SharePoint Online

For Charities

Why Charities Should Implement SharePoint As Their Cloud Solution?

As part of your Microsoft 365 solutions, SharePoint Online for charities allows users to easily access, share and manage files, folders and content, from any internet connected device (mobile, tablet, desktop and laptop) to empower teamwork, quickly find information, and seamlessly collaborate across the organisation.

We can help with charity SharePoint migration, we will be working with you to ensure the correct level of access-based user permissions are in place, safeguarding your critical data and making sure users are only able to view and access the files and folders they are permitted to. We will configure these services to work seamlessly with your current equipment and any new devices going forward.

Why Use SharePoint For Charities?

ACCESS SHAREPOINT EVERYWHERE

Access to all of your files and folders right from your desktop, tablet, smartphone, or any connected device via a web browser or desktop application meaning you are no longer tied to a desk in an office. As long as you have access to an internet connection you have access to your files.

EASY ONLINE COLLABORATION

SharePoint is great for collaborating on the same document at the same time. You can also check out a document to prevent others from doing the same, so people aren’t working on the same document without knowing about it and impairing each other’s work.

powerful search options

POWERFUL SEARCH OPTIONS

A great benefit of SharePoint for your not-for-profit organisation is its search functionality. You can search for your document using specific filters, metadata tags, preview documents, search for keywords in the file itself etc, making locating your work a much quicker, more fluid experience.

VERSIONING & BETTER BACKUPS

When it comes to SharePoint backups for charity, you can retrieve previous versions of files with the click of a button. If you edit a document accidentally, or you edited the wrong file and you need the previous version, you can retrieve it at the click of a button.

storage space

INFRASTRUCTURE SAVINGS & STORAGE SPACE

SharePoint Online (along with Office 365) for charities require no infrastructure costs, nor does it need to be updated (Microsoft take care of this). That means you always have the very latest edition of the technology.

MORE SOPHISTICATED DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Business is dynamic and ever-changing, and your charity organisation needs to be just as dynamic and flexible to continue to grow. A great place to start is where your charity lives and breathes – your files, documents and content.

Download Our SharePoint Online For Charities Brochure

Data Security Benefits For Charities

encryption

ENCRYPTION OF DATA IN TRANSIT

SharePoint helps to protect the confidentiality of data that is stored within the infrastructure and in transit.

virus

VIRUS DETECTION

If files are found to be infected, anti-malware protection is set so that users can’t download the file from the browser or sync the file.

mfa

MULTI-FACTOR AUTHORISATION

This creates a two-step process which requires the user to prove their identity. This can be by phone call, text message or mobile app notification.

network location

CONTROL ACCESS BASED ON NETWORK LOCATION

This can help prevent access from untrusted networks. Any user who attempts to access SharePoint from outside the defined network boundary will be blocked.

Transitioning Your Charity To SharePoint

STEP 1 – SHAREPOINT DEMONSTRATION, TRAINING & SCOPE

We will perform an initial demonstration of SharePoint Online along with some user training and a Q&A session for the management team.

Following this session, we can provide training materials in the form of user guides and instructional videos.

STEP 2 – SHAREPOINT SITE SCOPING & CONFIGURATION

Before we begin configuring your SharePoint Online environment, there are a few things you should think about. For example, how will your organisation manage sites and users? Do you plan to make special customisations?

Our recommendation is to have a Team Site (a dedicated area) for each department within the organisation. We can then delegate specific permissions to individuals and teams  as required.

STEP 3 – SHAREPOINT DATA MIGRATION

Once your Team Sites are configured we will organise and arrange the transfer and migration of all shared network data to SharePoint.  

Once all your data has been migrated we will configure all user devices to access the data seamlessly, either via web browser, or the via the ‘files on demand’ sync agent.

Following the successful implementation of your SharePoint Online we will provide on-site user training and resources to key staff members and management.

