Setting up a new SharePoint site, best practices

Question

I am creating a brand new sharepoint site in a brand new tenant, and want to ensure the site is built for growth and longevity.

My current debate is how to set up the site architecture to ensure it is intuitive for team members, and easy to manage from the back end as well.

For context, we are an existing real estate organization (with a different sharepoint) who have created a subsidiary company that this new sharepoint is for. Our company organization and operating procedures are the same for both companies are as follows:

• A: We have many different departments, some whose files are private to the department (like HR) and others who are public to the whole company (like our Marketing team)
• B: We have many different properties we operate, that are owned by different entities. All property files are public to all staff.
• C: We have many corporate files, that do not below under one specific department, and should be public to all staff (like expense reports, corporate policies, templates, etc.)

My current thoughts for the site architecture (also attached) is to have a core Hub site, which is a communication site housing C, connected to that hub site would be two other hub sites, one communication site housing A, with associated team sites below it (department sites), and the other communication site housing B, with associated team sites below it (property sites).

Does this approach make sense, and are there any major considerations I have not thought of?

Answer 1

Hi Hillary Turner Admin,

Good day! Welcome to Q&A forum.

Your proposed architecture shows good foresight but let me refine the approach based on SharePoint best practices and your specific real estate operations. Here's an optimized structure with key considerations:

Recommended Site Architecture

1. Single Hub Site Approach (Instead of multiple hubs)

• Primary Hub: Communication site named "[Subsidiary] Corporate"
  • Houses all company-wide content (C)
  • Contains navigation to department/property sites
  • Benefits from shared navigation, search, and branding

2. Department Structure (A)

• Team Sites (not communication sites) for each department:
  • HR (private)
  • Accounting (private)
  • Marketing (public)
  • Operations (public)
  • Why team sites? Better for collaboration with built-in Microsoft 365 groups

3. Property Structure (B)

• Team Sites for each property/portfolio:
  • "Property - [Name]" (public to all)
  • Consider standardizing naming (e.g., "Prop - 123 Main St")

Hope these information helps.

Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

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