Site Collection Synchronization (Version 4)

Site collection synchronization is an action which replicates aspects of the root site to other parts of a WorkPoint solution. An example could be when a root site column or content type is needed on e.g., a library on an entity site, or if the permission levels or SharePoint groups from the root site are likewise needed on an entity site.

Using the settings in the Site Collection Synchronization page, you can select which aspects of the root site you want to replicate, and then select a scope to target which part of the WorkPoint solution to replicate those aspects to.

An example could be to select Site Columns and Site Content Types, and replicate those from the root site to all master site collections in the solution. From there, a master site synchronization can then be used to replicate the site columns and site content types from the master sites to the entity sites within their business modules.

The aspects which can be selected for replication from the root site are split into two sections:

Site Collection Basic Objects:

• Features: This option refers to the root site collection features, e.g., Document Sets, and In Place Records Management.
• Site Columns: This option refers to the site columns configured on the root site of the solution.
• Site Content Types: This option refers to the content types configured on the root site of the solution.
• Term Groups: This option refers to the term groups and the terms contained within them in the term store of the root site.
• Language Resources: This option refers to the language resources configured on the root site of the solution.
• Site Navigation: This option refers to the settings in the "Navigation Elements" setting of the root site.
• Default Site Collection Objects: This option refers to the following settings from the root site: Root Web Settings, Regional Settings, Supported UI Languages, Custom Actions, Publishing, Composed Looks, Site Header and Branding files

Site Collection Security:

• Site Collection Administrators: This option refers to all the users set as site collection administrator on the root site.
• Permission Levels: This option refers to the different permission levels configured on the root site.
• Permissions: This option refers to the permissions configured on the root site (incl. personnel).
• Groups: This option refers to the SharePoint groups configured on the root site.
• Group members: This option refers to the memberships of the groups configured on the root site.

From the Site Collection Synchronization page it is also possible to define whether Site Collection administrators should be synchronized to all sites. We will cover this further down in this article.

Site Collection Synchronization can be configured and executed from the WorkPoint 365 Administration.

There are currently no requirements associated with the use of Site Collection Synchronization.

As mentioned, site collection synchronization can be executed from the WorkPoint 365 Administration:

1. Click the "Home" button of the solution.
2. Click the cog icon to access the WorkPoint Administration.

3. In the WorkPoint Administration left side panel, click "Site Collection Synchronization". This opens the Site Collection Synchronization page:

4. Click the "Enable" button in the Content Type Hub section to enable the use of the Content type hub. You can read more in this article.
5. By default (and when the Synchronize Site Collection administrators to all sites is enabled), WorkPoint synchronizes all root site collection administrators to all other site collections in the WorkPoint solution. If this setting is disabled, only the primary root site collection administrator is assigned as administrator for new site collections, and synchronization of root site collection administrators will not be run until the setting is enabled. There is one exception to this; all root site collection administrators are always synchronized to master site collections, so that they can be accessed and configured by all administrators.
6. If you enable the "Synchronize to all site collections on changes to root site permissions" checker, WorkPoint will make a check once every day to see if any changes have been made to the permission levels and/or permissions and/or group memberships on the root site. If there are any changes, a site collection synchronization job will start and synchronize the changes to all site collections. The synchronization will comply with the settings for synchronization of site collection administrators and the security settings defined for each module.

7. In the Site Collection Basic Options section you can select which basic aspects from the root site of the WorkPoint solution to synchronize to your scope (which is selected further down on the page)
8. In the Site Collection Security section you can select which security aspects from the root site of the WorkPoint solution to synchronize to your scope (which is selected further down on the page)
9. In the "Scope" selector, you can select the following scopes:
   • All site collections (only available if one or more security aspects, and none of the basic objects are selected)
   • Master site collections
   • Specific site collections (requires you to select a business module and optionally a server relative Url filter)
   • All site collections within a module (requires you to select a business module using the "Multiple entities per site collection" architecture)

Once at least one Basic object or security object and a scope has been selected, the "Submit Job" button appears:

9. Click the "Submit Job" button to begin the site collection synchronization based on your selections.

The progress of your job can be followed in the "Job list" section:

10. Click "Refresh" to update the list.
11. Click the "Clear Job list" button to clear the list.

Depending on the size and scope of the Site Collection Synchronization, it may be advisable to pick and choose which aspects of the synchronization are needed. Customize the synchronization by choosing which aspects to synchronize and your scope with the controls in pt. 6-8.