SharePoint Archive - Content Formula

SharePoint lists: The Beginner’s Guide

Posted on 29 January 202310 February 2023 by Joe Perry

SharePoint lists are one of the most useful features in SharePoint and the wider Microsoft 365 digital workplace. They are a highly flexible and convenient way to store and display data and content, with a variety of different options relating to formatting, access and workflows; they’re also super-easy to use.

At Content Formula we are long term fans of lists and over the years we’ve used them many times across our projects. If you have a SharePoint intranet or environment, it’s extremely likely that you will use a SharePoint list somewhere along the way.

If you’re relatively new to SharePoint lists or don’t use them as much as you could do, this beginners guide to SharePoint lists is for you. In this long read we cover:

What SharePoint lists are
The difference between Microsoft lists and SharePoint lists
The benefits of lists
The different features of a SharePoint list
Some of the use cases for lists
How to create a list in SharePoint Online
How to delete a list in SharePoint Online
How to import a list from Excel.

What are SharePoint lists?

SharePoint lists have been a core feature of SharePoint for many years. Lists are essentially a way of storing and displaying data and content within SharePoint in a set of rows and columns, similar to a table or a spreadsheet. A list is a highly flexible way to both manage but also display structured information and content within SharePoint, with a variety of options relating to formatting, access rights and different types of content. You can also apply rules and workflow.

What’s the difference between Microsoft lists and SharePoint Lists?

At the moment there are two separately branded lists from Microsoft – Microsoft lists and SharePoint lists; this can cause some confusion in the marketplace. Actually, these have the same features and user interface and can be considered the same – the only difference is that SharePoint lists sit within a SharePoint site while Microsoft Lists sit within a personal site, similar to OneDrive.

Microsoft introduced the “Microsoft lists” branding when it upgraded the list features in 2020 and wanted to emphasise that lists can also be deployed directly into Teams and be used standalone. However, since then the features within SharePoint lists and Microsoft lists are synchronised. Microsoft lists have their own dedicated web and mobile app. For a deeper dive on this topic, please read our article about the difference between Microsoft lists and SharePoint lists.

What are the benefits of a SharePoint and Microsoft lists?

Lists are an excellent way to store and manage data in SharePoint, Teams and Microsoft 365 and have several benefits:

Highly flexible and scalable

Lists are highly flexible and scalable. They can be very small or very large with thousands of items. They can accommodate different types of content including text, images, videos, audio, documents, formulae and metadata. They can also have a wide variety of different formatting. You can also apply workflow to lists and control the access. This flexibility means that a SharePoint list can meet a wide variety of use cases and scenarios – it’s one of the key reasons SharePoint lists are so useful.

Granular levels of control

One of the most powerful elements of lists is the high level of granular control that you have over lists down to the row, column and even cell level, for example relating to both formatting but also access control. For example, you might have a number of people who are updating a list of first aiders throughout your organisation that is displayed on your intranet, but you want to ensure they can only update one column within the list. The granularity of control means you can protect the rest of the list and ensure other information doesn’t get overwritten, for example.

Easy to create and manage

Another major advantage of lists is that they’re super easy to create and manage; working with lists is not dissimilar to working with spreadsheets. Because of Microsoft’s generally “no code low code” approach to modern SharePoint, you do not need to involve the IT function. Lists are open to use by non-IT professionals, such as the intranet team or even local site owners.

One source of truth for data and content

When organisations use SharePoint for their intranet or as a trusted repository of information, they are often trying to ensure there is one source of truth for data. SharePoint lists support one source of truth by having various features to support the governance of data, including granular access control and integration with Power Automate to ensure information kept in a SharePoint list is updated in other systems, and vice-versa. Because the list can also be surfaced across different Microsoft 365 tools it also means that there only needs to be one instance of the list, again supporting one source of truth.

Ready-made templates and formatting

Lists come with a set of ready-made templates with nice formatting to cover different types of lists such as asset managers, content schedulers, budget trackers, issue trackers and many more. Many of these are provided by Microsoft, but there are also many others available on GitHub from the Microsoft community.

