It was before my time here, but CoU previously had DataWorks and moved to ECM on premise back in 2017. We move to the CIA cloud after COVID and currently on 2025B. We have Finance and Assets, but still to do P&R (working on that at the moment as the migrate from Pathway).
Happy to share details of the work we did on the BSC in ECM before connecting to SharePoint. It made life easier having had done that work first.
Original Message:
Sent: 14-04-2026 15:58
From: Larissa Trimblett
Subject: Taking the Reins of SharePoint & Teams – Looking for Tips!
Hi Katrina!
I only just joined this group a while ago and this thread has drawn my attention as my Council is currently migrating to the full suite of TechOne products, meaning our familiar Content Manager environment will be re-imagined into the TechOne ECM version. It's a daunting process and we are only in the very early stages however in thinking ahead of what the future state looks like for the Information Management team here at Council, I can foresee we will be in the same predicament as you in due time.
I would love to stay connected and hear all the stories and lessons learned from your journey into maintaining a records compliant SharePoint platform so please keep the updates happening!
How long had you been using ECM for? Did you also migrate over from Content Manager or another EDRMS?
Best,
Larissa
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Larissa Trimblett
larissa.trimblett@centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
Central Coast Council
Original Message:
Sent: 10-04-2026 16:32
From: Katrina Windebank
Subject: Taking the Reins of SharePoint & Teams – Looking for Tips!
Hi Chris,
Thanks so much for the welcome and the reality check ... "it will be a ride" definitely resonates already.
Your point about staying true to RM principles really struck a chord. We're very conscious of not letting the tools drive the outcome, but instead grounding everything in classification, retention, and defensibility. At the same time, we're trying hard to understand how our end users actually work and to design sites and structures that align with their business functions, rather than forcing a purely theoretical model on them.
Your comment about Teams auto‑creating sites is painfully familiar. We currently only have 54 teams/groups of staff, yet we've somehow ended up with around 175 SharePoint sites, so there's a lot to unpick, rationalise, and migrate into something more intentional. Lesson well and truly learned.
While the ECM Connector has solved a big part of the recordkeeping problem for final records, I'm still wrestling with retention for everything outside of that - particularly Chats, draft/reference documents, and unconnected content. At the moment, SharePoint and Teams content is sitting on a 99‑year retention, which feels excessive for 99% of what lives there, especially when the 1% that truly matters is being captured into ECM anyway.
That grey space between "transient collaboration" and "corporate record" is where I'm still seeking clarity, and I suspect I'm not alone there. If you (or others) have landed on a pragmatic approach for applying retention to chats and working content, I'd love to hear how you've tackled it.
Thanks again for sharing your experience - it's reassuring to know this complexity isn't unique to us.
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Katrina Windebank
Team Leader Information Management
City of Unley
SA
Original Message:
Sent: 10-04-2026 13:35
From: Chris Foley
Subject: Taking the Reins of SharePoint & Teams – Looking for Tips!
Hi Katrina,
Welcome to the M365 Records world. It will be a ride.
Having worked with M365 in different contexts, I can say (a) there is much to learn, (b) the product changes over time, and (c) while there is much advice out there, it isn't always helpful.
The big tip - stay true to your RM principles and try not to get distracted by the 'helpful' advice that will steer you in different directions. For instance, information still needs to be classified for it to be useful. Microsoft just gives you lots of ways of doing it. If you don't have a plan as to what classification looks like, then you will quickly fall into a mess.
For example, you can classify content within a site (such as by use of libraries, folder hierarchies, and column/fields). Also, at a higher level by specifying a function for each SP site that maps to a function-activity type BCS.
Second big tip - when a team is created in Teams, always link it to an existing SP site. Don't allow teams to link to a dedicated site for that team - otherwise, any business activity/project will have 2 sites (i.e. the site you carefully set-up for them, and the site that Teams auto-created for that team).
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Chris Foley
Data & IM Lead
The Salvation Army
Melbourne VICTORIA
Original Message:
Sent: 16-02-2026 11:50
From: Katrina Windebank
Subject: Taking the Reins of SharePoint & Teams – Looking for Tips!
Taking the Reins of SharePoint & Teams – Looking for Tips!
Hi everyone, and welcome to 2026… can you believe it's already February? I've only just discovered this group, and since there hasn't been any discussion yet, I thought I'd kick things off.
Our Information Management team has traditionally focused solely on administering our EDRMS (TechnologyOne ECM). However, we've recently been handed administrative responsibility for SharePoint and Teams as well.
This shift happened because we're a TechnologyOne site and an early adopter of the new SharePoint ECM Connector. The connector has been incredibly useful: it lets staff work in a familiar SharePoint/Teams environment for collaboration, while still ensuring their documents link back to the correct ECM files for sentencing and disposal. Users can clearly see which files are connected and when a record has been successfully captured into ECM. They can also navigate directly from SharePoint to the record in ECM.
Our end users love the seamless "capture just happens" experience, though of course, it means significantly more work for the IM team behind the scenes.
Initially, we had a dedicated project officer, but we're now trying to manage all of this alongside our day‑to‑day workload. Our biggest challenges so far include:
- Upskilling ourselves to a true administrative level in SharePoint/Teams
- Redesigning our information architecture
- Engaging with business units to define their file structures so they can successfully connect to ECM
- Developing governance - especially determining the rules around disposing of draft content or unconnected files
We're definitely on a learning curve, and I'd love to hear from others who are on a similar journey.
Has anyone else transitioned from an EDRMS‑only focus to also managing SharePoint and Teams?
Any tips, lessons learned, or pitfalls to avoid would be greatly appreciated!
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Katrina Windebank
Team Leader Information Management
City of Unley
SA
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