☕ SharePoint Tip #20 — KPIs and Adoption Metrics: measuring what matters
Good morning! Here is your 15-minute SharePoint tip for today.
Day 20 | Week 4 — Product Owner Mastery
KPIs and Adoption Metrics for SharePoint
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. As a Product Owner, these are the metrics that tell you whether SharePoint is actually being used — and where the problems are.
Where to find SharePoint usage data
Microsoft 365 Admin Center → Reports → Usage → SharePoint
SharePoint Admin Center → Active sites (storage, last activity)
Microsoft Viva Insights → Workplace analytics (deeper behavioural data, requires licence)
The metrics that matter
Adoption metrics
- Monthly active users (MAU) — are people actually using SharePoint?
- Files viewed/edited per month — passive browsing vs active use
- Number of active sites — are teams adopting, or is one team carrying the whole organisation?
- Co-authoring sessions — are people collaborating, or still emailing attachments?
Health metrics
- Sites with no owner assigned — governance risk
- Sites inactive for 90+ days — candidates for archiving
- Storage usage trend — are you growing sustainably?
- External sharing events — is sensitive content being shared appropriately?
Quality metrics
- Search click-through rate — are search results relevant?
- Support tickets related to SharePoint — a proxy for pain points
- Files with no metadata beyond defaults — indicates metadata adoption is low
Setting meaningful targets
Don’t just collect data — set targets and review monthly:
| Metric | Target example |
|---|---|
| MAU as % of licensed users | >70% within 6 months of migration |
| Sites with an active owner | 100% — no exceptions |
| Inactive sites (90+ days) | <5% of total site count |
| Support tickets | Decreasing trend quarter-on-quarter |
Try it today (5 minutes)
Go to admin.microsoft.com → Reports → Usage → SharePoint. Look at the "Active users" graph for the last 90 days. Is the trend up, flat, or down? What does that tell you about adoption? Note your current baseline — you’ll refer back to it as your product matures.
As a Product Owner
Share a monthly "SharePoint health report" with your stakeholders — one page, five key metrics, a trend arrow (up/flat/down), and your planned response to any declining metrics. This positions you as a data-driven product leader, not just a platform administrator.
See you tomorrow at 6:00 AM with Tip #21 — Driving SharePoint Adoption across your organisation!