Deep integration with other Microsoft 365 tools

One of the reasons that lists are so powerful is their deep integration with other Microsoft 365 tools. You can use lists within Teams, for example. Integration with Microsoft Forms is also particularly useful as you can easily create a Form for people to add information too and then instantly populate a SharePoint list; this can be very handy when you want to guide users to enter certain types of information, with a Form doing the heavy lifting on the data entry.

Integration with Power Automate, Power Apps and the other tools within the Power Platform is also key meaning that workflows can be triggered when information is changed or added, and then be updated in another system, and vice-versa. For example, if somebody changed their name in the HR system of record, this could then be updated in a SharePoint list of first aiders that was kept on the intranet.

Often better than an Excel spreadsheet

Many teams use Excel to store and manage structured information, but actually a SharePoint list is usually a superior tool for managing information. Reasons that lists are frequently better than Excel spreadsheets include the ability to maintain control over certain areas of the list, better data integrity and deeper integration with Microsoft 365.

Microsoft keeps on investing

Like most of the tools across the Microsoft 365 suite, Microsoft keeps on investing in lists and making improvements. For example, there was a major “upgrade” in 2020. Lists is also a heavily utilised feature in SharePoint and will almost certainly be around for a long time yet, so you are effectively future-proofed using lists.

What are the different features of a SharePoint list?

Three are a number of key features of SharePoint lists.

Cells, columns and rows

A SharePoint list is fundamentally a table that includes different cells set out in a rows and columns format. However, within a list the rows are known as list items. Within the columns you can define required different data types such as text, number, date / time and so on. A column can also define a look-up list of values; for example, all the locations within an organisation or the list of products your company offers to clients.

List views and formatting

It's possible to set different views to filter your list and use different formatting. This is now highly flexible so that you can create a range of formats to suit different use cases, reorder columns and even do things like pin items to the top of the list. There is even conditional formatting so that a list could change in appearance based on the item added, for example a status could be displayed as Red, Amber or Green depending on information being added.

Templates

As already noted, Microsoft has created a set of different templates which include asset manager, content scheduler, employee on-boarding, event itinerary, issues tracker, recruitment tracker, travel requests and work progress tracker. There are also community-driven templates available via GitHub.

Rules and workflows

You can also add various rules and workflows to your list, some of them through the integration with Power Automate. You can also control access to read and edit different areas of the list. The integration with a Microsoft Forms front end can also help to enforce different rules for content entry.

What are some of the use cases for a SharePoint list?

There are many different use cases for a SharePoint list, many of which are reflected in the templates available. SharePoint lists are excellent for scenarios where:

Information is often changed on a regular basis
Where a wider number of people may be inputting data
Where a wide number of people need to regularly refer to the data
Where the data needs to be displayed in more than one place
Where the data needs to be updated across different systems.

Here are a few popular use cases, but there are many others:

Using it as an events calendar to store on your intranet covering key dates and milestones, including holidays in different countries
An inventory list covering office equipment or technical equipment
Maintaining lists of people relating to roles such as fire wardens, mental first aiders, HR contacts for each location and so on
Maintaining a list of locations with related information about each office, such as address, opening hours, main contact etc.
Tracking a list of issues and their related status for a project
Maintaining a backlog of changes for a product or application – even your intranet!
Logging requests and feedback on a product or application and tracking their status
Keeping a log of different requests such as for a new phone and then allowing people to view the status for their request
A list of subscribers to different journals and information feeds
Maintaining a list of the required steps for a new starter during the employee on-boarding process
Providing the latest version of a user manual or documentation across a portfolio of products
Keeping a directory of apps in use throughout the enterprise
And many more!

How do I create a list in SharePoint Online?

1. Navigate to the SharePoint site where you want to create the list.

2. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the page and select "Site contents" from the menu.

3. Click on the "+New" button and select "List" from the options.

4. Enter a name for the list and a description (optional) and click on the "Create" button.

Once the list is created, you can add columns and items to it by clicking on the "Add column" or "New" button.

How do I delete a list in SharePoint Online?

1. Navigate to the SharePoint site where the list is located.

2. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the page and select "Site contents" from the menu.

3. Locate the list you want to delete and hover over its name.

4. Click on the ellipsis (...) that appears and select "Delete" from the options.

5. Confirm the deletion by clicking "Delete" in the pop-up window. Note: Be careful when deleting list, it will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored.

