More Related Content Similar to Sharepoint metadata workshop (20) More from Sam Marshall (19) Sharepoint metadata workshop3. www.clearboxconsulting.co.uk © ClearBox Consulting 2011
Sam Marshall
Director of ClearBox Consulting
Former global intranet manager
at Unilever
Intranet Benchmarking Forum
Associate
ClearBox Consulting
Intranet & SharePoint
Strategy
Governance
Implementation
Collaboration
Training
www.clearboxconsulting.co.uk
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Agenda
What has metadata ever done for us?
Defining columns and content types
Managed metadata and taxonomies
Folders and other tricks
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What is metadata?
1) With the other people on your table think of the kinds of
metadata for products in a supermarket
1. Weight
2. Price
3. Ingredients
2) Write each item on a separate small post-it note
Write 5+ that mostly interest consumers
Write 5+ that mostly interest store managers
3) Group the items into logical clusters
Label the groups on the large post-it notes
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SharePoint Hierarchy (simplified)
Items
Libraries Lists
Sub-Sites
Site Collection Intranet
Home Marketing
Sales
News
Latest
bids
Calendar
Meeting
12th April
Brochures
2011
Products
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Why is metadata important in SharePoint?
1. Search indexing
2. Filtering Search Results (Faceted search)
3. Filtering and Sorting lists
4. Common language to connect content together
5. Managing content e.g. Expiry dates, Owner
6. Personalisation
7. Tag clouds for alternative navigation
8. Informing users about a document without having
to open it
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Metadata controlometer
Strict Loose
Top-down
Regulated
Process-driven
Bottom-up
Unstructured
Creative
“Controlled
Vocabulary”
Many managed
terms
A few managed
terms
Enterprise
keywords
“Folksonomy”
Enterprise
keywords
Social Tags
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Business ownership
1. Decide on the approach
Strict control vs. ‘Folksonomy’
2. Agree on standard terms
What is a ‘Product’ vs. ‘brand’, ‘variant’ &‘promotion’
3. Have an update and resolution process
Sales vs. Manufacturing view
4. Agree who is responsible for what
...and make sure it happens
5. Teach content owners and users the “why” part
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Site columns
Good when you have a list that will be re-used
several times within a site
Office locations
Cost codes
Project names
If only used once, a list column is fine
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Content Types
Define a class of documents or items
Allow you to scope search to just that type e.g.
“Brochure”
Act as a template for the metadata documents must
have
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Content Types
Definitions can inherit
Food
Fresh Food [description, expiry date, country origin]
Fruit [description, expiry date, country origin, storage temp.]
Document [Author, date]
Policy [Author, date, expiry]
HR Policy [Author, date, expiry, employee_group]
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Where to define content types
Global if:
Organisation-wide standard
e.g. security classification
Users would specifically search for it by type
e.g. Form, template, policy
Site-specific if:
Terminology local to that site
More stringent information management needs than
elsewhere
e.g. legal vs marketing
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Managed Metadata Purpose
More structured approach to consistent metadata
Improves search and browsing
Define standard pick-lists company-wide
Products
Departments
Work levels
Define synonyms
E.g. Business partner Contractor Outsourced Service
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Filtering lists
and libraries
Can use
taxonomy and
filters in
combination
http://www.sharepointconfig.com/2010/04/10-ways-sharepoint-2010-improves-findability/
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Managed Terms vs Keywords
Managed Terms
Fresh food
Meat
Dairy
Vegetables
Fruit
Hard Fruit
Soft Fruit
Peach
Strawberry
Cloudberry
Enterprise Keywords
Chicken
Beef
Lamb
Milk
Eggs
Peach
Strawberry
Cloudberry
Apple
Pear
Coconut
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Managed terms in
use
You can copy and
re-use terms
Groups can have
different
administrators
http://www.sharepointnutsandbolts.com/2009/12/managed-metadata-in-sharepoint-2010-key.html
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The values of a column
can be restricted to one
taxonomy group or term
set
Allow “Fill-in” choices
lets authors “Add new
item” to the taxonomy –
a folksonomy
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Managed Terms vs Keywords
