►
Description
Provisioning in Microsoft 365 has become a broader concern than just SharePoint sites or Teams. Information architecture artifacts we have considered to be SharePoint only in the past are growing broader and more multi-purpose across Microsoft 365. We have a mix of legacy and newer toolsets, but each has its strengths and weaknesses.
In this session, we’ll compare and contrast three popular methods for laying down parts of your information architecture inside your Microsoft 6365 tenant. None of the three solve every problem, and they each have their plusses and minuses. We’ll compare them using some tangible examples from real-world scenarios.
Speaker: Marc D Anderson (Sympraxis Consulting) | @sympmarc
Supporting materials:
• Information architecture (Microsoft 365 Community Docs) - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/community/information-architecture-site-topology
Learn more:
• Learn more about the Microsoft 365 Patterns and Practices community at: http://aka.ms/m365pnp
• Visit the Microsoft 365 Patterns and Practices community YouTube channel: https://aka.ms/m365pnp-videos
A
Hi,
I'm
mark
anderson
and
I'm
going
to
talk
to
you
today
about
information
architecture,
provisioning.
We
have
different
options.
We
can
use
to
to
provision
different
types
of
information
architecture
in
this
session.
I'm
going
to
talk
about
the
differences
between
the
content,
type
hub
site
designs
and
pnp
provisioning
templates.
A
We
really
pretty
much
live
in
the
microsoft
365
platform,
so
this
is
what
we
do.
Every
single
day
I've
been
both
a
developer.
We
used
to
call
ourselves
programmers
and
management
consultant,
so
I
sort
of
look
at
things
from
lots
of
different
perspectives
and
try
and
solve
problems
regardless
of
what
technologies
are
important.
I
wrote
a
little
library
called
sp
services
years
ago
and
I'm
still
resting
on
my
laurels
for
that.
A
A
So
when
we
talk
about
architecture
in
sharepoint
in
particular,
there
are
a
lot
of
different
things
that
we
can
we
can
cover.
I
find
that
if
I
try
and
cover
all
of
it
in
any
one
session,
it's
just
way
too
much
to
go
over.
What
I
really
want
to
talk
about
in
in
this
session
is
how
do
we
instantiate
site
columns
and
content
types,
though
I'll
touch
on
things
like
navigation
and
site
topology
a
little
bit
here.
A
So
the
three
methods
that
I'm
going
to
talk
about
a
bit
today
have
some
pros
and
cons.
The
first
one
is
the
content
type
hub.
It's
been
around
there
been
around
forever
and
forever.
Isn't
really
is
a
really
long
time,
but
definitely
since
sharepoint
2010.,
the
great
thing
about
it,
is
that
it
just
works.
A
The
the
downside
of
that
is
that
the
publishing
process,
the
the
process
of
actually
doing
that
syndication
out
to
all
the
existing
sites,
is
really
a
black
box
and
it's
very
unpredictable.
There's
a
timer
job
that
runs
sometime,
and
that
means
that
your
your
content
types
may
be
pushed
out
immediately.
It
may
take
a
couple
of
days.
Unfortunately,
it's
just
very
unpredictable,
so
it
doesn't
make
for
a
very
real
time:
lots
of
iteration
kind
of
environment.
A
It
didn't
matter
so
much
in
the
old
days,
because
we
tended
to
have
a
much
lower
number
of
site
collections,
which
we
now
know
as
modern
sites.
The
content
type
hub
only
helps
with
content
types
and
therefore
site
columns
which
content
types
are
made
out
of,
and
then
the
syndication
story
is
a
good
one.
If
you
want
the
same
information
architecture
on
all
of
your
sites,
but
in
almost
no
cases
is
that
the
case,
the
syndication
from
the
content
type
hub
goes
to
all
sites.
A
A
One
of
the
best
things
about
site
designs
is
that
we
can
instantiate
the
site
design
based
on
whatever
design
we
want.