How do I import a SharePoint list from Excel?

1. Select the gear icon and choose "Add an App"

2. On the next screen, give your new app/list a name, then choose an Excel file. Click Import.

3. You will now notice an Excel file open up with a pop-up window where you need to select a range of cells to import. Once you choose the range of cells in the pop-up, click Import.

The table will now be imported to SharePoint. It will go ahead and create a custom list with proper column headers and values.

Need help with SharePoint list or Microsoft lists? Get in touch!

We hope this beginner’s guide has given you an overview of SharePoint lists, how they can be used and answered some key questions. We’ve been using SharePoint lists for years, so if you need any help then get in touch!

The power of SharePoint lists: 5 reasons why they are better than spreadsheets

30th September 2020

A SharePoint list is one of the most powerful and flexible features of SharePoint, but its potential is often overlooked. In this post we look at reasons why SharePoint lists can work better than Excel spreadsheets.

What is the difference between SharePoint Lists and Microsoft Lists?

29th January 2023

Lists are one of the most longstanding and useful elements of SharePoint and the now the wider Microsoft 365 environment. In this post, we look at the differences between SharePoint Lists and Microsoft Lists.

Should I synchronise SharePoint lists with SQL server database?

29th January 2023

In this post we look at the pros and cons regarding SharePoint list synchronisation with SQL server database and data import and exports. And provide our recommended alternative options for successfully utilising SharePoint lists.

Should I synchronise SharePoint lists with SQL server database?

Posted on 29 January 20238 February 2023 by Joe Perry

SharePoint lists and Microsoft lists are a wonderful way to manage and display information, for example in your intranet or within Microsoft Teams. Organisations that are keen to ensure there is one source of truth for their data and information can use lists together with Power Automate to help maintain the integrity of their data, so that when there is a change to one piece of data this is also reflected elsewhere.

Some organisations that use SQL Server to store and query their data, and also use SharePoint for communication and their intranet, are often keen to ensure that the data that is stored in SQL can also be surfaced in SharePoint lists.

A question that we occasionally get asked is what the best way to synchronise a SharePoint lists with SQL Server database, so information is updated in both systems. Other related questions include:

How do I import or export data from SQL Server to a SharePoint list?
Can I connect a SQL server to a SharePoint list?

While synchronisation and data import / exports are technically possible, these approaches have several disadvantages, and is a practice we do not recommend to our clients. In this post we’re going to explore the topic in more detail and suggest why there are better approaches.

What are SharePoint lists?

A SharePoint list (or Microsoft list) is a format for storing and displaying data and content within SharePoint in a set of rows and columns, similar to a table or a spreadsheet. Lists are a highly flexible way to both manage but also display structured information and content within SharePoint, as well as Teams and other part of Microsoft 365. For more detail on see our SharePoint Lists beginner’s guide.

What is SQL Server database?

SQL Server is a relational database management system that is frequently used by organisations to store, manage and query data used in core systems, reporting and business intelligence. It has been around for many years and is still a popular way of storing data in organisations, with SQL skills commonplace among IT professionals.

Why do organisations want to keep the data in lists and SQL synchronised?

It’s not surprising that organisations want to keep their data synchronised between SSL and SharePoint lists. Having one source of truth ensures that data is consistent wherever it appears, across core systems, dashboards, reports and communication channels like the intranet. Bringing data together from different sources is essential for decision making, management and leadership, as well as compliance, risk management and more.

It is essential that the integrity of data is maintained, and querying data dynamically has value. Commonly, digital workplace teams want to surface data and display information that managers and employees need to refer to, in popular channels like Teams, a SharePoint intranet or in SharePoint communication sites. Lists is a very useful format for visualising and displaying data.

Lists are also used to manage and update information too, and teams want to ensure that any information changed in a list is also updated in SQL too. With two-way synchronisation, teams can ensure there is one source of truth.

What are the challenges of synchronising lists and SQL Server?

If you are planning to go ahead and synchronise SharePoint lists and SQL Server, there are various pitfalls to be wary of.

