Before we dig into the new provisioning service, we should probably take a minute to recap the\u00a0<\/span>PnP Provisioning Engine<\/span><\/a>, which is part of the foundation of this service. <\/span><\/p>\n Originally released in 2015, the engine was developed to fill a\u00a0major gap SharePoint administrators\u00a0had with the inability to quickly deploy standardized site collections through a form of automation<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>The intention was also to completely remove the need for an administrator to have to create it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To\u00a0<\/span>vastly\u00a0<\/span><\/i>oversimplify, using a combination of Azure web jobs, SharePoint solutions<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and a SharePoint site collection, the engine provide<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0a simple, front<\/span>–<\/span>facing website to end users that allow<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0them to request a new site based on templates\u00a0<\/span>created or added by\u00a0<\/span>an administrator. <\/span><\/p>\n From there,\u00a0the site provisions\u00a0automatically without any administrator action needed.\u00a0This\u00a0step\u00a0requires\u00a0some configuration and tweaking to\u00a0perfect\u00a0in a production environment.\u00a0But once completed,\u00a0it\u00a0ends\u00a0up miles ahead of the out-of-the-box site provisioning experience.<\/p>\n Though still in beta, I\u2019m excited to see many powerful enhancements to the PnP\u00a0<\/span>P<\/span>rovisioning\u00a0<\/span>E<\/span>ngine<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>These enhancements<\/span>\u00a0simplify the deployment of a modern SharePoint site by reducing the amount of time to deploy<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>while including core site features and capabilities all within a simple interface.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For anyone familiar with the current production version of the PnP\u00a0Provisioning\u00a0Engine, you\u2019ll recognize some similar features. Here are a few notable updates:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n From hub sites to team sites, there\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0a range of cleanly branded, customized modern sites to inspire\u00a0<\/span>your\u00a0<\/span>creative juices!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n S<\/span>ometimes it can be difficult to visualize or even mock up a SharePoint site that truly shows the power of SharePoint Online. I know I\u2019m guilty of having spent entirely too much time selecting proper web part layout, navigation elements or even content in a demo environment. With these templates, we no longer\u00a0<\/span>have to<\/span>\u00a0spend hours in design to show off why we love a SharePoint site!<\/span> A stream<\/span>lined,\u00a0<\/span>simple user interface<\/span>\u00a0allows you<\/span>\u00a0to select, define and rapidly deploy<\/span>\u00a0a SharePoint site.<\/span>\u00a0Technically, the engine site creation page also hit these marks, but having deployed it in production settings, I can tell you the sheer\u00a0<\/span>speed<\/span><\/i>\u00a0increases in comparison are amazing! Less moving parts here has really made this experience more fluid.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This service doesn\u2019t require any PowerShell or JavaScript experience \u2013 simply point and click! Enough said about no code above, but I would be remiss if I didn\u2019t call out that the engine is open source. The beauty, of course, is that\u00a0<\/span>we the people\u00a0<\/span>can directly support, recommend, and even customize the code.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This kit is\u00a0the swiss army knife of SharePoint ready demo content! The SharePoint Starter Kit\u00a0includes 3 site collections, SharePoint Framework extensions, custom themes and site designs, all packaged up and ready to deploy with a few clicks of the mouse. Check back often as the team\u00a0is\u00a0constantly adding new features.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Aside from a notification email to alert the requestor when the site\u00a0receives provision, the title and URL, we\u00a0can\u00a0apply a custom theme during provisioning. Very cool!<\/p>\n Theming is typically an afterthought for me. I\u2019m usually focused more on functionality and layout than the theme. That said, I\u2019ve had my share of automated theming via the provisioning engine and PowerShell, which, if you\u2019re anything like me, commonly looks like the following<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n T<\/span>he thought of removing that entire process<\/span>\u00a0makes me tear<\/span>\u00a0up a bit with giddines<\/span>s.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The PnP team mention<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0provisioning can take different lengths of time to complete depending on site complexity, but\u00a0<\/span>I completed creating<\/span>\u00a0and launching my<\/span>\u00a0test site collection in under 5 minutes.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Again, once configured properly, the engine ran quickly, but in my experience, we typically recommended allowing hours, if not overnight, for the site to receive provision. Hours to minutes \u2013 I\u2019ll take it!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you are new to the provisioning engine here are the steps to get started:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t tried the PnP Provisioning Engine<\/span>\u00a0or<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>ervice<\/span>\u00a0or would like to learn more about the PnP project,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>you can get more information from\u00a0<\/span>GitHub<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>Microsoft<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m always curious to hear about how companies are handling SharePoint site creation.\u00a0If\u00a0you\u2019ve found\u00a0something you believe is tried and true, reach out \u2013 I\u2019d love to hear about your experience!\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Microsoft’s SharePoint PnP Provisioning engine recently received six notable updates we’re really excited about. Read all the details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":26859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18559,3758],"coauthors":[15515],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-07-21 22:34:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26853"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=26853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Microsoft PnP Provisioning Engine Updates<\/h2>\n
#1 – Free Templates:<\/h3>\n
![\"SharePoint](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/PnP-1-1024x703.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n#2 – Intuitive Interface:<\/h3>\n
![\"SharePoint](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/PnP-2-1024x703.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n#3 – No Code:<\/h3>\n
#4 – SharePoint Starter Kit<\/a>:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/PnP-3-2-300x168.jpg\")
<\/p>\n#5 – Custom Theme During Provisioning:<\/h3>\n
\n
#6 – Rapid Provisioning to Live Site:<\/h3>\n
How to\u00a0<\/span>Ge<\/span>t<\/span>\u00a0Started\u00a0<\/span>with<\/span>\u00a0the Provisioning\u00a0<\/span>Service<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n