Managed Terms
Fresh food
Meat
Dairy
Vegetables
Fruit
Hard Fruit
Soft Fruit
Peach
Strawberry
Cloudberry
Enterprise Keywords
Chicken
Beef
Lamb
Milk
Eggs
Peach
Strawberry
Cloudberry
Apple
Pear
Coconut
50. www.clearboxconsulting.co.uk © ClearBox Consulting 2011
Enterprise Keywords
(formerly ‘Managed Keywords’)
One flat list called
the “Keyword Set”
“Type ahead”
suggestions seen
Suggestions from
taxonomy will also
be seen
Usually “Create
New” is enabled
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Managed Terms vs Keywords
Managed Terms
Pros
Effective search
Filtering of results
Close control
Cons
‘Expensive’ to do
=Use for most important
content areas only
Enterprise Keywords
Pros
Easier and more flexible
for users
Work with legacy
keywords on docs
Still improve search
Cons
Harder to manage
No context
=Use where managed terms
too costly
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Management & Tips
1. Taxonomy permissions can be set at Term Group level, so
different departments can manage different branches
2. Terms can be re-used in the taxonomy, but beware of politics
for when definitions get changed e.g. “Client”
3. Each Term Set can have an email contact so users can
request modifications
4. For emerging taxonomies, use a folksonomy approach
initially to grow the term collection
5. Change keywords into managed terms as-needed (but
beware of mis-interpreting original use)
6. Identify site columns that are candidates for managed
metadata
7. Use synonyms for outdated terms or language variants
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What to use when – Content Types & Terms
Scenario Solution Examples
A ‘pick list’ that will be
re-used
Term set (managed
metadata)
Products, office locations,
security classification
Mandatory properties
for policy documents
“Policy” content type with
mandatory columns
Owner, expiry, security
classification
A collection of policies Define a “Policy” content
type and use Document Set
HR, IT, Finance policy
documents that all need
common metadata
Meeting event booking
(re-usable)
Custom list based on
“Event” content type
Offsite meeting, training
course
Standard document
templates
Define a Content Type set
to “Document Template”
Letterhead, PowerPoint
with branding
Ad-hoc form to fill in
(no re-use)
Custom list Christmas lunch planning
55. Folders
Against For
Can only put content in
“one” place
Content can get very deeply
buried
Can’t sort or filter
Can set metadata defaults
for a folder
Users very familiar with
them
Can be a useful way to
manage permissions
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Document Sets
Document sets
deal with multiple
documents as one
entity
e.g. All files related
to a job applicant
Can have welcome
page with common
metadata
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Social tags - Usage
Informal user tagging
– like Delicious
Can be used to tag
non-SharePoint
content e.g.
Competitor websites
“I like it” is a reserved
tag viewable in My
Site
Influences search
rankings
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Content Organizer (Drop-off Library)
Allows automatic routing of documents
When “Add document” is used, it goes via the
organizer
Users asked to add metadata
Pre-determined rules then allocate it to the right
library or folder
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What it tells you
How users naturally cluster concepts
Can be used to determine taxonomy
SharePoint Managed Terms
Can be used to determine navigation
Site hierarchy and pages
See: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide
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Final Thoughts
Getting metadata right is iterative
Don’t be too idealistic - avoid bureaucracy
Wait for site owners to outgrow basic solutions
before introducing more advanced ones
Beware of triggering turf wars
Nobody cares about IA until they object to it
67. Sam Marshall
Director
sam@clearboxconsulting.co.uk
@sammarshall
+44 1244 458746
www.clearboxconsulting.co.uk
ClearBox Consulting
• SharePoint strategy
• Getting sponsorship and support for your intranet
• An independent view on your Steering Group
• SharePoint for effective communications
•Using social tools inside the enterprise
• Effective team collaboration
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Metadata Terminology
Managed metadata = collective name for taxonomy and
keywords
“Acme Metadata Set”
Term group = a collection of Term sets
“Acme products”
Term set = One branch in a taxonomy of centrally controlled
terms
“Acme Domestic Rocket Products”
(Managed) Term = an entry in the taxonomy
“Acme CoyoteBooster 1000”
(Enterprise) Keyword = terms in a flat list
Tag = keyword created by any user
Term Store = team site nominated to store terms