Microsoft 365 Site Lifecycle

Within your organization, effective management of the Microsoft 365 site lifecycle is critical. First, you must recognize that not all sites hold equal significance in terms of their lifecycle. While certain sites, such as HR intranet sites, may exist indefinitely, other components, like document libraries or collaboration sites, need lifecycle oversight. With no lifecycle organization, companies often face the issue of sprawl.

Understanding site lifecycle

Regarding the Maturity Model and site lifecycle, organizations at the 100 level have a ton of sites, many are inactive, and they don’t know how to deal with them. At level 200 you see some manual management, but it’s irregular. Level 300 you might have a clear site request, provisioning, and retirement process. Level 400 brings automated rules and policies to manage the site portfolio. Level 500 likely has an AI or rules-based analysis that’s watching the site portfolio and providing suggestions.

Site disposition

The disposition of a site upon reaching the end of its lifecycle presents organizations with multiple options. Choices may include outright deletion, archiving, or relocating content offline, with decisions guided by factors such as the site’s purpose, content relevance, and legal obligations.

SharePoint Premium – Microsoft 365 Archive

A feature bundled in SharePoint Premium (with an additional payment) is basically in-place cold storage for SharePoint related content. This functionality allows content to be designated as read-only and withdrawn from general findability while remaining subject to retention policies. We suggest you listen in for the associated costs of this service and weigh its benefits against your archiving requirements.

Archive a Team

You can also archive a “Team”. By doing so, you’ll render the Team read-only while still permitting membership modifications. The functionality of SharePoint is also influenced when archiving a team.

Archive automation

Organizations can leverage various methods, including scripting, timer jobs, and specialized tools like ShareGate and Orchestry to automate their archiving. Julie goes in depth on these options and ways to bundle the tools together to create your own system.

The effective management of Microsoft 365 site lifecycle is important for organizations seeking to uphold order, compliance, and cost-effectiveness. Each organization must tailor its approach to site lifecycle management in alignment with its unique needs, compliance mandates, and resource capabilities. If you need assistance with managing your organization’s site lifecycle, please reach out to our team!

All Resources

Do you have any questions for us? Continue the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #AskSympraxis and mention @SympraxisC.