Every day I am assaulted by a barrage of press releases, almost all of which contain nothing of interest. So it was a pleasant surprise to be hit early on a Monday morning by this one from Autonomy, "ControlPoint unveiled for Microsoft SharePoint information governance."

In short the firm is releasing an updated system that they claim will provide wide records management capabilities across disparate and federated SharePoint environments. It is a system that builds on Autonomy's acquisition of Meridio technology in 2007. A closer look at this announcement reveals more in the way of federated records management than governance as such, providing a centralized RM policy hub to manage classification, preservation, and disposition of content assets. Governance is of course far more than this....but that's PR for you.

Nevertheless, the Meridio technology was good technology. It seems to be getting some decent R&D invested in it, and overall I am happy to see it remain a solid option, particularly for those looking for more centralized control of broad MOSS environments.

As subscribers to CMS Watch services know, we have long believed that SharePoint's Achilles heel for the enterprise is governance -- or lack of. Many of the complaints we hear of regarding MOSS relate in one way or another to buyers and users failing to apply appropriate governance practices at an early stage, resulting in many cases in MOSS sprawl and non-compliance. This has at times had us labeled as "SharePoint bashers" by some who have clearly not read our reports, or taken our online education courses. If they had they would know that we remain enthusiastic about MOSS, but urge all buyers to apply the brakes before unleashing it throughout the enterprise.

Just like any other ECM system or content development platform, SharePoint requires the same vigorous procurement and technical vetting process, you would apply to the likes of EMC Documentum or Objective. It also requires the same pre-planning, business analysis, and governance work in advance to ensure success.