Post on 27-Jan-2015
description
Information Architecture for SharePoint Johanna Dietrich & Andrew J Wright #ia4sp
Why are you here?
You use SharePoint • … and you’ve had problems in the past
You hear things like: • “I know it’s there but I can’t find it”
• “The intranet doesn’t work”
• “I don’t get it” – new employee
Because…
You want to make your SharePoint site better.
Information architecture n.
The combination of organization, labeling, search, and navigation systems within web sites and intranets.
* Excerpt from Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld
SharePoint is a powerful* tool ü Sites ü Communities ü Content ü Search ü Insights ü Composites
* when you have a plan
Plan
• Context and users • Content analysis • Labeling and navigation
• Content attributes • Search
• Evaluation
The Plan
Context
Users Content
Information Architecture
• Develop a list of audiences/users • Identify the tasks and/or information
needs of each group
Users
User research methods
http://nform.com/cards
Define your context by answering these questions:
• What is the purpose of your site?
• Be specific
• What expectations exist for your site?
Context
• Resourcing (budget, hardware, software, people, expertise)
• Timelines • Technology
Broader Context
• Content review • Inventory
• Analysis
• Content ownership
• Content planning • Content migration
Content
Content Review Content
Inventory Content Analysis
Can be Automated Must be Manual Details • a list of all
current content
• the current state of the content
• whether content can be leveraged, deleted or archived
• content gaps
• evaluate the volume and quality of existing content
• identify : • content owners • the structures in which the content resides • types of content • file types • content duplication, and • content gaps
A completed content analysis will allow you to:
• Identify • Confirm • Engage them early
Content Owners
Options for planning content migration
Migration
Manual
Hybrid
Automated
• Volume of content • By type • By location on current site
• Site structure similarity • Types of resources available
Migration Considerations
• State of content • Types of resources available
(technical vs. business/content owners)
Migration Considerations
• There is no single “right” way • Understand the user’s perspective • Laying the groundwork for navigation
Organizing Content
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sewpixie/2408704780/
Structural
Associative
* Adapted from Fiorito and Dalton’s model, after James Kalbach
Navigation Types
• Easy access to top level categories • Takes the form of SharePoint sites • Backbone of your IA
Global Navigation
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/green/data_center.html
• Browse more specific categories • Sites, pages, document libraries*,
lists*, discussions*, …
• Only show what’s relevant
Local Navigation
• Teleport between topic areas • Push related content
Associative Navigation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16657122
• We all play “favourites” • Provide personalized shortcuts
“My Links”
• Headings, link text, and navigation • Speak the language of the end-users • Validate and Evaluate
Labels
• Data about data. • Taxonomy or Folksonomy? • Managed Metadata
( a.k.a. controlled vocabularies )
<title>Metadata</title>
Ya, but what’s metadata good for?
• Defining meaningful Content Types • Effective document storage and
document retrieval
• Associative navigation
It’s good for…
• Search is only as good as the information it has to work with (Garbage IN = Garbage OUT)
Search
What is… Garbage*
• Expired content
• Poorly named pages and sites
• Overuse of “Create site” button
• Absence of metadata
• Inconsistent metadata (a.k.a. Tagging free-for-all)
Not Garbage
• Meaningful, healthy content
• Clear, concise page titles
• A sitemap that users understand
• Consistent metadata application
• Managed metadata terms
* Not necessarily “garbage,” just not very good for SharePoint search
Refiners = Metadata
Scopes = Structure + Content Types
Results = Content
Metadata + Structure + Content = a great SP search experience
Defined Content Types
Defined Metadata
Created Navigation
Organized Content
Planned Migration
Inventoried/Analyzed Content
Researched Users
Investigated Context
Evaluate
Context
Users
Content
• Plan to plan. • Don’t assume anything • SharePoint doesn’t manage itself.
• Follow the process.
Takeaways
SharePoint is a powerful* tool
* when you have a plan
Plan
Thank you.
Andrew J Wright andrew.wright@nform.com | @andrewjwright
Johanna Dietrich
johanna.dietrich@nform.com