SPTechCon - Practical Tools and Techniques for the SharePoint Information Architect
1. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
Practical Tools and Techniques
for the SharePoint
Information Architect
#SPTechCon @rharbridge @ruveng
Facilitated By: Richard Harbridge and Ruven Gotz
18. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Will Cover Today:
1. What Is SharePoint?
2. Understanding SharePoint Governance
3. Requirements Definition and Mapping
4. Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint Concepts
5. Making Information Architecture Decisions
6. Case Study Approach (Implementing SharePoint IA)
7. Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
19. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Won’t Cover (In Depth) Today:
1. Records Management (and Information Policies)
2. Search Architecture and Considerations
3. Planning For Multiple Languages
4. Column Decisions (Choice Column vs Managed
Metadata Column vs Lookup Column etc…)
5. Audience Targeting
20. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Will Cover Today:
1.What Is SharePoint?
2. Understanding SharePoint Governance
3. Requirements Definition and Mapping
4. Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint Concepts
5. Making Information Architecture Decisions
6. Case Study Approach (Implementing SharePoint IA)
7. Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
22. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What is SharePoint?
Why does your
organization use
SharePoint?
Step 1: Please Fill Out The Fields…
Step 2: Give This Sheet To Someone Close By
Step 3: We Will Collect Your Responses
36. #SPSMI @RHarbridge
The Main Point of Implementing SharePoint:
SharePoint eventually allows Business Users to
develop and implement business solutions that use
technology without IT’s direct involvement.
SharePoint and IT
37. #SPSMI @RHarbridge
When I Say “SharePoint Integration”
You Probably Think Of This...
Secondary (But Important) Points:
SharePoint’s integration with technologies you
already use and it’s extendibility are invaluable.
SharePoint and IT
43. SharePoint f-Laws
f-Law 1: The more comprehensive the definition of governance is,
the less it will be understood by all
f-Law 2: There is no point in asking users who don’t know what
they want, to say what they want
f-Law 3: The probability of project success is inversely proportional
to the time taken to come up with a measurable KPI
f-Law 4: Most stated governance objectives are platitudes – they
say nothing but hide behind words
f-Law 5: Confidence is the feeling that you have until you
understand the problem
http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/vid/Paul%20keynote/Player.html (1 hour talk)
44. f-Law 4: Most stated governance objectives are
platitudes – they say nothing but hide behind
words - If you cannot reasonably disagree with
an objective, or measure it, then it is a platitude
Platitudes:
• “Collaboration will be encouraged”
• “A best-practice collaboration platform”
• “To provide the best collaborative experience for our users”
Non-platitudes:
• “We are proving that we can grow the organisation while
reducing email volumes and centralising document storage”
• “By building communities of practice, we prove that we can
reduce information overload and allow our users to find the
right expertise”
48. Centralize
Knowledge and
Resources
Enhance
Collaboration
Automate and
Improve Business
Processes
Enhance
Governance
Model
Reduce
Redundancy and
Improve Efficiency
Centralize
Knowledge and
Resources
Centralize - 2 Centralize – 1 Centralize – 2 Centralize – 0
Enhance
Collaboration Improve BP - 2 Governance – 2 Redundancy – 2
Automate and
Improve Business
Processes
Governance – 1 Redundancy – 1
Enhance
Governance
Model
Redundancy – 1
Reduce
Redundancy and
Improve Efficiency
Ensure Clear Priorities
Objective Weight Importance
Centralize 5 35.71%
Collaboration 0 0%
Improve BP 2 14.29%
Governance 3 21.43%
Redundancy 4 28.57%
49. Map Solutions to Objectives
Centralize
Knowledge and
Resources
Enhance
Collaboration
Automate and
Improve Business
Processes
Enhance
Governance
Model
Reduce
Redundancy and
Improve Efficiency
Adjust Site
Structure and
Taxonomy
Migrate File
Shares
Create Dashboards
Implement
Workflow
Solutions
Configure Search
Services
Branding
Direct Relationship Indirect Relationship
* Objectives/solutions should be more specific – Example purposes only.
50. SharePoint Solutions (Evolution)
*Super Simplified
Business
Intelligence
Driven
Business
Process Driven
Collaboration
Driven
Information
Driven
Communication Collaboration
Workflow/
Auditing
Reporting
Dashboards
51. Map the needs of the
organization to the right
technology…
53. Like this
one…
Excerpt of Product Comparison written by Richard Harbridge courtesy of Concept Interactive
54. SharePoint is not a Silver Bullet…
SharePoint is not a Silver Bullet at NothingButSharePoint.com
55. Utilized by Business Users to develop and implement business solutions that use
technology without IT’s direct involvement.
Our primary unified application delivery platform.
Our primary workflow/business process automation platform.
Our intranet and communication center for internal corporate communications.
…
SharePoint will be…
Our (external) web content management platform.
Our primary document management platform.
Our contact management platform.
…
SharePoint will not be…
60. SharePoint is a part of his overall
Enterprise Technology Plan
61. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
Within an overall enterprise technology
plan SharePoint and it’s solutions meet
specific business needs.
62. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
“Technology provides no benefits of its
own; it is the application of technology
to business opportunities that produces
ROI.” – Robert McDowell
63. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Will Cover Today:
1. What Is SharePoint?
2.Understanding SharePoint Governance
3. Requirements Definition and Mapping
4. Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint Concepts
5. Making Information Architecture Decisions
6. Case Study Approach (Implementing SharePoint IA)
7. Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
65. There are big risks that are
almost always realized when you
don’t have it!
66. SharePoint Sprawl
“First I added three floors but then the house
looked ungainly, like a mushroom," he said. "So
I added another and it still didn't look right so I
kept going…”
He was only intending to build a two-story
house - larger than those of his neighbors to
reflect his position as the city's richest man.
Risk: Un-Managed Sites and Content were
not periodically reviewed for accuracy and
relevance.
68. Risk: Did not consistently provide a high
quality user experience.
