SharePoint Site Templates: A Tutorial on Creating and Managing Communication Sites

SharePoint is a powerful platform that allows organizations to create and manage websites for various purposes. One of the key features of SharePoint is the ability to create communication sites, which are designed to facilitate communication and collaboration within teams or departments. In this tutorial, we will explore SharePoint site templates and how to create and manage communication sites using SharePoint online.

Understanding SharePoint Site Templates

SharePoint site templates are pre-designed site structures that can be used to create new sites in SharePoint. These templates provide a starting point for creating different types of sites, such as team sites, communication sites, or project sites. SharePoint offers a variety of site templates to choose from, each tailored to specific business needs.

When creating a new site in SharePoint, you can select a template that best suits your requirements. SharePoint site templates come with predefined layouts, web parts, and navigation options, making it easier for users to create and customize their sites. Site templates can be customized further to meet specific branding and functionality needs.

Creating a Communication Site

To create a communication site in SharePoint, follow these steps:

1. Go to the SharePoint home page and click on "Create site".
2. Select "Communication site" as the template for your new site.
3. Choose a design for your site. SharePoint offers several design options to choose from, including "Topic", "Showcase", and "Blank". Select the design that best aligns with your site's purpose.
4. Enter a name and description for your site.
5. Click on "Finish" to create your communication site.

Customizing a Communication Site

Once you have created a communication site, you can customize it to meet your specific needs. SharePoint offers various customization options to enhance the look and functionality of your site. Some of these options include:

• Adding and editing web parts: Web parts are pre-built components that can be added to your site to display content or functionality. SharePoint offers a wide range of web parts, such as news, events, documents, and images. You can add, remove, and customize these web parts to showcase the information you want.
• Changing the site theme: SharePoint allows you to change the theme of your site to match your organization's branding. You can choose from a selection of predefined themes or create a custom theme using your own colors and fonts.
• Customizing the site navigation: SharePoint provides options to customize the navigation menu of your site. You can add links to important pages, rearrange the order of menu items, and create drop-down menus for easy navigation.
• Enabling features and apps: SharePoint offers a range of features and apps that can be enabled to enhance the functionality of your communication site. These include document libraries, calendars, task lists, and more.
• Adding and managing users: As the owner or administrator of a communication site, you can control who has access to the site and what permissions they have. You can add users, assign them different roles, and manage their permissions.

SharePoint Forms and Document Management

SharePoint provides powerful tools for creating and managing forms and documents. With SharePoint forms, you can easily create custom forms to collect data from users. These forms can be used for various purposes, such as feedback forms, surveys, or request forms. SharePoint forms can be customized with different field types, validation rules, and conditional logic.

SharePoint also offers robust document management capabilities, allowing you to store, organize, and collaborate on documents within your communication site. You can create document libraries to store files, set permissions to control access, and enable versioning to track document changes. SharePoint also supports co-authoring, allowing multiple users to work on a document simultaneously.

SharePoint for Project Management

SharePoint is an excellent platform for project management, offering a range of features and tools to facilitate collaboration and task management. With SharePoint, you can create a dedicated project site for each project, where team members can access project-related information, documents, and tasks.

SharePoint project sites allow you to:

• Create and manage project tasks: SharePoint provides a task list feature that allows you to create and assign tasks to team members. You can track the progress of tasks, set due dates, and receive notifications when tasks are completed.
• Collaborate on project documents: Project sites in SharePoint come with document libraries where you can store and collaborate on project documents. Team members can access and edit documents, track changes, and leave comments for better collaboration.
• Track project milestones and timelines: SharePoint offers a timeline feature that allows you to create and track project milestones. You can set start and end dates for milestones, assign them to team members, and monitor their progress.
• Communicate and share updates: SharePoint project sites provide various communication tools, such as news, announcements, and discussion boards. You can use these tools to share project updates, communicate with team members, and gather feedback.

Enterprise Content Management with SharePoint

SharePoint is a powerful enterprise content management (ECM) solution that allows organizations to efficiently manage their content and documents. With SharePoint, you can:

• Organize content in a centralized repository: SharePoint offers document libraries and folders to store and organize content. You can create a hierarchical structure to categorize and manage content effectively.
• Apply metadata and tags: SharePoint allows you to add metadata and tags to your content, making it easier to search and classify. You can define custom metadata fields to capture specific information about your content.
• Implement document versioning and approval workflows: SharePoint supports document versioning, allowing you to track and manage different versions of a document. You can also create approval workflows to ensure that documents go through a review and approval process before being published.
• Enable content retention and archiving: SharePoint provides features for managing content retention and archiving. You can define retention policies to automatically delete or archive content based on predefined rules.
• Implement security and access controls: SharePoint allows you to set permissions and access controls for your content. You can define who can view, edit, or delete content, and implement fine-grained security settings.

Conclusion

SharePoint site templates provide a convenient way to create and manage communication sites in SharePoint. By using the available customization options and features, you can create a tailored site that meets your organization's specific needs. Whether you are looking to improve collaboration, manage projects, or implement enterprise content management, SharePoint offers the tools and capabilities to help you succeed.