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Taming Your Taxonomy in SharePoint

Jonathan RaltonAll trademarks and registered trademarks are

the property of their respective owners.

Jonathan RaltonBlueMetal

Taming Your Taxonomy in SharePoint

AgendaSetting the Stage

OrientationIn Theory…

The Nitty-GrittyIn Practice…

Exercise

Wrapping UpQuestions

Setting the StageTaming Your Taxonomy in SharePoint

ME

Jonathan RaltonSenior Information Architect

• SharePoint professional/consultant since 2005

• No coding!

• Focused on document management, content management, knowledge management…

• User Experience Design

@jonralton

jonathanr@bluemetal.com

blog.jonralton.net

linkedin.com/in/jonathanralton

YOU

What roles are you in?

What are you hoping to learn?

Orientation: In Theory…Taming Your Taxonomy in SharePoint

In Theory…

SharePoint does this thing called

Content Management

In Theory…

Business Process

AutomationPortals Social Co-Authoring

External Collaboration

WorkflowTeam

CollaborationIncident

Management

Project Management

Knowledge Management

Enterprise Content

Management

Application Platform

Pleasantville

© 1998 New Line Cinema

Wild Wild West

© 2014 Universal Studios

In Theory…

What is…

• Content Architecture

• Taxonomy

How do they relate?

Content Architecture

Taxonomy

Content Architecture

1. The specification for a content management solution

2. A set of activities and outputs for effective content management

– Cleve Gibbon

Content Architecture

TAXONOMY

def·i ·ni·tion [dèffə nísh'n]

Taxonomy

“a classification into ordered categories”

Taxonomy

A way to group things together

In Theory…

•Qualities• Structured• Organized

•Methods• Grouping

• Classification

• Categorization

•Goals• Make findable• Make usable

In Theory…

50%50%

FINDING CONTENT

Navigation Search

+/- +/-

In Theory…

• What is it?

• Is it useful to me?

In Theory…

Taxonomy

Findability Usability

In Theory…

Your taxonomy is an integral part of your content architecture plan

In Theory…

Your content architecture is the foundation for achieving content management

In Theory…

Art

Science

In Theory…

A Process

An Outcome

In Theory…

Process

• Helps elicit ideas

• Helps resolve prior mistakes• Based on past experience

• Helps achieve buy-in

Outcome

• Design Document

• Artifacts• Spreadsheet(s)

• Chart(s)

White Paper

• Planning• Documentation• Inheritance

bit.ly/GovernanceinSharePointFeature

The Nitty-Gritty: In Practice…Taming Your Taxonomy in SharePoint

In Practice…Farms

Web Applications

Content Databases

Site Collections

Sites

Lists

Libraries

FoldersDocument

Sets

Site Columns

Content Types

External Content Types

Managed Metadata

Crawled Properties

Managed Properties

In Practice…

What are…

• Content Types

• Site Columns

What will we do with them?

Content Types

Site Columns

Metadata

In Practice…

Metadata

Content Types

Site Columns

Context

Sites

Libraries

Lists

Taxonomy

Let’s Ignore…

•External Content Types

•Folksonomies

•Third Party Features/Apps

CONTENT TYPE

def·i ·ni·tion [dèffə nísh'n]

Content Type

“a reusable collection of:

1. metadata (columns),

2. workflow,

3. behavior, and other

4. settings

for a category of items or documents in a…list or document library”

