🎯 SharePoint Course · Final Module 7 of 7
Hub Sites, Teams Integration & Monitoring
📂 Course: SharePoint Online Administration
📦 Module: 7 of 7 · Final
🎯 Exam: MS-102
⏱ Read time: ~26 min
📦 Module: 7 of 7 · Final
🎯 Exam: MS-102
⏱ Read time: ~26 min
MS-102 Exam Alignment — Final Module
MS-102
- Know that a hub site is a regular SharePoint site (Team or Communication) that is registered as a hub — registration is done by a SharePoint Administrator in the admin center or via PowerShell
- Know that associated sites inherit hub navigation and branding but keep their own permissions — association does not change site permissions
- Know that every Microsoft Teams team creates a backing SharePoint Team site — the Teams Files tab is the document library of this site; deleting the team deletes the site (after a soft-delete period)
- Know where SharePoint usage reports are — SharePoint admin center → Reports → SharePoint, and Microsoft 365 admin center → Reports → Usage
Exam Tip: Hub sites do NOT merge permissions — associating a site with a hub does not give hub members access to associated sites. Each site retains its own independent permissions. Hub sites only share: navigation (the hub navigation bar displayed at the top of all associated sites), search scope (searching from any associated site searches across the hub), and site branding/theme.
Hub sites are the architectural backbone of a modern SharePoint intranet — they group related sites together into connected families that share navigation, search, and branding while remaining independently governed. Combined with Teams integration and monitoring, hub sites complete the SharePoint administration picture from architecture through to ongoing operations.
🔗 Hub Sites
Any SharePoint site (Team site or Communication site) can be registered as a hub site by a SharePoint Administrator. Other sites are then associated with the hub.
| Hub Site Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Registration | SharePoint admin center → Active sites → select a site → Hub → Register as hub site. Or: Register-SPOHubSite in PowerShell. Only SharePoint Admins can register hub sites |
| Association | Site owners associate their site to a hub from Site Settings → Hub site information. A site can only be associated with ONE hub at a time |
| Shared navigation | The hub navigation bar appears at the top of all associated sites. Managed by the hub site owner. All associated sites automatically display this navigation |
| Shared search | Searching from within an associated site searches across the entire hub (the hub and all its associated sites) — not just the current site |
| Shared branding/theme | The hub’s theme and logo are applied to all associated sites, creating a consistent visual identity across the site family |
| Permissions | Hub association does NOT change permissions. Each associated site keeps its own independent permissions. Hub members do not automatically have access to associated sites |
💡 Hierarchy: Hub sites can have hub sites
SharePoint supports a two-level hub hierarchy — a hub site can itself be associated with another hub site (called a “vertical hub”). For example: a “Contoso Intranet” root hub can have a “HR Hub” associated as a child hub, which in turn has individual HR team sites associated with it.
🤝 Teams & SharePoint Integration
| Integration Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Every Teams team = a SharePoint Team site | When a Teams team is created, an M365 Group is created, which automatically provisions a SharePoint Team site. The Teams “Files” tab is a document library in this SharePoint site |
| Teams channels and SharePoint folders | Each standard Teams channel has a corresponding folder in the SharePoint site’s default document library. Private channels = separate SharePoint site collections |
| Private channels | Each private channel creates its own separate SharePoint site collection with its own permissions — only private channel members have access |
| Shared channels | Each shared channel also creates its own SharePoint site collection. Shared channels can include members from other tenants (B2B direct connect) |
| Team deletion = Site deletion | Deleting a Teams team initiates deletion of the backing M365 Group and SharePoint site (moved to deleted sites recycle bin for 93 days) |
📊 SharePoint Monitoring & Reports
| Report | Location | What It Shows |
|---|---|---|
| SharePoint site usage | Microsoft 365 admin center → Reports → Usage → SharePoint site usage | Active sites, file count, page views, unique visitors per site. 7/30/90/180 day ranges |
| SharePoint file activity | Microsoft 365 admin center → Reports → Usage → SharePoint file activity | Files viewed, edited, synced, shared internally/externally per user |
| Storage usage | SharePoint admin center → Active sites — StorageUsageCurrent column | Per-site storage consumption. Sort descending to find largest sites |
| Sharing activity | Microsoft Purview compliance portal → Audit → Search for SharingInvitationCreated, AnonymousLinkCreated | Who shared what with whom and when |
| Inactive sites | SharePoint admin center → Active sites → filter by LastActivityDate | Sites with no recent activity — candidates for review or decommission |
PowerShell — Hub Sites & Monitoring (SPO Module)
💡 Best Practices
- Plan hub site architecture before provisioning sites — identify your top-level hubs (e.g., HR Hub, IT Hub, Company Hub) and associate departmental sites during or immediately after creation
- Use Communication sites as hub sites for department hubs — Communication sites are designed for broadcast publishing and serve as the natural “home page” for a hub family
- Govern Teams proliferation by restricting M365 Group creation (via Entra ID group creation policy) — every uncontrolled team creates a SharePoint site, adding to storage costs and governance complexity
- Run a quarterly inactive site review using LastContentModifiedDate in PowerShell — identify sites with no activity in 180+ days, contact site owners to confirm if still needed, and decommission or archive as appropriate
🎓 Interview Q&A
Q: A SharePoint administrator associates 15 department sites with a “Company Hub” site. A manager complains they can now navigate to all 15 sites from the hub navigation but cannot access them. Is this a configuration error?
