Credera is a proud sponsor of SharePoint Fest Denver 2012. One of the featured speakers is Jesus Salazar, a Principal with Credera and member of Microsoft’s SharePoint Development Advisory Council, who will present on Information Architecture: From Small Businesses to Global Enterprises.

1. Credera is a full-service management and Dallas Office Houston Office Austin Office Denver Office
15303 Dallas Parkway 800 Town & Country Blvd 9020 N Capital of Texas Hwy 5445 DTC Parkway
technology consulting firm. Our clients range Suite 300 Suite 300 Suite 345 Suite 1040
from Fortune 1,000 companies to emerging Addison, TX 75001 Houston, TX 77024 Austin, TX 78759 Greenwood Village, CO 80111
industry leaders. We provide expert, objective
advice to help solve complex business and 972.692.0010 Phone 713.496.0711 Phone 512.327.1112 Phone 303.623.1344 Phone
technology challenges. 972.692.0019 Fax 713.401.9650 Fax 512.233.0844 Fax 303.484.4577 Fax

2. Information Architecture
From small business to global enterprises
Dallas, TX
May 17, 2012

3. Welcome & Introduction …
Jesus Salazar is a Principal with Credera’s Microsoft Solutions Practice and held
a seat on the Office 14 Developer Advisory Council
Jesus J Salazar, Principal with Credera
• 12 years of experience with Microsoft-based technologies
• Experience delivering IT solutions to medium and large businesses
• Strong focus on SharePoint since 2003
• Microsoft Certified Professional
• Member of the Office 14 Developer Advisory Council where he helped shape
the features and architecture of the next generation of Microsoft Office and
SharePoint
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4. Agenda …
Thank you for coming – we hope you find our discussion insightful and walk
away with a couple of things your organization has not yet thought of
• Definition of Information Architecture
• Importance of Information Architecture
• Information Architecture Methodology
• Information Architecture Elements
• Document Management Scenarios (Small Business – Enterprise)
• Conclusion
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5. Definition of Information Architecture
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6. Definition of Information Architecture …
Information Architecture makes finding and using information easier
Information Architecture is the art and science
of organizing and labeling
websites, intranets, online communities, and
documents to support findability and usability.
… Effective information architecture will assist users in
understanding and interacting with a solution, and can mean
the difference between users quickly embracing a new
technology, or becoming frustrated and disengaged.
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7. Definition of Information Architecture …
Simply put, IA is putting in place the organization required to connect people to
the content they need
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8. Importance of Information Architecture
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9. Importance of Information Architecture …
Information is getting more and more vast, managing this information is getting
more and more difficult
Information is Managing It is
Growing Getting Harder
• Information is doubling every 2.5 • 40% of portal initiatives fail to
years (Gartner) garner adequate adoption to
• Organizations maintain 30 times achieve ROI (Gartner)
more data than they did in 1999 • 10% to 15% of portal initiatives
(Gartner) are scrapped altogether (Gartner)
• Average person spends 10 • It is very common for users to say
hours/week looking for content is either “stagnant” or “out
information (IDC) of control”
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10. Importance of Information Architecture … User Adoption …
Without the technology and architecture to make your site usable and content
within it easy to find, user adoption will never be achieved
Keys to User Adoption
Usability Findability
•Intuitive to navigate
•Makes my job easier
• I don’t need to
know exactly what
User
•Doesn’t require
significant training
I’m looking for
• Get what I need
Adoption
most of the time
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11. Importance of Information Architecture … Benefits …
User adoption of Enterprise 2.0 features result in downstream productivity and
collaboration enhancements which culminate to an “Overall Better Company”
3rd Order Benefits
Increased
Profitability
2nd Order Benefits
High quality Worker
work results efficiency
Direct Benefits
User Adoption
Human ingenuity
More efficient
Operations
Collaborative
problem solving
Higher Open Knowledge Emergent
Customer Improved Social Networking
Management Collaboration
Satisfaction processes
Superior
Employee decisions
Retention
Search Team sites Social features Tagging ECM
Enterprise 2.0
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12. Information Architecture Methodology
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13. Information Architecture Methodology …
A sound IA methodology should ensure you are focusing on what users are
trying to accomplish rather than where information should be placed
IA Methodology
•Why are we doing this project?