1. You’re going to need to get IT involved

Synchronising lists and SQL is essentially a custom development and will come at a cost, as well as create technical debt which causes various problems down the line. There are connectors on the market, but these will need to be tested and again come with some risk. However you approach it, you will need to get a development resource involved in the synchronisation. If you haven’t got the expertise in-house, you’ll likely have to go external.

2. It needs ongoing maintenance and monitoring

Connectors and / or custom code will require ongoing maintenance and monitoring to make sure the synchronisation is taking place, and then to make any necessary fixes if a problem arises. Again, this results in ongoing costs and reliance on development resources.

3. You risk the integrity of your data

Perhaps the most significant issue with synchronising SharePoint lists and SQLs is that you are actually setting up two places for data to be stored. If the synchronisation fails, it means that you are risking the integrity of your data with two different versions.

If there is an issue and doesn’t get noticed straight away, it might take a lot of unpicking and effort to restore all the data to its correct state, There may also be potential consequence if employees are relying on out of date or incorrect data for decision-making and key processes.

4. SQL and lists are not the same thing

SQL is a relational database, but a SharePoint list is not a relational database. This can limit some of the information you can synchronise; if you are trying to synchronise you really do need to know what you’re doing or further risk your data integrity.

What are the alternatives?

In our view synchronising SQL and lists comes with associated risks, costs and ongoing effort. There are better alternatives.

Using Power BI

Sometimes teams want to visualise their data and content using a SharePoint list, because its an easy and flexible format. However, Power BI offers an alternative (and often superior) option for data visualisation and comes with a ready-made connector for SQL. Here, you can then set up your dashboard and report without undermining the “one source of truth” caused by syncing with lists, and also avoid the costs associated with a custom approach.

Using the Dataverse

The Dataverse is Microsoft’s solution for data storage that’s utilised across Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform. It’s an Azure-based relational database for storing data which can then be surfaced, updated and queried across different Microsoft applications, as well as non-Microsoft applications if required. It is bundled in with Power Apps subscriptions.

Using the Dataverse means your SharePoint list can easily utilise the data contained within it in a more effective and cheaper way thanks to seamless integration which means:

You don’t have actually have to involve developers; this can be carried out by Power Users all within a low code no code interface
No customisation and associated costs are required with everything covered in your PowerApps subscription
You don’t need ongoing maintenance and effort
You avoid the risk of creating conflicting data.

Overall, using the Dataverse rather than trying to sync a SharePoint list and SQL means lower risk, lower costs, less effort and avoids various other pitfalls.

Need advice on lists, SQL and the Dataverse? Get in touch!

Synchronising SharePoint lists or Microsoft lists and SQL Server has various pitfalls, and in our view there are better alternatives.

If you’d like to discuss lists, SQL, the Dataverse or how you manage and store your data across the digital workplace, then get in touch!

The power of SharePoint lists: 5 reasons why they are better than spreadsheets

30th September 2020

SharePoint lists: The Beginner’s Guide

29th January 2023

SharePoint lists have been a core feature of SharePoint for many years. But if you’re relatively new to SharePoint lists or don’t use them as much as you could do, this beginners guide will give you all the information you need to start utilising them to best effect.

What is the difference between SharePoint Lists and Microsoft Lists?

29th January 2023

6 great SharePoint examples with screenshots for 2022

Posted on 16 February 20228 February 2023 by John Scott

SharePoint remains an excellent platform for delivering high impact intranets and digital workplace solutions to increase engagement, drive efficiency, minimise risk and improve productivity. At Content Formula, we’ve delivered hundreds of SharePoint projects that have supported employees in their day-to-day work while helping the organisations they work for realise strategic goals.

One of the major advantages of SharePoint is its flexibility, insofar as it can deliver all kinds of different solutions while integrating with other Office 365 tools, providing huge value either out of the box or with customisation. There is also a highly mature ecosystem of products based on SharePoint.

With intranets and the digital workplace set to be more important in 2022 than ever, there are bound to be many opportunities for SharePoint to make a difference. Let’s look at six high impact examples of how you can use SharePoint, illustrated with screenshots from some of the work we have delivered to clients.

