As organizations embrace AI-powered productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot and SharePoint agents, the role of SharePoint administrators is evolving rapidly. The latest SharePoint Showcase highlights how admins can lead with confidence by implementing robust governance, security, and content hygiene practices.
Here are the key takeaways:
1. Knowledge Agent: AI-Ready Content Starts Here
The newly introduced Knowledge Agent helps admins prepare content for Copilot and agents by ensuring metadata hygiene, content readiness, and policy alignment. It’s a powerful tool to streamline content management and improve AI response quality.
2. Agent Governance & Insights
Admins can now track and manage SharePoint agents—both prebuilt and user-created—across sites. With Agent Insights, they can monitor agent activity and apply governance policies like Restricted Access Control (RAC) and Restricted Content Discovery (RCD) to protect sensitive content.
3. Restricted Access Control (RAC)
To combat oversharing, RAC policies now apply to all SharePoint and OneDrive sites, including those connected to Microsoft 365 Groups and Teams. Admins can restrict access using Entra security groups, ensuring only authorized users can view or interact with content.
4. Restricted Content Discovery (RCD)
RCD policies prevent sensitive or unready content from being surfaced by Copilot or organization-wide search. This is crucial for secure Copilot deployment and helps maintain control over what AI can access and reason over.
5. AI-Driven Site Matching
Admins can now use AI to compare up to 10,000 SharePoint sites and identify policy inconsistencies. This helps enforce uniform security settings across similar sites—like legal, HR, or finance—without manual effort.
6. Enterprise Application Insights
A new reporting tool shows which third-party apps are accessing SharePoint and OneDrive sites, including their permission scopes and usage. This helps admins tighten app-level security and monitor external integrations.
7. Copilot for SharePoint Admins
Launched in May 2025, this feature allows admins to use natural language to manage SharePoint. From contextual Q&A to multi-variable site search and recap summaries, Copilot simplifies admin workflows and boosts efficiency.
8. Cross-Tenant Site Migration
Admins can now migrate SharePoint sites across Microsoft 365 tenants—ideal for mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures. Cross-tenant redirects ensure continuity by preserving old URLs.
9. Microsoft 365 Backup & Archive
New backup features include dynamic rules for automated user protection and multi-admin notifications. The M365 Archive helps reduce storage costs by archiving inactive content—free if under quota, and up to 75% cheaper if over.
The Strategic Role of SharePoint Admins
Admins are no longer just custodians—they’re strategic enablers of secure collaboration and AI readiness. With tools like Knowledge Agent, RAC, RCD, and Copilot, they play a critical role in ensuring Microsoft 365 remains a trusted platform for innovation.
Read the full article on Microsoft Tech Community:
SharePoint Showcase: Governance and Security Essentials for Admins in the AI Era