Purpose •It’s critical to understand the business goal we’re pursuing
•Ensure you are helping the organization to achieve its larger goals
•Who are we communicating with?
Audience •Who are the users? What makes them different? What makes them the same?
•Think in terms of these “Personas” rather than one solid mass of users
•What does each audience need to achieve the goal?
Content •What information do people need to consume or share to meet their goals?
•For a public facing site, content might be represented as required functionality
•What style, navigation, and other formatting will help the audience?
Form •Form is both style and organization of the content or “Look and Feel”
•It’s the non-verbal communication that helps the audience navigate
•How will we deliver the content?
Technology •Only after the other layers are understood, do we then use the technology layer
•Describes the technical (or other media) means for delivering the solution
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14. Information Architecture Elements
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15. Information Architecture Elements…
Navigation, site hierarchy, content types, managed metadata, and search are all
critical elements in defining a sound information architecture
Primary Areas of Information Architecture
• Navigation - outward presentation of
your site taxonomy and will be the first
item judged when users view the portal
Navigation
• Site Hierarchy - Site hierarchy is the
layout of your sites and libraries
Site
Search
Hierarchy • Content Types - Content types are a
collection of metadata that are
Information
Architecture common for that specific type of data
• Managed Metadata - allows for easy
tagging and categorization of data as
well as the sharing of content types to
Managed Content
all of your sites
Metadata Types
• Search - the ability to find information
irrespective of its exact location
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16. Information Architecture Elements … Navigation …
Navigation allows users to intuitively move around your portal
Primary Areas of Information Architecture
• Navigation - outward presentation of
your site taxonomy and will be the first
item judged when users view the portal
Navigation
– Abstraction of your site hierarchy,
use wisely!
Site
Search – More about “what” to put in
Hierarchy
navigation rather than “where” to put
Information navigation
Architecture
– Global navigation doesn’t
necessarily mean one site map that
everyone uses
Managed Content
Metadata Types
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17. Information Architecture Elements … Navigation …
By using techniques that drive convergence on ideas an organization can
efficiently determine how to structure its navigation
• Users have become comfortable with horizontal main site navigation with contextual links on the left
side of the page
• A common practice to help plan your navigation is a card sorting exercise with your users
Example of Card Sorting Exercise
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18. Information Architecture Elements … Navigation …
Site Hierarchy and scalability will have a direct impact on how you implement
navigation for your organization
• Navigation complexity is normally dependent on the size of the organization
• Larger organizations require multiple site collections and content databases
• This adds complexity to the navigation design since navigation is not inherited
by new site collections
• Some Examples:
– Single Office Organization – Allows for easy navigational inheritance where
the root site and sub-sites share the same navigation. This means the top
navigation bar is utilized on each site in the site collection.
– Multi-Office Organization – For multiple offices it is best to create multiple
site collections with separate content databases. Root site navigation is
not carried through to other site collections.
– Large Multi-Country Organization – Multiple site map files deployed
through a feature. Makes it easy to modify each region’s navigation by
changing the corresponding site map file.
