Last updated by Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group
How to Build and Deploy a Custom SharePoint Intranet Portal
Step 1 — Plan your information architecture
Good intranet IA takes 2–4 weeks before any site is built. Skip this and you rebuild in 18 months.
- Inventory existing content — catalog what exists, who owns it, and how often it is used.
- Define hub structure — one hub per major business unit (HR, Finance, Operations, IT). Limit to 5–15 spoke sites per hub.
- Map navigation — design mega-menu navigation tied to your hub structure. Users should reach any content in three clicks.
- Set sensitivity labels — apply container-level labels to each hub site to enforce sharing controls automatically.
- Choose the home site — designate one communication site as the organization home site in the SharePoint admin center.
Step 2 — Design branding and layout
Modern SharePoint supports custom branding without code in most cases.
- SharePoint Look Book — use Microsoft's Look Book templates as a starting point for layout and web part placement.
- Theme colors — apply a custom color theme via Change the look → Theme. Supports brand hex codes.
- Header and footer — configure the header layout (minimal or standard) and add a custom logo and navigation links.
- Custom fonts — use the JSON theme file to define font families if your brand requires specific typography.
- SPFx extensions — deploy Application Customizer extensions for advanced header/footer components that exceed out-of-the-box options.
Step 3 — Build key web parts and pages
Focus web part selection on employee needs, not feature showcases.
- News web part — surfaces news posts from the current site or from associated hub sites. Use audience targeting to personalize by department.
- Quick links — top-10 most-used links for each audience. Reduces helpdesk "where is X?" tickets.
- Highlighted content — dynamic content roll-up from tagged content across hub sites.
- People web part — shows team directory pulled from Microsoft 365 profiles.
- Viva Connections card — surfaces HR, IT, and payroll cards directly in Teams for frontline workers who never open a browser.
Step 4 — Configure Viva Connections
Viva Connections lets employees access the intranet inside Microsoft Teams. Setup requires four prerequisites.
- A designated SharePoint home site with global navigation configured.
- Microsoft Teams deployed to your users.
- A Microsoft 365 subscription with SharePoint Online.
- Azure AD groups set up for audience targeting rules.
Once configured, the Connections app appears in Teams as a pinned tab. Adaptive cards replace browser navigation for mobile and frontline workers.
Step 5 — Deploy and measure adoption
A phased rollout prevents user overload and gathers feedback before full launch.
- Pilot group — launch to 50–100 champion users first. Collect feedback for 2 weeks.
- Department rollout — expand to each business unit over 4–6 weeks with department-specific training.
- Full launch — company-wide launch with leadership messaging and a "What's new" news post.
Track these four adoption KPIs monthly after launch.
- Monthly active users (MAU)
- Search success rate (searches that result in a click)
- Top pages and content accessed
- Employee satisfaction score from pulse surveys
Frequently asked questions
How long does a SharePoint intranet build take?
A standard department intranet takes 6–10 weeks. An enterprise home site with custom Viva Connections cards and full hub-spoke architecture takes 12–20 weeks. Timeline depends on content volume and approval cycles.
Do I need SharePoint Server or is Online enough?
For new intranet builds, SharePoint Online is the right choice. SharePoint Server is only needed if you have on-premises regulatory requirements that prohibit cloud storage. Modern features — Viva Connections, sensitivity labels, Copilot grounding — are Online-only.
Can I keep our existing branding?
Yes. SharePoint Online supports custom color themes, logos, and fonts. Complex brand guidelines (specific typefaces, custom headers) may require an SPFx Application Customizer, which EPC Group can deploy and maintain.
What is the home site and do I need one?
The home site is the top-level landing page for your organization in SharePoint. You need one for Viva Connections to work. It also appears as the default in the SharePoint app bar for all users.
How do I target content to specific departments?
Use audience targeting in the News, Highlighted Content, and Quick Links web parts. Audiences are defined by Azure AD groups. Users see only the content relevant to their group membership.
Start your intranet project
EPC Group architects have designed and deployed SharePoint intranets for organizations ranging from mid-market to Fortune 500. Call (888) 381-9725 or request a 30-minute discovery call.