We
can
set
up
site
scripts
that
are
bundled
together
into
a
site
design,
and
they
can
do
things
like
create
site,
columns
and
site
and
navigation
and
all
sorts
of
things
like
that,
and
then
site
owners,
the
site
owner
who,
who
actually
is
creating
the
site,
can
apply
that
site
design
right
through
the
ui.
It's
very
simple:
to
apply
the
site
design.
A
There
are
a
lot
of
flexible
use
cases
here.
You
might,
you
might
apply
a
site
design
to
indicate
a
type
of
site
like
a
project
site
or
a
property
site,
or
a
legal
matter
site
or
just
different
site
artifacts.
So,
for
instance,
you
could
have
a
site
design
that
just
has
a
stat
it
just
instantiates
a
status,
update,
library
or
or
a
list
so
that
you're
you're
actually
building
components
into
your
sites,
one
by
one,
as
opposed
to
creating
a
design
that
sort
of
implies
its
function.
A
Some
of
the
downside
of
that
is
that
there
are
there's
some
coding
knowledge.
I
mean
we
can.
We
can
build
out
a
site
that
shows
that
has
the
artifacts
and
the
information
architecture
that
we
want
and
export
it
into
json
files,
javascript
object,
notation
files,
and
then
we
can
instantiate
the
site,
design
or
register
that
site
design,
but
we
have
to
use
powershell.
So
there's
a
little
bit
of
programming
coding,
knowledge
involved
and
you
have
to
have
at
least
sharepoint
administrator
permissions
in
order
to
create
the
site
design.
A
You
can't
work
with
any
pages.
Unfortunately,
site
designs
have
not
gotten
to
the
point
where
we
can
say:
let's
put
this
web
part
on
the
home
page,
and
I
think
that
almost
every
time
that
I've
I'm
working
with
a
client
and
we're
trying
to
set
up
a
consistent
site
design
in
a
generic
sense.
The
first
thing
we
want
to
be
able
to
do-
or
second
thing
we
want
to
be
able
to
do-
maybe
is
to
add
a
couple
of
web
parts
to
that
home
page
configured
in
a
certain
way
that
reflects
that
particular
site's
identity.
A
A
After
that
first
launch,
there
have
been
some
changes
that
microsoft
has
made
primarily
to
serve
some
of
their
first
party,
some
of
their
own
requirements,
but
I
don't
see
site
designs
becoming
a
more
mature
provisioning
product
in
a
sense,
unfortunately,
and-
and
I
would
love
to
see
it
go
further,
but
I'm
just
not
seeing
that
happen.
So
I
you
know
to
me
it
sort
of
feels
like
it's
in
stasis.
It's
a
little
bit
of
a
an
abandoned
set
of
technologies.
A
A
It's
been
developed
under
the
p
and
p
auspices,
which
means
that
it's
both
sanctioned
by
microsoft,
but
also
driven
by
the
community
to
some
degree
as
open
source.
So
one
of
the
some
of
the
best
things
about
this
is
that
that
those
provisions
that
provisioning
engine
is
actually
actively
developed.
There
is
a
there
is
an
active
community
working
on
on
enhancing
or
fixing
bugs,
and
that
means
that,
if
you
are
looking
for
something
you
can
raise
an
issue
make
some
suggestions,
maybe
even
contribute
to
the
repo
yourself,
and
it
will
continue
to
get
better.
A
A
Some
of
the
downsides
are,
it
requires
even
more
coding
knowledge,
so
we
can
set
up
a
json
file
that
sort
of
drives
how
our
exports
from
existing
sites
work.
What
sort
of
artifacts
we
want
to
export
which
come
out
in
the
form
of
xml
files,
and
then
we
need
some
pat.
We
need
to
run
some
powershell
in
order
to
apply
the
the
template
to
the
sites
that
we
want
to
have
look
and
feel
the
same
way.
A
We
can
only
apply
pnp
provisioning
templates
with
powershell.
There
is
no
ui
for
them.