Frustration Failure
69. Priority Paralysis
Project Priority
Fileshare Migration 1
Partner Extranet 1
Executives Kitten Picture Rotator 1
Legacy Application Integration 1
Governance Planning 1
Put Out Server Room Fires 1
Risk: Did not establish clear decision
making authority/ownership and
escalation procedures so that conflicts
and/or policy violations are resolved in a
timely manner.
70. Ineffective Use of Time/Resources
Risk: Did not ensure that the portal
strategy is aligned with business
objectives so that it continuously delivers
business value.
71. It’s not just about insuring
against or mitigating those risks!
76. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
You can now communicate why
Governance is important/required.
77. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
It’s not insurance.
It makes your SharePoint
investments more successful.
80. Recommended Governance Teams
There are typically 5 teams for SharePoint Governance:
Business Strategy Team
Solutions/Technical Strategy Team
Tactical Teams:
Tactical Operations Team
Tactical Development Team
Tactical Support Team
82. Governance Teams
Business Strategy Team
Solutions/Technical Strategy Team
Tactical Teams:
Tactical Operations Team
Tactical Development Team
Tactical Support Team
83. Business
IT
Decentralized
Centralized
Business Strategy Team
Sample Representative Interests
Executive Sponsor
Knowledge Management
Information/Technology Services
Finance
Sales and Marketing
Human Resources
Legal and Compliance
Operations
People Development and Training
Administration
Role: Provide strategic insight,
direction and prioritization for
the portal.
85. Governance Teams
Business Strategy Team
Solutions/Technical Strategy Team
Tactical Teams:
Tactical Operations Team
Tactical Development Team
Tactical Support Team
86. Solution (Technical) Strategy Team
Role: Provide technical insight,
direction and prioritization for
the portal. Sample Representative Interests
Application Development
Infrastructure
Enterprise Architecture
Security
People Development and Training
CommunicationsTip: If a business direction requires new
integration or effort with other technologies
then a technical representative for that
technology will be necessary.
87. Map Solutions to Objectives
Centralize
Knowledge and
Resources
Enhance
Collaboration
Automate and
Improve Business
Processes
Enhance
Governance
Model
Reduce
Redundancy and
Improve Efficiency
Adjust Site
Structure and
Taxonomy
Migrate File
Shares
Create Dashboards
Implement
Workflow
Solutions
Configure Search
Services
Branding
Direct Relationship Indirect Relationship
* Objectives should be more specific – Example purposes only.
88. Utilized by Business Users to develop and implement business solutions that use
technology without IT’s direct involvement.
Our primary unified application delivery platform.
Our primary workflow/business process automation platform.
Our intranet and communication center for internal corporate communications.
…
SharePoint will be…
Our (external) web content management platform.
Our primary document management platform.
Our contact management platform.
SharePoint will not be…
89. Defining Clear Objectives and Priorities
High Level Solutions Definition and Ownership
High Level Platform Classification
Communication Planning and Management
Resource/Capability Management
Expectation Management
Strategic Responsibilities
90. Information Architecture and Governance Areas
Above The Line versus Below The Line
Permanent central portal
- Few authors/Many readers
Departmental
Portlets
Projects & Workspaces
My Sites
Communication Portal
• Central navigation
• Central taxonomy
• Divisional stakeholders
• Enterprise search
Personal
Collaboration
•Local taxonomies
•Local search
Departmental portlets
• Departments
• Resources
• Business Processes
- Few authors/Many readers
Semi Structured
Team sites
- Multiple authors
Blogs, bios,
Social
Central
Portal
IncreasingStrictnessofGovernance
92. Governance Teams
Business Strategy Team
Solutions/Technical Strategy Team
Tactical Teams:
Tactical Operations Team
Tactical Development Team
Tactical Support Team
93. The Tactical Operations Team
Role: Provide operational (IT-
related) support and
maintenance for the system
infrastructure
Sample Representative Interests
Infrastructure
Active Directors
Networking
Servers and Environments
Quality Assurance
Security
Databases
They manage the more routine maintenance of
the system by performing nightly backups,
performance monitoring and analysis, and
keeping the environment current with security
releases and upgrades.
94. Objectives/Priorities
Disaster Recovery Plan
Storage and Quota Policies
Monitoring Plans
Maintenance Plans
Service Level Agreements
Security Policies
Deployment Process, Policies, and Schedule
Operations Responsibilities
95. Governance Teams
Business Strategy Team
Solutions/Technical Strategy Team
Tactical Teams:
Tactical Operations Team
Tactical Development Team
Tactical Support Team
96. The Tactical Development Team
Role: Customize/configure,
personalize, and leverage
SharePoint to achieve business
objectives.
Sample Representative Interests
SharePoint Designer
Visual Studio
Source Control
Quality Assurance
Webparts
TemplatesThis team is a loosely-knit community who's
membership ranges from highly skilled
programmers to technically savvy end users in
charge of personalizing departmental team sites.
97. Objectives/Priorities
Branding Guide
SharePoint Designer Policy
Workflow Policy
Development Standards (Including OOTB vs Custom)
Development Environment Policy
Testing Requirements
Deployment Process, Policies, and Schedule
Development Responsibilities
SharePoint Standards Online
99. Governance Teams
Business Strategy Team
Solutions/Technical Strategy Team
Tactical Teams:
Tactical Operations Team
Tactical Development Team
Tactical Support Team
100. The Tactical Support Team
Role: Provide support of the
SharePoint applications and
platform. Sample Representative Interests
Support and HelpDesk
People Development and Training
Knowledge Management
Taxonomy and Ontology
Navigation and Organization
CoachingCreates and manages a support system with
effective training and proper channels of
question or issue escalation and resolution. This
team should also include influential users and
leaders.