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19. Information Architecture Elements … Site Hierarchy …
Site Hierarchy is how actual sites, libraries, lists, etc. are partitioned and nested
– this aspect of IA has many technical architectural dependencies
Primary Areas of Information Architecture
• Site Hierarchy - Site hierarchy is the
layout of your sites and libraries
Navigation
– Physical separation and partitioning
of content
– Has many performance, navigation,
and federation impacts
Site
Search
Hierarchy – Can have significant impacts on
security maintenance, scalability,
Information
Architecture
and globally deployed features
Managed Content
Metadata Types
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20. Information Architecture Elements … Site Hierarchy …
Content has varying usage patterns and governance requirements – it is often
logical to separate where there are strong differences among content
• Site hierarchy is the layout of your sites and libraries – this is different from navigation, but impacts
it directly
• Keep in mind that the audience and usage of sites can also dictate hierarchy and navigation
– Publishing Sites – Typically meant to share “finished” information ready for public consumption
– Collaboration sites – Typically meant to create “finished” content or ad hoc collaboration
Type of
Site Type Contributors Consumers Audience Growth Pattern
Content
Publishing Fewer Many Broader Low Web Content
Collaboration Many Fewer-Many Specific Audience High Documents
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21. Information Architecture Elements … Site Hierarchy …
The purpose of a site can fundamentally change how people “think” about
content and how it is organized
• Publishing sites are typically organized by “Type of Content”, “Function”, or “Utility”
Publishing
Site
Career, Pay, Services and Compliance Manager
News Center
and Benefits Support and Policies Center
• Collaboration sites are generally organized by Departments, Teams, Geographies, Projects, etc.
Collaboration
Site
Human Information Sales and
Accounting Operations
Resources Technology Marketing
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22. Information Architecture Elements … Site Hierarchy …
When your security requirements overlay your site hierarchy intuitively, that is a
good sign you are on the right track
• Security is a good indicator of whether or not your site hierarchy and structure are aligning with
your business
Collaboration
Site
All Employees
Human Information Sales and
Accounting Operations
Resources Technology Marketing
Accounting
HR Department IT Department Sales and Marketing Operations
Department
Benefits AP
Legend:
Benefits Group AP Group
Site
Workmans
Expenses Security Group
Comp
WC Group Expenses Group
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23. Information Architecture Elements … Site Hierarchy …
When you see many “one off” security requirements and broken inheritance, you
may need to re-assess your site hierarchy and make sure it is optimal
• Security is a good indicator of whether or not your site hierarchy and structure are aligning with
your business
Collaboration
Site
All Employees
Human Information Sales and
Accounting Operations
Resources Technology Marketing
Accounting
HR Department IT Department Sales and Marketing Operations
Department
Sales and Marketing
Benefits AP
Legend:
Benefits Expenses
AP Group
Group Site
Workmans
Expenses Security Group
Comp
Benefits Expenses
WC Group Group
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24. Information Architecture Elements … Site Hierarchy …
Performance can be significantly impacted by Site Hierarchy - Multiple site
collections will typically be required so make sure you plan accordingly
• Sometimes the ideal IA does not SharePoint Sizing Guidelines
coincide with performance best Limit Size
practices
Content Database Size 200 GB
• Pros and Cons must be weighed to
ensure an optimal solution is
established Content Database
60 Million
Records
• The most significant impact is the
relationship between site collections
and content databases
Subsites 2,000 per site
• Performance dictates that multiple
Content databases are used, Sites per Site Collection 250,000
therefore, multiple site collections File Size 2 GB
are likely
Web Parts per Page 25
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25. Information Architecture Elements … Content Types …
Content Types have numerous integration points into the SharePoint UI and
allow users to quickly find content
Primary Areas of Information Architecture
• Content Types - Content types are a
collection of metadata that are
common for that specific type of data
Navigation
– Atomic definition of a single piece of
content
– Content Types contain metadata
Site definitions and policies enforcing
Search
Hierarchy appropriate tagging
Information
Architecture
– Many UI elements that take
advantage of Content Types
– Not just allows for classification of
content but for workflows, policies,
etc.