We
can
build
some
automation
into
the
process,
so,
for
instance,
if
we
add
a
an
item
into
a
list,
we
can
kick
off
an
automation
process
that,
depending
on
how
what
you're
doing
you
would,
you
might
use
several
different
mechanisms
and
that
could
automate
the
process
such
that
there
doesn't
have
to
be
a
ui
or
you
don't
have
to
run
powershell
manually
each
time,
but
it's
a
powershell
driven
process.
A
Finally,
last
slide
before
I
move
into
the
demo
of
the
session,
we
have
a
another
look
at
sort
of.
How
do
we
compare
these
different
methods?
And
I
think
I've
probably
touched
on
a
lot
of
this,
but
you'll
see
that
you
know
creating
site
columns
and
content
types
is
really
all
that
the
content
type
hub
does.
One
of
the
downsides
even
of
the
content
type
hub
is
that
we
can't
use
lookup
columns.
A
All
of
all
of
these
provisioning
methods
can
certainly
give
us
site
columns
and
content
types.
As
you
move
into
site
designs,
you
see
a
lot
more
capabilities
come
in,
we
can
add
and
remove
navigational
elements.
We
can
create
lists
in
libraries,
lots
of
the
time
we
want
when
we
create
a
site,
that's
going
to
be
have
a
common
sort
of
use
as
a
bunch
of
other
sites.
We
want
to
have
some
lists
and
libraries
that
are
containers
into
which
we're
going
to
pour
our
content.
We
can
apply
theming,
branding
and
logo.
A
We
can
add
solutions,
meaning
things
like
a
sharepoint
framework
web
part
that
your
organization
has
built.
You
can
instantiate
or
activate
that
solution
in
your
site,
using
a
site,
design
or
a
pnp
provisioning
template.
You
can
trigger
a
flow
from
either
one
of
those
two
methods,
which
means
that
you
have
another
hook
to
accomplish
some
other
things
that
might
not
be
supported
by
the
schemas
of
site,
designs
and
pnp
provisioning
templates.
A
You
can
also
add
users
to
groups,
so
you
can
set
up
the
permission
structure
of
of
your
site
based
on
some
parameters.
If,
if
you
want
to
do
that
with
your
site,
design
or
pnp
provisioning
template
now
you
notice
applying
through
the
ui,
we
have
a
little
bit
of
a
change
in
that
in
that
row
of
the
of
the
of
the
slide
we
can.
We
can
apply
things
through
the
ui,
using
the
content,
type
hub
and
site
designs,
one
we
can.
We
can
apply
a
site
design.
A
A
A
First,
let's
lay
the
groundwork
for
what
we're
actually
trying
to
accomplish.
I've
got
a
site
here
called
information
architecture
and
I've
built
a
little
bit
of
a
foundation,
so
you'll
notice
that
when
I
go
into
this
property
library,
I've
got
the
content,
type
inspection
report
and
I'm
grouping
by
that.
If
I
look
at
the
library
settings,
I
can
see
the
content
types
that
are
that
are
allowed
in
this
particular
library,
the
inspection
report
and
the
floor
plan,
as
well
as
just
the
out
of
the
box
document.
A
So
I've
got
you
know
a
little
bit
of
of
set
up
there.
These
these
inspection
report
and
and
property
photos
are
site
content
types,
so
they're
defined
only
in
this
particular
site
and
you'll
notice
that
I've
got
them
in
some
groups
called
demo
and
then
demo
property
just
for
easy
organization,
and
so
I've
sort
of
laid
the
groundwork
for
what
I
want
to
do
here,
a
couple
of
specific
site
columns.
You
know
nothing
fancy,
but
the
kinds
of
things
that
we
do
when
we
build
information
architecture
all
the
time.
A
So
we've
got
this
site
and
one
one
of
the
things.
So
so
what
I've
done
with
it
is
I've
actually
created
a
couple
of
different
things
from
it.
One
is
a
site
design,
so
you'll
notice
that
there's
a
demo
based
site
design,
that's
the
name,
I've
given
it
that
will
create
all
of
those
artifacts
that
I
just
I
just
ran
through
really
quickly.
So
if
I
run
this
on
this
site,
all
of
these
things
already
exist.
