Christchurch · Dunedin · Nationwide
SharePoint Intranet Design and Setup
Exodesk designs and builds SharePoint intranets for New Zealand businesses. Our Christchurch and Dunedin teams plan the structure, organise agreed content, configure access and train your staff.
Give staff a common starting point for policies, forms, news and useful links, while restricted work stays in areas with the right access.
Supporting New Zealand businesses since 1989
The short answer
What is a SharePoint intranet?
A SharePoint intranet is an internal staff information site built with SharePoint Online. It brings together policies, news, forms and useful links, with navigation and access designed around how your business works.
A communication site suits staff publishing, team sites suit collaboration, and a hub can connect several sites with shared navigation and search where that helps. A small business does not need all three, or a separate site for every department.
Choosing Microsoft 365 plans is covered in our Microsoft 365 guide, and moving wider workloads by our cloud migration service. Intranet projects are available to any business, whether or not Exodesk supports your IT. Exodesk has supported New Zealand businesses since 1989. Today, our Christchurch and Dunedin teams support businesses nationwide, with any on-site workshops or training agreed for each project.
What we cover
What the intranet project can include
The scope sets out Exodesk’s work, your content responsibilities and any exclusions. We consider your existing Teams and SharePoint sites before creating more.
Structure
Sites and navigation
The homepage, navigation, sites and document libraries, planned around the information staff look for.
Access
Permissions and sharing
Owners, editors and readers for each area, with sharing settings agreed and checked using real staff roles.
Launch
Content, training and handover
Migration of agreed content, search checks, publishing setup, staff training and documented handover.
Extra forms, approvals or connections to other systems need a separate scope and feasibility check; links to existing systems may be enough. Connecting applications is covered by our business software integration service.
When a simpler site may be enough
If a small team mainly needs a shared library and a few useful links, improving an existing team site may be enough. A fuller intranet makes more sense when staff need a common publishing and navigation experience across several areas, and we scope the work around that need.
Access design
Plan content and access together
Published policies and news need different access from finance papers or employee records. We agree content locations, owners, editors and readers before anything is published.
Navigation helps staff reach an area; permissions control what they can open. Microsoft notes that hub association does not change a site’s permissions, and audience targeting decides what people are shown rather than what they can access.
Group membership, item sharing and exceptions all need review, so search and key tasks are checked with representative staff roles before launch. Configured access controls support your requirements and need maintaining as people and teams change.
Migration
Move suitable content with an agreed plan
We review existing content, file types, paths and application dependencies. Your content owners decide what to retain, archive or remove, and suitable material moves to agreed libraries.
Permissions are agreed before migration. A pilot checks the approach, and the plan sets out change windows, validation and what happens to old locations. Not every file or application needs to move, and some content may stay on an existing file server that already has its own search and permissions.
Building a SharePoint intranet homepage does not require replacing every file share. Where a wider move of files, applications or servers is needed, it is planned as a separate migration.
How it works in practice
Search, versions, Teams and OneDrive
A SharePoint intranet works alongside the rest of Microsoft 365, and each part has limits worth understanding before launch.
- Search. Results depend on permissions, indexed content and configuration. Search helps staff find what they can open, but it does not guarantee the right document appears first.
- Version history. Retained versions can be restored, subject to the version limits set for each library. It does not remove duplicate copies, so publishing rules and content owners still matter.
- Teams. Standard channel files live in the parent team site; private and shared channels have their own sites, and files shared in chats normally sit in the sender’s OneDrive.
- OneDrive. Each person’s OneDrive for work is managed within your organisation. Review and transfer business records as part of offboarding.
- Recovery. Version history, recycle bins and retention help, but backup coverage for the sites in scope is agreed separately. Our Microsoft 365 backup guide explains the options.
How it works
How an intranet project runs
Each project starts with the people who will use the intranet and the information they struggle to find today.
Discover
Record who uses the intranet, key staff tasks, where information sits now, existing sites and licences.
