1. Findability in SharePoint: Integrating taxonomy and metadata for better information architecture Stephanie Lemieux Taxonomy Practice Lead, Earley & Associates

2. About me… Taxonomy practice lead for Earley & Associates Masters in Library and Information Studies (MLIS) Clients include: Motorola, Ford Foundation, Hasbro, JC Penney, AstraZeneca, American Greetings Author: Integrating Taxonomy with a CMS - Best Practices in Information Management Blog: www.earley.com/blog/stephanie-lemieux

3. 3 Agenda A shout out to good IA practice… SharePoint IA strengths & weaknesses 2007 vs. 2010 Nuts & bolts of making IA work in SharePoint (2007 vs. 2010) Tagging Taxonomymanagement Top 5 things to do withtaxonomy & metadata in SharePoint Searchingwith custom metadata Dynamic content presentation Filters, views and navigation Thesaurus & best bets Autotagging

4. 4 SharePoint is very easy to implement badly

5. Typical SharePoint Projects 5 BizReqs Implementtttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Implement Business Req’s Implement Business Req’s Implement Where is the information architecture? Joke courtesy of Lulu Pachuau: http://www.slideshare.net/LuluP/information-architecture-and-sharepoint

6. Requirements Research The IA Process Use Cases & Personas For SharePoint Site Map & Navigation Wireframes Taxonomy Prototyping/Testing Content Modeling/Metadata

7. SharePoint IA Strengths 7

8. SharePoint IA Weaknesses 8

9. What do we need to achieve good IA? A system that… Supports control & standards Allows users to easily tag content Understands relationships Hierarchy Synonyms Associations Manages metadata & taxonomy values 9

10. MOSS 2007 - No hierarchy or central standards Metadata can only be stored as flat controlled vocabulary – no hierarchy possible Content types and columns scoped to site collections Possible Possible Not Possible MOSS does not understand that China is part of Asia Pacific 10

11. MOSS 2007 - Native thesaurus Expansions (a.k.a synonyms) E.g. HR = Human Resources = Employee Relations Replacements (a.k.a. use) E.g. for NTK or W2K use Windows 2000 11 <XML ID="Microsoft Search Thesaurus"> <thesaurus xmlns="x-schema:tsSchema.xml"> <expansion> _{human resources} _hr _{employee relations} </expansion> </thesaurus></XML> <XML ID="Microsoft Search Thesaurus"> <thesaurus xmlns="x-schema:tsSchema.xml"> <replacement> <pat>NT5</pat> <pat>W2K</pat> _{Windows 2000} </replacement> </thesaurus></XML> No ability to store any other types of relationships (e.g. Associative)

12. Tagging in 2007 Tagging can only be flat lists, so to achieve hierarchy: Customization Tagging add-on Cascading lists Hierarchical mimicry 12 http://sharepointsnippets.com/post/2009/01/Cascading-Dropdown---Configuration.aspx http://www.kwizcom.com

13. Tagging in 2010 Hierarchy possible 13

14. What’s hot with 2010 tagging Type-ahead: shows you what facet, as well as what the lineage is (full hierarchy) Tool tips show you descriptions associated to terms, as well assynonyms(type-ahead alsoworks off synonyms!) 14

15. What’s hot with 2010 tagging Support for folksonomy with managed keywords (vs. managed metadata) Feedback mechanisms to provide new terms (via email) 15

16. What’s not… Type-ahead can be very slow Each tag is one action (click to add) – makes multi-select painful!(cannot ctrl-shift to highlight more) Strange UI: action buttons get hidden under scroll when expand branches 16

17. “Taxonomy management” in 2007 No place to store Term definitions Scope notes History Translations Tagging with strings, not ids When you change a taxonomy value, you have to retag documents Lists are specific to a site collection – can’t share 17