A
A
A
I'm
going
to
run
through
site
designs
rather
quickly,
because
I'd
rather
focus
more
on
the
pnp
provisioning
templates
site
site
designs
are
great,
but
you've
heard
my
misgivings
about
them.
So
let
me
just
sort
of
run
through
some
stuff
that
I
can
do
with
them
that
I
explained
before
so
here.
I'm
going
to
do
an
export
of
the
information
architecture
based
on
some
data
that
I'm
providing
to
this
particular
script.
A
So
what
I
want
to
do
is
export
the
property,
the
list,
sorry
property
library
and
get
the
definition
of
that,
so
that
that
happened
pretty
fast,
and
I
I'm
using
export
site
script
from
list,
and
I
end
up
with
something
that
looks
something
like
this.
So
here's
here
are
the
site.
Columns
here
are
the
content
types
here
is
here.
Here
are
a
bunch
of
content
types.
Sorry
I
create
the
list.
I
add
the
content
types
to
that
list,
and
then
I
set
up
the
views
on
that
particular
list.
A
In
this
case
I
have
two
views
so
it's
this
is.
This
is
what's
called
json
javascript
object
notation,
and
this
is
one
representation
of
the
definition
of
what
it
is.
I've
set
up
in
this
particular
in
this
particular
site
and
chosen
to
export,
so
you
notice
that
this
is
just
for
that
properties.
Library,
then.
What
I
do
is
I
actually
copy
that
and
sort
of
skinny
it
down.
A
So
the
way
I
can
use
them
sort
of
in
a
general
sense
is,
I
decided,
I'm
going
to
create
a
team
site
and
I
can
choose
that
particular
site
design
and
we're
going
to
call
this
pnp88
and
I'm
just
going
to
say
next
and
then
let
this
finish
and
what's
going
to
happen
is
that
that
site
design
will
be
applied
to
the
site
right
after
its
creation.
So
you'll
notice
that
I
get
a
message
applying
site
design,
we're
updating
it.
A
A
The
site
design
is
all
done.
I
let
it
refresh
and
there's
my
property
library
with
with
all
the
settings
that
that
I
have
from
the
original
information
architecture
site.
Okay.
Now,
let's
look
at
the
pnp
provisioning
template
idea.
Now
these
these
templates
can
do
a
lot
more
than
I'm
going
to
cover
here.
I'm
really
going
to
focus
on
just
creating
that
document
library
applying
the
content.
You
know
creating
the
content
types
in
the
site,
columns
and
applying
it
to
a
new
site
so
once
again
we're
using
some
powershell
to
make
all
this
happen.
A
In
this
case,
this
is
the
the
get
pnp
provisioning
template
module
that
I've
written.
So
what
this
this
will
do
is
actually
look
at
the
site.
So
it's
that
information
architecture
site
again
and
it's
going
to
export
or
take
you
know,
build
a
file
that
in
in
that
I'm
giving
an
out
to,
and
it's
going
to
create
a
file
that
I
call
I
tend
to
call
the
raw
xml.
A
So
it's
exactly
what's
in
the
site,
and
it's
it's
what
I
start
with
when
I,
when
I
start
to
sort
of
customize
what
the
template
will
do,
I
can
also
create
a
configuration
which
is
really
nice,
because
what
that
lets
me
do
is
say
to
this
provisioning
engine.
This
is
the
stuff
that
I
want
you
to
export.
For
me,
I
want
the
web
settings.
I
want
the
navigation,
I
want
the
fields,
those
are
the
site
columns.
I
want
the
content
types,
the
lists,
the
pages
you
know
do.
I
want
the
navigation
to
do
certain
things.
A
A
I
can
set
it
up
so
that
I
only
grab
the
stuff
that
I
want,
which
is
really
nice
so
again
connecting
to
that
to
that
sort
of
template
site
that
I've
got
and
then
doing
the
the
exporting,
the
provisioning
template
and
I'll
just
run
that
and
you
can
just
sort
of
see
how
it
how
it
starts
firing
off
and
what
it
looks
like.