1 Using SharePoint to implement Viva Connections

One of the most exciting digital workplace developments of the past 18 months has been the launch of Microsoft Viva – the employee experience platform that consists of complementary apps that are accessed through Teams. One of these is Viva Connections, which seeks to surface internal communications, relevant reference content and Yammer conversations all within the Teams experience. Additionally, the Viva Connections dashboard can feature integrations from other digital workplace systems such as ServiceNow, SuccessFactors and Glint. We know many internal communications and digital workplace teams are currently considering how they can use Viva Connections, and 2022 will be a big year for the platform.

There is still some confusion about Viva Connections and whether it replaces a SharePoint intranet. In fact, Viva Connections is dependent on SharePoint, as what you’re viewing is essentially SharePoint content within the Microsoft Teams environment. By making a SharePoint communication or hub site a home site and creating your desired navigation within Viva Connections (or inheriting it from the home site), you can allow employees to access SharePoint content through Teams. This can be really valuable if your employees spend a lot of time within Teams, bringing SharePoint content to the place where they are working and providing a more consistent digital workplace experience across different tools.

2 Creating a hub or portal to centralise and contextualise learning

Over the past year, placing learning and training right at the heart of the digital workplace and the daily flow of work has come increasingly into focus. This is partly down to the possibilities of integrating a learning platform seamlessly into Office 365 through a solution like LMS365 (which is actually based on SharePoint), as well as the launch of Microsoft Viva Learning which surfaces relevant learning content for users.

If you are using LMS365, a great use case for SharePoint is to create a learning hub on your intranet which can act as a seamless front page into your learning platform, giving more context about the content you provide It can also be a top-level navigation item in your information architecture so users can find it more easily. Here, you can leverage SharePoint web parts such as news, events, key links and even Yammer threads to bring together the latest updates, as well as provide information about learning at your organisation, offer opportunities to ask questions to the learning team and more. You can also link to relevant dashboards within LMS365.

Because LMS365 integrates so seamlessly with a SharePoint intranet, users may not even realise that they are entering the LMS365 platform because it will feel like one integrated ecosystem, delivering a consistent digital employee experience and supporting good learning adoption.

3 A central policy library to support compliance and minimise risk

SharePoint is an excellent platform for employees to access the trusted, authoritative information, content and documents that they need in order to get things done, carry out their role or complete mandatory compliance-related tasks. A central policy library built on SharePoint and Microsoft 365 has real value as a place where employees can easily find HR and work-related policies, procedural information, critical forms, key guidelines and more, knowing they are accessing the latest and most up-to-date information. When you don’t have a central library, it cannot only prove difficult for employees to find the policies they need, but if they do, they then have no way of knowing if it is the right version. Carrying out tasks and making decisions based on out-of-date policy documents can involve risks, especially if they pertain to a topic like health & safety.

There are multiple ways to create a policy library using SharePoint, such as leveraging pages, a document library, integrating workflows from Power Automate and using the right permissions to ensure documents are kept up to date. At Content Formula, we have used SharePoint as the basis for Xoralia – a sophisticated and intelligent policies and procedures library software product with multiple features including mandatory reads, detailed reporting, robust policy lifecycle management and even a range of useful web parts that you can deploy on your SharePoint intranet.

4 An HR intrant to support self-service and key HR processes

An HR intranet based on SharePoint is an excellent way to help HR teams achieve their goals and ensure employees have access to the people-related information they need. An HR-focused SharePoint intranet will have a number of key features including access to HR policies, personalisation to target information to the right location and role and integrations with core HR systems to support self-service tasks like booking annual leave. The flexibility of SharePoint means this can all be achieved in a relatively straightforward way that allows employees to access what they need on a self-serve basis, relieving pressure on busy HR support teams.

SharePoint pages can also include information and integrations to streamline major HR processes. For example, employee onboarding is a high-value use case that supports good employee experience. You can use a combination of SharePoint web parts, features and integrations like lists, notifications, to-dos, forms and personalisation to make sure new joiners have an authoritative list of the tasks they need to complete and when. They can then perform the tasks and track their progress. This drives efficiency and makes the onboarding experience smoother for new joiners.

