1. Creating product centric sites using product
catalogs and cross-site publishing
#SPSBE03
Marius Constantinescu
April 26th, 2014

2. Managing Consultant
blue-infinity SA
Geneva
Switzerland
Contact
@c_marius
c_marius@msn.com
http://nettitude.wordpress.com

3. 1. Introducing organizational scenario
2.Understanding Cross-site content publishing
3. Does it really work ? > our experience, trade-offs, solutions
4.Search-driven applications

4.  Source > Collaboration Workspaces
 Multiple collaboration site
collections
 Each to its own content
publishing processes &
security management
 Target > Published Intranet
 Flexible content publishing
with respect to security rules
already in place
 Support content aggregation
across multiple sources
 Multilingual support
 Relevant content targeting
 Usage tracking
 Performance considerations

5. I. Planning
 Identified authoring sites, interviewed owners,
identify current content publishing processes
 Mapped-out existing content across various
site collections, including security (lists with
confidential data have been exempted )
 Identified fields meant for sharing, filtering,
sorting or querying across
II. Preparations
1) At source
 Deployed new structures (sub-sites, lists, etc.) to
better serve our content rollup needs > new IA
promoting consolidated content types, site columns,
taxonomy
 Enable lists as Catalogs
 Use PowerShell (and migration tools) to migrate
existing content into new structures
 Re-classify content where needed
 Establish common Assets location, update links
2) At Destination
 Prepare target publishing sites topology
3) At Farm level
 Configure dedicated Content Source & Crawling
schedule in Search SA for the cross-site publishing
(enlist Catalogs into Content Source)
 Run a Full-Crawl

6. Independent Authoring and Publishing
 Promotes Content reusability
 Clear separation of responsibilities
 Support for Multilingual content publishing scenarios
Build next-gen user interfaces
 Advanced query building capabilities empowering Information Workers
 Freedom of choice in applying different layouts to category/items pages
 Display templates (for refiners, search results, etc.) for unprecedented UI flexibility
Power of search
 Analytics and recommendations
 Scaling and performance
 Across site collection boundaries
 Automatically updated UX

7. Separate presentation from storage
• Choice of design on authoring vs. published sites do require
planning ahead more globally
• Different teams working on content & design – but still quite
knowledgeable of SharePoint
Flexible and dynamic
• Can be used virtually for any type of list (not only Pages)
• Multiple authoring sites > multiple publishing sites
Breaking down site collection boundaries
• Write once > reuse multiple times
• Easily publish content across site collections – not using Content
Deployment
Eliminate large list thresholds
• Take advantage of search high performance
• Ability to distribute content across many lists/libraries, with
adequate security
Allows flexible & dynamic publishing
• Whenever you want, wherever you want
• Content refresh control made available to Site admins

9. Generally available
• Query rules, display templates, rank models, managed navigation, search schema,
analytics & recomandations, entity extraction, CSOM, KQL, query builder, result sources
Available in Office 365
• Content Search web part (CSWP), Content Iterm Reuse Web Part (CIRWP)
• Cross site publishing (XSP) & Category/Item page layouts
On-premises only
• Product catalog site collection template
• User segmentation and adaptative interfaces
• Taxonomy Refinement Panel Web Part
• Faceted navigation – supports taxonomy refiners
• No Suport for Anonymous access for XSP (e.g. Public web-sites)

10. Content Catalogs
Faceted navigation,
Refiners
• Managed Navigation
• Managed properties
Content Search,
Catalog Item Reuse
Web parts
Visual Query
Builder
Query Rules
(conditions,
actions)
Display Templates
(search web parts,
refiners)

11. Documents
Catalogs
Pages
Digital Assets
SharePoint Content
www
Ext. CMS
LOB + more
External Content
User Behavior (+custom events)
Content & Authoring FAST Search Publishing User Experience
REST/OData
Page Framework
Display Templates
Variations
Query