Name Parent Name Group

System #N/A _Hidden

Document Collection Folder Folder _Hidden

System Page #N/A _Hidden

System Page Layout #N/A _Hidden

System Master Page #N/A _Hidden

Audio Rich Media Asset Digital Asset Content Types

Image Rich Media Asset Digital Asset Content Types

Rich Media Asset Document Digital Asset Content Types

Video Rich Media Asset Digital Asset Content Types

Document Item Document Content Types

List View Style Document Document Content Types

Form Document Document Content Types

Picture Document Document Content Types

Master Page Document Document Content Types

Wiki Page Document Document Content Types

Basic Page Document Document Content Types

Web Part Page Basic Page Document Content Types

Link to a Document Document Document Content Types

Dublin Core Columns Document Document Content Types

Document Set Document Collection Folder Document Set Content Types

Folder Item Folder Content Types

Discussion Folder Folder Content Types

Summary Task Folder Folder Content Types

Announcement Item List Content Types

Comment Item List Content Types

Contact Item List Content Types

East Asia Contact Item List Content Types

Event Item List Content Types

Issue Item List Content Types

Item System List Content Types

Link Item List Content Types

Message Item List Content Types

Post Item List Content Types

Reservations Event List Content Types

Schedule Event List Content Types

Schedule and Reservations Event List Content Types

Task Item List Content Types

Page System Page Publishing Content Types

Page Layout System Page Layout Publishing Content Types

Publishing Master Page System Master Page Publishing Content Types

Content Types – Inheritance

Item

Announcement Contact Event Issue Link Post Task

Document

Picture

Folder

Discussion

Document Set

Content Types – Categories

Item

Document

Folder

Document Set

QUICK EXPLORATION

Content Types – Warning

DO NOT modify the out-of-the-box

content types!

Content Types – Considerations

Site 1

Site 1.1Site 1.1.1

Site 1.1.2

Site 1.2 Site 1.2.1

Site 1.3

• Where to define (Scope)

Content Types – Considerations

Intranet Home

IT Department

HR Department

Marketing Department

Sales Department

Benefits Team

Compensation Team

• Ad

• Development Plan

• Invoice

• Offer Letter

• Performance Review

• Purchase Order

• Salary Increase Request

• Termination Letter

Content Types – Considerations

Content Type 1

Content Type 1.1

Content Type 1.1.1

Content Type 1.1.2

Content Type 1.2

Content Type 1.2.1

Content Type 1.3

• Hierarchy (Inheritance)• Levels of abstraction

Content Types – Considerations

• Ad

• Development Plan

• Invoice

• Offer Letter

• Performance Review

• Purchase Order

• Salary Increase Request

• Termination Letter

Content Types – Considerations

Document

Ad

Invoice

Offer Letter

Purchase Order

Salary Increase Request

Termination Letter

Content Types – Considerations

Document

HR Document

Offer Letter

Salary Increase Request

Termination LetterAd

Invoice

Purchase Order

Content Types – Considerations

Document

Corporate Document

Invoice

Purchase Order

HR Document

Offer Letter

Salary Increase Request

Termination Letter

Marketing Document

Ad

Content Types – Considerations

Document Master Document

Corporate Document

Invoice

Purchase Order

HR Document

Offer Letter

Salary Increase Request

Termination Letter

Marketing Document

Ad

Content Types – Considerations

Standard Shipping Request

Expedited Shipping Request

Air Freight RequestInternational Air Freight Request

Rail Freight Request

Ocean Freight Request

International Ocean Freight Request

• Shipping Approval

• Expedited Shipping Approval

• Exports Authorization

Content Types – Considerations

Shipping Request Type

Shipping Approval Type

Standard Shipping Request Type

Standard Shipping Request

Non-Standard Shipping Request Type

Air Freight Request

Rail Freight Request

Ocean Freight RequestExpedited Approval

TypeExpedited Shipping

Request

International Shipping Request Type

International Air Freight Request

International Ocean Freight Request

• Shipping Approval

• Expedited Shipping Approval

• Exports Authorization

Content Types – Considerations

Site Content Type A

Content Type A in List 1

Content Type A in List 2

Content Type A in List 3

Content Type A in List 4

• Site vs. List/Library content types

Content Types – Considerations

My Document.docx

Document Content Type

http://path/My%20Document.docx

Link to a Document Content Type

• Link-based content types

SITE COLUMN

def·i ·ni·tion [dèffə nísh'n]

Site Column

“a reusable column definition, or template, that you can assign to multiple lists across multiple

SharePoint sites”

Site Column

A field

Site Columns – Types

All Day Event

Audience Targeting

Calculated

Choice

Currency

Computed

Cross Project Link

Date and Time

External Data

File

Hyperlink/Picture

Integer

Lookup

Managed Metadata

Multi-Text

Number

Number of Ratings

Person/Group

Publishing HTML

Publishing Image

Publishing Schedule End Date

Publishing Schedule Start Date

Rating (0-5)

