cleaning up information architecture in sharepoint and other jedi mind tricks

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Cleaning Up Information Architecture in SharePoint and Other Jedi Mind

Tricks

Christian Buckley

[email protected]@buckleyPLANET

NYC SPUG

December 7th, 2011



My Background

Christian Buckley, Director of Product Evangelism at Axceler

• Most recently at Microsoft

• Microsoft Managed Services (now Office365-Dedicated)

• Advertising Operations, ad platform API program

• Prior to Microsoft, was a senior consultant, working in the software, supply chain, and grid technology spaces focusing on collaboration

• Co-founded and sold a collaboration software company to Rational Software. Also co-authored 3 books on software configuration management and defect tracking for Rational and IBM

• At another startup (E2open), helped design, build, and deploy a SharePoint-like collaboration platform (Collaboration Manager), managing deployment teams to onboard numerous high-tech manufacturing companies, including Hitachi, Matsushita, Seagate, Nortel, Sony, and Cisco

• I live in a small town just east of Seattle, 4 kids. Co-authoring ‘Creating and Implementing Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Real-World Projects’ (MSPress)



Improving Collaboration for 17+ Years Mission: To enable enterprises to simplify, optimize, and

secure their collaborative platforms Delivered award-winning administration and migration

software since 1994 Over 2,000 global customers

Dramatically improve the management of SharePoint

Innovative products that improve security, scalability, reliability, “deployability”

Making IT more effective and efficient and lower the total cost of ownership

Focus on solving specific SharePoint problems (Administration & Migration)

Coach enterprises on SharePoint best practices Give administrators the most innovative tools available Anticipate customers’ needs Deliver best of breed offerings Stay in lock step with SharePoint development and market trends

Axceler Overview




[email protected] 425.246.2823 @buckleyplanet http://buckleyplanet.net

A long time ago,

in a SharePoint farm

far, far away….





…a frustrated Admin realized it was time to get organized



What is information architecture?

April 10, 2023



Information architecture is a specialized skill set that interprets information and expresses distinctions between signs and systems of signs. More concretely, it involves the categorization of information into a coherent structure, preferably one that the intended audience can understand quickly, if not inherently, and then easily retrieve the information for which they are searching. The organization structure is usually hierarchical, but can have other structures, such as concentric or even chaotic

Wikipedia



Overview / introduction How to Successfully Move to 2010

Before / Now – clean up your 2007 environment Challenges with SharePoint Administration How Axceler ControlPoint can help

During – right tools to reduce risks, errors and ensure successful move Challenges with SharePoint Migration / Upgrades How Davinci Migrator for SharePoint can help

After – ongoing management and administration Customer success stories About Axceler

Draft Outline of presentation

April 10, 2023



How does information architecture differ from governance?



Information architecture is sort of like the young Jedi padawan: As you build it, you learn and grow and get stronger over time.

Governance is more like the Force: it's everywhere, some people ignore it or don't feel its influence, but those who know it and sense it can harness it to become stronger, more powerful.



Information architecture discussion IS a governance discussion Its about setting your rules and policies and guidelines, and

then enforcing them Some overtly, others behind the scenes

You don’t need to get it all right the first time, but Set the foundation up front, which makes it far easier to build upon,

refine later Establish best practices Train yourself and your team to follow the process

April 10, 2023



What is on my system today? What am I trying to achieve? What are the business needs? What are my priorities? What are my restrictions? What is the process or methodology for moving

these things forward? What is my organizational culture?

Questions to ask



Information architecture overview

Portal

Business Units

Groups and Teams

Projects and Workspaces

My Sites

Farm

Web App

Site Collectio

n

SiteSub-site

Sub-siteSite

Site Sub-site

Site Collectio

nSite

Web AppSite

Collection

Site

Site Sub-site



Structured and Unstructured

Site architecture is centrally controlled

Metadata is always applied to content

Site Columns and Content Types are created at site collection root

Lists get “bundles” of columns

PROSImproves consistency

Reduces metadata duplication

Easy to update

Easy to support and train on

Allows document-level DIP, Workflow, Information Policies, and document templates

CONSRequires planning

Requires upfront work

Hard to manage across site collections and portals

Site architecture is ad-hoc

Metadata may not be applied to content

Columns are created on lists

Columns are combined in an ad-hoc basis on each list

PROSRequires no planning

Requires little upfront effort

Works across site collections and portals

CONSDecreases consistency

Increases metadata duplication

Hard to update

Hard to support and train on

Only allows list-level Workflow, Information Policies and document templates

Difficult to reverse

CENTRALIZED DECENTRALIZED



Information architecture at a strategic-level



Think about how the business will use the environment

Think about it from the web app, the top level portal experience, and then build out your sites based on the business drivers of your teams/business units

Enforce structure and policies through site content types, which may require certain metadata to be applied for any new uploads

Add site columns consistently across all sites, such as an external connection to a customer list, or use MMS

You can also design and use workflows

Define information management policies, apply retention policies

Strategic considerations



April 10, 2023

Know what is out there How many farms do we have? How many web applications? How many site collections? Who manages all of them? How do people navigate those sites, and find their

content?



