Forum Discussion
Intranet Site Structure with Hub Sites
Hi, all. I have a project currently where I am to build out a sample of our existing Intranet using modern sites, so that we can show leadership not only how much we will benefit from the transition ...
Your questions really require a more detailed answer than can be provided in this forum, but here are a few concepts to think about:
- To be "future proof," your new structure should have no sub-sites. Create each site in the intranet as an independent communication site.
- A site can be connected to one and only one hub. You can link hubs together in navigation but you cannot "nest" them. You will need to plan your navigational architecture to accommodate this limitation.
- If you are concerned about making sure all sites get associate to the "right" hub, you may be over-thinking. Not all sites need to belong to a hub. You can connect sites in navigation with or without leveraging hubs. You can also, however, determine who can associate to a hub and if you like, make it hope so that anyone creating a site can associate that site to any available hub. It then becomes the responsibility of the site owner to choose the appropriate hub. I think that hub association as well as navigation should be planned - and yes, this does require some effort but the outcomes are well worth it for creating a great user "findability" experience.
- You should be able to get the exact same outcomes you have with a legacy wiki site with a modern communication site (each page in the site is analogous to the pages in the legacy wiki site and if you use metadata to organize the pages, you can create a navigation experience that is probably even better than what you might get with a classic wiki.
Here are two reference articles you should review for planning guidance:
Planning Navigation for the Modern SharePoint Experience: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/plan-navigation-modern-experience
Planning Your SharePoint Hub Sites: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/planning-hub-sites
I hate to make a shameless plug but I will because I think it would really help you in your journey. You may want to consider attending SharePoint Fest in Seattle in August. I'll be teaching an all day workshop on Information Architecture for SharePoint that will address virtually all of your questions in some detail (and more). Planning an IA for a great intranet is not trivial - and it's really hard to communicate all of the best practices in a forum like the TechCommunity. https://www.sharepointfest.com/Seattle/aboutus.
- To be "future proof," your new structure should have no sub-sites. Create each site in the intranet as an independent communication site.
- A site can be connected to one and only one hub. You can link hubs together in navigation but you cannot "nest" them. You will need to plan your navigational architecture to accommodate this limitation.
- If you are concerned about making sure all sites get associate to the "right" hub, you may be over-thinking. Not all sites need to belong to a hub. You can connect sites in navigation with or without leveraging hubs. You can also, however, determine who can associate to a hub and if you like, make it hope so that anyone creating a site can associate that site to any available hub. It then becomes the responsibility of the site owner to choose the appropriate hub. I think that hub association as well as navigation should be planned - and yes, this does require some effort but the outcomes are well worth it for creating a great user "findability" experience.
- You should be able to get the exact same outcomes you have with a legacy wiki site with a modern communication site (each page in the site is analogous to the pages in the legacy wiki site and if you use metadata to organize the pages, you can create a navigation experience that is probably even better than what you might get with a classic wiki.
Here are two reference articles you should review for planning guidance:
Planning Navigation for the Modern SharePoint Experience: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/plan-navigation-modern-experience
Planning Your SharePoint Hub Sites: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/planning-hub-sites
I hate to make a shameless plug but I will because I think it would really help you in your journey. You may want to consider attending SharePoint Fest in Seattle in August. I'll be teaching an all day workshop on Information Architecture for SharePoint that will address virtually all of your questions in some detail (and more). Planning an IA for a great intranet is not trivial - and it's really hard to communicate all of the best practices in a forum like the TechCommunity. https://www.sharepointfest.com/Seattle/aboutus.