Integrating SharePoint into Ignition: A Practical Guide

Why SharePoint + Ignition?

Integrating SharePoint into Ignition can reduce friction between organizational teams without compromising system reliability. The core draw is bringing enterprise information closer to operations and reducing manual work like exporting reports, emailing files, hunting for the latest SOP, or duplicating data across systems.

In some organizations, SharePoint may already be the system of record. As part of the Microsoft suite of tools, it is depended on for document management and collaboration. In this case, integrating SharePoint into Ignition can expand system capabilities to leverage the strengths of each tool and reduce separation or duplication between operation/production and other teams.

Other organizations may be looking to move away from paper-driven or manual processes. In these cases, the combination of Ignition and SharePoint can allow the concerns of both manual production or record keeping and old-fashioned document storage and sharing to be addressed in a way that sets teams up for lower overhead.

What Ignition and SharePoint Each Do Best

As a SCADA platform, Ignition excels at real-time and near-real-time operations. It connects to control system components, surfacing information to users in a way that is conducive to effective and efficient decision-making during operation. Additionally, it’s built around SQL database connectivity rather than proprietary data storage formats. It natively integrates with databases such as PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL, enabling robust historical data logging, reporting, and analytics. This makes it well-suited for data-driven applications and integration with other data analytics tools. Ignition also supports Python scripting throughout the platform, allowing engineers and developers to build custom logic, automation routines, and integrations. Its API-driven design and flexible UI development tools enable deep customization, making it adaptable.

SharePoint, on the other hand, is designed for document handling and collaboration. At its core, SharePoint provides a centralized and structured environment for storing, organizing, and managing digital content across an organization. Unlike traditional file servers, it layers document management capabilities such as version control, metadata, and permissions directly onto cloud-based storage, making information both more accessible and more governable. Its built-in search engine further strengthens this by allowing users to retrieve relevant documents and data across sites, libraries, and even connected Microsoft 365 services. Procedures, manuals, reports, and audit artifacts all fit naturally into SharePoint’s structure and methodology. Beyond document storage, SharePoint serves as a flexible platform for building internal portals and collaborative workspaces, with sites acting as hubs for departments or projects and Power Automate integration providing options for automating workflows like approvals, document routing, and notifications.

The value in integration between these two systems comes from exposing information between them, while allowing each to preside over the scope of work it was designed for. When humans are in the loop doing document management, approvals, or reviewing reports, integrating SharePoint into Ignition provides benefits in terms of transparency between teams and the reduction of duplicated data.

Common Integration Use Cases

Publishing Reports

One common pattern for integration is publishing content out of Ignition. Scheduled reports, batch summaries, or downtime logs can be automatically uploaded to a SharePoint document library where supervisors and engineers already expect to find them.

From a technical standpoint, this typically involves formatting data into a document and then using Ignition’s scripting capabilities and SharePoint’s APIs (such as Microsoft Graph or SharePoint REST endpoints) to programmatically upload the files to the appropriate SharePoint site, folder, or document library. Metadata — such as production line, batch ID, timestamp, shift, or product type — can be attached to each file on upload, making the content easier to search, filter, and organize.

This allows other organizational teams or team members – such as engineers or managers – to access the latest production summaries, downtime logs, or performance reports directly from SharePoint, alongside other operational and business documents. This creates a more unified information flow between OT (operational technology) and IT systems, which reduces separation or duplication between plant-floor data and enterprise documentation.

Additionally, storing Ignition-generated content in SharePoint enables downstream workflows. For example, the arrival of a new batch summary could automatically trigger a review or approval process via Power Automate, notify stakeholders in Microsoft Teams, or be archived according to corporate retention policies. Over time, this turns SharePoint into not just a storage location, but an active collaboration and governance layer for industrial data.

Document Display in Ignition

Another high-value use case for integrating SharePoint with Ignition is using SharePoint as the authoritative source of documentation and then surfacing that information directly within Ignition’s operator interface. In many facilities, critical operational information — such as standard operating procedures (SOPs), wiring diagrams, and manuals — requires formal version control, approvals, and periodic reviews, making SharePoint a natural system of record. However, operators and technicians typically spend most of their time inside Ignition HMIs rather than browsing SharePoint sites. If they must leave the HMI to search for documents, it can cause frustration and increase the likelihood that outdated or unofficial copies will be used.