Managed Content
Metadata Types
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26. Information Architecture Elements … Content Types …
Search and Navigation both leverage content types and can effectively “guide” a
user to their content
• Content types are a classification Content Types for Search and Navigation
and collection of metadata that are
common for that specific type of
content
• Content types give users the ability
to globally organize data in a way
that is meaningful to your business
• Design content types around
common corporate documents such
as invoices, contacts, and contracts
• Assigning content types also
facilitates finding items using search
and metadata navigation
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27. Information Architecture Elements … Content Types …
For a sound IA, all content types, usage patterns, and statistics must be
captured and document to allow commonalities and differences to emerge
Content Type Inventory - Example
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28. Information Architecture Elements … Managed Metadata …
Managed Metatdata is what allows all users of your portal to “speak the same
language” when describing content
Primary Areas of Information Architecture
• Managed Metadata - allows for easy
tagging and categorization of data as
well as the sharing of content types to
Navigation
all of your sites
– These are the descriptors of a piece
of content
Site – Make the “name” and “location” of a
Search
Hierarchy piece of content less relevant
Information
Architecture
– Managed Metadata is typically
global to optimize sharing and
enforce standardization but you
should always keep relevancy in
mind
Managed Content
Types
– Data Integrations can help with
Metadata
managing lookups (e.g. customers,
business units, products, etc.)
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29. Information Architecture Elements … Managed Metadata …
Managed metatdata is a feature that allows for the classification and tagging of
content within SharePoint through a variety of ways
• The managed metadata features in SharePoint 2010 are made up of 3 key
elements:
– Shared Content Types:
Define the type of content
by title, description, and
relevant meta data
Shared
– Term Stores: “The
Dictionary” for your
organization and
Content Types
vocabulary you use to
describe things Term
Keywords
– Keywords: “The Slang Stores
Dictionary” for your
organization to foster
organic classification of
content
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30. Information Architecture Elements … Managed Metadata …
Managed Metatdata is a feature that allows for the classification and tagging of
content within SharePoint through a variety of ways
Term Stores are well
More Structure
Customers defined and
appropriate when
trying to drive
Products
Region standardization and
consistency
Keywords or
Folksonomies are the
1-off terms
Less Structure
“catch all” and add
Buzz words agility and
convergence on
Synonyms “vocabulary” before
Acronyms terms have been
formally standardized
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31. Information Architecture Elements … Managed Metadata …
Managed Metatdata is a feature that allows for the classification and tagging of
content within SharePoint through a variety of ways
• So where is a good place to get started?
– Use various decision convergence techniques (e.g. card sorting, dot voting,
etc.)
– When defining Content Types, ask the “Librarian” question
– Review existing environment for “clues”
 Look for lookup columns
 Site column templates
 Repeating Choice Columns
 BDC Connections
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32. Information Architecture Elements… Managed Metadata …
Search is the “catch all” and where people go when they can’t navigate to
content
Primary Areas of Information Architecture
• Search - the ability to find information
irrespective of its exact location
Navigation
– Becoming more and more important
and is being used more and more
within organizations
– Effective search is a moving target
Site and requires governance and
Search
Hierarchy monitoring
Information
Architecture
– By the time a user is using
search, you can assume they have
already tried or at least thought
about where to find information and
failed
Managed Content
Types
– Searching should be thought of
Metadata
more in terms of “guiding” rather
than “searching”
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33. Information Architecture Elements … Search …
Search is the most underutilized and ungoverned aspects of SharePoint and yet
have the most opportunity to drive productivity
International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates that an effective enterprise
search strategy can save an employee an average of 53% of their time
searching for information
IDC also indicates that the average employee spends roughly 10 hours/week
searching for information
There are three primary elements that ensure Search is optimized:
– Content Types – Integrated in Search UI
– Managed Metadata – Integrated in Search UI
– Search Analytics and Best Bets – Concrete action, govern your search!
Gartner states that Content Analytics are redefining how Enterprise Search is
used, most good tools (including SharePoint) allow you to optimize search
based on what you are seeing
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34. Information Architecture Elements … Search …
By addressing content types and managed metadata, SharePoint search will
incorporate these elements into its native UI
Metadata Driven Search
Faceted search for
content types and
managed metadata
Preloading of
metadata for more
context
Social features help users
to self organize to help find
relevant “derivative”
information TechFest 2012 - Information Architecture
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35. Information Architecture Elements … Search …
The key to effective search is to actively monitor search behaviors and results
and adjust search periodically to ensure users are finding what they need
SharePoint Search Usage Reports
Name Type Description
Displays the number of search queries performed during the specified date range.