So
you'll
you'll
see
it's
it's
like
any
other,
sharepoint
or
sorry
a
powershell
module.
A
A
So
that
happened
pretty
quickly
and
what
I
end
up
with
is
this
provisioning
template,
which
is
an
xml
file,
and
it's
exactly
what
I've
asked
for
in
that
particular
site.
Now
you
have
to
be
able
to
speak
xml,
just
like
you
had
to
speak
json
in
the
other
example,
but
one
of
the
nice
things
I
find
is
if
you
know
how
these
sites
are
built.
If
you
understand
how
sharepoint
sites
work
and
what
lists
and
libraries
are,
it
makes
some
decent
sense
and
I'm
not
saying
that
makes
it
easy.
A
I'm
just
saying
that
it's
something
that
you
can
probably
figure
out
looking
through
it.
So,
for
example,
what
navigation
am
I
asking
it
to
create?
Well,
I
wanted
to
I
wanted
to
set
up
these
links
on
the
quick
launch.
This
is
the
current
navigation,
I'm
sorry,
the
structural
navigation,
the
the
global
navigation
is
at
the
top.
A
I'm
not
doing
anything
with
that.
The
current
navigation
is
this,
this
list
of
stuff
here,
so
the
the
net
new
is
that
I'm
going
to
create
a
sub
node
for
documents
called
property.
Just
like
what
you
saw
when
I
applied
that
site
design
we're
going
to
create
some
site
fields
again,
it's
it's
at
xml,
so
it
looks.
It
looks
like
a
lot
of
gobbledygook.
If
you
don't
understand
what
it
all
does,
but
it's
exactly
what's
set
up
in
that
site
in
order
to
make
things
work,
what
content
types
do
I
want?
A
A
I
believe
so
all
of
this
is
is
the
the
definition
of
what's
going
on
in
that
site
expressed
in
xml
instead
of
the
json
we
saw
before
now,
one
of
the
one
of
the
really
nice
things
about
this
is
we
can
actually
create
pages,
and
that
was
one
of
those
distinctions
that
I
made
when
I
talked
through
some
of
the
pros
and
cons
of
each
one
of
these
things.
So,
let's
skip
over
to
the
the
template
that
I'm
actually
going
to
use
it's
the
same
stuff
from
the
raw
one.
A
But
I've
done
a
couple
of
things.
For
instance,
I've
said
I
want
the
site
title
to
take
to
to
be
set
to
the
parameter
that
I'm
going
to
pass
through
pass
in
called
site
title,
and
so
I
can
actually
set
up
tokens
or
parameters
inside
the
template
that
get
replaced
as
it's
as
it's
applied
to
a
site.
That's
something
that
that
site
designs.
Don't
do
so
that's
pretty
slick
and
then
also
I
can
do
the
do
the
pages
thing.
A
So
if
you,
if
you
notice
below
the
list
node,
I
have
client-side
pages,
and
so
I'm
gonna,
I'm
gonna,
take
that
the
home
page
that
you
get
out
of
the
box
and
I'm
going
to
add
some
web
parts
to
it.
So
I'm
not
going
to
change
the
news
web
part.
That's
still
going
to
be
there,
but
I'm
going
to
add
a
quick
links,
I'm
going
to
add
a
custom.
A
Sharepoint
framework
webpart,
I'm
going
to
add
a
planner
web
part,
etc.
So
I
can
actually
do
quite
a
bit
with
the
home
page
inside
this
pnp
provisioning
template
that
I
can't
do
with
a
site
design
which
makes
makes
it
really
powerful
so
to
apply
it
and
again
it's
just.
This
is
just
some
more
power
shell.
So
a
lot
of
this
is
just
connecting
to
things
getting
information
about
the
hub
site,
because
I'm
gonna,
I'm
gonna,
connect
to
or
sorry
associate
the
new
site
with
with
a
hub
site.
I
give
this.
A
I
create
the
site
title
and
the
property
code
I'm
going
to
make
that
number
five,
because
I've
been
creating
these
for
a
while
and
testing
in
this
particular
powershell
script.
