what? why? who? when? how? tools brings together content, objects, size, scalability,...
TRANSCRIPT
Designing an Effective Information
ArchitectureSharePoint 2010
What? Why? Who? When? How? Tools
What we’re aiming for…
Brings together content, objects, size, scalability, taxonomy, metadata, navigation
High-level planning ◦ Don’t get too detailed
Very often neglected
It’s NEVER OVER
What is Information Architecture?
Risks if you don’t◦ Decreased usability/findability◦ Performance/reliability issues◦ Lack of user adoption◦ Future enhancements can be costly
Benefits if you do◦ Consistency, usability,
reliability, security
Good architecture = Good experience
Why spend time on IA?
◦ IA Design◦ Planning Management◦ Infrastructure/Storage◦ Metadata◦ Content Types◦ Social◦ Navigation & View◦ Security & Auditing◦ Taxonomies (Closed or Open)◦ Search (Managed Properties, Scopes, Search Centers)◦ Identify & Create Records (Legal Requirements)◦ Retention & Holds (Litigation) ◦ Importing Information (Batch Loads)◦ Rich Media
Who will take these responsibilities?
Up front: Create at least a basic plan as soon as possible.◦ Costs increase exponentially over time.
As you progress, implement iteratively
Treat it like governance◦ Meet regularly◦ What has changed?◦ What works/doesn’t work anymore.
When…
Invite◦ Stakeholders must be involved◦ Not too many
Listen◦ Understand requirements (audience, legal, etc.)◦ What do you mean by that?◦ Keep an open ear for metadata
Visualize◦ Existing environment ◦ Card sorts/whiteboard
How…
Communicate◦ Options◦ Pros and cons (there is always a trade-off, no
‘cake and eat it too’)
Agree◦ Build a consensus◦ Get it in writing◦ Stick to it
Execute
How… (cont.)
• Who ‘owns’ this information?
Owners
• How is your site organized now? (like it or not, folks are used to it)
Topology
• Who/how will contribute?
Authors
• Who will be retrieving your information?
Customers
• Why does it need to be stored?
Business Need
• How does it need to be secured?
Security
• Who will maintain the information?
Administrators
• What needs to be stored?
• What is the lifecycle?
Content
Questions to ask…
Control What is the cost of not finding information? If it isn’t available, how important is it? Can the audience contribute to the
architecture? (Open vs. Closed)
Structure Cost of creating content vs. finding content
Questions to ask (cont.)
Scalability◦ Limits – Number of site collections, items in a list query
limits, total items, overall database performance. Usability/Findability
◦ Two ways to get to data: Search = Metadata Navigate = Visualization
Manageability◦ Authoring experience◦ Distribution◦ Centrality◦ Empower authors/content managers
What to think about…
Security◦ Granularity vs. Performance
Permissions need to be checked for all objects being rendered Granular permissions can be a nightmare
Design Resiliency◦ Under-plan: Won’t survive the current solution.◦ Over-plan: Won’t survive the next solution (e.g. too many
content types)◦ Balance of priorities, volatility, and what ‘can be known’◦ Future flexibility vs. current needs – Focus on building a
solution for general flexibility, rather than trying to identify every possibility.
What to think about… (cont.)
Realize it will be wrong ◦ It has to be, because you can’t possibly know
everything◦ Communicate that expectation
Get it as good as you can for today, with flexibility for tomorrow.
Plan to fix it over time
Keep Perspective
Hierarchy◦ formally ranked group: an organization or
group whose members are arranged in ranks, e.g. in ranks of power and seniority
◦ Hierarchy Approches Business Unit – Easiest, but dangerous Functional – Domain (Role) e.g. HR - Employee forms
vs. Manager forms Hybrid – Business may be needed, but
structure the architecture so that it can ‘flex’ to a different model.
Enabling the Architecture
Taxonomy
◦ grouping of organisms: the science of classifying plants, animals, and microorganisms into increasingly broader categories based on shared features.
◦ Taxonomy Approaches Departmental = Easy to store (creators) Functional = Easy to retrieve (consumers) A natural, healthy, conflict between the two
◦ At what level is it useful? Think of our buddies up there: Do we need to classify them as
“Rabbit”? It depends! Hierarchy/content determines taxonomy…
Enabling the Architecture
Taxonomy vs. “Folksonomy”◦ Taxonomy = Scientist◦ Folksonomy = Layman
Benefits◦ Improved usability◦ Relevant searches◦ Faster navigation
Consistency, consistency, consistency
Taxonomy
Content Types◦ Syndication – Create content type ‘hub’ that
entire organization can use. Publish/Subscription model.
◦ Document Sets – “Super-Folders” that behave like
a content type Groups documents as a single unit Versioning as a whole
Enabling the Architecture
Property Promotion – Pulls properties from documents and promotes them into SharePoint for filtering, workflow actions, etc.
External Content Types - Multiple content types that come from an external system (as if it is inside SharePoint)
Content Types
Folders vs. Metadata◦ You can set metadata based on folder structure◦ You can use content organizer to create a folder
structure based on metadata
Enabling the Architecture
Navigation◦ Visualization of the IA, Taxonomy, Hierarchy
◦ Should be highly controlled at the top level, and flexible/allowed to change at the ‘leaf level’
◦ Determines your initial design – OOB navigation is site-collection specific
Enabling the Architecture
Will it scale? (Depth of navigation)
Need to monitor throughout to adapt to changing requirements. (Nav = Performance)
Plan on improvements through end-user feedback
Intuitive = Success
Navigation
Folders are fine if you expect all users to navigate in the same way
File explorer Other applications can interact. If you use folders, keep it shallow (cognative
memory) Still have the 256 URL limit.
If you want to allow for multiple navigation schemes, you need metadata
Folders vs. Metadata
Term Store◦ Database that contains taxonomy information◦ Each Includes:
Groups – Containers for Term Sets (security controlled) Term Sets – Containers for terms (can determine
whether open/closed) – Pushed like content types Terms – Predefined values that contain taxonomy objects
Enabling the Architecture
Structured ◦ Specific, managed data, but less flexible◦ Ensures proper use/compliance, familiarity
Unstructured (‘Folksonomy’)◦ Allows users to participate (add, tag)◦ Builds/exposes relationships that were not
previously envisioned
Can be used for Metadata-based navigation Metadata Validation (Based on your rules)
Term Store
Content Organizer◦ Allows for automatic routing rules for submitted
documents◦ Drop-Library: Customers
have a single ‘drop-location’ in which document is routed to the correct location based on metadata.
◦ Implemented as a feature, must be activated
◦ Auto-enforces 5,000 items per folder rule
Enabling the Architecture
Social Features◦ Stream of social networking activities◦ Community-driven◦ Follow what colleagues find useful/interesting◦ Comments – Improves content. Communicates to
the author about usefulness.◦ Tags – Improves searchability◦ Ratings – Assess value of content.
Enabling the Architecture
Rich Media◦ Automatic Image Upload (Automatically uploads
images referenced by a document during upload)◦ EXIF Data Promotion – Data that accompanies
images can be promoted into SharePoint◦ File Dialog – Open and close documents, insert
into SharePoint directly from the file dialog◦ Previews (view/play in place
Image Preview Thumbnail Previews Video Preview
Enabling the Architecture
SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Content Management Implementers' Course◦ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/sharepoint/hh126808◦ Or Bing: “SharePoint 2010 ECM”
Learn more…