SharePoint Intranet has developed exceptionally well from what it was two decades ago. Indeed, the need for an intranet in this constantly evolving business landscape is evident. However, what modern businesses are looking forward to is customization. The level of customization offered shows how well your intranet aligns with your organizational goals and the needs of your employees.
If you are already a SharePoint intranet user or planning to build one for your organization, this blog is for you. Today’s blog does convey some real information about the fundamental building blocks of your intranet environment, i.e., SharePoint web parts. We will begin by discussing what SharePoint web parts are, followed by a list of key SharePoint web parts, their functionalities, and how they can personalize your intranet experience.
What are SharePoint Web Parts?
Web parts in SharePoint are customizable, utility-driven components or small applications that users can add to their SharePoint pages to create interactive sites within their intranet. SharePoint web parts not only add different functionalities but also enhance navigation and information accessibility within the intranet environment.
Let’s understand this with an example. Consider that you are building your ideal workspace. The layout must be well-planned, utility-driven, and serve a specific purpose. There must be a conference room for meetings and discussions, a break room to facilitate social interaction among employees, a storage room for organizing documents, a bulletin board from where employees can access key updates, and more. Similarly, an intranet resembles a digital workplace, and web parts act as rooms or spaces to serve different functionalities.
- News and announcement web part: To convey critical organizational updates, project announcements, key achievements, etc.
- Document library web part: For employees to store, organize, and access information in various formats
- Teams web part: To foster internal communication through 1:1 chat and group discussions
Certainly, web parts in SharePoint are like Lego bricks, which can be used to create an infinite structure and unleash your creativity.
Benefits of Using Web Parts in SharePoint
1. Customization and Flexibility
Web parts in SharePoint allow users to fully customize their sites based on the end-user experience. You can create a communication site to facilitate internal communication within the organization or the home page of your intranet that displays your unique work culture. Furthermore, the easy-to-understand interface empowers users to use them accordingly without coding knowledge, eliminating the need to maintain a dedicated IT team. Certainly, you can customize the fields of the web part to match desirable layouts or play with their theme and style to bring something unique to enhance user engagement.
2. Modularity and Reusability
Evidently, SharePoint web parts can be easily modified and rearranged and used as an independent element in different sections of your intranet. However, their most significant advantage is their reusability. For instance, a quick links web part on your intranet’s home page can have links to some fundamental policies and guidelines that are accessible to employees across the organization. Again, the same quick links web part can be added to the SharePoint site, with links restricted to departmental staff only.
3. Integration
Consider an organization trying to collect feedback from employees. Instead of emailing feedback forms to each employee on their email and manually segregating responses, leveraging a dedicated web part that uses pre-built form templates can be more productive. Also, you can integrate it with PowerApps to create custom forms and directly store responses in your SharePoint database. Certainly, SharePoint web parts seamlessly integrate with lists, libraries, external databases, and Microsoft 365 applications, improving user navigability and information accessibility.
What are “Custom” SharePoint Web Parts?
However, with SharePoint Designs, you can leverage the flexibility to express your requirements. In addition to the web parts, you get in the out-of-the-box SharePoint solution, we can help you create custom web parts with various functionalities to match your operational preferences and personalize your overall intranet experience.
SharePoint Designs has developed dedicated packages of custom web parts, each acting as a specialized component to extend the functionality of your intranet sites. It primarily aims to strengthen internal communication and operational efficiency of your organization. Let us explore the features offered by the custom SharePoint web parts in the list given below: