Introduction A large higher education system undergoing organizational change needed to modernize how internal information was stored, accessed, and maintained . The university relied on an outdated internal shared drive with a confusing folder structure that made it difficult for staff, faculty, administrators, IT personnel, and service staff to locate departmental files and critical resources. This challenge was further compounded by the consolidation of four separate colleges into a single institution . Documents were scattered across multiple locations, stored inconsistently, and lacked a clear organizational framework. As a result, employees often struggled to determine where information lived, whether it was current, or which version was the source of truth. To address these challenges, Brewster Consulting Group designed and implemented a comprehensive SharePoint Communication Site that serves as a centralized, employee-facing intranet. This solution replaced the outdated folder structure with a clearly organized system of nearly 100 department pages, each structured by function and supported by dedicated document libraries. Importantly, this new intranet keeps internal materials separate from the university’s student-facing public website, ensuring clarity and proper access control. The Challenge The existing document management system exhibited several significant operational and usability challenges: Staff were unable to quickly find the documents and resources they needed. The lack of a consistent structure made searching time-consuming and frustrating, often requiring assistance from colleagues or IT. The existing system required significant maintenance and upkeep. The university and its IT department needed a simple, low-maintenance solution that would not require constant oversight or complex upkeep. Many folders contained severely outdated content, with some documents dating back as far as 2007–2012. Much of this content had not been properly archived or removed, making it difficult to determine what information was current and relevant. The existing system lacked effective search capabilities , leaving staff without an efficient way to search across departmental documents to quickly locate specific information. The Solution Brewster Consulting Group partnered with the university to design and build a comprehensive SharePoint-based intranet that addressed both immediate challenges and long-term sustainability. Key elements of the solution included: A SharePoint Communication Site architecture featuring a centralized hub homepage with streamlined navigation organized into six major functional areas: Academics, Administration, Campus Life, Governance, Forms, and Policies. Each functional area includes clearly defined sub-groups for intuitive navigation. The creation of nearly 100 individual department pages, organized by function, providing staff with a logical and consistent way to access departmental information. A centralized document library structure with dedicated sections for each department. Every department page links directly to its corresponding folder within the main document library, creating clear and intuitive pathways from department-level information to the underlying files. Standardized page templates designed for easy replication across departments. Each template includes consistent elements such as contact information, key personnel listings, and direct links to document libraries, ensuring a uniform experience across all pages. Implementation of SharePoint’s built-in site-wide search functionality, enabling keyword-based searches across all departmental documents so staff can quickly locate specific files. A system intentionally designed for simplicity and low maintenance, requiring fewer site administrators, offering straightforward update processes, and enabling template-based page creation without technical expertise. Comprehensive Standard Operating Procedures to document all aspects of site usage, including how to add new meetings, upload documents, manage archive status, adjust permissions, and maintain content. Live training sessions conducted with committee administrators to ensure they felt confident using, managing, and maintaining the system over the long term. The Results The new intranet delivered measurable improvements in usability, efficiency, and governance: Established a single source of truth with nearly 100 clearly organized department pages, replacing the confusing and outdated folder structure. Staff now know exactly where to find departmental information and can navigate by function rather than complex hierarchies. Eliminated guesswork around where specific types of information are stored, improving confidence and consistency in document usage. Enabled fast, site-wide keyword searches across all departments, significantly reducing the time staff spend searching for documents. Introduced a template-based approach that allows new department pages to be quickly replicated as organizational needs evolve. Delivered a scalable foundation capable of supporting future organizational changes without requiring major restructuring. Reduced the ongoing maintenance burden by limiting the number of site administrators and empowering non-technical staff to manage updates independently. Created a consistent structure and visual experience across all pages, resulting in a professional, cohesive intranet that is intuitive to navigate from day one. Conclusion By replacing an outdated and fragmented document system with a centralized, well-structured SharePoint intranet, Brewster Consulting Group helped the university improve operational efficiency, reduce frustration, and establish a sustainable foundation for future growth. The result is a modern, scalable internal platform that supports staff across the institution while remaining easy to manage and maintain.