12. Index
SharePoint Content
Search
Publishing
External

13. Content Source
•Authoring Site Collection(-s)
•List(-s) to share as Catalogs
•Configure anonymous access
•Primary key fields (used in building the final unique
URL to the “product”)
•A Managed metadata column used in the Category-
based navigation
Search & Faceted Navigation
•Share navigational Term-Sets
•Prepare for Faceted navigation > used for Category
browsing (generic or specific)
•Define Refiners (term-specific or same for all)
Content Destination
•Target Publishing Site Collection (-s)
•Connect to Catalogs
•Select “product” ID & [Group]
•Establish URL building
User Interface
•Select/Customize Master Pages, Category & Item
pages
•Customize Search Display templates
•Search/Catalogs web parts (Relevant or
Recommended results)
•User Segmentation
 Not using “Product Catalog” site template for Authoring site requires activation of the “Cross-Site Content Publishing” site collection feature + creation
of appropriate site columns used later as managed properties, category navigation, “product” unique Id, etc.
 The “Product Catalog” site template does not exist in Office 365

14. Deploy content types at
site collection level
[recommended]
Deploy site columns vs. list
columns
[If any] Create custom lists,
attach content types
Populate (& publish) all
fields needed as Managed
Properties
Enable lists as Catalogs
Run Full-Crawl
Deploy
Activate Cross-Site
Collection Publishing
“Publishing” site NOT
required (but
recommended when
variations will be used)
Prepare
Identify Authoring site(-s),
consider multilingual,
content security strategies
Identify data to publish
across > content types
hierarchies & shared site
columns
Consider faceted navigation
hierarchy & refiners
Consider the one column to
hold the Unique Item Id
Plan
A. Either start by using the “Product
Catalog” site collection
 It run as a Publishing site, and
activated “Cross-site Collection
Publishing” site collection
feature – enables the “Use as
Catalog”,
 Added the Product Catalog
list with Content types (Product
& Product with Image)
 Site Columns (Item Number,
Group Number, Language Tag,
Item Category & Rollup Image)
B. Any other site template (including
existing sites) would require redoing
the steps & structures manually [Office 365] - The “Product Catalog” template
does not exist (choose option “B”)

15. Multiple Content Types scenario:
• Define base Content type - not
needed to inherit from default
”Product with Image” (do consider
adding a sort of unique “product Id” –
for friendly-URL building)
• Consider specificities of each product
& plan adequate columns for each
“product-specific refiner”
• Faceted navigation – one or multiple
managed metadata columns can be
used to build navigational hierarchies.
• [Recommendation] Do not think a too
deeper hierarchy (< 3) – allow for
additional refiners in specific cases.
Televisions Laptops Cameras
Title Title Title
Brand Brand Brand
Description Description Description
Price Price Price
Item Number Item Number Item Number
Technology (LED; LCD, Plasma) CPU Type(DSLR, Bridge, etc.)
Max- Resolution(720P, 1080i,
1080P)
Screen Size Optical Zoom
Screen-Size (40,42, 50, 60) Hard Drive Lens Type
Tip – columns added by default “Product with Image” content
type are automatically added as Managed Properties – for your
custom ones you need to consider doing it manually.

16. News Announcements Classifieds Events
Title Title Title Title
Start Date Start Date Start Date Start Date
Description Description Description Description
Category (Science,
Technology, Sports, )
Category Category (Automotive, Real-
Estate, Carrier, Pets, )
Category
Expiry Date Expiry Date End Date
Scope(Local, Regional,
Global)
Scope Scope Scope
Accessibility (Private,
Public, Team, Project,
Department, )
Accessibility Accessibility Accessibility
Type
Hire, Retirement, Policy
Type
Real-Estate > Buy, Sell, Rent,
Professional Services
Type (Meeting,
Holidays, )
Define the shape of the data to be used
• Map the data, identify Entity specific attributes
• Define Content types - a ”Product with Image”
provided with default “Product Catalog” list
• Reuse shared site columns
• At least one column must be Managed Metadata
(Item Category - by default already mapped to
“Product Hierarchy”) – used to define managed
Navigation
• When creating columns use
SingleWordsWithNoSpaces ( or special Characters
– this will become Internal name (fixed) >
rename will only update Display Name
• By default Approval is ON – either approve items
or disable it prior to Full Crawl – items are ignored
otherwise.
Tips
• Site Columns get promoted as managed properties in search (but only as
Text columns)
• Create your own base CT to have others inherit from - idea of sharing same
common base
• Content Type Hub (automatically setup in Office 365) or Solution-based
deployment could be an option