Through integration, Ignition screens can dynamically link to or embed documents that reside in SharePoint. Technically, this can be accomplished by storing document URLs or metadata in Ignition and using web views or API calls to retrieve the correct file from SharePoint in real time. The system can also be designed to filter documents, so users see only the most relevant information. For example, when an operator selects a specific piece of equipment in Ignition, the screen could automatically display the latest approved maintenance checklist associated with that asset.

Because the documents remain managed in SharePoint, this approach preserves strong governance without sacrificing usability. SharePoint’s built-in versioning ensures that only the most current, approved documents are presented, while historical versions remain available for auditing or reference. Approval workflows, document review cycles, and change tracking can all continue to operate in SharePoint, independent of Ignition. From the operator’s perspective, however, they simply see the right document in the right place at the right time, embedded seamlessly within their normal workflow.

This integration also improves consistency and reduces risk. Instead of multiple copies of procedures floating around on local drives or printed binders, there is a single, controlled source of truth in SharePoint that is directly connected to the HMI. If a procedure is updated due to a safety change or process improvement, the new version becomes instantly available to all operators through Ignition without requiring manual redistribution.

Exception Log Tracking

Some teams leverage SharePoint lists as a lightweight mechanism to capture operational information that is important from a business, quality, or compliance perspective but not critical to real-time control. Instead of pushing everything into an industrial database or embedding every data-capture requirement directly into Ignition, teams use SharePoint as a parallel system for structured tracking of contextual or administrative records that surround plant activity.

In practice, this often includes exception logs, operator notes, minor deviations, near-miss reports, shift comments, maintenance observations, or non-critical audit records. These are pieces of information that benefit from being organized, searchable, and reviewable across departments, but do not require the speed, determinism, or reliability guarantees of a control system database. SharePoint lists are well-suited for this because they allow teams to define custom fields, validation rules, and views without requiring a dedicated application.

Integration with Ignition in this scenario usually takes the form of one-way or loosely coupled data exchange. For example, Ignition might provide an operator interface that allows users to submit an exception entry or add contextual notes about a process event. Behind the scenes, Ignition scripts or API calls then create or update corresponding entries in a SharePoint list via Microsoft Graph or SharePoint’s REST endpoints. Alternatively, Ignition could automatically log certain classes of events — such as repeated minor alarms or operator overrides — into SharePoint for later review by supervisors or quality teams.

The critical design principle in this pattern is that SharePoint remains outside of the control loop. Ignition continues to handle all real-time monitoring, interlocking, alarming, and automation logic, while SharePoint serves as a complementary system with improved visibility for team collaboration. Operations teams retain a responsive, high-performance control environment in Ignition, while IT and quality teams gain structured, shareable records in SharePoint that can be integrated with broader business processes. Over time, this creates a balanced ecosystem where industrial data and human-centered documentation coexist without overloading the control system with non-operational responsibilities.

Integration Approaches and Architecture

Most SharePoint integrations with Ignition are built around API access using either the SharePoint REST API or Microsoft Graph API, which are invoked directly from Ignition scripting. SharePoint’s APIs expose a robust integration surface that allows external systems to programmatically interact with SharePoint as a structured content and data platform. Through standard web-based endpoints, external applications can create, read, update, and delete sites, document libraries, files, and list items, and manage metadata, permissions, and versioning. All interactions are secured through Entra ID authentication and role-based access controls, ensuring that integrations follow the same security policies as human users.

Within Ignition, this connectivity is implemented through its Python-based scripting environment, which can issue HTTP requests to these APIs. Using built-in networking functions or third-party libraries, Ignition scripts can transmit data and handle responses in real time. This enables Ignition to reliably read from and write to SharePoint while staying tightly aligned with Ignition events, tags, and transaction logic.