5 Revolutionising frontline messaging with a custom SharePoint solution

Communicating with frontline staff in a targeted and impactful way can be challenging. For example, we were engaged by TTEC – a global provider of customer experience services with many frontline staff deployed to different customers – to deliver an improved method of messaging hard-to-reach staff. Using email had proved to be ineffectual, and they were looking for a fresh way to deliver personalised, hyper-targeted messaging.

One of the advantages of using SharePoint here is that you can deliver customised solutions. Customisation is not always desired by IT functions, but for high impact use cases, it can be necessary to achieve great results. We were able to deliver a user-friendly messaging service that is hard-baked into their already highly-used SharePoint intranet. Here, each employee can view personal and targeted group messages and reply to them. It’s a simple and elegant solution that has had a strong impact and exploits the power of SharePoint.

6 Streamlining digital communications through a SharePoint intranet homepage

The digital communications landscape for most organisations is highly complex, with multiple channels for internal and external messaging as well as varied audience targeting across different locations, functions and regions. It’s hard for employees to keep on top of all the news they need to read, events they might want to attend, automated notifications they may receive from different systems, various social feeds and more!

One thing a SharePoint intranet does very well is surface news and updates from different channels in one place, helping to streamline communications and reduce information overload while also ensuring relevance through matching the right content to an individual’s Active Directory profile. For example, a SharePoint intranet homepage could include:

Global, regional, divisional, departmental and role-based news
Automated notifications, reminders and approval requests from right across the digital workplace
Embedded social feeds from internal tools like Yammer or external channels like Twitter
Details of events
And more!

A compelling intranet homepage that improves communications is a common use case that is as relevant in 2022 as it has been for the past fifteen years.

Using SharePoint in 2022

We’re looking to delivering more exciting SharePoint projects this year. If you’d like to discuss your potential SharePoint intranet or digital workplace project, then get in touch!

What’s on the Microsoft 365 roadmap for 2022?

Posted on 17 January 202229 December 2022 by Joe Perry

One of the pleasures of working with SharePoint, Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft 365 platform in general is the continual investment Microsoft drives to improve the platform, introducing new tools and features. For example, in 2021, we welcomed the Microsoft Viva suite. Sometimes, these changes are modest but have powerful potential, such as extending the formatting options for SharePoint lists. However, it can be difficult and even overwhelming for admins and IT teams to try and keep up with all the changes.

In 2022, we’re expecting another very active year for Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and 365. It’s also going to be a big year for Microsoft Viva. In this post, we’re going to cover some of the changes we’re most looking forward to here at Content Formula, but really, we’re only scratching the surface of what’s coming.

The full detailed Microsoft 365 roadmap contains over 500 items in development at the time of writing, plus over 250 more being rolled out. The Book of News summary of main announcements from November 2021’s Ignite conference is a good place to start, showing a very active roadmap ahead. Of course, there will also be some surprises that haven’t been announced, or things that have been promised but haven’t yet appeared.

Here’s our pick of the 2022 Microsoft roadmap so far.

Additions and enhancements to Microsoft Viva

The Microsoft Viva suite of apps was a high-profile launch in 2021, and is getting huge interest from digital workplace, intranet, HR and internal communications teams. We think Microsoft will continue to push Viva hard in 2022, making it an increasingly accepted part of the digital workplace landscape.

Microsoft has announced a slew of changes that will continue to enhance Viva’s value. One of these will be a whole new Viva module related to OKRs (Objective and Key Results) emerging from Microsoft’s acquisition of ally.io, an OKR software vendor. The reporting within Viva Insights will continue to expand, with new areas covering management behaviours and meeting habits, the latter being an area where businesses still exhibit bad practices.

The power of Viva Topics is going to be extended, covering Outlook and Yammer communities while also trialling an intriguing Q&A concierge service which routes queries to relevant subject-matter experts; this will help expertise location and knowledge-sharing. The power of SharePoint Syntex can also be leveraged to build topics. The library of out-of-the-box connectors for different enterprise systems across all the Viva apps will continue to expand, with some significant additions Workday and DocuSign, in particular, launching in early 2022.

Microsoft Teams goes from strength to strength

The success of Microsoft Teams has been remarkable, and is an integral part of the digital workplace for many organisations. Microsoft continue to add to it, and the 2022 roadmap should see another round of enhancements, many of which cement Teams as the all-in-one communication system for employees.

