Thoughtless SharePoint Site Provisioning: The Hidden Cost of Convenience

In the age of rapid collaboration and cloud-first strategies, provisioning SharePoint sites has never been easier. But with great power comes great potential for chaos. When sites are created without proper analysis, planning, or governance, organisations often find themselves buried under a mountain of sprawl, broken workflows, and compliance nightmares.

Let’s unpack why this practice is risky—and explore real-world examples where it’s gone wrong.

🚨 The Problem: Convenience Over Strategy

Provisioning a SharePoint site is just a few clicks away. But when those clicks happen without:

• Purpose definition
• Information architecture planning
• Governance alignment
• Security and compliance review

…you’re not building a solution—you’re planting a ticking time bomb.

🔍 Real-World Failures from Poor Site Provisioning

1. The ROT Tsunami: Redundant, Obsolete, Trivial Data

A global consultancy allowed unrestricted site creation across departments. Within a year, they had over 2,000 SharePoint sites—many duplicating the same content. The result?

• 20%+ of their data was ROT (Redundant, Obsolete, Trivial)¹
• Search performance degraded
• Storage limits were exceeded, triggering Microsoft’s read-only mode
• Cleanup took six months and required external consultants

“We thought we were empowering teams. We ended up drowning in digital clutter.” — IT Manager, anonymous case study

2. Broken Provisioning Templates: The Automation Trap

An IT manager at a mid-sized firm used a custom provisioning tool to create sites based on PnP templates. Unfortunately, the tool wasn’t tested for edge cases. Several sites failed to provision correctly, leaving users with half-configured environments and broken permissions².

• No document libraries were created
• Navigation links pointed to non-existent pages
• Users lost trust in the platform

“We had to manually rebuild sites and reapply templates via PowerShell. It was a governance nightmare.” — Microsoft Q&A thread²

3. The Collaboration Mirage: Failed Adoption

At a large enterprise, a SharePoint site was provisioned to replace an existing intranet without stakeholder input. The new site had:

• No migration plan
• No redirect strategy
• No training or onboarding

Despite its modern design, users clung to the legacy site. Adoption stalled, and the new site became a ghost town.

“We built a beautiful site. Nobody came.” — Curtis Hughes, Collab365 Summit³

🧭 Why Thoughtful Provisioning Matters

✅ 1. Purpose-Driven Architecture

Every site should serve a defined purpose—project, department, community—with clear content types and lifecycle expectations.

✅ 2. Governance Alignment

Provisioning should trigger automated policies for:

• Retention
• Sensitivity labels
• External sharing controls
• Audit logging

✅ 3. Information Architecture Planning

Define:

• Navigation structure
• Metadata taxonomy
• Content types
• Permissions model

✅ 4. User Experience and Adoption

Involve stakeholders early. Design with their workflows in mind. Provide training and feedback loops.

🛠️ Geoff’s Governance Checklist for Site Provisioning

Before provisioning a site, ask:

Question	Why It Matters
What is the site’s purpose?	Prevents duplication and ROT
Who owns the site?	Enables lifecycle and compliance tracking
What content types will be stored?	Drives metadata and retention policies
Who needs access?	Ensures proper permissions and security
How will the site be maintained?	Avoids orphaned or abandoned sites
Is this replacing an existing site?	Triggers migration and redirect planning

🧩 Final Thoughts

Provisioning a SharePoint site is not just a technical task—it’s a governance decision. Without thoughtful analysis, you risk building digital silos, eroding user trust, and violating compliance standards.

Sources:

• Microsoft Q&A: SharePoint Online Provisioning Failure
• Collab365: 7 Deadly Sins of SharePoint
• Sprobot: SharePoint Sprawl and ROT Data

References (3)

1. 5 ways Teams and SharePoint sprawl is hurting your organisation. https://www.sprobot.io/blog/5-ways-teams-and-sharepoint-sprawl-is-hurting-your-organisation
2. Sharepoint Online – Provisioning Failure – Microsoft Q&A. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/98401/sharepoint-online-provisioning-failure
3. 7 Deadly Sins of SharePoint: Planning Successful Implementations and …. https://collab365.com/7-deadly-sins-of-sharepoint-planning-successful-implementations-and-avoiding-project-failure/