Native PnP Integration vs. Post-Processing: The Teams Center Approach

Teams Center: Native Integration Instead of Retroactive Workaround

The Fundamental Difference from Other Providers

What fundamentally distinguishes Teams Center from other governance providers is our philosophy of native integration. While competing products typically implement PnP Provisioning as a post-processing step, we have established it as an integral part of our solution design from day one.

The Practical Impact of These Differences

With other providers, the process usually looks like this: First, all SharePoint objects are deployed via proprietary mechanisms. Only in the last step is a trigger offered that can optionally initiate PnP Provisioning. This is not real integration, but merely an extension option - a workaround to meet the demand for PnP support.

Teams Center takes a completely different approach: PnP Provisioning lies at the core of our deployment process. It is not an optional extension but a fundamental component of the solution. This native integration enables us to harness the full power of the framework and seamlessly integrate it with our governance features.

The Anatomy of PnP Provisioning Integration in Teams Center

The Intelligent Connection of Metadata and Templates

Teams Center creates a unique symbiosis between the metadata captured during the request process and the PnP template. This metadata is not simply stored - it is natively integrated into the provisioning process and available as dynamic tokens.

The Sophisticated Token System

Our system supports three different token types that can be flexibly used in PnP templates:

Metadata Tokens form the heart of our integration. From the metadata defined in governance templates, we automatically generate different provisioning tokens. The complexity of this token generation is particularly impressive with structured data types:

While only a single token is generated for a simple text field, three tokens are automatically created for a dropdown field. Let's take a dropdown field named "Project Category" as a concrete example: Teams Center automatically generates the tokens ProjectCategory.displayName, ProjectCategory.internalName, and ProjectCategory.namingConvention. These can be used directly in PnP Provisioning templates to enable dynamic configurations.

Static Tokens allow administrators to create their own tokens with fixed values. These are excellent for marking provisioned site collections or creating dynamic links. A practical example: You can define your CRM system's URL as a static token and then create navigation elements that take users directly to specific records in the CRM system.

System Tokens complement the PnP standard tokens with Teams Center-specific functionality. These tokens were developed to fill gaps in the PnP Framework and include:

• TenantId and TenantName
• GroupId, GroupName, TeamId, TeamInternalId, TeamName
• MailNickname
• SpoSiteUrl, SpoSiteUrlPart, SpoSiteId, SpoSiteDisplayName
• PlanId, PlanTitle
• NotebookId, OneNoteWebUrl

The Orchestrated Deployment Process

Provisioning in Teams Center follows a carefully orchestrated sequence that ensures optimal deployment:

1. M365 Group Creation: First, the Microsoft 365 group is created
2. Team Conversion: The group is converted to a Microsoft Team
3. SharePoint Synchronization: Waiting for the SharePoint Site Collection creation
4. PnP Template Application: The PnP template is applied to the SharePoint Site Collection
5. Services Integration: Planner and OneNote are created
6. Structure Setup: Channels and Sensitivity Labels are configured
7. User Assignment: Members, Owners, and Guests are added

This process clearly shows that PnP Provisioning is not an afterthought for us, but deeply anchored in the deployment processes. Members only see the finished result with complete configuration - no half-finished workspaces, no retroactive changes.

Why We Rely on PnP Provisioning

The Challenge of SharePoint Customizations

SharePoint offers an almost infinite number of customization options. For a third-party provider, it is practically impossible to implement all these options themselves and keep them continuously up to date. New features, changed APIs, deprecated functions - the complexity would grow exponentially.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, we deliberately chose to integrate the PnP Provisioning Framework. This brings several decisive advantages:

Community Power: Our customers benefit directly from the strength and expertise of the PnP Community. Thousands of developers worldwide contribute to this framework, test it in various scenarios, and ensure continuous improvements.

Automatic Updates: PnP updates are automatically reflected in Teams Center. Our customers always have access to the latest templating options without having to wait for a Teams Center update.

Familiar Standards: Many IT administrators and Microsoft 365 managers already know and use PnP tools. They don't need to learn a proprietary templating language but can apply their existing knowledge directly.

Practical Use Scenarios

The combination of Teams Center and PnP Provisioning Templates opens up diverse application possibilities:

Standardized Information Architectures

With PnP Templates in Teams Center, organizations can roll out their information architecture in a standardized way:

• Intranet Sites with preconfigured navigation structures, web parts, and layouts
• Knowledge Management Workspaces with specialized lists, metadata, and workflows
• Project Spaces with standardized project management artifacts
• Sales Spaces with CRM integration and sales-specific structures

Each of these workspace types can be defined as a PnP template and deployed via Teams Center - with full governance control and automated compliance.

Benefits for Administrators

Time Savings and Efficiency

IT administrators who already work with the PnP Tool Set know the effort involved: Assemblies must be organized, tokens correctly entered, and the infrastructure prepared for PnP. This is time-consuming and error-prone.

With Teams Center, this overhead is completely eliminated. Administrators can:

• Store PnP templates directly in Teams Center
• Define tokens via an intuitive interface
• Start provisioning immediately

The time savings are significant - what previously took hours or days is now completed in minutes. Administrative overhead is drastically reduced.

No Infrastructure Preparation Required

When using PnP directly, administrators often need to build a complex infrastructure:

• PowerShell Runbooks for execution
• Key Vaults for credentials
• Monitoring and logging
• Error handling

Teams Center handles all these aspects. The PnP infrastructure is already in place, tested, and production-ready.

Best Practices for Template Development

In implementing PnP Provisioning in Teams Center, we have paid special attention to future-proof and sustainable structuring:

Structured Data and Clear Hierarchies

Our PnP templates follow a clear, semantic structure. This ensures optimal processability and makes it easy to identify and extract relevant information. Metadata is used consistently and follows established Microsoft 365 standards.

Descriptive Naming Conventions

All artifacts provisioned through PnP follow descriptive naming conventions. Instead of cryptic abbreviations, we use meaningful names that are self-explanatory and increase maintainability. This improves not only user-friendliness but also long-term system manageability.

Rich Metadata Integration

Every provisioned element is equipped with comprehensive metadata. This metadata is essential for internal management, improves discoverability throughout the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, and enables intelligent automation. The structured metadata architecture creates the foundation for future AI-powered features and advanced search capabilities.

The Future of Governance with PnP and Teams Center

The integration of PnP Provisioning in Teams Center is not a static feature - it continues to evolve. With every new SharePoint feature Microsoft introduces, the PnP Framework also expands. Teams Center customers automatically benefit from these extensions.