One of the most far-reaching of these enhancements is further development of Microsoft Teams Connect – the feature that enables external collaboration. It will be easier to schedule meetings in a Teams channel that is shared across multiple organisations and individuals, providing a welcome addition to enable projects involving third parties and contractors. Chat will also be extended to allow individuals to use Teams with anyone outside a work network for personal calls while still sticking to organisational security policies, thus extending Teams popularity.

There are also some enhancements to Teams analytics in the pipeline. A new device-specific analytics board will be of particular interest to organisations who have rolled out the Teams mobile app, while a board that provides data and analytics per physical workspace will be useful in co-ordinating hybrid working or improving adoption in specific locations.

Other improvements and additions include:

The ability to join BlueJeans and GoToMeeting calls from a Teams Room, joining existing support for Zoom and Cicso
More support to use Teams as part of a hotdesking solution
More apps for Teams being added by partners
Some improvements to chat, including the ability for a user to send memo reminders to themselves on a chat thread
An improved design for the Teams app store
A new virtual green room for Teams events
A slew of improvements for event organisers, including better Q&A, having multiple moderators and more.

Microsoft Mesh for Teams

Support for augmented and virtual reality has been steadily improving in the background, although outside some online events, specific learning sessions and niche scenarios, these 3D experiences are yet to really seize the imagination of organisations or digital workplace teams.

Despite this, large tech providers are staking a lot of future investment on AR, VR and 3D experiences, particularly for remove events, meetings and collaboration. Facebook has changed its name to Meta and shared their plans for an immersive AR / VR world called the Metaverse, which is painted a little like Second Life on steroids. Microsoft’s response is to continue to roll out Mesh – its mixed reality framework – that is now being extended to Microsoft Teams.

The introduction of Mesh in Teams allows participants to meet in 3D scenarios as avatars that display their reactions. Microsoft says this means users can maintain their presence in meetings without turning on cameras, and interact socially in more informal spaces for those much-discussed water cooler moments. The adoption and utilisation of these features in 2022 is going to be fascinating to watch, partly because we genuinely don’t know if they will take off or not.

More power for the Power Platform

Along with hybrid, low-code and no-code have been the digital workplace phrases of the year, and that looks set to continue in 2022. Microsoft are investing in a round of improvements to the Power Platform.

Some of these are designed to help organisations leverage the apps and workflow of the Power Platform more easily within the Teams experience, particularly Power Virtual Agents, to bring bots more directly into channels or target them to specific security groups. A Power BI app for Teams is also now available.

A new capability called process mining within Power Automate generates analytics and process maps across processes and workflows, aiming to provide insights on the success of processes, analysing the time spent on steps and where there are bottlenecks. We think this forensic approach will be of interest to many teams, and support continual improvement.

There are a range of other smaller improvements, too numerous to go into in-depth here, which include some interesting developments to drive citizen development. For example, within Power Virtual Agents, bot developers will be able to have conversations inside the bot authoring experience – a simple feature which could allow citizen developers to seek advice or collaborate with IT experts and their peers. This ability to collaborate and comment is being extended across the other Power Platform apps too, with notes and feedback similar to commenting in Office. Again, we see this helping to drive citizen development or offer support in cases where central IT resources are seeking input from business process owners or teams.

Upgrades to Microsoft Stream

Video is now a popular medium in many organisations, complementing internal communications, leadership communications, learning and even employee blogging (logging). Previously, Microsoft Stream the video sharing platform within the 365 platform has made it easy to embed videos within SharePoint intranets or communication sites, but the actual Stream user experience has been more of a separate app experience.

Now, Microsoft Stream is being rebranded as Microsoft Steam classic, and Stream built on SharePoint is being introduced. Video and audio files will be stored in the same way that other files are stored in SharePoint, making it even easier to integrate Stream right across the 365 suite. It also means that video and audio files will align to other SharePoint governance put in place for content services, covering permissions, compliance and more. This will bring video more efficiently into the overall 365 experience, including within a SharePoint intranet, and remove any associated barriers around video sharing and podcasting.