19. 3
1
2

20. Faceted navigation &
Refiners
 Would is use Multiple Content types?
 Which columns should be searchable,
used in filters?
 What information will be used in the
Navigation hierarchy > terms should
be pinned or not?
 Shared (Reusable) Columns
 Preferable to use Site columns vs. List
columns
 Could be different per “product”
(catalog item) must be configured
Product
Code
Title
Television
Display Type (LCD, LED, Plasma)
HD-Ready (720P, 1080P, UHD)
Description
Price
Computer
CPU
Screen Size (13, 14, 15, 17)
Camera
Type (DSLR, Point'n'Shoot)
Resolution (in MegaPixels)
All from Product +
Screen Size (40, 55, 60, 77)
Hard drive
RAM Optical Zoom (24x)
Digital Zoom (12x)
Lens Type
Storage Format (SDHC, SD)
Code
Title
Description
Price
Title
Description
Price
Title
Description
Price
Code Code
Product Hierarchy term set Refiners
Electronics Price, Brand, Color
Audio Inherit from Electronics
Car audio Inherit from Audio
Headphones Inherit from Audio
MP3 Inherit from Audio
Speakers Inherit from Audio
Cameras
Inherit from Electronics +
Zoom, Screen size
Camcorders Inherit from Cameras
Camera accessories Inherit from Cameras
Digital cameras
Inherit from Cameras + Mega
pixels
Digital SLR cameras
Inherit from Cameras + Max
ISO

21. Refiners are filters narrowing search results
(standalone & used in faceted
navigation)
They come in different types and shapes –
tightly related to underlying data type
 [New] Range-based (sliders) and
multi-valued refiners are available
Only managed properties can be
configured
 [New] Via the use of «Yes latent»
Farm Administrators can delegate
to a Site Collection administrator
the possibility to decide.
[New] Refinement web parts can now be
configured individually in-page (horizontal
or vertical)
Refiners – why use
them?

22. Televisions
[Catalog]
Cameras
[Catalog]
Computers
[Catalog]
Content Search
Web Part
Managed Properties
Content Search
Web Part
Content Search
Web Part
Title
ows_q_TEXT_ProductCatalogItemNumber
ows_q_TEXT_ProductCatalogGroupNumber
ows_taxId_ProductCatalogItemCategory
ows_r_IMGE_PublishingRollupImage
ows_q_CHCS_DeviceScreenSize
Site Column
Title
Brand
DeviceScreenSize
Site Column Type
Single line of text
Managed Metadata
Choice
1
Crawled Properties
2 3
Title
ProductCatalogItemNumberOWSTEXT
ProductCatalogGroupNumberOWSTEXT
owstaxIdProductCatalogItemCategory
PublishingImage
DeviceScreenSizeOWSCHCS
4
Refiners
Refiners
Tips
• The Catalog Item Reuse WP auto detects rendering mechanism based on the naming of managed properties

23. (*)Read more @ http://nettitude.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/introducing-indexed-property-bag-in-sharepoint-2013-a-searchable-
collection-of-properties/
(**) Require either Farm Administrator or Search SA administration delegation – unless provided groups are used and usually cause
issues with formatting, particularly DateTime

25.  Based on display templates (default
location
http://<yourSiteCollection>/_catalogs/m
asterpage/Display Templates/Filters)
 Perform changes in the HTML
(automatically generates .js file – do
NOT tamper with it)
 Use CompatibleSearchDataTypes
property to specify supported data,
multiple values must be separated with
;# (options - Text, Integer, Decimal,
DateTime, Yes/No)
 Use
 Srch everywhere (Srch.RefinementUtil,
Srch.)
 [optional] Create and upload a .webpart
in the gallery pointing to your new
Refiner for end-users
Anatomy of
Refiners
In Office 365 you cannot create a Managed property as Refinable and must use
pre-defined ones with an Alias, see list of default Refinable property list
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219667(v=office.15).aspx#DefaultUnusedMPs
http://www.eliostruyf.com/part-1-create-first-search-refiner-control-template
<!--#_ Your code goes here _#-->

26. Using Reflector on Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.RefinementScriptWebPart

31. • The actual Catalog(contentclass:sts_listitem OR IsDocument:True) SPSiteUrl:http://contoso/sites/catalog
ListId:3a3f66cd-9741-4f15-b53a-b4b23c3187ea
• The Category column owstaxidProductCatalogItemCategory
• The term under selection (its GUID) #c771504f-6a2f-423f-98de-0e12fcfa08c9
(:) is the actual separator specifying the “contains”