18. What can we do? Get an external taxonomy management tool that has a connector Smartlogic (www.smartlogic.com) Synaptica (www.synapticacentral.com/) Wordmap (www.wordmap.com) SchemaLogic (www.schemalogic.com) DataHarmony MetaVis (www.metavistech.com) Connectors provide enhanced tagging mechanisms search UI components to leverage taxonomy external hierarchy management auto-tagging external content type & metadata modeling 18

19. Example of taxonomy management connector 19 Auto-tagging in Smartlogic Tagging with Wordmap

20. Taxonomy management in 2010 Centralized term store: share lists across site collections Managed Metadata – hierarchical collection of predefined centrally managed terms that are applied by publishers as metadata attributes for content items Managed Keyword - non-hierarchical wordor phrase that has been added to the keyword set directly by a system user Term Store - database that houses Managed Terms and Keywords 20

21. Taxonomy management in 2010 Centralized term store: share lists across site collections Group – flat or hierarchical collection of related attributes comprised of one or more Term Sets (security boundary) Term Set – flat or hierarchical collection of related Terms (up to 1000 in a group) Term - word or phrase that can be applied to content 21

22. Taxonomy management in 2010 22

23. Taxonomy management in 2010 Can perform most typical taxonomy management functions Managed keywords can be turnedinto managed terms 23

24. Taxonomy import in 2010 comma delimited document in standard UTF-8 CSV file format out of the box sample file imports the six default properties only: term set name, term set description, ID, available for tagging, hierarchy, term description 24

25. 25 Top 5 things to do with taxonomy & metadata

26. 1. Leverage custom metadata in search & nav Faceted search & navigation are most popular mechanisms Navigate or refine search results based on metadata fields/taxonomy facets 2010: OOTB navigate a document library usingthe managed metadata term setsassigned to the library(navigation hierarchy) BIG CAVEATS: shows full hierarchy at all times – many blindpaths possible default placement is way below thefold 26

27. 1. Leverage custom metadata in search & nav Default includes children, but clicking on icon allows you to select parent only 27

28. 1. Leverage custom metadata in search & nav 2010 OOTB search refinements 28 Not hierarchical (can only select from flat list of tags) Only shows tags from top 50 docs Akward UI(selected items subtly outlined, need to reselect to remove…) No countsshown

29. 1. Leverage custom metadata in search & nav What about 2007? Nothing available OOTB… need customizations/tools Free add-on (Codeplex) – limited to flat lists (like 2010) 29

30. 1. Leverage custom metadata in search & nav Sample taxonomy mgt tool connector (SmartLogic) 30

31. 1. Leverage custom metadata in search & nav Advanced search 31

32. 1. Leverage custom metadata in search & nav Metadata mapping Allows metadata to correlate between sources Provides a way to surface in Advanced Search 32

33. 1. Leverage custom metadata in search & nav Creating managed property Add column to the index Exposes the column in advanced search Enables showing the column in search results views 33

34. 1b. Filtering lists & libraries Metadata columns can be used to filter lists & libraries, create views Can link to saved views 2010: library key filters in left hand nav – like top filters but can type in 34

35. 2. Using metadata to drive content display Pre-constructed searches that look like navigation Content Query Web Part – shows content based on a searchof content with specified attributes Excellent for creating “related content” areas or specific sub-sets Aggregating content from across multiple areas Can filter on content types & metadata fields Use custom XSLT to style Can also use RSS feeds 35

36. 2. Using metadata to drive content display 36

37. 3. Use best bets & the thesaurus Easiest way to enhance search results Look at search logs to identify: Common null result searches Differences in terminology Indications of strange search results Use the thesaurus to link term variants together & expand search results Use the best bets to point to most popular item & circumvent result browsing in most cases 37

38. 3. Use best bets & the thesaurus Example: term “holiday” is used 144 in the April 2009 search logs in multiple variations stat holidays observed holidays holidays paid holidays corporate holidays Could link many of these via thesaurus Link to holiday calendar with best bet 38