SharePoint Syntex additions

One of the roadmap areas we’re most excited about is an expansion of SharePoint Syntex – the AI feature that can be applied to content in various imaginative ways. In the next generation of Syntex, there is better support for using the software to construct Microsoft office documents so you can build model documents, for example, with different data and sections based on information from other elements. For example, you could automatically build standard NDA or contract documents based on information generated from your CRM system, with some variation dependent on who the contract concerns, as may be the case for UK- or US-based businesses.

We can see great value in high-volume documents areas such as contract management, invoicing or procurement processes. Used in conjunction with other parts of the Microsoft 365 suite, there are certainly some intriguing combinations that could transform inefficient processes. The ability to leverage Syntex for document searching using Syntex-generated metadata is also being extended.

Get in touch!

The new year is going to be another big one for Microsoft 365, Teams and Viva. We’re excited for all that is to come! If you’d like to discuss your strategy and plans for 2022, then get in touch!

Webinar video: Using SharePoint for policy management and compliance

Posted on 2 December 202125 March 2023 by John Scott

Ensuring that employees read policies is an important factor in compliance for all organisations. You may be considering using SharePoint to manage your policies or your organization may be using it now, but in either case you may be asking the question Is SharePoint the best approach?

During this webinar, we will show you how to get the most out of SharePoint when managing your policies and help your organisation to stay compliant.

We will explain why SharePoint is the best approach and cover:

Common organisational scenarios in policy management
How to get the best out of SharePoint
Is SharePoint enough?
One of our customer case studies

Book a live demo

Find out more about Xoralia policy management software

During the demo, we'll walk you through Xoralia’s various features and functionality, providing plenty of time for you to ask our experts questions along the way.

Book a demo

7 reasons to use SharePoint for policy management

By Content Formula

In this article we explore the benefits of using SharePoint for managing your policy and procedure processes and how to leverage the features and functionality that it provides.

Why use SharePoint policy management software?

By Content Formula

Policy and proccedure management is important for every organisation. It helps to minimise risk, achieve regulatory compliance and standardise the way employees drive efficiency.

Policy management software

By Xoralia

Introducing Xoralia, our intelligent and powerful policy management software that has been designed and developed to use in SharePoint and Microsoft 365, to automate and streamline the entire policy lifecycle.

What are SharePoint lists?

What’s the difference between Microsoft lists and SharePoint Lists?

What are the benefits of a SharePoint and Microsoft lists?

What are the different features of a SharePoint list?

What are some of the use cases for a SharePoint list?

How do I create a list in SharePoint Online?

How do I delete a list in SharePoint Online?

How do I import a SharePoint list from Excel?

Need help with SharePoint list or Microsoft lists? Get in touch!

Find out more about using SharePoint lists for your organisation...

Related articles...

The power of SharePoint lists: 5 reasons why they are better than spreadsheets

What is the difference between SharePoint Lists and Microsoft Lists?

Should I synchronise SharePoint lists with SQL server database?

What are SharePoint lists?

What is SQL Server database?

Why do organisations want to keep the data in lists and SQL synchronised?

What are the challenges of synchronising lists and SQL Server?

1. You’re going to need to get IT involved

2. It needs ongoing maintenance and monitoring

3. You risk the integrity of your data

4. SQL and lists are not the same thing

What are the alternatives?

Using Power BI

Using the Dataverse

Find out more about using SharePoint lists for your organisation...

Related articles...

The power of SharePoint lists: 5 reasons why they are better than spreadsheets

SharePoint lists: The Beginner’s Guide

What is the difference between SharePoint Lists and Microsoft Lists?

1 Using SharePoint to implement Viva Connections

2 Creating a hub or portal to centralise and contextualise learning

3 A central policy library to support compliance and minimise risk

4 An HR intrant to support self-service and key HR processes

5 Revolutionising frontline messaging with a custom SharePoint solution

6 Streamlining digital communications through a SharePoint intranet homepage

Additions and enhancements to Microsoft Viva

Microsoft Teams goes from strength to strength

Microsoft Mesh for Teams

More power for the Power Platform

Upgrades to Microsoft Stream

SharePoint Syntex additions

Book a live demo

7 reasons to use SharePoint for policy management

Why use SharePoint policy management software?

Policy management software

Let's discuss your project...