Design and quote
Agree the sites, navigation, owners, permissions, migration scope, training and costs.
Build and migrate
Configure the sites and access, pilot the migration approach, then move agreed content within change windows.
Launch and hand over
Check navigation, access, content and agreed tasks with staff, train publishers and hand over owners, documentation and outstanding work.
Your business approves and maintains the content of its SharePoint intranet after launch. Ongoing technical support is agreed separately, and our remote work IT guide covers access for staff outside the office.
Cost
What affects SharePoint intranet cost?
Cost depends on the content, sites, access requirements, migration, training and support. We check existing licences and identify additional storage or features where required, separating project costs from recurring charges.
- Licences. Microsoft lists SharePoint Online in Business Basic, Standard and Premium, but not in Microsoft 365 Apps alone. Each person using the site needs a suitable licence.
- Project work. Discovery, design, build, migration, testing and training.
- Recurring charges. Extra storage, add-ons or specialist features, where they apply.
- Support. Ongoing technical support, agreed separately from your content maintenance.
Questions
SharePoint intranet questions
What is a SharePoint intranet?
It is an internal staff information site built with SharePoint Online. It can bring together policies, news, forms, useful links and shared content. The structure and access are designed around the business, and it does not need to hold every working file in one place.
Is SharePoint included in Microsoft 365?
Business Basic, Standard and Premium include SharePoint Online, but Microsoft 365 Apps alone does not. Check the licences assigned to the people using the site, along with storage and any additional features. An included platform does not make design, migration or support free.
Do we need to replace all our shared drives?
No. Review which content suits SharePoint and which applications or files need another location. An intranet can link to existing systems, and any file migration has an agreed scope, permission design, validation and plan for the old locations.
Can we migrate existing files into SharePoint?
That depends on file types, paths, content volume, permissions and application dependencies. We agree what moves and what is retained elsewhere, and content owners decide what to archive or remove. A pilot checks the approach before the wider move.
Who can see the intranet and its documents?
Access depends on the permissions and sharing settings for each site, library and item. Published staff information can be widely available while working documents remain restricted. Hub navigation does not grant access, and the design is checked with relevant staff roles.
How is SharePoint different from OneDrive?
SharePoint supports organisational publishing and team collaboration. OneDrive for work provides an individual workspace managed within the organisation. Business records need appropriate ownership and offboarding arrangements, because a departing user account still needs its files reviewed and transferred.
How does an intranet fit with Teams?
Teams channel files are stored in SharePoint. Standard channels use the parent team site, while private and shared channels have separate sites, and files shared in chats normally sit in OneDrive. The intranet provides a staff publishing and navigation experience alongside those workspaces.
How long does an intranet project take?
Timing depends on the agreed scope, content readiness, permissions, migration, testing and staff availability. A small first release can be planned separately from later features. We confirm dependencies and milestones before setting a launch date.
Who keeps the intranet up to date?
Your business needs named owners for policies, news, navigation and other content. Exodesk delivers the agreed technical setup and training, with ongoing technical support scoped separately. Launch is the start of content maintenance, not its completion.
How much does a SharePoint intranet cost?
The quote depends on structure, content, migration, access design, training and support. Existing licences may cover the platform, while extra storage or features can add recurring costs. Compare the project scope and ongoing responsibilities as well as the initial price.
Next step
Discuss what your staff need to find
Tell us who will use the SharePoint intranet, what they struggle to find and where that information is kept today. We can then agree the first useful scope. Please keep sensitive files out of the form.
Get in touch
Talk to us about your intranet
Tell us roughly how many staff, which sites or locations are involved, how you use Microsoft 365 today and a few tasks that are hard right now, and we will be in touch to arrange a time that suits.
Prefer to talk?
Christchurch
Level 1, 85 Riccarton Road
Christchurch 8011
03 343 3124
Dunedin
Level 3, Bartons Building
2 Stafford Street, Dunedin 9016
03 479 2941