101. Objectives/Priorities
Site Classification and Platform Classification
Site Provisioning Process/Questionnaire
User Expectations Agreement
Roles and Responsibilities
Support Agreement(s)
Training and Communication Plans
MySite Policies (Pictures)…
Support Responsibilities
102. User Lifecycle Policy
Taxonomy Management
Social Policies
Content Standards
Legal and Compliance Policy
Search Management
Support Responsibilities
SharePoint Standards Online
103. Multiple Tiers for Escalation
Tactical Support Team
Help Desk
Site Administrators
End Users
Learning Libraries/Online/Help
(You can’t know everything)
105. Sample Support Flow
Consultants, MS
and Vendors
Tier 5
Tier 4
Tier 3
Tier 2
Tier 1 End Users
Site Owner
Site Collection
Administrator
Help Desk
Security Environment
Third Party
Support
SharePoint
Administrator
SharePoint
Developer
SharePoint
Architect
Consultative
Support
106. Governance Tip
If possible have one member in all
of the Governance teams or some
members across multiple teams!
107. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
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Technology Conference
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SPTechCon
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Technology Conference
The Outcome
Everyone Achieves a Shared
Understanding of SharePoint Related
Processes.
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What to watch out for…
Not just documents, policies, and
procedures. It is an active and ongoing
process.
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The Outcome
There is a ton of material out there to
support you.
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What to watch out for…
External best practices, policies,
standards, and ideas may or may not be
the right fit.
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1. Understand The Need For Governance
2. Build Your Governance Teams
3. Understand How SharePoint Is/Should Be Used
4. Develop/Practice Guidance and Policies
5. Return to Step 2 and Repeat Steps 2 through 4
6. You Have Perfect Governance
Steps to Effective Governance…
You Can Never Truly Achieve Perfect Governance.
So long as you are performing the steps
you are achieving Effective Governance.
123. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Will Cover Today:
1. What Is SharePoint?
2. Understanding SharePoint Governance
3.Requirements Definition and Mapping
4. Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint Concepts
5. Making Information Architecture Decisions
6. Case Study Approach (Implementing SharePoint IA)
7. Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
149. Agenda
• About the Project , Our Team & Goals
• SharePoint Overview
• Department and Role
• Document Collaboration
• Document Storage and Search
• Compliance, Records Management & Off-line
• Questions
150. About the Project, Our Team & Goals
About this Project
– Determine the requirements and scope for a SharePoint
implementation at ABC Corp.
Our Team
– Alison Andrews – Project Manager
– Bob Baker – Technical Architect
– Carol Conrad – SharePoint Analyst
– Don Drummond – Infrastructure Analyst
Workshop Goals
– Set expectations
– Gather your input
– Keep it to an hour (+ optional half-hour for further questions)
151. SharePoint 2007 Overview
Collaboration
Portal
Search
Enterprise
Content
Management
Business
Process
and
Forms
Business
Intelligence
Documents/tasks/calendars, blogs,
wikis, e-mail integration, project
management “lite,” Outlook
integration, offline documents/lists
Virtual Teams/Global Teams
Enterprise Portal
template, Site
Directory, My Sites,
social networking,
privacy control
Enterprise scalability, contextual
relevance, rich search for people
and business data
Integrated document
management, records
management, and Web content
management with policies and
workflow
OOB workflows,
WF integration,
rich and Web forms–
based front-ends, LOB
actions, pluggable
SSO
Server-based Microsoft
Office Excel®
spreadsheets and data
visualization, Report
Center, business
intelligence Web Parts,
KPIs/Dashboards
Platform Services
Workspaces, Mgmt,
Security, Storage,
Topology, Site Model
152. SharePoint 2010 Overview
Ribbon UI
SharePoint Workspace
SharePoint Mobile
Office Client and Office Web App Integration
Standards Support
Intranet, Extranet, Team Collaboration
Tagging, Tag Cloud, Ratings
Social Bookmarking
Blogs and Wikis
My Sites
Activity Feeds
Profiles and Expertise
Org Browser
Enterprise Content Types
Metadata and Navigation
Document Sets
Multi-stage Disposition
Audio and Video Content Types
Remote Blob Storage
List Enhancements
Organizing Information
Social Relevance
Phonetic Search
Navigation
FAST Integration
Enhanced Pipeline
Search
PerformancePoint Services
Excel Services
Chart Web Part
Visio Services
Web Analytics
SQL Server Integration
PowerPivot
Business Intelligence
Business Connectivity Services
InfoPath Form Services
External Lists
Workflow
SharePoint Designer
Visual Studio
API Enhancements
REST/ATOM/RSS
Building complex solutions
on top of SharePoint
153. Department and Role
Please introduce yourself:
• Name
• Department
• What is your role within your department?
• How do you interact with technology to do
your job?
• How does the current technology help you (or
hinder you) from doing your job?
154. Document Collaboration
• Do you work on documents with others?
– How do you collaborate (e-mail, shared drive) ?
• What document types do you create?
– Which programs do you use?
• Do your documents require multiple reviews and edits?
Is approval required?
– How do you implement the required workflow?
• How do you get the final information out to the
audience that needs it?
– Do you publish PDF’s?
– How are they distributed/posted?
155. Document Storage and Search
• Can you find the documents that you need, when you
need them?
– Does your shared drive folder hierarchy work well?
– How long does it take to find a document? At what point
do you give up?
• When you create a document, do you know where it
should be saved?
– Are documents saved in more than one location to ease
retrieval?
• Does search work well?
– What features would you like to see in search that would
make it better for you and your team.
156. Compliance, Records Management
& Off-line
• Do you have any regulatory requirements that you need to
meet?
– ISO 9000
– Sarbanes-Oxley – Bill 198
• How are records management policies implemented?
– Are there specific policies for document retention and
destruction.
• Do you have a need for off-line access?
– Do you travel off-site for your work
– Do you need to work when you are disconnected from the
network.
159. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
Using workshops, facilitation and by
engaging the business you will define,
prioritize, and phase SharePoint
requirements.
160. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
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SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
Without clear requirements,
prioritization and the right expectations
being set SharePoint projects won’t
scale well.
161. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Will Cover Today:
1. What Is SharePoint?
2. Understanding SharePoint Governance
3. Requirements Definition and Mapping
4.Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint
Concepts
5. Making Information Architecture Decisions
6. Case Study Approach (Implementing SharePoint IA)
7. Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
162.
