Managing user access within SharePoint is a chore, but reducing permissions sprawl (way too many people having access) and keeping access organized and up-to-date is critical if you want to really understand what SharePoint resources are being used, and who is using them.

Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons, SharePoint is often out-of-date when it comes to permissions.

Factors like:

1. Lots of users with management permissions having the rights to change permissions and assign permissions to other users

2. No native reporting tools within SharePoint that allow admins to detect effective rights to head off problems

both contribute to the SharePoint "zoo."

At the very least, admins need a tool that allows them to baseline permissions, certify ownership, evaluate effective rights, and take immediate action to fix security holes. But wouldn't it be nice if SharePoint admins / users had a "self-service" model for SharePoint clean-up?

SMP for SharePoint, STEALTHbits' solution, features a comprehensive, 4-step workflow to do just that:

1. We baseline the permissions.

2. We identify the probable owners of sites.

3. We talk to the probable owners to get answers to permissions questions.

4. We analyze the results and recommend next steps based on them.

And it's all done from within a single tool.

If you want to learn more about the SharePoint governance challenge, as well as our Self-Service features, check out our STEALTHsession on SharePoint Self-Service. (Please note - you must be logged in to view extended videos).