorting in search results. Example: Searching by “Project Name” instead of scanning file names manually.

o Refinable Filters: These allow users to narrow search results based on specific criteria. Example: Filtering documents by department, date created, or document type.

o Promoted Results: These are customized results that appear at the top of searches based on keywords, guiding users to the most relevant content. Example: A policy document always appearing first when searching “vacation policy”

Using these search optimizations makes SharePoint function more like a well-organized library rather than the chaotic file dump you have now, ensuring your users can FIND what they need quickly and efficiently.

? Leverage AI with Syntex: SharePoint Premium (formerly Syntex) uses AI to analyze and extract key information from electronic documents, reducing manual data entry and improving data quality. Beyond providing AI-powered ICR (Intelligent Content Recognition), it can automatically tag files, classify content, and even apply retention labels based on document type and context. Example: A contract uploaded to a Syntex enabled document library in SharePoint and Syntex will be able to extract data from the file such as client names, expiration dates, and key clauses, and populate that data into columns (fields) in the library making not only retrieval and compliance much easier but also automation scenarios, using Power Automate, based upon the data values.

? Provide User Training: Equip employees with the knowledge to tag and search for content effectively. It is truly disheartening to see how many organizations fail to do this on an ongoing basis as stakeholders and the organization change post go-live.

4. The Importance of Authoritative Content

The Problem:

When multiple versions of the same document exist in different locations, employees waste time determining which version is the most up-to-date and reliable.

The Fixes:

? Define Authoritative Sources: Designate libraries or repositories for final, approved, versions of files

? Use Content Type Templates: Upload templates to Content Types and attach those to specific document libraries so that they are available to your users directly from the ‘New’ button in the library. This ensures that the desired data is captured for the metadata columns (fields) you have specified in the Content Type, as well as ensuring that the correct file template is used, and makes it a 1-click action to save the file to that specified document library (no need for your users to think about where in SharePoint the file should be saved!)

? Leverage Approval Workflows: Implement processes to review and approve key documents before they are published based upon where they fall in your Risk/Value matrix

? Metadata-Driven Discoverability: Tag authoritative documents with metadata to distinguish them from drafts or superseded (outdated) versions

Ensuring authoritative content improves trust in information, reduces duplication, and helps employees work with confidence.

5. Use Power Automate and Streamline Workflows

The Problem:

SharePoint is so much more than ‘just’ a storage solution — it’s a platform. If you’re not using automation tools, you’re wasting money!

The Fixes:

? Power Automate: Automate repetitive tasks such as approvals, notifications, and document routing.

o Example: Automatically notify a manager when a contract is uploaded for review.

? Power Apps: Microsoft’s ‘No Code / Low Code / Pro Code’ application builder in Power Platform. Build custom apps tailored to YOUR business needs, streamlining data collection and processing.

o Example: An app for employees to submit expenses and upload receipts directly into SharePoint.

? Power BI: Transform data into interactive dashboards, visualizations, and paginated reports, that help organizations make data-driven decisions.

o Example: Visualizing customer service trends to identify areas for improvement.

? Copilot AI Builder: Add Copilot AI-driven capabilities to workflows, such as form processing, sentiment analysis, and document classification.

o Example: Extracting key data from invoices and feeding it directly into an ERP system.

Final Thoughts

Your SharePoint environment offers the potential to be an actual ‘game-changer’ for your organization — but only if you’re willing to invest in the right structure, governance, and tools. It can drive efficiency, compliance, and seamless collaboration.

Maybe it’s time to ‘get off the pot’ and stop your lackluster SharePoint hold your users back?

Let’s connect and explore how we can turn your SharePoint into a real asset for your organization!