Cleaning Up Information Architecture in SharePoint and Other Jedi Mind Tricks

Cleaning Up Information Architecture
in SharePoint and Other Jedi Mind Tricks

Christian Buckley

cbuck@axceler.com
@buckleyPLANET

NYC SPUG
December 7th, 2011
Email Cell Twitter Blog
cbuck@axceler.com 425.246.2823 @buckleyplanet http://buckleyplanet.com

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)

Axceler Overview
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


A long time ago,
in a SharePoint farm
far, far away….

Email Email Cell Twitter
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cbuck@axceler.com cbuck@echotechnology.com @buckleyplanet
425.246.2823 425.246.2823 @buckleyplanet http://buckleyplanet.net
http://buckleyplanet.com

…a frustrated Admin realized
it was time to get organized

Cell Twitter
Blog Blog

What is information
architecture?


Wikipedia

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


Draft Outline of presentation

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


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


Questions to ask

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?


Information architecture
overview


Sub-site
Site
Sub-site
Site
Site
Collection

Web App Site Sub-site

Site
Site
Farm Collection

Site
Site
Web App
Collection
Site Sub-site

Structured and Unstructured

CENTRALIZED DECENTRALIZED
Site architecture is centrally controlled Site architecture is ad-hoc
Metadata is always applied to content Metadata may not be applied to content
Site Columns and Content Types are created at Columns are created on lists
site collection root Columns are combined in an ad-hoc basis on each
Lists get “bundles” of columns list

PROS PROS
Improves consistency Requires no planning
Reduces metadata duplication Requires little upfront effort
Easy to update Works across site collections and portals
Easy to support and train on
Allows document-level DIP, Workflow, Information
CONS
Policies, and document templates Decreases consistency
Increases metadata duplication
CONS Hard to update
Requires planning Hard to support and train on
Requires upfront work Only allows list-level Workflow, Information Policies
Hard to manage across site collections and and document templates
portals Difficult to reverse

at a strategic-level


Strategic considerations

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

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?

December 8, 2011

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


Cultural considerations

1. Business Focus / Productivity
2. Security
3. Lack of Visibility / Transparency
4. Support Issues


Cultural benefits

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)


at a tactical-level


Where should you focus?
Map out the existing environment • Update the look and feel
Understand the business priorities • Create an audit process for ongoing maintenance
Model your planned environment • Develop a back up and disaster recovery plan
Run a detailed discovery of what should be migrated • Update systems to latest builds and service packs
Conduct detailed capacity planning • Establish a sound governance model
Identify roles and responsibilities • Identifies throttles and limitations
Understand your audience and topology • Understand and plan for new functionality
Analyze usage and activity • Focus on functionality, then look and feel
Know your storage needs • Develop a communication strategy
Track and plan for each customization • Create a governance website
Create a detailed migration schedule • Run PreUpgradeCheck a few dozen times
Organize granular requirements by team • Have an anti-virus and maintenance plan
Plan to migrate or index file shares • Plan for migration from other ECM platforms
Replace third party tools with out-of-the-box functionality • Consolidate or reduce the number of SharePoint versions
Create or refine your metadata and taxonomy supported
Map content to new information architecture • Understand performance metrics for the system
Cleanup permissions • Know your stakeholders
Optimize information architecture for search • Assign metadata to the new information architecture
Stage your platform for migration • Develop a detailed test plan
Coordinate with your operations team • Get signoff on all major design and architectural decisions
Roll out new features • Decide where and when to use end users
Plan for where and when to involve the users • Establish strong change management policies
Develop and track key performance indicators • Expand the footprint to mobile or the cloud
Train your end users on new functionality • Understand and focus on the organizational vision

Developing your tactical plan

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

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


Using managed metadata

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

Using content types

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


Content types may be
applied for each site
collection

…or for certain sites


Consolidate content types


Clean up folder structures


Cell Twitter
Blog Blog

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


Standardize site structures
and templates
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

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

Sub-sites templates

Team Site Projects Web Database
Blank Site Document Center
Document Workspace Records Center
Blog Business Intelligence Center
Group Work Site My Site Host
Visio Process Repository Personalization Site
Basic Meeting Workspace Enterprise Search Center
Blank Meeting Workspace Basic Search Center
Decision Meeting Workspace FAST Search Center
Social Meeting Workspace Enterprise Wiki
Multipage Meeting Workspace Publishing Portal
Assets Web Database Publishing Site
Charitable Contributions Web Database Publishing Site With Workflow
Contacts Web Database
Issues Web Database

Consistent navigation


Why are social tools important?

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

December 8, 2011

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

IT

Project

SharePoint


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.


Governance considerations

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


Jumpstart your governance

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

Involving End Users

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


Lessons learned, at a high level

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


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

Cell Twitter
Blog Blog

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.
Cell Twitter
Blog
http://sithsigma.wordpress.com/
Blog

For more information

Contact me at
Christian Buckley, cbuck@axceler.com, 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/


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