SharePoint Information Architecture is the art and science of organizing and labeling the content (documents, data, sites) to support findability and usability

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INTRODUCTION TO SHAREPOINT
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
GREGORY ZELFOND

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About Me
 Gregory Zelfond
 10+ years of experience with SharePoint
 SharePoint advocate, blogger
 Love to solve business problems using code-free, out of
the box SharePoint configurations
 Owner of SharePoint Maven (sharepointmaven.com)

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About SharePoint Maven
I HELP ORGANIZATIONS TO UNLOCK
THE POWER OF SHAREPOINT
MIGRATION CONSULTING TRAINING

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What is Information Architecture
Information Architecture is the art and science
of organizing and labeling the content
(documents, data, sites) to support findability
and usability.
 Effective information architecture will:
– Assist users in understanding and interacting with a
solution
– Mean the difference between users quickly embracing
a new technology, or becoming frustrated and
disengaged

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4 Major Information Architecture Components
Information
Architecture
Site
Hierarchy
Navigation
& Search
Taxonomy
(Data
Structure)
Security

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#1: Site Hierarchy
Determine how many
Site Collections you are going to have

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#1: Site Hierarchy
Determine Site Collection Structure
(for each site collection)
Department
Sites
Project
Sites
Business
Portals
External
Sites

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#2: Navigation & Search
 How will users find information?
 Hierarchical or Keyword?
 Navigation Structure
 Views / Groups / Filtering

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#3: Taxonomy (Data Structure)
What is Taxonomy?
 The classification of organisms in an ordered system that indicates
natural relationships
 Division into ordered groups, categories, or hierarchies
What is Metadata?
 Data that describes additional information about a file or a document
Metadata/Taxonomy Examples
 Department Names
 Client Names
 Project Names
 Document Types
 Geography (location)

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#4: Security
 Controls who can access information
 Controlled via SharePoint Groups
 4 Basic permission Levels, can be customized
– Full Control (Admin)
– Design (Read/Edit/Delete/Design)
– Contribute (Read/Edit/Delete)
– Read Only
 Security can be set at the following levels:
– Site (preferred)
– Web Part (try to stay away from it)
– Folder (don’t event think about it)
– Document/Item (don’t event think about it)

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Want more info?
Please reference my blog post below about
SharePoint Information Architecture
http://sharepointmaven.com/introduction-to-
sharepoint-information-architecture/

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Need help with SharePoint?
 SharePoint Site Configuration and Customization
 Document Migration to SharePoint
 SharePoint Implementation Strategy
 SharePoint Training
 SharePoint User Adoption
 SharePoint Governance
 SharePoint Project Management

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THANK YOU!
Visit: sharepointmaven.com
Email: greg@sharepointmaven.com
Follow: @gregoryzelfond
Connect: linkedin.com/company/sharepoint-maven
View: www.slideshare.net/gzelfond
Get in touch if you have questions