163. SPTechCon
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Technology Conference
Understanding Metadata
(and how to explain it to others)
199. Shared Drive Zoo X:
Production
Sales &
Marketing
Marketing
Commercial Industrial Government Healthcare
Labs Hospitals
Private Public
Large
Urban
Not
Associated
University
Rural
Medium Small
Clinics Mobile
Sales Web Design Newsletter Social
Taxonomy
201. Shared Drive Zoo X:
Production
Sales &
Marketing
Marketing
Major
Hospitals
Commercial Industrial Government Healthcare
Labs Hospitals
Private Public
Large
Urban
Not
Associated
University
Rural
Medium Small
Clinics Mobile Colleges
Big Small
Sales Web Design Newsletter Social
208. Customer Type
• Lab
• Hospital
• Clinic
• Mobile
Sector
• Private
• Public
Size
• Large
• Medium
• Small
Location
• Urban
• Rural
University
• Yes
• No
A SharePoint Taxonomy (Metadata)
214. Name _________
Emp. # _________
Date _________
Dates Requested:
From __________
To: __________
Manager ________
Approved Y/N
Name _________
Emp. # _________
Date _________
Drug Used:
Name __________
Cost: $ _________
Manager ________
Approved Y/N
Vacation Request
Drug
Reimbursement
217. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
Shared Understanding of Metadata’s
Importance and Usage to Improve
‘Findability’ and Information Utility.
218. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
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Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
People Must Understand The Value Of
Metadata, Or They Will Reject The Idea.
227. “Card sorting is a great, reliable,
inexpensive method for finding
patterns in how users would expect
to find content or functionality.”
- Donna Spencer
http://www.amazon.com/Card-Sorting-ebook/dp/B004VFUOL0
241. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
Using visual tools provides shared
understanding, which is a crucial driver
of shared commitment to a goal.
242. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
Workshops become much more
interactive; hone your meeting
facilitation skills to retain control and
obtain value
249. Don’t Forget Consistency
Each Page Design Should Be Consistent
Consistency Across
User Environments
Modify Provisioned
Site (or Templates)
Based on Need
257. Why Iterative?
SharePoint is a very large platform.
It takes time to understand SharePoint.
SharePoint is great for rapid prototyping,
and for proof of concept work.
It ensures there is enough time to
review, adjust, and communicate.
263. Visualizing Existing Timelines
A great way to take existing
project timelines and set
stakeholder expectations
or communicate impact of
changes.
264. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
Using an Iterative Approach keep
learning impact in mind, use Visio
Timelines to foster shared
understanding and commitment.
265. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
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SPTechCon
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SPTechCon
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Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
Expectation is the timeline killer. If
everyone has the same expectations
then the timeline is never ‘off’.
266. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Will Cover Today:
1. What Is SharePoint?
2. Understanding SharePoint Governance
3. Requirements Definition and Mapping
4. Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint Concepts
5.Making Information Architecture Decisions
6. Case Study Approach (Implementing SharePoint IA)
7. Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
269. SharePoint Containment Hierarchy
Documents, Items and Pages
Folders and Document Sets
Libraries and Lists
Sites
Site Collections
Databases
Web Applications
Servers
Farm
What we care about from an
information architecture
perspective.
270. SharePoint Containment Hierarchy
Metadata
Item
Documents, Events, Pages, Custom Item, Image, etc.
Folders and Document Sets
Lists
Doc Libraries, Pages, Calendars, Discussions, Surveys, etc.
Sites
Team Sites, Publishing Sites, Meeting Workspaces, etc.
Site Collections
280. When To Use A Site Collection
Site Collection 1 Site Collection 2
Webparts &
Aggregation
Webparts &
Aggregation
Masterpages &
Page Layouts
Masterpages &
Page Layouts
Search Across Site Collection Boundaries
Navigation Navigation
281. When To Use A Site Collection
Group A
Group B
Group C
Collection Admin A
Collection Admin B
Group Y
Group Z
Collection Admin Y
Collection Admin Z
Site Collection 1 Site Collection 2
285. Advantages Disadvantages
SharePoint
Group
• Not reliant on AD (if your AD is
a mess)
• Distributed ownership and
management options
• Managed by users
• Can be managed by the
SharePoint Object Model
• Members of these groups are
visible to users in SharePoint.
• Only used in SharePoint
• Managed by (potentially)
untrained users
• One more place to manage
security (independent of AD)
• Cannot contain another
SharePoint group as a member.
Active
Directory
Group
• Managed by domain
administrators
• Available in many systems
• Centralized management and
easier removal
• Difficult to determine
permissions assigned to
people
• Requires lots of planning
• Members of these groups are
not visible in SharePoint.
• User can only be a member of
1024 AD groups (recursively).
SharePoint Groups vs AD Groups
290. Purpose of a List?
• To Replace Excel
Spreadsheets
• To Track Complex Input
From Multiple People
• To Centralize Storage and
Retrieval of Content
• To Provide Validation, Easy
To Use Online Forms
• To Reduce Duplication of
Effort
292. When To Use a Single List
• You want to simplify viewing the same set of
items.
(When dispersed across many lists it requires additional effort to
aggregate the lists).
• You want to search for items in the same
location.
(When dispersed across many lists it requires additional effort to
configure search scopes).
• You want to easily apply consistent versioning,
approval, metadata or form settings.
• You want to receive consolidated updates on
the collection of items (alerts or RSS).
293. When To Use Multiple Lists
• You don’t expect people to need summaries of
the items together.
(When dispersed across many lists it requires additional effort to
aggregate the lists).
• You need to apply different versioning,
approval, metadata, or form settings.
• You want to distribute management of
versioning, metadata, workflows or form
settings.
• You do not need to receive consolidated
updates (alerts or RSS).
296. When To Use a Single Library
• You want to simplify viewing the same set of
documents.
(When dispersed across many libraries it requires additional effort
to aggregate the libraries).
• You want to search for documents in the same
location.
(When dispersed across many libraries it requires additional effort
to configure search scopes).
• You want to easily apply consistent versioning,
approval, metadata or form settings.
