Site Requests

The Requests page is where admins review and act on site provisioning requests submitted by end users through the self-service portal.

Overview

Rather than giving every employee the ability to create SharePoint sites freely (which leads to sprawl and uncontrolled data), Tenaxis gives end users a request form where they explain what they need and why. Admins review these requests and approve or reject them.

This creates a governed, auditable process:

• Users get the sites they need
• IT has visibility into why sites are being created
• Every decision is logged for compliance

Viewing Requests

Go to Requests in the left sidebar. The badge on the menu item shows the number of pending requests waiting for action.

You'll see a list of all requests with:

Filtering Requests

Use the Status filter buttons at the top to show:

• Pending - Awaiting your action (default view)
• Approved - Requests that have been approved
• Rejected - Requests that have been declined

Approving a Request

1. Click on the request you want to review
2. Read the request details:
   • Site Name - What the user wants to call the site
   • Mail Nickname - The URL-safe identifier (e.g., project-alpha)
   • Purpose - Their reason for needing the site
   • Template Selected - If they chose a template
3. Optionally, choose or change the Template that will be applied when the site is created
4. Click Approve

Once approved:

• Tenaxis begins creating the SharePoint site in Microsoft 365 in the background
• The site appears in the Sites list with status PROVISIONING
• The requester receives an email notification that their request was approved, including a link to the new site once it's ready
• Any webhooks configured for request.approved events will fire

Rejecting a Request

1. Click on the request you want to review
2. Click Reject
3. Enter a note explaining why the request is being rejected (this note is sent to the requester)
4. Click Confirm Reject

The requester receives an email with your rejection note. This helps them understand what they can do differently - for example, use an existing site, request access to a shared site instead, or resubmit with more detail.

What Happens After Approval

The approval process creates everything automatically:

1. M365 Group created - A Microsoft 365 Unified Group is created in your Entra ID (Azure AD) tenant
2. SharePoint site provisioned - The associated SharePoint site is activated under the group
3. Template applied - If a template was selected, document libraries and folders are created on the site
4. Security policy applied - If a policy was assigned, it's pushed to the site immediately
5. Requester added as owner - The person who requested the site is automatically made an OWNER
6. Notification sent - The requester receives an email with the site URL
7. Audit logged - The approval, the admin who approved, and the new site details are recorded in the audit log

The Requester's Experience

End users submit requests through the Portal at /portal/request. They see:

1. A simple form asking for:
   • Site Name - What to call the site
   • Mail Nickname - A short ID for the URL (Tenaxis helps them format this correctly)
   • Purpose - Why they need the site (free text)
   • Template (optional) - Choose from available templates
2. After submitting, they see a confirmation message
3. They can track their request status in Portal → My Requests
4. They receive an email when their request is approved or rejected

Access Requests

In addition to site creation requests, Tenaxis also supports access requests - where a user requests to be added as a member to an existing site they don't currently have access to.

These appear in the same Requests inbox with the type ACCESS instead of PROVISION.

The approval/rejection workflow is the same. On approval, the user is added to the site with the appropriate role.

Tips for Admins

• Use templates - When approving, assign a template that matches the site's purpose. This ensures consistent document library structure across similar projects.
• Add a note on rejection - A helpful rejection note (e.g., "Please use the existing 'All-Company' site for company-wide documents") saves back-and-forth.
• Check naming - Review the mail nickname for any issues (no spaces, no special characters). You can adjust it before approving if needed.
• Watch the badge - The red badge on the Requests menu item shows how many are waiting. Try to keep this at zero.