I've
chosen
to
create
the
site
myself
in
powershell,
but
you
can
actually
do
that
in
a
pnp
provisioning
template
I'm
going
to
create
the
site
and
then
apply
the
information
architecture,
which
is
really
my
focus
here
by
applying
the
provisioning
template.
A
A
I
probably
will
pause
here
because
there
are
a
couple
places
where
it
sort
of
takes
a
few
moments
to
get
its
job
done.
Now
it's
created
the
site
which
took
a
little
longer
than
usual,
so
I
sort
of
cut
that
part
out,
but
you
now
you
notice
that
it's
applying
that
template.
So
it's
taking
that
xml,
that's
in
the
template
and
it's
applying
the
the
instructions
it's
following
that
recipe.
So
it's
creating
the
content
types.
There's
the
inspection
report,
it's
creating
another
content,
type
called
floor
plan.
Another
called
property
photo.
A
A
This
way
is-
and
I
set
this
up
frequently-
is-
I
might
have
a
list
of
properties
in
the
properties
hub
and
I
just
add
an
item
there
and
then
or
multiple
items
there,
and
then
I
run
this
and
it
and
it
creates
all
of
the
sites
that
don't
yet
have
a
site.
So
it's
a
it's
a
great
way
to
automate
this
whole
process.
A
Now,
what
I'm
going
to
end
up
with
is
I
have
this
site
pnp5,
that's
how
I
determine
the
url.
That's
a
parameter
that
I
passed
into
the
into
the
powershell.
So
that's
the
name
of
the
site.
I
got
now
you
notice.
It's
already
got
some
work
got
some
of
this
done.
I
asked
it
to
change
the
the
home
page
and
add
these
quick
links
to
various
document.
Libraries,
I'm
not
creating
all
of
those
document,
libraries,
but
I
am
creating
the
property
operations
one.
So
the
the
script
is
actually
done.
A
You
notice
there's
no
more
blue
stuff
going
on
there,
and
so
now
I
have
a
site.
That's
got
a
customized
home
page.
I've
added
this.
This
quick
links,
I've
actually
added
a
planner
web
part.
Here.
There's
a
there's,
an
error
in
the
way
this
this
gets
set
up,
but
it
definitely
is
a
planner
web
part
and
as
soon
as
that
plan
is
created,
it
would
show
it
to
me
and
then
I
have
that
property
library
so
same
setup
that
I
had
with
the
with
the
site
designs
but
doing
it
with
the
pnp
provisioning
template.
A
Now,
because
I
passed
in
some
parameters
to
this
particular
script,
you
notice
I'm
passing
in
parameters
and
it's
the
dollar
params
that
I
set
up
up
here.
The
params
are
which
hub
site?
What
do
I
want
the
site
title
to
be,
and
what
do
I
want
the
property
code
to
be
so?
The
property
code
in
this
case
is
what
I'm
using
for
the
alias
the
this.
You
know
slash
site,
slash.
A
It
actually
gets
the
value
of
the
property
code
and
you'll
notice
that
I'd
said
pnp
five
up
here,
so
so
we
can.
We
can
set
more
things
more
easily
and
we're
sort
of
an
extra
level
of
automation,
and
we
can
also
make
changes
that
we
can't
make
with
a
site
design
again.
My
favorite
is
that
we
can.
We
can
make
changes
to
the
home
page.
We
could
create
new
pages.
We
could
you
know
we
could
pre-populate
some
news
stories.
A
That
is
all
the
time
I
have.
These
sessions
are
very
quick.
We
absolutely
want
to
hear
your
feedback.
This
is
our
first
pnp
conference,
virtual
conference
and
we'd
love
to
do
more,
but
only
if
it
makes
sense.
So
let
us
know
what
you
think
about
this
session
and,
of
course,
the
the
event
as
as
a
whole
as
promised.
There
are
some
links
here
that
you
might
be
interested
in
microsoft.
365
community
docs,
which
is
my
contribution
to
the
whole
pnp
effort,
would
love
to
see
you
either
visit
there
for
reading
or
contributions.