Taxonomy Book Camp SharePoint IA 11-17-10

Information Architecture and Taxonomy Management in SharePoint
Taxonomy Boot Camp, November 16th, 2010
Jeff Carr - Senior Information Architect & Search Consultant
Paul Wlodarczyk - Director, Solutions Consulting

SharePoint is very easy to implement
badly

Typical SharePoint Projects
3
“Hey! We got SharePoint! It has got blogs, wikis, workspaces, team sites, and search—let us have all of that. We don't need anyone to help us. It is easy to set up, and we’ll just learn as we use it. We only need a site or two to store the documents in. If the users want in, we’ll give them some sites to play with.”
then, a couple months later…
“Hey! We have 20 sites now. Lots of content. Not sure what we are doing. Not sure how it all connects together. We think we know how to manage it, though we don’t know how big it will get. And we also can’t control how big it gets because we are not entirely sure who is using it and why.”
Source: Managing and Implementing Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010 Projects - O’Reilly Media

It’s commonplace with SharePoint to start with the technology first and push off the gathering and documentation of requirements until later, if at all.
Adopted by IT followed by the provisioning of a few sites as business users become aware of its existence (easy to deploy).
Mass proliferation of sites, lists and libraries and an assortment of individuals and groups start to turn on various bits of functionality resulting in a deployment that is haphazard and confusing.
SharePoint has been specifically designed to remove management of the information environment away from IT and into the hands of business users.
Site management is (oftentimes) dropped into the lap of a single or small group of uninformed individuals that are unaware of best practices in areas like content management, information architecture, taxonomy and metadata
Information governance becomes crucial since many organizations lack standard ways of managing content.
The Technology-Centric Approach
Where is the information architecture?

Requirements
Research
The IA Process
Use Cases & Personas
For SharePoint
Content Modeling /Metadata
Site Map & Navigation
Content Modeling /Metadata
Prototyping /Testing
Taxonomy
Taxonomy
Wireframes

The success of SharePoint in any environment will be measured by your user’s ability to easily find information
The technology will process the inputs that we provide whether they make sense or not (garbage-in/garbage-out)
Information Architecture…
Establishes the foundation for Findability - but Findability is not an attribute of technology, it is a set of standards and processes that are applied to organizational information
Involves modeling content in a way that captures both “is-ness” and “about-ness”
How we describe our content - information lifecycles, retention, metadata and taxonomy
Understanding our users and their needs - Roles, responsibilities, tasks and activities required to support the pursuit business goals and processes
Requires that we leverage features and functionality to support both
What Goes In Must Come Out…

Importance of Defining Standard Terminology
High potential for confusion:
Safe Work Procedure
Safe Operating Procedure
HSEOP (HSE Operating Procedure)
HSE Manual

Core IA Architectural Concepts
Collection of sites
Primary source of global navigation
Site Collection
Sites & Sub-Sites
Container for lists/libraries
source of “quick launch” navigation
Basic unit of storage, collection of documents or items
Lists &
Libraries

Content Type - A reusable collection of settings that define the behavior and properties for a specific type of information. Comprised of a collection of metadata attributes, information management policies, workflow and standard templates.
Site Column - Metadata attribute (also known as a field) that can be assigned to one or more content type definitions, lists or document libraries. Used to help ensure consistent application of metadata across content in SharePoint.
Date, Single or Multiline Text, People, Choice, Lookup (taxonomy)
Site List - A tabular structure of items presented in a row (content) and column (metadata) format. Some examples:
Contact, Task, Calendar
Custom List - Taxonomy or controlled vocabulary used to populate dropdown menu (defined as Choice or Lookup column types).
Core IA Architectural Concepts
Taxonomy

Steps involved in surfacing controlled lists of terms for tagging:
Enabling Tagging
1. Site List
2. Site Column
3. Content Type
Tagging in the user interface (when adding new or editing an existing Policy)

Metadata can only be tagged and stored as flat controlled vocabulary – no hierarchy possible
Limitations of Site Lists
Possible
Possible
Not Possible

Site Boundaries & Inheritance
Global
Content Types, Site Columns and Site Lists
Problem: Constructs are specific to the site collection in which they were created
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Local
Solution: Requires manual or custom development for replication/syncing of constructs across Site Collections