• You want to receive consolidated updates on
the collection of documents (alerts or RSS).
297. When To Use Multiple Libraries
• You don’t expect people to need summaries of
the documents together.
(When dispersed across many libraries it requires additional effort
to aggregate the libraries).
• You need to apply different versioning,
approval, metadata, or form settings.
• You want to distribute management of
versioning, metadata, workflows or form
settings.
• You do not need to receive consolidated
updates (alerts or RSS).
323. The #1 rule of SharePoint?
Never use
folders
Except when it makes
sense
ever
324. What’s wrong with folders?
• Deep structures hard to
navigate
• Finding stuff is hard
• Figuring out where to put
stuff is even harder
• Stuck with a rigid structure
• Search is not the silver
bullet
328. Really? No more folders? Ever?
• What situations would you use folders?
• Subdivide large libraries/lists
• Security/Permissions This is a favourite of mine
• Ease of use for users
Really? No more folders?Really?
329. Downsides of Metadata
• No free lunch (there is pain here)
• Awful architectural choices to make
– Multiple site collections
• Good Practice
• Bad for Metadata
• Maintenance headache
– Can be mitigated
• Define at top level if possible
330. Folders for easy permissions
• Create folder
• Set permissions
• Create view
without folders
• Easy for users
(they only see
what they are
supposed to)
345. Turn off “Available for Tagging”
• Add sub elements: Proposal, Quote, Invoice
• Leave “Available for Tagging checked”
346. Term Store Manager
• Painful & Slow
• Needs a better way
• I created a ‘toy’ to try out some ideas
• http://bit.ly/ruveng-mmts
– Article links to other solutions (Excel)
349. To Sum Up…
• SharePoint 2007
– Folders BAAAAD!
– Never use them
– Except when the situation warrants
• SharePoint 2010
– Folders GOOOOD!
– Never use them
– Except when the situation warrants
359. Folders vs. Document Sets
Document
Library
Document
Folder
Document
Document
Folder Folder Document
Document
Set
Document
Folder
Folder
Document
Set
Document
Document
360. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
You need to understand all of the
SharePoint objects, their limitations, and
their benefits to make effective
decisions.
361. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
There is always a trade off and all
information architecture decisions
should be constantly re-evaluated.
362. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Will Cover Today:
1. What Is SharePoint?
2. Understanding SharePoint Governance
3. Requirements Definition and Mapping
4. Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint Concepts
5. Making Information Architecture Decisions
6.Case Study Approach (Implementing
SharePoint IA)
7. Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
372. Information Architecture and Governance Areas
Above The Line versus Below The Line
Permanent central portal
- Few authors/Many readers
Departmental
Portlets
Projects & Workspaces
My Sites
Communication Portal
• Central navigation
• Central taxonomy
• Divisional stakeholders
• Enterprise search
Personal
Collaboration
•Local taxonomies
•Local search
Departmental portlets
• Departments
• Resources
• Business Processes
- Few authors/Many readers
Semi Structured
Team sites
- Multiple authors
Blogs, bios,
Social
Central
Portal
IncreasingStrictnessofGovernance
384. Implement the steps
• Find the stakeholders
• Establish steering committee
• Determine the goals of the project (no platitudes!)
• “Requirements” Gathering Workshops
• Roadmap and Timelines
• Defining personas (who is our audience or
audiences)
• Card sorts
• Navigation workshops
• Wireframing workshops
• Business process workshops
• Document and Taxonomy workshops
Governance
385. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
A well planned information architecture
approach will lead to better results.
386. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
Iterative improvements are necessary
and should leverage a model like the
one we just walked through.
387. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
1. What Is SharePoint?
2. Understanding SharePoint Governance
3. Requirements Definition and Mapping
4. Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint Concepts
5. Making Information Architecture Decisions
6. Case Study Approach (Implementing SharePoint IA)
7. Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
1. Platform For Solutions That Achieve Business Objectives
2. Effective Teams, Patterns, And Practices Are Critical
3. Requirements Need To Be Carefully Considered
4. Shared Understanding And Shared Commitment Are Key
5. Every Decision Is More Effective With More Information
6. Practice And Experience Really Help
7. There Is So Much Out There You Can Use To Help
Practical SharePoint IA Review…
388. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What We Will Cover Today:
1. What Is SharePoint?
2. Understanding SharePoint Governance
3. Requirements Definition and Mapping
4. Visualizing and Communicating SharePoint Concepts
5. Making Information Architecture Decisions
6. Case Study Approach (Implementing SharePoint IA)
7.Information Architecture Tips and Tricks
394. Giving Estimates
Two Simple Tricks For Making Better Estimates
Never Give a Single Number
6 Hours!
At least 2 hours… 4
hours maybe?
How Long Will X
Take You?
16? Way too much. 8 Tops.
I better pick something
in between…
Forgotten/Not Shared
Now That We Have Our
Magic Number
395. Always Give Ranged Estimates
Two Simple Tricks For Making Better Estimates
Ranged Estimates Help Communicate
Confidence and Set Expectations
2-8 Hours!
396. Are You Confident In That Range?
Two Simple Tricks For Making Better Estimates
2-8
397. Are You Confident In That Range?
Two Simple Tricks For Making Better Estimates
ORWithin Range
Actual Result
OVERCONFIDENT
398. Are You Confident In That Range?
Two Simple Tricks For Making Better Estimates
ORWithin Range
Actual Result
LESS CONFIDENT
399. Are You Confident In That Range?
Two Simple Tricks For Making Better Estimates
ORWithin Range
Actual Result
90% Confident
400. Give 90% Confident Ranged Estimates
Two Simple Tricks For Making Better Estimates
2-8 Hours!
Within Range
=
401. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
The Outcome
There are many ways that we can
improve usability of SharePoint and as a
result improve our Information
Architecture.
402. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What to watch out for…
Tips and Tricks are not enough to
ensure successful Information
Architecture.
403. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
Full Name
Email Address
Role(s) IT Pro Developer End User Architect Biz Analyst
Helps us understand where your experience with
SharePoint has been and what roles were
contained in our workshop audience.