Part of your information architecture is understanding your permissions structure

Do you use SharePoint groups?

Do you use Active Directory groups?

Why duplicate groups that already exist in AD?



Understand the scope of what you are building, as many solutions are limited to the site collection Permission inheritance and all the child sites within them Out of the box navigation control and other web parts Content type retention policies, site columns, and list templates Know where you are going to use these things, which may dictate

how you organize your environment

Think about how you are going to provision your sites and manage this process ongoing, which may also dictate how you design your environment



Many companies reorganize frequently, so think about a design that allows for change

Build out views and templates based on functions/roles rather than current organizational structure

Think about the end user experience How will each functional role use and maintain the system?



Understand your company culture, what they are ready for



1. Business Focus / Productivity

2. Security

3. Lack of Visibility / Transparency

4. Support Issues

Cultural considerations



1. Innovation

2. Flexibility (let teams work on their own terms)

3. Organic growth (supports both structured and unstructured growth)

4. Process and content efficiencies (learn from various implementations, making the system better/stronger)

Cultural benefits



Information architecture at a tactical-level



Map out the existing environment Understand the business priorities Model your planned environment Run a detailed discovery of what should be

migrated Conduct detailed capacity planning Identify roles and responsibilities Understand your audience and topology Analyze usage and activity Know your storage needs Track and plan for each customization Create a detailed migration schedule Organize granular requirements by team Plan to migrate or index file shares Replace third party tools with out-of-the-box

functionality Create or refine your metadata and taxonomy Map content to new information architecture Cleanup permissions Optimize information architecture for search Stage your platform for migration Coordinate with your operations team Roll out new features Plan for where and when to involve the users Develop and track key performance indicators Train your end users on new functionality

Where should you focus?• Update the look and feel• Create an audit process for ongoing

maintenance• Develop a back up and disaster recovery plan• Update systems to latest builds and service

packs• Establish a sound governance model• Identifies throttles and limitations• Understand and plan for new functionality• Focus on functionality, then look and feel• Develop a communication strategy• Create a governance website• Run PreUpgradeCheck a few dozen times• Have an anti-virus and maintenance plan• Plan for migration from other ECM platforms• Consolidate or reduce the number of SharePoint

versions supported• Understand performance metrics for the system• Know your stakeholders• Assign metadata to the new information

architecture• Develop a detailed test plan• Get signoff on all major design and architectural

decisions• Decide where and when to use end users• Establish strong change management policies• Expand the footprint to mobile or the cloud• Understand and focus on the organizational

vision



Identify existing sites and sub-sites Plan for new site collections and sites Plan out site navigation Define your site templates Plan out content deployment strategies Design the end-user collaboration experience Plan for team, business unit variations Plan for content approval and scheduling Plan for unique geographical needs (language, performance) Identify roles and responsibilities, and figure out permissions needs Plan for customizations and line of business app integrations Plan your social strategy Plan your communication and training strategy

Developing your tactical plan



Metadata and taxonomy

In Biology, taxonomy is the science dealing with the description, identification, naming, and classification of organisms. “however, the term is now applied in a wider, more general sense and now may refer to a classification of things, as well as to the principles underlying such a classification.”

“Metadata provides context for data. Metadata is used to facilitate the understanding, characteristics, and management usage of data. The metadata required for effective data management varies with the type of data and context of use.” Wikipedia.org



Without a taxonomy strategy

• Ad-hoc content migration leads to junk in portal• Legacy content gets migrated slowly, if at all • Inconsistent taxonomy across farms and site collections• People author locally - multiplies problems globally• Authors don’t apply metadata= “shotgun” approach to search

OR Authors apply metadata without common classification = better search, but worse authoring experience

• Portal lacks high fidelity search• User can’t find the right content• As a result, poor portal adoption and low user satisfaction



Scott Singleton, Managed Metadata in SharePoint 2010 http://slidesha.re/hNPeAQ

Using managed metadata

http://slidesha.re/hNPeAQ




It’s basically a definition of an artifact that can be stored in a SharePoint site. For example: A project document, including

File type Date created Author Last modified

It is part of a workflow, including Who needs to approve Date of approval

It includes information management policies that Cannot be edited once approved

Using content types



Content types may be applied for each site collection

…or for certain sites



Consolidate content types



Clean up folder structures



Get organized: Understand what is out there Who owns the content? Does it need to be moved? Does it need to be indexed/searchable? Is the folder structure important? Do you need to maintain historic metadata?