32. Content Item Reuse default Web part is
automatically provisioned with the
default “Product Item”

34. 1. Create a term set defining the User Segments.
2. Create a custom web part that checks identified
criteria (e.g. User Agent, Department, Job title, IP
Address, etc.)
3. Decide on an action to be (e.g. Create an image
to be used as the Ad)
4. Create a Query Rule that will activate only when
criteria is met
5. Enact your customizations

36. Why the
need for
new
concepts?
Editing XSLT is a cumbersome - even for the veterans
Modern Web requires Standardization – empower
Power-Users
Client-side "templating" techniques are current trends
(e.g. Knockout, Kendo UI, Razor)
What are
design
templates?
Re-usable Styles Files for your Content based & Search
Results Web-Parts
Where
does one
use
"Design
templates"?
Search Results & Web parts, Catalog reuse web parts
What does
one need
to create a
new
template ?
Access to Master Page library
Your favorite web development tool (even Notepad) to
create them
To eliminate the for designers and power
users to work with XSLT (and the use of
ddwrt JavaScript functions) each time they a
new look & feel is needed, SharePoint 2013
introduces Design Templates.
Each display template consists of two files
(in Master Page library under Display
templates):
 An HTML file (.html) - the actual
template
 JavaScript File (.js) - the script that
makes the magic happen –
automatically generated
 jQuery supported, or custom
JavaScript and CSS
 Custom managed properties can
be displayed (from search results)

37. Control Display
Template
Which Cont rol Display
Template

40. Search Analytics
• Analyze content being added into the
index (such as links, anchor text) and
together with clicks on search results
gets added into the Links database,
leading further to improved relevance
& reporting.
Usage Analytics
• User’s actions (such as Clicking on
links, viewing search results) generate
usage events (standard or custom)
which can further contribute to
recommendations, popularity reports,
most viewed links, etc.
SearchAnalytics
• Search Clicks
boost/demote
ranking of items in
the search index
based on user clicks
• Deep Links
improve relevance of
sub-pages in a site
based on what user
clicks in results
UsageAnalytics
• Usage Counts
how many times
items (in lists/library
& search results) are
Viewed, Clicked
• Recommendations
identify patterns in
usage, relying on
Usage Counts to build
relationships graphs
• Activity ranking
analyses trends &
adapts ranking of
items in search results
based on the Usage
Events

41. 1) Views – a usage event is registered when a
visitor views an item on your site (event type
ID 1)
2) Recommendation
1) Displayed (ID 2) – a usage
event is registered when an item
is displayed as a
recommendation on your site.
2) Clicked (ID 3) – a usage event is
registered when a visitor clicks
an item that is displayed as a
recommendation on your site.
• Map a single crawled property to UsageAnalyticsID
managed property to support recommendations
• Property must be part of the URL for the Usage Event to be
recorded properly
• At least 3 different users must be performing the activity
• Log events pointing to item URL in the Authoring site
#Get Usage events available
$ss = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplicationProxy
$ssp.GetAnalyticsEventTypeDefinitions([Guid]::Empty, 3) | ft
More at http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2014/01/21/modify-
the-content-search-web-part-display-template-and-use-windows-powershell-to-
start-usage-analytics-in-sharepoint-server-2013.aspx

42. Tweak Ranking for better
results relevance
• Query rules (prioritize promoted
results, add additional result
blocks, directly influence ranking
– dynamic ordering, sorting,
query-based use of a different
ranking-model, etc.)
• Search Schema (adapt contribution
weight by changing context of
targeted managed properties) –
requires Farm /Search Service
Administrator
• Custom ranking model
• Default Search model
• Search Ranking Model with Two
Linear Stages
General
• Catalog Ranking Model
• Popularity Ranking Model
• Recommender Ranking Model
Special
People

43. Session
Starting
Time Title Track Speaker
#spsbe03 09:30
Creating product centric sites using product catalogs and cross-site
publishing
Dev 1 Marius Constantinescu
#spsbe07 09:30 Intranet Search #fail Power User / Business Ben Van Mol
#spsbe11 10:40
Sorry, something went wrong, and how to start debugging your display
templates
Dev 2 Elio Struyf
#spsbe12 10:40 Content Enrichment in SharePoint Search Dev 3 Steven Van De Craen
#spsbe19 13:00 The gears that make search go round Dev 2 Rick Van Rousselt

45. Thanks to our sponsors!
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