Allow Us To Keep In Touch And Send You
SharePoint Information Architecture Resources
Would you recommend this workshop to a colleague or friend?
404. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
What did you like
best or what did you
find useful?
What was missing or
what would you
have liked to see?
405. SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
SPTechCon
The SharePoint
Technology Conference
Thank You
Organizers, Sponsors and You for Making this Possible.
Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Contact us:
Twitter: @ruveng & @rharbridge
Blogs: spinsiders.com/ruveng & rharbridge.com
Email us: ruveng@navantis.com & richard@rharbridge.com
Resources: http://www.PracticalIntranet.com
Editor's Notes
My dedication to you before I begin. By the end of this you will have gained 3 things. It might be new knowledge, it might be a new method but you MUST gain 3 things by the end. If you don’t my first challenge to you is to stalk me, hunt me down and make sure you get 3 things from me. Because I owe you 3 things! This is meant to help you.
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Why are we here?
We have a common goal: To implement a successful SharePoint Project
But… SharePoint is huge
And very complicated, with lots of moving parts
Even more complicated than SharePoint is people, and their moving parts
(i.e. the way they think, their allegiances, their perceived roles within the organization)
We’re trying to find the best solution
But to do that, we need to know to best define the problem
We are here to share some ideas
… and give you some tools
These are not magic bullets: You will still experience frustrations and difficulties along the way
But everything we’ll show you has worked for us and helped us to deliver successful projects in the past.
My goal for you:
Ability to move forward confidently, knowing that you have increased your chances of delivering a solution that really works for your customers.
The techniques and tools we show you will help you communicate with your stakeholders in ways that keep you and them committed to the same goals and on the same page = prerequisites for success
Practical, proven advice that will guide you in your project
A little detour into F Laws
Russell Ackoff: “f-Laws are truths about organisations that we might wish to deny or ignore – simple and more reliable guides to everyday behaviour than the complex truths proposed by scientists, economists, sociologists, politicians and philosophers”
Adapted for SharePoint by Paul Culmsee
An objective should not be filled with operationally meaningless superlatives such as biggest, best, optimum, and maximum; for example, one company says it wants to "maximize its growth potential," another "to provide products of the highest quality." How in the world can a company determine whether it has attained growth potential or highest quality?
Now lets get back on-track
Speak to Owen Allen (creator of this map) for details on this
Dominating the skyline of Arkhangelsk, a city in Russia's far north-west, it is believed to be the world's tallest wooden house, soaring 13 floors to reach 144ft - about half the size of the tower of Big Ben. The house that Sutyagin built is also crumbling, incomplete and under threat of demolition from city authorities determined to end the former convict's eccentric 15-year project.
When Sutyagin began work on his dacha in 1992, he claims he was only intending to build a two-storey house - larger than those of his neighbours to reflect his position as the city's richest man, but certainly not a contender for the Guinness Book of Records. However, convinced by a trip to see wooden houses in Japan and Norway, he concluded that he had not used roof space efficiently enough and decided to keep building. "First I added three floors but then the house looked ungainly, like a mushroom," he said. "So I added another and it still didn't look right so I kept going. What you see today is a happy accident."
There were other motives too. Having grown up in a Soviet communal flat, Sutyagin said he felt lonely living by himself.
Not only would his house make a perfect love nest for his molls, it could also accommodate the 18 executives at his construction company.
This is to set the conceptual scene
You will see this diagram a lot.
Requirements is NOT the right word to use here (but you have to because your clients and stakeholders expect it).
(Sue Hanley first pointed this out to me.)
Because I said so, and I’m the customer.
If you don’t include my requirement, I’ll shoot!
One of my biggest jobs as a SharePoint BA is to manage this desire.
My three rules of SharePoint: Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity
What if we say: We can do that for $10.
Client says: Go for it!
What if we say: We can do that… for $1 Million.
Client says: Wait a sec – maybe we can think of some alternatives
(Hey! Maybe it’s no longer a ‘requirement’)
So, what happens when the customer says “I need this”
This is the “we need it all” solution – often arrived at before defining the problem
SharePoint suffers from “The Hammer Problem”:
When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
And SharePoint is one giant mother of a hammer
So, what happens when the customer says “I need this”
This is the “we need it all” solution – often arrived at before defining the problem
The “Hammer” problem
Think about alternatives:
Is it close by?
How fast do I need to get there – who needs to come with me
Is a less flexible but more cost-effective solution already out there
Is the destination specialized and particularly hard to get to?
Maybe we need to really think outside the box
Simple is not ALWAYS the best solution: There are times when a complex and expensive solution is the only way to get the required destination
Bottom line: Arrive at outcomes, not requirements
The other problem with requirements is that you only have one time to mention them, so you want ALLLLL of them to be met.
So, you put everything in that you can think of…
SharePoint lets you be ‘agile’
Start with the three rules: Simplicity/Simplicity/Simplicity
Ideas from: PragPub Feb 2011 – Pragmatic Programmers
Way of the Agile Warrior - by Jonathan Rasmusson
But the reality is that most requirements never get used as designed because the landscape changes under your feet.
And this causes you to change course, sometimes even before that ‘required’ item is even finished being built or tested.
Leading to a bunch of rusty tools lying around that cause trouble for years.
e.g. what happens when you need to upgrade or migrate? Someone has to chip the rust off to see if this stuff is even useful anymore
The result is wasted money
So, shifting gears: I’ve explained what we should not be doing. What CAN we do?
What would you like SharePoint to do?
Well, what can it do?
Tons! Let me show you
What do I need that for?
Well, it depends… what do you want it for?
Well, it LOOKS cool – sure: I want it.
Favorite phrase: If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will get you there.
But First: DO NOT DEMO SharePoint
Confuses people
Sets unreasonable expectations
The focus here needs to be on pain points and outcomes: NOT Requirements
Try to stick to one team at a time
3 – 8 people is ideal – up to 12-15 can work.