STEP 4 – ONEDRIVE FOR BUSINESS

Each user will have their own OneDrive for Business account created and configured on their user device. Users will then be able to migrate over any ‘My Documents’ or local user data that is required into this area, ensuring that this is backed up and available in the event of a disaster recovery scenario.

SharePoint FAQs

Yes! Charities traditionally use VPN as an access point to remotely connect to their file server. While VPN provides a secure connection, it can be susceptible to bugs and, depending on your connection speed, annoyingly slow. With SharePoint, remote access to your files is as simple as opening a web browser and logging into your company’s Microsoft 365 account. You can even sync your folders to your device for complete ease of access.

Yes! SharePoint can be used in the same way as your current server but with additional benefits and functionality. The SharePoint portal allows users to drag-and-drop files into their document library and right-click files. Once fully set up SharePoint can replicate the look of your current shared server by adding document libraries and folders.

Yes! You can do both. SharePoint allows you to edit your file in your web browser or your desktop application. SharePoint’s online Office apps are designed so you can edit your Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote file in your web browser. However, if you prefer to edit using your desktop application instead, you simply choose this option and once you are done you can still save your work back into your SharePoint document library.

Yes! SharePoint allows real-time coediting of files. This means that each user can work on the same document at the same time, view changes by others in real-time and be confident that SharePoint is automatically updating the file as they go. Equally, should you want to edit the file without others gaining access you can also choose to lock that file to editing while you have it open.

Yes! If you are halfway through a document in the browser version of an Office App and you lose connection, you will not lose your document. As soon as you re-establish a network connection, SharePoint automatically updates your file for you, so you won’t lose a thing.

Yes! The SharePoint’s search tool works just like a web search for your business. It’s constantly crawling your network analysing file contents, titles, dates and metadata to deliver you relevant results and detailed previews.

Yes! SharePoint has unlimited file versioning, meaning you can view the previous versions of a specific document and should you need to you can retrieve these previous versions. Additionally, you can see when the version was created and who made the changes.

Yes! As part of Microsoft 365, SharePoint enjoys the same highly secure environment including: physical data center security, network security, access security, application security and data security. Every file – and every update of every file – is encrypted using its own encryption key.

Yes! You can set up varying levels of permissions for each user, or specific permissions for a directory or file allowing you to apply security on a granular level. You can set a rule that requires users to check out documents in order to edit them or you can specify how many historical versions of a document should be kept.

Microsoft offers SharePoint free or at a significant discount to charity organisations. This is sometimes dependent on the plan your on. But considering all the many features and benefits we’d recommend using SharePoint

  • Create custom applications, functions & websites
  • Provides secure access to important information
  • Enables collaboration from multiple different devices
  • Plenty of Microsoft add-ons and plug-ins to use

Read Our SharePoint Blogs

SharePoint Basics your Charity Needs to Know

SharePoint has been a massive ‘life-saver’ for most charities that have remote working staff during this unprecedented time. It is a great management and collaboration tool developed by Microsoft which assists with bringing organisations together by secure document management, collaboration opportunities and much more.

What you Need to Know About SharePoint

With remote working more prevalent than ever, it is vital to make the most of the top softwares to optimise your home working. SharePoint is a great software for remote working, it is a web-based collaboration and document management platform which can be used anywhere that has an internet connection!

SharePoint VS Hosted Desktop

With SharePoint Online becoming more and more popular, many companies are asking the question which is better cloud storage or a hosted desktop? If your company is using a hosted desktop but are thinking about replacing it with something faster, more flexible and secure which allows for better organisation, then the benefits of SharePoint and its powerful document management capabilities could be what you need.

10 Things you Can Do With SharePoint

SharePoint is an industry leading document management and collaboration tool developed by Microsoft. It’s basically an intranet and content management system that is used for internal purposes to assist with bringing business together including secure document management, collaboration opportunities and much more. SharePoint is comprised of a multipurpose set of technologies that are integrated with Office 365.

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