Number of Queries Trend Use this report to identify search query volume trends and to determine times of
high and low search activity.
Displays the most popular search queries performed during the specified date
Top Queries Rank
range. Use this report to understand what types of information visitors are seeking.
Displays search queries that returned no search results or results that received
Failed Queries Rank zero or low click-through rates. Use this report to identify search queries that might
create user dissatisfaction and to improve the discoverability of content.
Displays search queries that returned no search results. Use this report to identify
No Result Queries Rank search queries that might create user dissatisfaction and to improve the
discoverability of content.
Recommends URLs that are the most likely results for particular search queries,
based on analysis of usage patterns. The site administrators can accept or reject
Best Bet Suggestion List
these suggestions. If they accept, the corresponding query-URL pair is added to
the search keywords list.
Displays how Best Bet suggestions are doing over time. For every Best Bet query
Best Bet Usage List issued, the report shows the percentage of clicks on the Best Bet URL compared
to other URLs.
Displays the actions that were performed by the site administrator on the Best Bet
Best Bet Action History List
Suggestion Report
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36. Document Management Scenarios
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37. Document Management Scenarios …
Enterprise organizations typically leverage Term Stores and other advanced
features but you must find the right mix of tools for your organization
Small organizations
typically benefit from
just having a
centralized document
repository
Medium-sized
organizations leverage
Content Types for
Company Size
further organization
Enterprise
organizations typically
require FAST Search
and leverage tagging
for most aspects of
navigation
37

38. Conclusion
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39. Conclusion …
By ensuring all of the key elements of IA are well thought out and planned, you
can ensure positive ROI by maximizing user adoption and efficiency
Ensure you have considered all aspects of SharePoint IA
– Navigation
– Site Hierarchy
– Content Types
– Managed Metadata
– Search
By doing this, you will ensure the usability and findability of your site(s) with:
– Maximize user adoption
– Improve collaboration and streamline processes
– Improve profitability and result in a better overall company
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40. About Credera …
Our clients hire us to own their toughest problems; they retain us because we
keep our promises
Management & Technology Consulting Firm Microsoft Solutions Offerings
• MS Gold Certified Partner • Custom Application Development
• Member of Microsoft’s SharePoint • Enterprise Portal Design & Implementation
Development Advisory Council (DAC) • eCommerce
• IW Competency (Microsoft’s Corporate • SOA & Business Process Integration
SharePoint Certification)
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Certified provider of SharePoint
Deployment Planning • Business Intelligence & Data Warehouse
• Established 1999
• Offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin, Denver Client Sampling
How We Serve Our Clients
• We provide expert, objective advice to help
solve complex business and technology
challenges
• Our clients hire us to own their toughest
problems; they retain us because we keep
our promises
• Services: Management
Consulting, Technology Solutions, Mobile
Solutions, Business Intelligence
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41. Thank you for attending!
Please complete the evaluations.
Contact Information:
Jesus J Salazar - jsalazar@credera.com
www.credera.com
Follow us on @Credera
Blog: http://blogs.credera.com
Careers: http://careers.credera.com

42. Credera is a full-service management and Dallas Office Houston Office Austin Office Denver Office
15303 Dallas Parkway 800 Town & Country Blvd 9020 N Capital of Texas Hwy 5445 DTC Parkway
technology consulting firm. Our clients range Suite 300 Suite 300 Suite 345 Suite 1040
from Fortune 1,000 companies to emerging Addison, TX 75001 Houston, TX 77024 Austin, TX 78759 Greenwood Village, CO 80111
industry leaders. We provide expert, objective
advice to help solve complex business and 972.692.0010 Phone 713.496.0711 Phone 512.327.1112 Phone 303.623.1344 Phone
technology challenges. 972.692.0019 Fax 713.401.9650 Fax 512.233.0844 Fax 303.484.4577 Fax