Need to make sure you hear from everyone
Don’t let manager dominate
Make SURE you get front-line workers, not just managers
Book 1.5 hours – plan on an hour and a bit.
People love some extra un-booked time at the end.
The following slides are a sample deck that I use in workshops
Most people hate the pie, but I like to use it to set scope
ARM WRESTLE WITH RICHARD ON THIS ONE?
Now, it’s ok to build a demo: Use their language, colors, logo
Show ‘day in the life’ type scenario
The requirements are gathered, documented and approved.
The solution is developed and shared with the stakeholders.
This isn’t what we meant!
Everyone knows…
It’s “Data about Data” as Einstein proved all those years ago
I won’t tell you yet but…
It is an iterative process – you won’t understand it right away, but you will circle in towards understanding over time
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Metadata is a new concept for many
Use of metaphors to explain the concepts
Metadata is a new concept for many
Use of metaphors to explain the concepts
Ok, so that was goofing around – now let’s get serious.
The music is the content
You can know a lot of facts about the album:
Prince
Pop/Rock
1984
You can know all the facts, but it doesn’t substitute for the content (the music)
(Purple Rain example originally suggested by Yoav Lurie)
How do you sort CD’s
Artist?
Title?
Year?
Genre?
Colour?
You have to decide up-front – and stick to it –because the objects are physical
What if the store was full of unlabeled tin cans?
You would need to open every can to see if had what you wanted
(Tin can example originally suggested by Serge Tremblay)
Now we don’t need to open each can, but they are all in a jumble and you have to pick up each can to check if has what you want.
Items are grouped by area (canned fruit, canned sauce, canned vegetables)
Signs point you to the correct area so that you can quickly find what you need.
BUT: Because the objects are physical, you need to pick a method and stick to it
This uses the base metaphor that we live with every day.
The concept of a “file” and a “file folder” as a way of storing digital data is a metaphor taken from the world of paper management
It has become so ingrained, that we think of it as natural, but it’s not: It was invented in 1983 by Apple (wikipedia)
All your files are stored in one folder and their names are completely meaningless
This is like the unlabeled cans: You have to open each file to see what it contains
You have a bit of a better situation
The naming convention lets you find the file you need (but there’s no way to sort by year)
Rely on users to follow the naming convention (religiously)
A ha!
Now we’re in great shape. We’re like the supermarket
Structured and Labelled
BUT...
... then, you hire a summer intern
Who doesn’t know the folder hierarchy and makes up their own
Findability is challenging
Putability is the real problem
This is Bill English’s word for knowing where to save a document
What if we could make putability easier while also improving findability?
This is the promise of metadata
Data about data
Yes, but not enough info
Seth Maislin of Earley & Assoc. says it's the "Is-ness" of something:
This 'is' a contract. That 'is' a pop album.
For us it enables findability, policy and process
Findability for locating the right documents
Policy – records management
Process – Status of a business process (e.g. Not started, In process, Complete, Approved, Archived)
So, let’s create an alternative structure that is logically equivalent, but that makes putability much easier while preserving findability
By the way: One way to start to figure out an organization’s metadata is to look at the folder names.
You will probably not want to simply copy this, but it can be a good guide/starting point
It’s not this… (visual joke)
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It’s not this… (visual joke)
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It’s this…
Not really this, but let’s use these creatures to understand.
Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy
This works because it’s really about governance – this is a stable structure that can’t be changed by just anybody:
Changing this structure requires a world-wide meeting of the top scientists in the field, usually involving name-calling and fist-fights (or so I’ve heard)
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Did you catch the subtle change here.
The taxonomy is now of your ‘X’ drive.
And this is a common result
Problem here is lack of governance – anyone can add any folder anywhere anytime
This boils down to the ‘putability’ problem – I’ll search for a long time to find a doc, but not for long to see where to put it.
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Once you’ve migrated your x drive to SharePoint, and all the promised benefits fail to emerge, The reaction is: (next slide)
Never, ever, use folders!
Except when it makes sense to do so.
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Back on track
I’m not Carl, but let’s talk about why this works.
After all, it’s the same as a directory tree
The difference is governance
Is this too many to ask for?
Do we force users to answer all these questions/enter all this data?
Instead of confusing people with the SharePoint interface, I use a familiar tool: Excel
Using some simple macros, I am able to illustrate the power of filters and views.
There’s no free lunch however: People now have to enter metadata.
We can simplify this by defaulting values like “Date” to today and “Year” to current year.
We can leverage content types as well
Think of them as different forms with slots to fill in.
Two documents may have overlapping slots (or, metadata).
It may make sense to store these two types of docs in the same library (HR Requests), but use content types to drive workflow, policy and prompt users only for the metadata that applies.
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Think of them as different forms with slots to fill in.
Two documents may have overlapping slots (or, metadata).
It may make sense to store these two types of docs in the same library (HR Requests), but use content types to drive workflow, policy and prompt users only for the metadata that applies.
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To achieve success, you need shared commitment
To get that, you need to get to shared understanding
Sing from the same song-book: Get onto the same page
What is this a picture of?
With a lot of experience, training or imagination, you may figure something out – but the concept is ABSTRACT
This is something that people understand and agree on.
It is concrete
Visual tools can help make the abstract into the concrete
MindManager (from MindJet) is a tool that has changed the way I work. Here is a quick demo of how it works.
Now lets get back on-track
A little detour into Card Sorting
A technique to get input or feedback from users
You may have great ideas of how to organize you intranet, but you users may have different ideas
Donna Spencer says: “Card sorting is a great, reliable, inexpensive method for finding patterns in how users would expect to find content or functionality.”
The analysis can be useful, but it is the process of watching people do the sorts that helps provide the real value
Now lets get back on-track
Using Mind Maps for navigational design makes this process MUCH faster and more efficient.
First, I do a presentation about what metadata is to a collection of groups
Give them homework
Then, bring them back to build taxonomy:
This needs to be done with just one group at a time
Note: Picture of ‘tacks’ is a visual joke – it doesn’t mean anything
Using mind-mapping tools to build the taxonomy from the homework
I use MindJet MindManager – and I like and highly recommend it.