Navigational Limitations
Navigation is “naturally” only within a Site Collection
Problem: Fragmented UX when navigating between different site collections
Nav
Nav
Nav
Nav
Nav
Nav
Nav
Nav
Nav
Nav
Specific to a Site Collection
Based largely on Sites and Sub Sites
Quick launch shows “current site” elements
Top-level navigation shows sub sites and peers
Solution: Requires custom development for the creation of a consistent experience across the environment

Problem - Search is often installed and simple OOTB configurations ignored
Full-text indexing along with the document title, short snippet and ten results per page become the common default experience
Frequently filled with redundant, outdated or irrelevant content (clear reflection of the information that has been uploaded into the system)
Inconsistencies in how information is enriched will result in a poor search experience
Ref: http://www.earley.com/blog/enterprise-search-why-we-cant-just-get-google
Search Experience
Best Bets
Search thesaurus
Authoritative sites
Search scopes
Managed properties

In addition to site collections, content types, site columns, lists, libraries and views…
Managed Metadata - A hierarchical collection of predefined centrally managed terms that are applied by publishers as metadata attributes for content items.
Managed Term - A predefined word or phrase created and managed by a user with appropriate permissions and often organized into a hierarchy (controlled vocabularies, taxonomic in nature).
Enterprise Keywords - A non-hierarchical word or phrase that has been added to the keyword set directly by a system user (uncontrolled vocabularies, folksonomic in nature).
Term Store - A database that is used to house both Managed Terms and Managed Keywords.
Groups- From a taxonomy perspective, a group is a flat list or hierarchical collection of related attributes comprised of one or more Term Sets.
Term Set - A flat list or hierarchical collection of related Terms that belong to a Group.
Term - A word or phrase that can be applied by publishers and system users as metadata to content.
Core Architectural Concepts

Term Store Management Tool
Term Attributes
Group
Term Set
Terms
Centralized Management
of Metadata

Auto-Suggest - Display of taxonomy terms as a user types characters into a Managed Metadata field.
Tagging: Auto-Suggest
Term Hierarchy
Term Definition
Preferred Term
Synonym

Hierarchy - Display of taxonomy terms in a popup window that provides the ability to browse through the defined hierarchy.
Tagging: Browsing the Hierarchy
Preferred Term
Term Definition
Synonyms

Content Type Hub
Global
Centralized Management
of Content Types
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Global
Corporate
Create and manage global content types in a single location and push them out to subscribing site collections

In addition, we now have the Refinement Panel and document previews…
Search Enhancement
Metadata
Document
Previews
Scope Presentation

Physically oriented and architectural constructs bound by site collections
A lack of cross site collection synchronization of fundamental IA building blocks
content types, metadata, taxonomy and navigation
Metadata and taxonomy is simplistic
Inability to create and manage taxonomic relationships between terms (no hierarchy, associations, synonyms defined separately as part of the thesaurus file)
OOTB search reflects all limitations (inability to easily surface and leverage metadata)
Overall Shortcomings
Physically oriented and architectural constructs such as navigation are bound by site collections
Improved metadata and taxonomy, but still basic application
Ability to define synonyms, but applied to the tagging process (search thesaurus is still separate)
Inability to create and manage taxonomic complex relationships between terms (associative)

Taxonomy in SharePoint Search and Metadata
Paul Wlodarczyk
Director Solutions Consulting
Earley & Associates
22

Integration of Taxonomy with SharePoint
Vendor Landscape
Tagging and Auto-classification
Search User Experience and Search Relevance
How to Decide
Agenda
23

Tagging and Taxonomy: Out of the box: just flat lists. Can be extended to hierarchical controlled vocabularies with third party extensions
Search: No faceted search out of the box, but advanced search can behave in a faceted way using metadata.
Tagging and Taxonomy: Hierarchical Term Stores, Suggested Terms, Definitions.
Search: Search refinement (facets) based on metadata
Third Party Solutions
Enterprise Taxonomy and Metadata Management
Content Classification
Custom Search Applications
Search
Taxonomy Management, Classification, and Search in SharePoint
24