Recurrence

Summary Links

System

Text

Yes/No

Site Columns – Considerations

Site 1

Site 1.1Site 1.1.1

Site 1.1.2

Site 1.2 Site 1.2.1

Site 1.3

• Where to define (Scope)

Site Columns – Considerations

Site Column Type A

Column A in List

1

Column A in List

2

Column A in List

3

Column A in List

4

• Site vs. List/Library columns

Site Columns – Considerations

Choice

Lookup

Managed Metadata

• When to use which type

Site Columns –Considerations

• Plain text

• Does not update

• No metadata about choicesChoice Column

Site Columns –Considerations

• ID;#Value

• Does update

• Metadata about choices

• Projected Fields

• Expand scope of List, but not across Site Collections

• Possibility for cascading lookups

Lookup Column

Lookup Columns – Considerations

Site 1

Site 1.1Site 1.1.1

Site 1.1.2

Site 1.2 Site 1.2.1

Site 1.3

• Where to define (Scope)

List

List

Site Columns –Considerations

• Hierarchy of terms

• Scope across site collections, web applications, farms

• No metadata about choices in 2010• Extended Properties in 2013+

• Can assist with navigation

• No InfoPath support

• Folksonomy possibilities

Managed Metadata Column

QUICK EXPLORATION

Site Columns – Considerations

• Too few columns?

• Too many columns?

• Required/Not Required?

Site Columns – Considerations

My Column

• My%20Column

My Column

• Mycolumn

Renamed Column

• oldnamecolumn

• ‘Internal Name’/Static Name vs. ‘Display Name’/Title

QUICK EXPLORATION

METADATA

def·i ·ni·tion [dèffə nísh'n]

Metadata

“data about data”

Metadata

Content Types

Site Columns

Metadata

Metadata – Process

1. Identify common elements

2. Identify unique elements

3. Associate at the appropriate level(s) on the appropriate content type(s)

Metadata – Process

Document Master Document

Corporate Document

Invoice

Purchase Order

HR Document

Offer Letter

Salary Increase Request

Termination Letter

Marketing Document

Ad

• Employee Name

• Termination Date

SharePoint Building Blocks

Metadata

Content Types

Site Columns

Context

Sites

Libraries

Lists

Taxonomy

SharePoint Building Blocks

Content Types

• Use to…• Maintain consistency across

libraries and lists

• Isolate workflow, policies, and other settings• Information Management (Records

Management)

• Etc.

Site Columns

• Use to…• Drive views

• Expose via search

• Drive reports

• Preserve information

• Trigger workflow

• Etc.

SharePoint Building Blocks

Farm

Web Application

Content Database

Site Collection

Site List/Library

Item

Item

Site Collection

Site List/Library Item

Site List/Library Item

Content Database

Site Collection

Site List/Library Item

Web Application

Content Database

Site Collection

Site

List/Library

Item

Item

List/Library ItemSite Collection

Site

Taxonomy/Context – Uses

• Leverage security (List, Site)

• Differentiate list-based workflows (List)

• Segregate content (List, Site, Site Collection)

• Facilitate geographic placement (Farm)

• Control versioning (List)

• Account for alternate authentication method(s) (Web Application)

• Account for encryption (Web Application)

• Etc.

Taxonomy/Context – Approach

1. Determine what content is needed where

2. Associate at the appropriate level(s) with the appropriate container(s)

Taxonomy/Context – Considerations

• The content that will be stored as items• The site and list/library columns that will identify, qualify, and differentiate those

items from each other

• The content types that will help maintain appropriate metadata, workflow, behavior, and other settings for different kinds of items

