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tom_s1865's avatar
tom_s1865
Copper Contributor
May 11, 2023

How to coexist two site collection created for the different purpose for the same department?

Hello,

 

I need your suggestion on the followings:

 

There are multiple departments in the organization such as HR, Marketing, Sales, Account, Finance etc.

 

Now, there is a content site for each department also there is another site collection that gets created when we create the MS teams for each department. Can you please suggest how can I prevent having two seperate site collection for the same department while continue utilizing the MS teams for the collaboration while SharePoint for the content management? What are the criteria that I would require to take care?

 

Please help!

 

Best,

T

  • It depends. For large organizations, HR might have multiple communication sites - one for Benefits, one for Recruiting/Talent Acquistion, one for Performance Management plus a "main" HR site that might be a hub for all of the HR sites. See: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/planning-hub-sites#what-should-be-a-hub-site for an example. No, you should not activate publishing features on your modern team site (you may break things if you do) and NO do not mix private team collaboration with communication sites for "publishing" content to a broad audience. Your team site is where you "make the sausage." The communication site is where you "sell the sausage." Your multiple site collections are NOT for the same purpose at all. One is for collaboration and the other is for communication. Different purpose, different audience. Especially with HR, you do not want private HR content on a "public" site. I teach a workshop on information architecture for SharePoint intranets if you want to learn more. The next one will be at 365 EduCon in DC in June.
  • These sites have different purposes and security. Use the team site for work in progress and private content. When a file needs to be shared broadly for read access, move it to the relevant communication site. To “connect” the two sites for the work team, add the communication site or a library as a tab in a Teams channel. From the comm site, you can add a navigation link to the Team or team site and target the link so that it is only visible to Team Members. It is actually a good idea to have (at least) two sites for groups like HR, Finance, etc., who have both private content and content they want to share with the rest of the organization. The communication site will allow those teams to create pages that provide context for the rest of the org without the risk of accidentally exposing private content.
    • tom_s1865's avatar
      tom_s1865
      Copper Contributor
      Thank you very much Susan for your response and suggestions,

      It seems within HR, there are multiple "Teams" site for team work - while there is only one communitcation site for HR. Although it seems reorganizing whole site structure by reducing the subsite into site collection could be a good idea?

      does that mean - each department/project should have two site collection for better collaboration and security? If so - I wonder if having multiple site collection for the same purpose is a good idea? Maybe in "Teams" ( Teams Channel) site, publishing features can be activated so the same site collection can be used for the content pages and team work for document collaboration? Is that a good idea?

      Are there any best practices for SharePoint online site structure?

      Best Regards,
      T
      • SusanHanley's avatar
        SusanHanley
        MVP
        It depends. For large organizations, HR might have multiple communication sites - one for Benefits, one for Recruiting/Talent Acquistion, one for Performance Management plus a "main" HR site that might be a hub for all of the HR sites. See: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/planning-hub-sites#what-should-be-a-hub-site for an example. No, you should not activate publishing features on your modern team site (you may break things if you do) and NO do not mix private team collaboration with communication sites for "publishing" content to a broad audience. Your team site is where you "make the sausage." The communication site is where you "sell the sausage." Your multiple site collections are NOT for the same purpose at all. One is for collaboration and the other is for communication. Different purpose, different audience. Especially with HR, you do not want private HR content on a "public" site. I teach a workshop on information architecture for SharePoint intranets if you want to learn more. The next one will be at 365 EduCon in DC in June.

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