Bonnyville Municipal District: Transforming Operations with Microsoft Purview and SharePoint
About the Municipality
Bonnyville Municipal District (MD) is a local government organization responsible for municipal services, governance, and community development in northeastern Alberta. With a commitment to efficiency and compliance, Bonnyville MD sought to enhance its records management practices to align with industry best practices and regulatory requirements.
Technologies
SharePoint Online
Microsoft Purview
PnP Platform
ShareGate (for content migration)
By the Numbers
+6,500 citizens served
+100,000 permanent retention documents
“All the Gravity Union staff working on this project have been extremely knowledgeable and personable, making it a smooth transition.”
- Member of the Planning Department, Bonnyville MD
Business Context & Goals
The previous system at Bonnyville MD lacked automated retention policies, creating inefficiencies in managing transitory records and disposition processes. As they began migrating to SharePoint Online, the Bonnyville team initially designed their site solely as a file plan—a common approach for many organizations. However, they soon faced challenges with scalability, user experience, and automation, realizing it wasn’t a sustainable long-term solution.
Recognizing the need for a more tailored, structured and scalable records management solution, Bonnyville MD engaged Gravity Union to support the transition to Microsoft Purview and SharePoint Online.
The primary goals included:
Content cleanup and added structure to the RM framework in SPO for an information architecture (IA) tailored to support their existing Records Management framework
Establishing automated retention and disposition policies in Purview (event-based)
Training staff on best practices for records classification and lifecycle management
Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements
Solution Highlights & Benefits
Targeted Purview Training for Effective Records Management
Gravity Union worked closely with Bonnyville MD's Legislative Services, Planning and Development, and Finance departments as pilot groups for rollouts, providing hands-on training on Microsoft Purview’s records management capabilities. The training focused on:
Identifying records management gaps with an "audit-first" approach
Understanding transitory records and their role in lifecycle management
Configuring retention labels and policies to align with business needs
Ensuring proper disposition processes to maintain compliance
Automated Retention and Labeling Policies
Gravity Union assisted Bonnyville MD in configuring auto-labeling policies within Microsoft Purview, ensuring:
One content type per library with defined metadata
Automated retention label applications for consistent governance
The rollout included:
Card Sort and Content Discovery: Legislative Services had pre-existing content in SharePoint, while Planning and Development had content in both SharePoint and Laserfiche. The content migration process was straightforward, with ShareGate used for migrating policies and bylaws.
User Adoption and Support: Legislative Services, led by champions within the team, embraced SharePoint Online, making the migration smooth. The Planning and Development department empowered its users to appreciate the value of SharePoint, with strong support from the client manager.
PnP Platform for Land Files: The GU team created a PnP platform to help the Bonnyville team search for land files—which are permanent retention items with over 100,000 documents.
Information Architecture and Permissions Management
Gravity Union designed an information architecture (IA) tailored to each department, focusing on compliance, retention, and user experience. This approach, which mirrored best practices used by cities, ensured ease of findability and effective content organization.
Permissions were carefully managed across departments, such as the FOIP department, where limited permissions were implemented to ensure long-term usability.
Example of a Bonnyville SharePoint site, built by the team at Gravity Union.
Phase 1 and Phase 2 Implementation
The project was executed in two phases: Strategy and Planning (Phase 1), followed by migration, information architecture, permissions setup, and automated policies implementation (Phase 2). This structured approach ensured a tailored experience and helped Bonnyville MD’s team understand their role throughout the process.
“Land Files are SO much easier to add and locate now. Why did we wait so long to do this?”
- Member of the Planning Department, Bonnyville MD
Project Results
The adoption of Microsoft Purview and SharePoint Online enabled Bonnyville MD to:
Improve Compliance: Automated retention labels ensure consistent lifecycle management across the organization.
Increase Operational Efficiency: The elimination of manual processes for records classification and disposition saved time and resources.
Strengthen Information Governance: A structured and compliant approach to information management that was tailored to Bonnyville MD’s specific needs.
Empower Staff: Custom training equipped team members with knowledge to optimize and maintain the RM system. Staff received both regular and "Power User" training to train others across departments.
Improve Searchability: Centralization of content and permissions management enhanced the ability to locate information easily.
Gravity Union’s approach delivered a scalable, compliant, and user-friendly records management solution, positioning Bonnyville MD for long-term governance success.
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