SharePoint implementation: one source of truth for a live operations room

Operators in a live operations room needed fast, accurate information, but it was spread across sources that disagreed with each other.

The agency's operations information sat across legacy systems, Excel files and manual documents, including policies and procedures. The same information was duplicated in several places. Some copies were current; others were well behind.

• Manual searching. Operators used shortcut links to legacy systems and directories to find a procedure while events were unfolding live.
• Hard for new operators. Experienced operators knew where to look; newer ones found it hard to reach the right information.
• Too many copies to maintain. Two subject-matter experts owned the information, and keeping every source up to date was difficult.
• Risk of acting on old information. An operator could treat an outdated copy as the truth.

The agency chose SharePoint as its single source of truth, the first step in introducing Microsoft 365 across the organisation.

I was brought in through the consultancy to handle data migration. Once on site, my scope grew to cover how the whole site was organised, built, governed and handed over.

I worked directly with the people who owned the information and the people who relied on it.

• Two SMEs. They were my main points of contact and owned the information that operators used.
• Operators. I spoke to operations room operators directly to understand what would make information quicker to find. Their answers shaped the navigation.
• Senior stakeholders. I worked with senior stakeholders across the agency to agree how the site should look and work.
• Working rhythm. I met the SMEs in person on site and virtually through Microsoft Teams throughout the engagement.

I designed how information was organised on the site, starting from how operators look for it.

• Navigation. I decided what appears in the navigation, what stays a heading and what drops down with more detail.
• Folders and categories. I set up the folder structure and the categories content would sit under, working with the SMEs.
• Agreement first. The SMEs and senior stakeholders agreed the design before I built it.
• Building it myself. As I became familiar with SharePoint's site-building options, I took on building the navigation as well as designing it.

Every page follows an agreed template, so operators find the same kind of information in the same place every time.

• Consistent sections. Each page has a heading, a summary, procedure steps with an image beside each step, a what-not-to-do section and FAQs.
• A version for each city. The two cities had separate templates to suit their needs.
• Iterated to approval. Headings and layout went through several rounds of feedback before the templates were approved.

• Access control. I set up user permissions and access for the site.
• Approval before publishing. New or changed content needs approval before it goes live.
• Notifications. Approvers are notified when content is waiting, and the right people are notified when someone requests access to a restricted page.
• Tested before go-live. I tested every approval workflow and notification for accuracy.

I migrated about 300 to 350 pages by hand, and created a review process so nothing outdated reached the live site.

Because each template combined text, images and set sections, content could not be bulk-copied. I cleaned every source and moved it into the right section of the right template myself, guided by a migration plan and mapping sheet.

1. 1.Each page went into an Excel migration register I created, with a link to its source.
2. 2.An SME confirmed the source was the latest version and gave it a green light.
3. 3.I migrated the content into the template and marked it as migrated.
4. 4.An SME reviewed the migrated pages in batches of 5 to 10 and approved each one as complete and accurate.
5. 5.Only then did I publish the page.

The register made progress visible to everyone and kept outdated or incorrect information off SharePoint.

• Guides. I wrote the user and administration guides: finding information, editing and updating pages, managing permissions and handling approvals.
• Training. I ran sessions for the SMEs and stakeholders covering navigation, editing, permissions and where approval and access notifications arrive.

The site went live for both cities a week before the deadline, ahead of the Christmas shutdown.

• One place for operations information, instead of duplicated copies across legacy sources.
• Navigation designed around how operators actually search, rather than shortcuts to several systems.
• Every live page has a confirmed source and SME approval recorded in the register.
• SMEs can keep content current through approval workflows they were trained to use.

• Agreeing the base templates. Getting every stakeholder to agree how the templates looked took many rounds.
• Complete and accessible pages. Each template had to be easy to read and include every piece of information its page needed.
• A growing scope in a fixed window. The work expanded well beyond migration within an engagement of under two months.

• In a live operations environment, a single, current source of truth is critical. Outdated information can lead to wrong changes in operational systems.
• A simple register with SME sign-off at each step made a manual migration transparent and trustworthy.