SharePoint (SP) has been used as an Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) at our institute for several years, supporting a diverse range of collaborative engineering research projects. Nevertheless, the traditional manual setup, adaptation, and customisation of SP as an ELN via the SP’s web interface has proved time-consuming, error-prone, and unscalable when managing a large portfolio of projects.

To address these challenges and improve Research Data Management (RDM) efficiency, we present a method enabling users to self-configure SP as an ELN through predefined templates without the need for specialist IT support. These predefined templates mirror typical engineering project structures, often modelled as process graphs where each node corresponds to a research process with associated data. Based on researchers’ selections, user-defined SP lists and the project’s process graph are dynamically generated, enabling intuitive navigation through the project workflow.

This method ensures consistent and reproducible site structures, significantly reduces manual workload, and leads to measurable reductions in setup time, error rates, and support requests. The approach is particularly advantageous for scalability, efficiency, and reproducibility, though it requires initial investment in template development and may have limitations for engineering projects with highly specialised requirements. Overall, this method strengthens RDM infrastructure and supports sustainable, collaborative engineering research.