Generally, a middleware layer that handles authentication and API complexity is also required. This can take the form of a simple web service, server-less compute function, or gateway-hosted service and helps to manage authentication tokens and segregate concerns. As an example, this might take the form of a Python application that runs on the ignition gateway, with the following flow:

Integration Considerations

Governance and Ownership

As is common when tools are bridging the gaps between organizational teams, it is worthwhile to consider who is responsible for maintaining each part of the solution long-term. In the case of this integration, it is likely that the controls or operations team will own the Ignition side of the system, including screens, control logic, and scripts, while IT will own the SharePoint side, including permissions/authentication and structure. Defining the boundary and interface between these two sides to the integration explicitly can reduce friction and maintenance overhead down the line. Things to consider:

• Folder structures and naming conventions
• Retention and archiving rules
• The change management process

Authentication and Security

Ignition authenticates to SharePoint as an application (rather than receiving delegated permissions from a user log-in) using a dedicated service account. This requires setting up an app registration in Azure Entra ID, with the following basic steps:

1. Create a New App Registration in Entra ID via the Azure Portal
   • At this point, Entra ID creates the application identity with an Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID. These values are important for later configuration.
2. Add a Certificate
   • You must prove the app’s identity when requesting tokens. Go to “Certificates & secrets” and upload a certificate; the thumbprint and private key for this certificate will later be used to authenticate.
3. Assign API Permissions (Scopes)
   • This defines what the app is allowed to do. Common examples include: Sites.ReadWrite.All (to create/update files and lists) or User.Read.All  (to read user profiles).
4. Grant Admin Consent
   • Most SharePoint/Graph permissions require tenant-wide approval. Without this, your app will not be able to access SharePoint in most enterprise tenants.
5. Use These Values in Your Integration
   • You will typically need the following to acquire access tokens from Entra ID:
     • Tenant ID
     • Client (Application) IDCertificate (thumbprint + private key)
     • Certificate (thumbprint + private key)
     • API Scopes (e.g., Graph’s User.Read or SharePoint’s Sites.ReadWrite.All)

In addition to setting up an app registration for Ignition, general security guidance, such as not hardcoding credentials and using the lowest permissions required are important for implementing the integration as securely as possible.

Expectations and Error Handling

Ensuring the usefulness of the integration depends on keeping expectations aligned with what each tool is good at and implementing robust error handling to account for connectivity issues. For instance, it is reasonable to expect SharePoint to handle files and metadata in a batched or event-driven way. SharePoint excels at handling files and list-formatted data, and API based access aligns well with low-frequency updates. However, it would not be reasonable to use SharePoint to store high-frequency operational data or to act as a data historian; it is not set up to handle streams of data, and it is not optimized for time-series information. Similarly, it is likely reasonable to expect that the normal operational state of the system would be Ignition and SharePoint communicating with relatively low response times, but likely not reasonable to assume perfect connectivity or 100% uptime.

To this end, it is valuable to implement handling to account for cases that would differ from the reasonable expectations for the system. This could include:

• Including timeouts to prevent calls from blocking indefinitely,
• Clear logging for failures,
• Retry logic; likely with limits on the total number of retries,
• Caching of queried data (like SOP’s or manuals) when practical

Considering these cases allows the overall system to continue functioning as smoothly as possible when something goes wrong, and forethought into failure handling allows for a simpler debugging process.

Building Your SharePoint and Ignition Integration

Integrating Ignition with SharePoint in a secure, scalable, and maintainable way is technically feasible for many organizations, but doing it well often requires a blend of OT, IT, and cloud expertise that rarely exists fully within a single team. For this reason, working with an experienced consulting partner like DMC can be highly valuable when undertaking this type of integration.

A knowledgeable partner brings deep, practical experience with both Ignition and the Microsoft ecosystem. This helps avoid common pitfalls around integration interfaces and authentication. Rather than learning through trial and error, organizations benefit from proven design patterns and best practices that have been refined across multiple projects and industries. DMC maintains Ignition Premier Integrator status and Microsoft Solutions Partner status and has extensive experience developing solutions in both Ignition and SharePoint. Additionally, DMC’s diverse experience across both manufacturing/OT and business-centric/IT projects enables us to facilitate conversations between organizational teams and stakeholders, ensuring the solution is designed in a way that works for all users. This cross-functional perspective is often just as important as the code itself.

Finally, working with a partner accelerates delivery. Instead of dedicating internal resources to building and troubleshooting unfamiliar components, teams can focus on their core responsibilities while the consultant handles the complexity of the integration. The result is a more robust solution delivered faster, with a clearer path for future enhancements.

Ready to expand your SharePoint or Ignition capabilities? Contact us today to learn more about our solutions and how we can help you achieve your goals.