Taxonomy Integration with SharePoint
There are several points of integration for taxonomy in SharePoint:
Content Metadata: Taxonomy as source of terms for metadata
Search Configuration: Thesaurus and Best Bets can be derived from taxonomy
Content Index: Leverage taxonomic relationships for classification rules, modify relevancy ranking in the search index
Search User Experience: Create a custom search application that uses taxonomy for driving facets, navigation, related searches, suggested searches, etc.
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2
3
1

Taxonomy Integration with SharePoint
There are several points of integration for taxonomy in SharePoint:
Content Metadata: Taxonomy as source of terms for metadata
Search Configuration: Thesaurus and Best Bets can be derived from taxonomy
Content Index: Leverage taxonomic relationships for classification rules, modify relevancy ranking in the search index
Search User Experience: Create a custom search application that uses taxonomy for driving facets, navigation, related searches, suggested searches, etc.
Third Party Search Engine: replace SharePoint Search with another platform that can consume taxonomy
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4
2
3rd Party Query Engine
5
3rd Party Index Engine
3
1

Third Party Application Scope
Applications vary in depth, breadth, and complexity
Tagging plug-ins
Search UX plug-ins
Taxonomy Management Suites
Classifiers
Search engines with user experience toolkits
27

Taxonomy and Content classification
28

Manual Tagging
Users can generate keywords for specific SharePoint columns, either as free text, or chosen from controlled vocabularies defined during configuration of the column.
Taxonomy-driven Manual Tagging
Taxonomy / term store is source of preferred terms for tagging metadata. In SharePoint 2010, third-party tools integrate with the term store. In SharePoint 2007, third-party add-ons provide a hierarchical user experience for manual tagging, based upon a taxonomy.
Taxonomy-driven Auto-classification
Third party classification engine uses taxonomy and/or other methods to inform a rules-based classification of documents. Metadata are generated, usually as a flat list of terms in a keyword column that can be manually revised, often with a hierarchical view of the vocabulary.
Approaches to SharePoint Classification
29

Centrally manage an enterprise taxonomy
Use enterprise taxonomy as source of preferred terms / controlled vocabularies (and synch with 2010 Term Store)
Auto-classification using the taxonomy as a source of SharePoint metadata
Make up for term store shortcomings in 2007:
Manage SharePoint Metadata
Map controlled vocabularies to SharePoint columns
Display hierarchy in tagging user interface
Persisting the taxonomic relationships in the metadata
Key Capabilities for Classification in SharePoint
30

Manual Tagging Example: WordMap
31
Metadata columns defined by SharePoint Admin – Department, Product, Locations
Controlled vocabulary from taxonomy mapped to columns

32
Creating new columns and associating them with controlled vocabularies

Hierarchy is preserved in the metadata (can be viewed on hover) and is available for search
33
Controlled vocabulary presented for selection, then shown in view

Auto-classification Example: Smartlogic
34
Documents can be auto-classified in SharePoint based upon policies

35
Documents can be auto-classified using a manual trigger

36
Auto-classify results shown in Edit Properties dialog
Can be manually edited using Add or Remove

37
Tagging interface enables multiple terms to be selected from a taxonomy-driven CV to edit the automatically applied terms

Auto-classification Example: Concept Searching
Metadata columns defined by SharePoint Admin – “Agricultural”
Metadata results from auto-classification of concepts that are related to preferred terms in the taxonomy

Concept Searching
Taxonomy Management and Auto-Classification
Full integration with SharePoint and MS Office Applications
Classifier is concept-based: finds concepts then maps them to the preferred terms in the taxonomy
SchemaLogic
SharePoint Metadata Management – MetaPoint
Integration with Term Store for manual metadata tagging
Suggests tags in MS Word
No auto-classification solution
Smartlogic
Taxonomy Management and Auto-Classification
Classifier is rules-based: Rules are derived from taxonomic relationships, and preferred / non-preferred / related terms
Tagging and Classification Applications for SharePoint
39

Taxonomy and Search
40

Search Relevance / Indexing
Integrate a taxonomy-driven classifier with the indexing process for SharePoint or Third Party search (Google, FAST, Attivio, etc.)
Use taxonomy as source for preferred terms / equivalence terms in search
Search User Experience
Use taxonomic relationships to drive navigation (e.g. tree browse) and faceted search or tag clouds
Use taxonomic relationships to suggest related searches
Key capabilities for Taxonomy Integration with Search
41

Search User Experience: Smartlogic
42
Related terms in Smartlogic Semaphore. The user searched for “rights” in the SharePoint search box. Smartlogic shows related terms on the right for “rights” from the taxonomy. Search term highlighting is native MOSS functionality, showing search terms, not taxonomy terms.