No — this is expected and correct behaviour. Hub site association only shares navigation, search scope, and branding. It does not change permissions on associated sites. The manager can see the sites listed in the hub navigation (because navigation is shared), but access to each individual site is governed by that site’s own permissions. The manager would need to be added to the Members or Visitors group of each site they need to access — hub association provides discoverability, not access.
🎯 MS-102 Mock Test — Final
Module 7 — Hub Sites, Teams Integration & Monitoring
5 questions · Scenario-based · Pass mark: 70%
Q1 of 5
A user creates a private channel in an existing Teams team. What SharePoint resource is automatically created?
AA new folder in the existing team’s SharePoint document library
BA sub-site of the existing team’s SharePoint site
CNo SharePoint resource — private channels use Teams-internal storage only
DA separate SharePoint site collection with its own permissions — only private channel members have access
✅ D. Each Teams private channel creates its own separate SharePoint site collection — separate from the main team site. This is intentional: private channel members are a subset of the team, so the files must be isolated from the main team site’s permissions. The private channel site has its own unique URL, its own document library, and access restricted to only the private channel members.
Q2 of 5
A SharePoint administrator registers a Communication site as a hub and associates 10 department sites. A member of the hub site now complains they cannot access one of the associated department sites. Why?
AHub association automatically grants access — the admin needs to re-run the association
BHub site association only shares navigation, search, and branding — it does not grant permissions. Each associated site retains its own independent permissions
CThe user needs to be a SharePoint Administrator to access associated sites
DThe hub site needs to be approved by Microsoft before association takes effect
✅ B. Hub site association shares navigation, search scope, and branding only — it does NOT grant any permissions. Each associated site keeps its completely independent permission set. Being a member of the hub site gives no automatic access to associated sites. The user must be explicitly added to the relevant permission group on the specific site they need to access.
Q3 of 5
An administrator wants to find all SharePoint sites that have had no content modification in the past 180 days. Which is the best approach?
AMicrosoft 365 admin center → Reports → SharePoint site usage (filter by last activity)
BMicrosoft Purview compliance portal → Audit → Search for FileModified events per site
CPowerShell: Get-SPOSite -Limit All | Where-Object {$_.LastContentModifiedDate -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-180)}
DSharePoint admin center → Inactive sites report
✅ C. PowerShell using
Get-SPOSite -Limit All filtered by LastContentModifiedDate is the most precise and scalable approach — it returns all sites with their last modification date, allowing exact filtering to any date threshold and exporting to CSV for review.Q4 of 5
A manager deletes a Microsoft Teams team. What happens to the backing SharePoint site?
AThe SharePoint site is moved to the Deleted sites recycle bin for 93 days and can be restored by a SharePoint Administrator
BThe SharePoint site remains active — only the Teams interface is deleted
CThe SharePoint site is permanently deleted immediately
DThe SharePoint site is converted to a standalone Communication site
✅ A. Deleting a Teams team triggers a soft-delete of the backing M365 Group and its associated SharePoint site. The SharePoint site moves to the SharePoint admin center → Sites → Deleted sites recycle bin where it is retained for 93 days. A SharePoint Administrator can restore it during this window. After 93 days the site is permanently purged.
Q5 of 5
A user searches from within a site associated with the “HR Hub.” Which content does the search return by default?
AOnly content from the current site the user is searching from
BContent from the current site and all other sites associated with the HR Hub — the hub provides a shared search scope across all associated sites
CAll SharePoint content across the entire tenant
DOnly content the user has explicitly bookmarked in the hub
✅ B. One of the three things hub sites share is a shared search scope. Searching from any site associated with the HR Hub returns results from the current site AND all other sites associated with the same hub. This is extremely useful for finding HR documents regardless of which specific HR site they live in. Users can also expand the search scope to “all of SharePoint” if needed.
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Locked — Complete Module 6 first.