Introduction Our recent client, a mid-sized public university, needed a more effective way to manage, access, and archive critical governance documents. Their Faculty Senate alone consists of 23 standing committees, each producing agendas, minutes, and supplemental materials throughout every academic year. Their public website’s inability to support content beyond the current year and one year of archived documents, along with a poorly structured SharePoint site and internal T-drive, led to a fragmented document management system. With a steady influx of new documents, the system became increasingly difficult to manage and sustain. Accreditation requirements, transparency, expectations, and the need for long-term historical access only increased the urgency. This university partnered with Brewster Consulting Group to design and implement a centralized, scalable document management solution using Microsoft SharePoint, leveraging tools the institution already owned but had not fully utilized due to a lack of time and expertise. Client Challenges & Why They Chose to Partner with Brewster The institution’s shared governance materials were spread across multiple systems, each with limitations that made day-to-day use inefficient and long-term compliance difficult. Documents lived on an outdated public-facing website, an internal T-drive with inconsistent folder structures, and a poorly organized SharePoint site that was difficult to search. None of these sources were complete, and each contained different versions or timeframes of information, making it unclear where the “official” documents lived. The public website only displayed the current academic year and one prior year of materials, leaving older records effectively inaccessible. Inconsistent naming conventions and the lack of descriptive metadata made searching for specific documents time-consuming and frustrating. These challenges were especially problematic during accreditation reviews, which require quick access to governance documentation spanning multiple years. Faculty and staff also struggled to find relevant historical information when working on curriculum updates, policy changes, or governance-related initiatives. Looking ahead, leadership recognized that their existing systems could not support the long-term archival needs they anticipated. Although the institution already had Microsoft 365 subscriptions, leadership acknowledged they lacked the internal capacity to design a well-governed, sustainable system on their own. They partnered with Brewster Consulting Group to help translate those tools into a practical, user-friendly solution that could scale over time. Our Approach & Solution Brewster Consulting Group designed a centralized SharePoint governance site that balances usability, structure, and long-term sustainability. The solution combines organized backend document storage with intuitive, user-facing pages that make it easy for faculty, staff, and administrators to find what they need. Each governance body, including the Faculty Senate, Academic Staff Council, University Staff Senate, and the Faculty Senate’s 23 standing committees, received its own dedicated space . Meeting information is displayed in clear, structured lists that separate current-year meetings from archived materials, making it immediately obvious what is active versus historical. Behind the scenes, documents are organized by committee, academic year, and meeting date, allowing for natural long-term archiving without the need to manually move files each year. A simple status-based archiving process enables administrators to transition meetings from “current” to “archived” with minimal effort, automatically updating what users see on the site. The system was also designed to accommodate a wide variety of documents that accompany governance meetings. Supplemental materials are easily attached and described without requiring complex folder structures or excessive manual work. Site-wide search functionality allows users to locate documents, motions, or topics using keywords, even if they don’t remember which committee or year the information came from. Carefully structured permissions ensure transparency across the institution while limiting editing access to appropriate committee members. To support long-term success, Brewster provided detailed standard operating procedures (SOPs) and hands-on training, ensuring committee administrators felt confident managing the system independently. Results & Ongoing Impact The new SharePoint governance site has become a single source of truth for shared governance materials across the institution. Faculty, staff, and administrators no longer need to search across multiple systems or wonder where the most accurate documents are stored. Administrative efforts have been reduced through streamlined archiving and consistent document organization. Accreditation reviews are now supported by quick, reliable access to governance records spanning multiple years. Faculty and staff can easily locate historical decisions and supporting documentation, improving collaboration and institutional continuity. Importantly, the solution maximizes the value of the institution’s existing Microsoft 365 investment, avoiding additional licensing costs while delivering a modern, scalable governance platform designed to support the institution well into the future.