39. 4. Auto tagging Users hate to enter metadata Make it as automatic as possible Workflow to automate content tagging Custom event handler to apply pre-configured metadata patterns User profiles Auto-tagging add-on/connector Taxonomy management tools Add-ons: e.g. Cogniva (www.cogniva.ca) 39

40. 4. Auto-tagging Documents can be auto-classified in SharePoint based upon policies E.g. from SmartLogic 40

41. 4. Auto-tagging Auto-classify results shown in Edit Properties dialog Can be manually edited using Add or Remove 41

42. 4. Auto-tagging 2010 Can add default metadata values to a content type at the list/library level Auto-select & hide field possible 42

43. A final word on selecting add-ons… Figure out what you truly need based on requirements before running out and asking for demos 43

44. 5. Personalization User profile asks them to select metadata values to describethemselves © Earley & Associates 2010

45. 5. Personalization Personalized intranet landing page 45 © Earley & Associates 2010

46. 5. Personalization In-page personalization Pages prioritize news, links, content that matches profile selections

47. Conclusions Don’t skip IA process just because it’s SharePoint Master OOTB features first Keep your eye on consistency across sites, site collections through governance Select tools based on high-value requirements © Earley & Associates 2009 47

48. Other resources & downloads - 2007 SharePoint IA Jumpstart Series – 4 free recordings http://www.earley.com/webinars/jumpstarts/sharepoint-search-and-information-architecture SharePoint Search Portal http://sharepointsearch.com/default.aspx SharePoint End User Content Team (MSFT) http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/GetThePoint/default.aspx WSS Demo (Metadata and Content Types) http://www.wssdemo.com/Pages/metadata.aspx Codeplex: www.codeplex.com 48

49. Other resources & downloads - 2007 Taxonomy Tagging Starter Kit http://cks.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2830 Popular Page Web Part http://popularpages.codeplex.com/ Planning Templates http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262451.aspx 49

50. Notable blogs Consejo http://blog.consejoinc.com Earley & Associates http://www.earley.com/blog CMS Watch http://www.cmswatch.com/SharePoint/trends SharePoint Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/ 50

51. Other resources & downloads 2010 MSDN metadata management overview: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee559337%28office.14%29.aspx Short overview of metadata management in 2010: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/document-management/overview-sharepoint-2010-metadata-and-taxonomy-management-006015.php How to configure navigation hierarchies & key filters http://www.iotap.com/sp2010/Blogs/tabid/470/EntryId/163/Metadata-based-Navigation-in-Sharepoint-2010.aspx 51

52. Communities & Events Communities of Practice Taxonomy: www.finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxoCoP SharePoint IA: www.tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SharePointIACoP Search: www.tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SearchCoP Upcoming Webinars Taxonomy Community of Practice series www.earley.com/webinars July 7, 2010 – Taxonomy for SharePoint 2010 Technology Showcase series www.earley.com/webinars/technology-showcase March 30, 2010 – SharePoint Search (recording available) 52

53. Tool list Smartlogic (www.smartlogic.com) - taxo Synaptica (www.synapticacentral.com/) - taxo Wordmap (www.wordmap.com) - taxo SchemaLogic (www.schemalogic.com) - taxo MetaVis (www.metavistech.com) Ontolica (www.ontolica.com) - search Concept Searching (www.conceptsearching.com) Cogniva (www.cogniva.ca) - tagging SharePart XXL (www.sharepartxxl.com) - tagging Kwizcom (www.kwizcom.com) - tagging © Earley & Associates 2009 53

55. Organizing Principles based on business context and goals

56. Four Pillars - People, Content, Process, and Technology

57. Focus: Information Architecture (“IA”) Services

58. Founded: 1994

59. Personnel: Twenty core team consultants, plus a network of other top industry experts

60. ECM and KM experts

61. taxonomy specialists

62. search experts

63. information architects

64. usability professionals

65. technology consultants

66. business process experts

67. Headquarters: Boston, MA54

68. Contact: Stephanie Lemieux stephanie@earley.com www.earley.com 55