Presentation given at SharePoint Symposium 2013. Covers key information architecture best practices in SharePoint 2010 and 2013 for search, navigation and dynamic publishing.

1. SHAREPOINT IA
BEST PRACTICES
(4 out of 5 Dentists Agree)
SHAREPOINT SYMPOSIUM 2013
STEPHANIE LEMIEUX

2. STEPHANIE LEMIEUX
President & Principal Consultant
• Specialized in taxonomy & metadata, governance
• Lots of experience implementing taxonomy & IA
across different tools: CMS, DMS, Intranet, Faceted Search,
DAM…and yes, SharePoint
• MLIS from McGill University (i.e. I’m a librarian)
• Huge data nerd

3. •
Who we are: Boutique firm specializing
in taxonomy & information
architecture… We create practical and
elegant solutions to make content more
findable.
•
Based in Montreal, Canada
•
What we do: taxonomy, metadata
development, search, information
architecture, digital asset management,
governance, etc.

4. SharePoint is easy
to implement
badly

5. TYPICAL SHAREPOINT
PROJECTS
Biz
Reqs
Implement
Implementtttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
Business
Req’s
Implement
Business
Req’s
Where is the information architecture?
Examples courtesy of Lulu Pachuau:
http://www.slideshare.net/LuluP/information-architecture-and-sharepoint
Implement

6. 4 out of 5 dentists agree that
lying through your teeth
about IA does not count as
flossing

7. http://johnnyholland.org/wp-content/uploads/elementsofux.gif

8. Michal
Pisarek
Seth Earley
SharePoint IA
Trainer &
Consultant
SharePoint MVP
& IA Consultant
Sue Hanley
Author of
Essential
SharePoint 2013
Ruven Gotz
Author of
Practical
SharePoint IA
Shawn Shell
Author of SharePoint
Report for Real Story
Group
Our panel of “dentists”

9. #1 MISTAKE IN
SHAREPOINT
DESIGN?

10. Over-reliance on search
to cover for bad IA

11. 5 SHAREPOINT IA
BEST PRACTICES
2013 game changers
&

12. #5:
DON’T FOLLOW
THE ORG STRUCTURE
4 out of 5 dentists
agree…

14. WHY DOES THIS SUCK?
• Organizational changes happen all the time
• Nobody really knows who owns what or does what
• Most people are focused on processes & projects
And… isn’t the point to encourage
departments?
collaboration across

15. THINK OUTSIDE THE ORG CHART
ü Functions & processes
ü X-functional teams & projects
ü Clients
ü Products
ü Content types
ü Geography
ü Etc.

16. GOOD SITE ARCHITECTURE
… takes a functional/activities view of the organization
… survives organizational change
… allows people to see the overall context of their
organization and their work
… uses language everyone understands
… is based on actual user behaviors & insights
“Focus on the work instead of the Web site.”
-- Susan Hanley, the Essential SharePoint 2013

17. IN 2013
Suite Bar & Sites Tab
- Sticky at the top links: easy way to get back home
- List of sites “followed”: develop a personal IA

18. #4:
TRANSCEND
PHYSICAL STRUCTURE
4 out of 5 dentists
agree…

19. LET’S GET PHYSICAL
SharePoint is based on a physical structure that used to
define… pretty much everything
Web applications
ierarchy,
ainment h
d the cont
nderstan
nd by it.
U
Sites on’ t be bou
but d
Site collections
Sub-sites
Lists & libraries

20. SEARCH-DRIVEN PUBLISHING
Search indexing now crosses site collections and content can
be aggregated & displayed across multiple sites
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/jj872721.aspx

21. “CSWP”
Content Query
Web Part
Content Search
Web Part
Aggregate content from
anywhere based on a search
query and style it however
you want!

