SHAREPOINT IA BEST PRACTICES

SHAREPOINT SYMPOSIUM 2013

STEPHANIE LEMIEUX

(4 out of 5 Dentists Agree)

STEPHANIE LEMIEUX "esident & "incipal 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

•  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.

SharePoint is easy to implement badly

TYPICAL SHAREPOINT PROJECTS

Biz  Reqs   Implementtttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt  

Implement   Business  Req’s   Implement  

Business  Req’s   Implement  

Examples courtesy of Lulu Pachuau: http://www.slideshare.net/LuluP/information-architecture-and-sharepoint

#ere is the information architecture?

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

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

Shawn Shell Author of SharePoint Report for Real Story

Group

Sue Hanley Author of Essential

SharePoint 2013

Seth Earley SharePoint IA

Trainer & Consultant

Michal Pisarek

SharePoint MVP & IA Consultant

Ruven Gotz Author of Practical

SharePoint IA

Our panel of “dentists”

#1 MISTAKE IN SHAREPOINT DESIGN?

Over-reliance on search to cover for bad IA

5 SHAREPOINT IA BEST PRACTICES & 2013 game changers

#5: DON’T FOLLOW THE ORG STRUCTURE

4 out of 5 dentists agree…

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 collaboration across departments?

THINK OUTSIDE THE ORG CHART

ü Functions & processes

ü X-functional teams & projects

ü Clients

ü "oducts

ü Content types

ü Geography

ü Etc.

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$ite.” -- Susan Hanley, the Essential SharePoint 2013

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

#4: TRANSCEND PHYSICAL STRUCTURE

4 out of 5 dentists agree…

LET’S GET PHYSICAL SharePoint is based on a physical structure that used to define… pretty much everything

Web applications

Site collections

Sites

Sub-sites

Lists & libraries

Understand the containment hierarchy,

but don’t be bound by it.

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

“CSWP”

Content Query Web Part

Content Search Web Part

Aggregate content from anywhere based on a search

query and style it however you want!

USE SEARCH TO CREATE ASSOCIATIVE NAVIGATION

http://www.slideshare.net/nform/information-architecture-for-sharepoint-11389777?from_search=12

Home

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

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

#3: A LITTLE METADATA GOES A LONG WAY

4 out of 5 dentists agree…

FOLDERS MOSTLY SUCK Folders (any physical structure, really) = LAZY

And they don’t tell you much, unless you create bottomless hierarchies.

•  #at is this about? •  #at%egion does it cover? •  #at product is it about? •  #at year is it for?

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

DON’T GO CRAZY WITH CONTENT TYPES When do you create a new content type or metadata field?

RM Need

CM/Search Need

Workflow/ Process

(template)

http://carstenknoch.com/2012/04/sharepoint-metadata-design-principles/

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

STANDARDIZE WHAT YOU CAN Use content types to standardize key enterprise metadata

Item

Document Set Document

Publication

Magazine article

?

Contract ? ? ? Image

Asset

Enterprise-wide metadata

Function/content- specific

metadata

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

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

BULK METADATA EDIT

#2: CONTROL VOCABULARY USING MANAGED METADATA

4 out of 5 dentists agree…

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

LEVERAGE SYNONYMS Synonyms are helpful both in tagging & search (but search must be configured separately)

Hanley: Essential Sharepoint 2013

METADATA-BASED NAVIGATION

http://www.titus.com/blog/2010/11/metadata-navigation-and-sptechcon-boston-recap/

Keep these ultra-simple. 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.

Warning: the term store is not a taxonomy management tool or auto-classifier.

No matter how awesome your structure, people will still search sometimes. &y to make it$uck less.

#1: GIVE SEARCH A LITTLE LOVE

4 out of 5 dentists agree…

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-search-results.aspx

CUSTOMIZE THE REFINEMENT PANEL Choose more relevant filter options

Hide useless graphics

http://www.zazzle.com/red+dirt+posters

Spend time figuring out logical structures, then worry about

Sharepoint-izing them

Awesome architecture!

THANK YOU

Stephanie Lemieux stephanie@dovecotstudio.com

@stephlemieux

www.dovecotstudio.com