You are only as good as your least common denominator; in the case of your SharePoint ECM solution, the least common denominator is the user. To illustrate this point, we will use Coho Winery as an example. The project team has just finished implementing the ECM solution using SharePoint 2013. The team methodically built an Information Architecture (IA) plan, managed the project effectively, and utilized a detailed testing and quality assurance model. The ECM solution has all the functionality they require; it’s easy to use and solves many business performance and legal issues. The primary driver for Coho was to have an ECM solution to help mitigate the legal risks of not having access to the documents they needed during the discovery phase of a potential lawsuit.

Two years after the ECM deployment, they get sued, and they now think that they are prepared, knowing that all of their content should be in the ECM system. Unfortunately, the content stored in SharePoint is incomplete due to low user adoption. The problem was that they did not focus enough on training and on user adoption. As users became frustrated, they quietly refused to use the system. They were not aware that content specific to the case was stored on local and shared network drives instead of SharePoint. In this example, the records needed to support a proper defense were not found until later discovery efforts uncovered the documents that would become the cornerstone of their defense. This caused increased legal fees, court penalties for not producing discoverable material in a timely manner, and time delays in getting the case settled.

You can illustrate similar examples where content either not stored or stored incorrectly in an ECM system that the organization assumes is being used can cause a lot of problems. But it does not have to be that extreme. Users engaging with SharePoint are where the return on investment for the system develops. Therefore, if they do not use it, the time and money put into the system is a waste.

To get user adoption you must achieve the following:

You can make mistakes in the initial deployment of the ECM system, and you can even omit functionality, but there is no wiggle room when it comes to effective user adoption.

Working on your user adoption starts as soon as the ECM solution is an idea or concept that the organization is seriously considering. Because you are reading this book, we must assume that using SharePoint to build an ECM solution is more than just an idea and probably an actual project that has been approved. So if you have not already been working on your user adoption strategy, you have already fallen behind. That might sound ominous, but it’s true, so let’s start working on user adoption right now or, at the very least, as soon as you’re done with this chapter.

Sometimes the language used to describe users and the tools used to increase adoption feel similar to the ways you might deal with children. Because users are already very busy, adverse to change, and not always welcoming of instruction, they can behave like toddlers at times. We do not mean to denigrate the intelligence of the user but to frame their initial impression of the system in an easy-to-consume way.

When you start introducing the solution into the organization, we recommend that you not talk right away about SharePoint or ECM. You should begin internal dialog with users by using business language to illustrate the problems of bad content storage and help identify with users about the inefficiencies and risk associated with the volume, findability, and duplication of content. Ask lots of questions and then actively listen; don’t rush to solve the problem with SharePoint. Take notes and be patient, start building a story, and be cognizant of the terms and language each person uses to describe the challenges and chaos of poorly managed records and content.

Getting users to identify early on with the areas where productivity suffers as a result of looking for content and documents will help you when you begin to form a team and design an ECM solution that will address the problem. If you can help the users begin to identify with how nice it would be to solve some of these issues, it will help in the overall acceptance of best practices and culture shifts that are needed. In this way, SharePoint isn’t being forced up on them; it is being crafted in their minds as their idea, which creates ownership. A successful best practice or method for you to engage in is performing content audits with various users in the organization. This can help identify key areas that can be used to focus users on the pain that they are experiencing but might not recognize. During a content audit, you will uncover ways to prove and help justify changes in content storage behavior. Here are some basic areas for consideration that most organizations uncover after a content audit:

We have listed these all as open-ended problems. Your goal should be that the users become conscious about their content and how much time they are wasting on just trying to find it, and occasionally duplicating tasks already completed by other users. This behavior will drive some chatter within departments about how bad the problem is, and users will make a self-motivated attempt to be better at content storage. If possible, it’s best that this is done on a per-department level. When you have completed this effort, make sure to provide the results of the content audits to the managers of each department.

