Body
Summary
SharePoint sites are valuable institutional resources designed to support collaboration and information sharing across USNH. To ensure these resources remain available and well-organized for everyone, we ask that all community members follow these principles when creating new sites.
Site Creation Best Practices
Create sites only when truly needed.
Before creating a new SharePoint site, consider whether your needs might be better met by:
- Creating a document library within an existing departmental or unit site
- Joining an existing site that serves a similar purpose or audience
- Using OneDrive for personal files or small project work
- Creating a Microsoft Team if you need integrated communication and collaboration
Each site should serve a distinct purpose and audience.
Sites work best when they have a clear purpose and a defined group of people who need access. If you find yourself creating multiple sites that serve essentially the same group of people or purpose, this may indicate an opportunity to better organize content within a single site using libraries, folders, and permissions rather than creating separate sites.
Sites are collaborative spaces, not personal storage extensions.
OneDrive provides 100GB of personal storage for individual files and projects. SharePoint sites are designed for collaboration among multiple people and should not be used as additional personal storage space.
Back to Top
Understanding Storage Quotas
USNH provides a standard 100GB storage quota for SharePoint sites to ensure equitable resource allocation across the institution. This quota is designed to support typical collaborative needs for departments, projects, and initiatives.
Why quotas exist: Storage quotas help ensure fair access to institutional resources, support sustainable growth of our SharePoint environment, maintain performance across all sites, and align with our ongoing data lifecycle and storage management initiatives.
When you approach your quota: If your site is approaching the 100GB limit, this is an opportunity to review your content for cleanup and archival opportunities. Many sites accumulate outdated documents, duplicate files, or content that can be removed rather than kept in active storage. Before creating a new site or requesting additional storage, site owners should:
- Review content for outdated or duplicate files that can be deleted
- Identify documents that can be archived according to retention schedules
- Organize content to eliminate unnecessary versions or copies
- Consider whether all stored content still serves an active purpose
Requesting quota increases: If your site has a legitimate business need for storage beyond 100GB after reviewing and cleaning up existing content, you may submit a quota increase request through USNH IT support with clear justification. Increases may be granted in exceptional cases and are evaluated based on documented business need and evidence that existing storage has been appropriately managed.
Back to Top
Multi-Site Patterns and Governance
Creating multiple sites is sometimes appropriate.
There are legitimate reasons to have more than one SharePoint site. For example:
- A department site for general staff collaboration and a separate research site for a grant project with external partners
- A unit site for internal work and a Communication Site for publishing information to a broader audience
- Sites serving fundamentally different audiences with different access requirements
Creating multiple sites to avoid storage quotas is not appropriate.
Sites should be created based on genuine collaboration needs, not as a workaround for storage quota limits. Creating several sites that serve essentially the same audience or purpose, particularly when existing sites are approaching their storage quotas, does not align with institutional governance principles and sustainable resource management.
Why this matters: When sites are created primarily to circumvent storage quotas rather than to meet distinct collaboration needs:
- It becomes difficult to find information scattered across multiple locations
- It creates confusion for team members about where to store and locate files
- It leads to duplication of content across sites
- It works against institutional efforts to maintain organized, sustainable storage
- It makes lifecycle management and compliance more complex
The spirit of governance: USNH's SharePoint governance guidelines are designed to support effective collaboration while ensuring institutional resources are used sustainably and responsibly. We trust our community members to make thoughtful decisions about when new sites are truly needed and to engage with storage management practices in good faith.
Back to Top
Monitoring and Support
The USNH SharePoint Administration team monitors site creation and storage usage to ensure resources are used appropriately and in alignment with governance standards.
When we identify patterns that suggest misuse, such as creating multiple sites without a clear purpose, using sites as personal storage, or repeatedly creating new sites to avoid managing existing content, we will contact site owners to address the issue.
Site owners are expected to correct misuse promptly and bring their sites into alignment with governance guidelines. If misuse continues, we may take administrative action, such as consolidating or removing improperly created sites or restricting future site‑creation permissions to maintain a sustainable and well‑organized environment for the USNH community.
About Monitoring and our Service (SVC) Accounts
USNH uses administrative service accounts (SVC_***_****) to run automated reporting and monitor site‑level storage and configuration activity. This account supports governance and system health - not content review. Administrators do not access or view site content unless the data owner submits a TeamDynamix request or access is authorized by Cybersecurity/GRC for security or account‑recovery purposes.
This service account may temporarily appear as a Site Owner when performing monitoring tasks, but it is routinely removed by administrators and can be removed immediately upon request.
We're here to help.
Before creating additional sites or when facing storage challenges, consider reaching out to the SharePoint Administration team for a brief consultation. We can often identify solutions that serve your needs more effectively than creating new sites or that help you make the most of your existing storage allocation.
Back to Top
Further Readings
SharePoint: USNH SharePoint Usage Guidelines and Governance
Need additional help?
For assistance concerning site creation, content sharing, file synchronization, or other common SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, or Office app activities, we recommend our Microsoft 365 Learning sites:
Learn more about the great tools our Microsoft 365 Learning sites offer!
Visit the Technology Help Desk Support page to locate your local campus contact information or to submit an online technology support request. For password issues you must call or visit the Help Desk in person.