22. USE SEARCH TO CREATE
ASSOCIATIVE NAVIGATION
Home
http://www.slideshare.net/nform/information-architecture-for-sharepoint-11389777?from_search=12

23. MANAGED METADATA
NAVIGATION
Term store can now manage consistent global navigation
across site collections, masking physical boundaries.
http://sp2013.blogspot.ca/2012/07/metadata-driven-navigation.html

24. Design the ideal
…then figure out how you can make it happen with the
containment hierarchy and options available

25. #3:
A LITTLE METADATA GOES
A LONG WAY
4 out of 5 dentists
agree…

26. FOLDERS MOSTLY SUCK
Folders (any physical structure, really) = LAZY
And they don’t tell you much, unless you create bottomless
hierarchies.
•
•
•
•
What is this about?
What region does it cover?
What product is it about?
What year is it for?

27. USE MOSTLY METADATA
ü enhance searchability of content
ü filter/sort/view lists & libraries
ü control content display (via search web part)
ü control navigation
ü enhance search user interface
ü trigger workflow, info policies

28. DON’T GO CRAZY WITH CONTENT
TYPES
When do you create a new content type or metadata field?
RM Need
Workflow/
Process
(template)
CM/Search
Need
http://carstenknoch.com/2012/04/sharepoint-metadata-design-principles/

29. Rule of thumb:
If you have more
content types than you
do staff, you’re doing
something wrong.
LESS IS MORE.

30. STANDARDIZE WHAT YOU CAN
Use content types to standardize key enterprise metadata
Item
Document
Set
Publication
Contract
Document
?
Enterprisewide
metadata
Asset
?
?
Image
Magazine
article
?
Function/
contentspecific
metadata

31. AUTOMATE WHAT YOU CAN
Leverage structure & profiles to automate some metadata
• Document location (document library, sets, smart folders*)
• User profile
Rules of Thumb
1. Keep the number of fields as small as possible
2. Majority of fields should tie back to a work
process with clear user value
3. Use default values VERY carefully

32. DOCUMENT LIBRARIES &
CONTENT TYPES
Put multiple types in one library or one type per library?
Impact of multiple types:
• Can’t do “group by”
• Having to choose a content type
• Can apply multiple policies/workflows
• Multiple templates
• Can still have different metadata

33. BULK METADATA EDIT

34. #2:
CONTROL VOCABULARY
USING MANAGED
METADATA
4 out of 5 dentists
agree…

35. CONTROL KEY METADATA
CENTRALLY
Use the term store to predefine & manage key vocabularies
used in metadata
When to make it managed metadata?
• Likely to be used by multiple groups (global vs. local)
• Terminology needs governance
• Needs synonyms
• Requires hierarchy
• Would be useful as navigation/filter options

36. LEVERAGE SYNONYMS
Synonyms are helpful both in tagging & search (but search
must be configured separately)
Hanley: Essential Sharepoint 2013

37. METADATA-BASED NAVIGATION
Keep these ultrasimple.
Most people won’t use
it if it looks complicated
(e.g. Key Filters).
Especially useful if you
have multiple content
types in one library.
http://www.titus.com/blog/2010/11/metadata-navigation-and-sptechcon-boston-recap/

38. Warning: the term store is not a
taxonomy management tool or autoclassifier.

39. No matter how awesome your
structure, people will still
search sometimes.
Try to make it suck less.

40. #1:
GIVE SEARCH A LITTLE
LOVE
4 out of 5 dentists
agree…

41. GIVE SEARCH A CHANCE
• Configure synonyms
• Use query rules
• Promote a result
• Supplement a query with additional property & KW filters
http://blogs.technet.com/b/mspfe/archive/2013/02/01/how-query-rules-and-result-sources-can-be-used-to-customize-searchresults.aspx

42. CUSTOMIZE THE
REFINEMENT
PANEL
Choose more relevant filter
options
Hide useless graphics

43. Spend time figuring out logical
structures, then worry about
Sharepoint-izing them
http://www.zazzle.com/red+dirt+posters

44. Awesome
architecture!

45. THANK YOU
Stephanie Lemieux
stephanie@dovecotstudio.com
@stephlemieux
www.dovecotstudio.com