• The lists/libraries that will segregate those items within the sites

• The sites that will contain those lists/libraries

• The site collections that will contain those sites

• The content databases that will house those site collections

• The web applications that will contain those site collections

• The farms that will host those web applications

Site Templates

Assets Web Database

Basic Meeting Workspace

Basic Search Center

Blank Meeting Workspace

Blank Site

Blog

Business Intelligence Center

Charitable Contributions Web

Contacts Web Database

Custom

Decision Meeting Workspace

Document Center

Document Workspace

Enterprise Search Center

Enterprise Wiki

FAST Search Center

Group Work Site

Issues Web Database

Multipage Meeting

Workspace

Personalization Site

Projects Web Database

Publishing Site

Publishing Site with Workflow

Records Center

Social Meeting Workspace

Team Site

Visio Process Repository

Library Templates

Asset Library

Dashboards Library

Data Connection Library

Document Library

Form Library

Picture Library

Record Library

Report Library

Slide Library

Wiki Page Library

List Templates

Announcements

Calendar

Contacts

Custom List

Custom List in Datasheet View

Discussion Board

External List

Import Spreadsheet

Issue Tracking

Links

PerformancePoint Content List

Project Satisfaction Survey

Project Tasks

Status List

Survey

Tasks

Content Type Publishing

Advantages

• Manage ‘Enterprise Content Types’ across site collections, web applications, and farms

• High governance/control

• Higher reuse

Disadvantages

• Inheritance/Publishing

• Workflows

• Lookup Columns

• Backup/Restore/Disaster Recovery

ExerciseTaming Your Taxonomy in SharePoint

Deduction Management

Site

Deduction Library

Customer Operations Site

Deduction

Contract Library

Advertisement Library

Billback Library

Syndicated Data Library

Spin Report Library

Scan Data Library

Markdown Funds Library

Repay Library

Markdown Funds Site

Contract

Advertisement

Billback

Repay

Scan Data

Spin Report

Syndicated Data

Customer

Customer

Customer

Customer

Customer

Customer

Customer

Deduction Type

Customer

Date Requested

Date Range Start

Date Range End

Contract Documents

Advertisement Documents

Billback Documents

Deduction Number

Repay Documents

Scan Data Documents

Spin Report Documents

Syndicated Data Documents

Product Category

Markdown

Deduction Status

Exercise

• Addendum

• Amendment

• Annual Report

• Change Request

• Collateral

• Contract

• Customer

• Exhibit

• Holiday

• Invoice

• Master Services Agreement

• Memorandum

• Non-Disclosure Agreement

• Policy

• Proposal

• Prospectus

• Purchase Order

• Resume

• Schedule

• Statement of Work

• Supplier

• Tax Return

SharePoint Hybrid

We now have some support from Microsoft for utilizing term sets across Office 365 and your local SharePoint installation(s)!

Wrapping UpTaming Your Taxonomy in SharePoint

Wrapping Up

Content Architecture

Taxonomy

Wrapping Up

TaxonomyStructure

Organize

Label

Categorize

Group

Wrapping Up

Reusable

Wrapping Up

Taxonomy

Findability Usability

Users move pretty fast.If you don’t stop and think about this stuff before you let them into SharePoint, you could end up with a mess.

© 1986 Paramount Pictures

TAMING YOUR TAXONOMY

1. PLAN AHEAD

2. DOCUMENT IT

3. FOLLOW YOUR GOVERNANCE POLICY

© 1986 Paramount Pictures

They’ll all think you’re a righteous dude.

© 1986 Paramount Pictures

Questions?

© 1986 Paramount Pictures

ReferenceTaming Your Taxonomy in SharePoint

Links

SharePoint 2010 SharePoint 2013 SharePoint 2016 SharePoint Online

Resources for IT

Pros

bit.ly/1QrGndM

Features and

Editions

bit.ly/1HLZrfG bit.ly/SPO-Service

Limits and

Boundaries

bit.ly/SP10-Limits bit.ly/SP13-Limits bit.ly/28SJAGy bit.ly/SPO-Limits

Guidance for Modifying Pre-Defined Taxonomy bit.ly/17KHAuw

Discontinued Features and Modified Functionality bit.ly/1bhrLKr

Links

My Knowledge Management (KM) Resources Click Here

My Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Resources Click Here

My Web Content Management (WCM) Resources Click Here

My SharePoint Resources Click Here

My Records Management Resources (RM) Click Here