Search User Experience: Smartlogic
43
Faceted search in Smartlogic Semaphore. The user refined their search for “rights” by selecting “Employment Rights” in related terms.
A facet is added for “Employment Rights”; the suggestion box changes to show Related Categories. Multiple facets will be shown if the user drills down, and facets can be removed by clicking the X on the facet

Search User Experience: BA Insight
44
“Refine your search” for faceted search and tag clouds
Facets can be hierarchical based upon taxonomy (e.g. Client, Practice, Matter), and can show calculated ranges (e.g. dates) and document metadata (e.g. Author).

45
Document preview - User interaction with the preview affects relevancy rankings.

46
Search term highlighting in the preview
Key concepts are search terms used like folksonomictags
Key concepts can be used as facets in the full view – so can quickly find the most relevant pages
Pages can be saved to a “research notebook”

In the Taxonomy Browse view using the SharePoint search engine, the user can narrow the search to a sub-tree within the taxonomy.
Here they will search for the concept “water quality” within the “Environment” sub-tree of preferred terms (and their clues).
Search User Experience: Concept Searching
47

Search results pages can be enhanced using taxonomy-driven facets for search refinement (right) and related searches (left).
The search results can be filtered on individual terms or the concept, and search terms are highlighted in the extracts.
Search User Experience: Concept Searching
48

FAST can create custom search applications for SharePoint
Search User Experience: FAST
49

FAST facets can include graphical representations (e.g. date sliders, pies, maps).
Search User Experience: FAST
50

Attivio can provide faceted search and custom applications atop SharePoint.
Search User Experience: Attivio
51

Attivio custom “active dashboards” can integrate structured and unstructured data into rich business intelligence applications..
Search User Experience: Attivio
52

With so many options, it can be daunting to know where to begin
Our advice: Choose Search technology first…
Recall and relevance drives business results
User experience drives adoption
… Then decide on classification tools …
… Then decide on taxonomy management.
Only required if taxonomy is consumed outside of SharePoint and Search, or for large / complex / volatile taxonomies, or to support auto-classification
How to decide?
53

How much do you need?
54
Faceted Search in SharePoint
Facets span content types, fully-flexible UX,
deep indexing, relate to structured data (FAST, Attivio)
Advanced Faceted Search
Auto-classification;
Related search suggestions, broader/narrower, thesaurus relates search terms to preferred terms, tree browse (BA Insight, Concept Searching, Smartlogic)
Taxonomy-DrivenFaceted Search
Expose facets on main search screen, basic tree view (SharePoint 2010)
Basic Faceted Search
Use advanced search for filtering on metadata fields. Navigation is based on site architecture / folder structure
SharePoint OOB

Organizations are really good at creating information and a well planned and intelligently constructed foundation is the basis for successful information architectures and high quality user experiences
A taxonomy by itself lacks value - it becomes powerful when it’s applied to content and surfaced through information access mechanisms like search and navigation
Don’t skip IA process just because SharePoint is easy to implement
Master OOTB features first and ensure it’s configured properly to meet your needs
Keep your eye on consistency across sites, site collections through governance (must be enforced)
SharePoint itself is not intended to be an enterprise taxonomy management tool.
Summary

Contact
Jeff Carr
Senior Information Architect & Search Consultant
Email: jeff@earley.comTwitter: @siftonpark
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/siftonpark
Paul Wlodarczyk
Director, Solutions Consulting
Email: paul@earley.comTwitter: @ twitcontentguy
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulw

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Taxonomy Book Camp SharePoint IA 11-17-10

by Earley on Nov 24, 2010

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Taxonomy Book Camp SharePoint IA 11-17-10 Presentation Transcript