On a parallel track, start to introduce SharePoint to the organization. We will discuss this in more detail in the following sections.

The bottom line is that the ECM team should know where they are with user adoption at the point of project creation, when the initial blueprint of SharePoint is created, during implementation, and throughout deployment. We find that most often organizations consider adoption only after deployment and, in most cases, as a reaction to poor user feedback.

The best way to get consistent and regular adoption of SharePoint is by creating good habits. To encourage proper behavior, you should offer more than just talk. For it to be taken seriously, it should be called out specifically in the project budget. As a part of your SharePoint implementation budget, there should be a line item for change management that includes user adoption activities and communications. This should make up 5 percent to 15 percent of the overall budget.

This budget can be spent on typical items such as formal training. But you should also consider other more unique programs and activities. Depending on the type of organization and employee policies, you should consider monthly gifts for the users who achieve the highest contribution and usage of the system. Incentivizing the user community works very well to build healthy competition and puts real value on good adoption of the ECM solution.

To do this successfully, you need to decide upfront the metrics to use and how to track them. Avoid making the measurement subjective. There are third-party tools that make this tracking very easy. If you do not have access to such tools, you will want to use individual site statistics and audit reports.

With a little effort, you can automate this reporting into a dashboard for easy reporting. Some organizations even take it one step further and publish a user leader board as a web part in all sites, putting it right in front of all users so that they know that other users in the organization are using the system in an active way.

Another way to encourage adoption, which is a soft motivation, is to find a way to get everyone involved. For example, create programs where users create new functionality, or suggest new functionality to the system. Or perhaps set up an employee-contributed forum where users get ranked for posting content to help the entire organization. For small companies, this could be as simple as users publishing and getting credit for SharePoint Tips and Tricks emails that can be sent out periodically. Do not underestimate the power of your users trying to improve their experience and get visibility for their contributions in the organization. If you can create a mindset that SharePoint will not only improve their productivity but their worth as a team member, you have done a great job.

Allowing users to suggest new functionality can be a tricky but very powerful game. This is easiest when it impacts web parts, branding, and user interface instead of core ECM features and IA. Make sure that you have a clear understanding of what you are trying to accomplish before you jump in, and if you do, you won’t regret it.

In addition to incentives, the next best tool in a successful campaign to drive user adoption is to build an army of super users.

Strictly enforcing ECM usage is a painful process at the beginning. Be prepared to make enemies. But as examples are made of a few bad outcomes based on not following the prescribed usage, it will become easier very fast, as long as you stick with it and remain consistent.

Setting up the rules, and plans for user adoption is tactical and has a clear beginning and end, and reinforcing those plans never ends. First and foremost, you and the ECM team must have been given the power to execute an enforcement plan with users who adopt poor usage of the system. This is not to say that we are going to punish people; instead, it would be beneficial to have these use cases highlighted with the appropriate method or solution so that others can learn and avoid the same mistakes. Also, we aren’t trying to make an example of anyone’s mistakes, so always illustrate the corrective action using a generic user name.

There will be times when not making it clear that the importance of using the ECM solution properly is not an option. Improper usage of the ECM solution should be treated as seriously as insubordination and poor performance. Your organization faces risk and legal ramifications for inappropriate or lackadaisical use of SharePoint, which will make ECM adoption of best practices more difficult. As we alluded to earlier, if your organization is not ready to take content management seriously, they most likely are not yet ready for a true ECM solution. This must be understood before you embark on your ECM SharePoint project.

The organization will readily adopt a solution that is built with every user in mind. By systematically engaging the user community early and often, your ability to seamlessly roll out the ECM solution to enthusiastic users who fervently adopt SharePoint will be without equal. You will not encounter the kind of revolt or quiet disruption that often accompanies projects that are designed and implemented in a vacuum. In the next chapter, we will be providing you with a planning guide to use as a roadmap and checklist. We will incorporate everything we have covered in a concise and easy-to-follow format.