Information architecture before web parts
Most SharePoint disappointments come from structure rather than code. Sites sprawl, libraries hold thousands of unlabelled files, and permissions are granted file by file. We start with an information architecture: hub sites, site templates, content types, managed metadata and retention labels, so people find documents through metadata and search instead of folder guesswork. Navigation, search scopes and page templates follow from that structure.
Permissions follow Microsoft 365 groups and sensitivity labels instead of one-off sharing links. Where regulated content exists, we align with your records policy and Purview configuration, and we flag the limits of what SharePoint alone can enforce. Retention and records rules should be agreed with legal or compliance before libraries are created, since changing them across thousands of documents afterwards is slow. We keep the number of sites reasonable, prefer a few well-governed hubs, and document a lifecycle for creating and archiving team sites.
