📌 Introduction
As organizations increasingly rely on Microsoft 365 for collaboration and content management, SharePoint Online has become a central hub for storing documents, managing projects, and enabling teamwork. However, over time, the proliferation of sites and subsites can lead to inefficiencies, storage bloat, and governance challenges. Identifying inactive or underutilized sites is essential for maintaining a healthy digital workspace.
This article outlines a practical approach to auditing SharePoint Online environments, retrieving comprehensive site data, and presenting actionable insights to leadership.
🔍 Why Monitor SharePoint Site Activity?
- Optimize Storage Costs: Unused sites consume valuable storage, which can lead to additional licensing costs.
- Improve Performance: Reducing clutter enhances search performance and user experience.
- Strengthen Governance: Identifying orphaned or outdated sites helps enforce compliance and security policies.
- Support Decision-Making: Data-driven insights empower IT and business leaders to make informed decisions about site lifecycle management.
🛠️ How to Retrieve Site Data
Using PowerShell and Microsoft Graph API, IT administrators can extract detailed information about:
- Site Collections and Subsites
- Last Modified Dates
- Storage Usage
- Site Owners
- Activity Metrics
A sample PowerShell script can automate this process, exporting the data into a CSV file for further analysis.
Here’s a PowerShell code snippet that retrieves comprehensive details of all SharePoint Online site collections and their subsites, including usage statistics and last modified dates. This is ideal for identifying inactive or underutilized sites:
# Get all site collections
# Prepare array to store site data
foreach ($site in $sites) {
# Connect to each site using PnP PowerShell
# Get subsites
foreach ($subsite in $subsites) {
# Add root site info
# Export to CSV
📊 Visualizing the Data
Once the data is collected, it can be transformed into a compelling report or dashboard using tools like:
- Power BI: Create interactive dashboards with filters for site activity, storage usage, and ownership.
- Excel: Use pivot tables and conditional formatting to highlight inactive or high-usage sites.
Key visuals might include:
- Bar Charts: Top 10 sites by storage usage
- Heat Maps: Sites not modified in the last 6–12 months
- Pie Charts: Distribution of active vs inactive sites
✅ Recommendations for IT Teams
- Establish Site Lifecycle Policies: Define rules for archiving or deleting inactive sites.
- Automate Regular Audits: Schedule scripts to run monthly or quarterly.
- Engage Site Owners: Notify owners of inactivity and provide options for cleanup or archiving.
- Integrate with Governance Tools: Use Microsoft Purview or third-party tools for enhanced compliance tracking.
📈 Conclusion
Proactive monitoring of SharePoint Online sites is not just a technical necessity—it’s a strategic imperative. By leveraging automation and visualization, IT teams can provide leadership with the insights needed to streamline operations, reduce costs, and maintain a secure and efficient digital workplace.