Refine your keywords



Site Templates Group Work Site Visio Process Repository Assets Web Database Charitable Contributions Web Database Contacts Web Database Issues Web Database Projects Web Database Business Intelligence Center Enterprise Search Center Basic Search Center FAST Search Center Enterprise Wiki

Standardize site structures and templates

Which SharePoint 2010 Site Template is Right for Me? Todd Baginski, http://bit.ly/6ENap9

http://bit.ly/6ENap9

http://bit.ly/6ENap9



Team Site Blank Site Document Workspace Blog Group Work Site Visio Process Repository Basic Meeting Workspace Blank Meeting Workspace Decision Meeting Workspace Social Meeting Workspace Multipage Meeting Workspace Assets Web Database Charitable Contributions Web Database Contacts Web Database Issues Web Database

Sub-sites templates

Projects Web Database Document Center Records Center Business Intelligence Center My Site Host Personalization Site Enterprise Search Center Basic Search Center FAST Search Center Enterprise Wiki Publishing Portal Publishing Site Publishing Site With Workflow



Consistent navigation



April 10, 2023

They surface data, provide content They are another layer of the search experience They are increasingly the common way

in which people communicate

Why are social tools important?

If you don’t proactively manage how end users use social tools, they’ll find new ways of getting “social” that you may not approve of



What is the role of governance?



Corporate

SharePoint

Project

IT



Governance is not a checklist

Governance is not something packaged,purchased, and installed over a weekend



Governance is about taking action to help you organize, optimize, and manage your systems and resources.



What does governance look like in SharePoint?

Psst. Here’s a secret:It looks the same as every other enterprise system.



Push responsibility to the site administrators (even though they may do strange things)

Understand what can be delegated

Clarify roles and responsibilities Farm Admins responsible for farms Site Collection Admins responsible for site collections And so forth

Understand skill levels, and company climate

Governance considerations



1. Have a plan

2. Create an internal SharePoint user group

3. Clearly define roles and responsibilities

4. Outline your taxonomy, communicate it, and iterate

5. Create a governance site

6. Learn and evolve

Jumpstart your governance



Where end users can be involved:• Creation of use cases• Creation of current-state documentation• Prioritization of requirements for future-

state environment• They know their content – let them drive

• File share migrations, or organization• Taxonomy development• Metadata assignment• Signoff on overall project plan

Involving End Users



1. Understand your metadata and taxonomy model

2. Have a strategy for Managed Metadata

3. Involve your end users

4. Make governance a priority

5. Create a governance site

6. Iterate

Lessons learned, at a high level





Jedi Philosophy

There is no emotion; there is peace

There is no ignorance; There is knowledge

There is no passion; There is serenity

There is no death; There is The Force





Sith Business Philosophy

Work-Life balance is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I get promotions.

Through promotions, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall set me free.

http://sithsigma.wordpress.com/



Contact me at Christian Buckley, [email protected], 425-246-2823 On Twitter at @buckleyplanet www.buckleyPLANET.com

Check out SharePointProMag.com article

How SharePoint 2010 Stacks Up to Your End-User Social Media Requirements On The Importance of Metadata, Craig Mullins http://bit.ly/cOWp2F Enabling Social Media through Metadata http://slidesha.re/gdjoaz Managed Metadata in SharePoint 2010, Scott Singleton http://slidesha.re/hNPeAQ The Battle for Metadata in SharePoint 2010, Michal Pisarek http://bit.ly/g7vFWN 5 Steps of a Successful SharePoint Site Transformation http://bit.ly/eB6qbN Creating Passionate Users, Kathy Sierra http://headrush.typepad.com/

For more information

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/buckleyplanet



http://www.buckleyplanet.com/

http://www.sharepointpromag.com/article/sharepoint/How-SharePoint-2010-Stacks-Up-to-Your-End-User-Social-Media-Requirements

http://www.sharepointpromag.com/article/sharepoint/How-SharePoint-2010-Stacks-Up-to-Your-End-User-Social-Media-Requirements

http://bit.ly/cOWp2F

http://slidesha.re/gdjoaz


http://bit.ly/g7vFWN

http://bit.ly/eB6qbN

http://headrush.typepad.com/

April 10, 2023

cleaning up information architecture in sharepoint and other jedi mind tricks

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