There are other tools that are less expensive.
What is wireframing?
Creating page mockups that show the function and structure of the page without the fonts/colors/images, etc
This tool called ‘Balsamiq’ makes it extremely simple and fast to make wireframes.
They look cartoonish, but that makes it easy to focus on what’s important (not color, font, etc.)
Even without building an automated workflow, it’s essential to understand the business process of your customers.
Use BizAgi (which is free to download) or Visio 2010 to map these processes.
If you are lucky, you can take the results of these workshops and activities and create a roadmap for a phased, rational approach to SharePoint deployment. Push HARD to do this step.
Summarize workshop results
Build Gap Analysis
Identify dependencies
Lay out a timeline (not a project plan at this point)
The Outcome
Using a mixture of education, communication, and visualization we can significantly mitigate the risk of ‘This isn’t what we wanted!’
What to watch out for…
It seems easier to avoid taking the time to use many of these techniques. Always keep in mind that there is never only one version of a solution.
To Impose Specific Storage QuotasWith SharePoint Site Collections you can define specific storage quotas and email warnings to notify users when they are approaching a defined threshold on their site collection storage.
To Impose Specific Sandbox Quotas
With a SharePoint Site Collection you can define the maximum number of points sandbox solutions can use per day. Additionally you can also configure an email warning when storage exceeds a certain number of points.
For Search Separation
For Workflow Separation
So Your Site Collection Does Not Have The Same Active (or Inactive) Site Collection FeaturesThere are many times when this comes in handy. In SharePoint 2010 there are quite a few Site Collection level features you may not want active on specific site collections.
Site collection features that are not active on other site collections (for example, the Publishing Infrastructure feature)
For Search Separation
For Workflow Separation
So Your Site Collection Does Not Have The Same Active (or Inactive) Site Collection FeaturesThere are many times when this comes in handy. In SharePoint 2010 there are quite a few Site Collection level features you may not want active on specific site collections.
Site collection features that are not active on other site collections (for example, the Publishing Infrastructure feature)
To Have a Separate Help Library to Store Custom Help
Disadvantages of Using Site CollectionsAll out-of-the-box Web Parts understand and work well within the boundaries of a Site Collection. None of them, including the significantly used Content Query Web Part, will cross Site Collection boundaries. Thus, the aggregation of information across Site Collection boundaries is not possible using out-of-the-box Web Parts.
You need to consider this when determining how you will split your information across Site Collections. Any situation that requires you to aggregate and display information across Site Collection boundaries will require a custom development effort or the purchase of a 3rd party Web Part.
Your branding and content publishing customization efforts will also have to be duplicated. Currently, all master pages, page layouts, and CSS files, common publishing images and reusable content is bound to a Site Collection.
For Security Management Benefits:Every site collection creates a security boundary between one collection of sites and another collection of sites. Each site collection has its own collection of SharePoint groups and ACL references.
You cannot see a complete list of Users who have permissions to the site or Object
Users are members of more than one AD Group
Work backwards to figure out permissions
2010 – 1000 objects in an ACL, 5000 Objects per SharePoint Group
The more ACLs you have, the more ACLs you have to manage
Know the Software Boundaries and Capacity limits http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx
For Privacy or Management Benefits and Different Site Collection AdministratorsEach site collection has a role of “Site Collection Administrator” and a person or more assigned to that role. There are times when either for privacy/confidentiality reasons you cannot have a specific site collection administrator with the rights to see that sites content, or where you have different people that should be assigned to manage that collection of sites. The second is an extremely common scenario in large enterprise organizations where there is a need to distribute the technical ownership of site collection administration.
The Controlled IntranetIf your goals are to create an environment that nurtures the sharing of knowledge and intellectual property (IP), there are two critical success factors that must be adhered to.
We must make the addition of knowledge in the solution as simple as possible. This is accomplished by:
Thoroughly understanding how our Information Workers perform their daily job duties.
Craft a solution that simplifies these duties by automating operational business processes.
Implement your Intranet in such a manner as to ease where this knowledge is stored.
Provide a solution that makes locating information quick and simple so our Information Workers can make better, informed business decisions. We accomplish this by:
Providing topical, functional and task-based site structures that aggregate knowledge in a manner making it easy to locate based on a need.
Architect knowledge in such a manner as to provide “very” relevant search results.
The only way for you to successfully deliver a solution that adheres to these two critical success factors is to architect your corporate knowledge (information) in a manner that lends itself to aggregation and search. And, the only way to do that is through a detailed and carefully thought-out taxonomy. Simply tossing information into lists and libraries will only result in yet another repository that is similar to a file share. For an organization to successfully implement a controlled environment that improves operational efficiencies requires governance. The term governance itself implies rules, policies and best practices for the flow of information through an organization.
Collab areas:
It is also in the collaboration environments that you will find the greatest number of sites. Make sure you set the appropriate expectations (communicate, communicate, and communicate):
Information in these sites is less structured; which means you will typically see less relevant search results.
This area can quickly grow to thousands of sites. Don’t let 5,000, 10,000 or even 30,000 sites scare you; simply make sure you have the appropriate infrastructure to support it.
Govern the amount of information that can be stored on each site; configure quotas.
Govern the length of time a site may remain inactive.
Provide a means of archival.
Do Collaboration Sites Ever Become Controlled?Absolutely! You may find that a team creates a secure collaboration environment to start a community of practice. Over time, information may become key to driving success in the organization. In such a situation, the team may ask to convert the site to a more structured environment so its content is available to everyone in the organization.
There are many ways of accomplishing this task. The easiest is to leave the site intact, and move it through your internal architecture/design processes. These processes will force some level of structure, including taxonomy; which will make the information available for aggregation and search (even constrained search). You can then update your search configuration to include its content in a manner that best suits your organizational information needs. Another approach would be to provide a controlled means of moving the site and content to the Controlled Intranet Site Collection.
more than 1000 security scopes (broken inheritance) leads to performance degradation.
50k scopes per list/doc lib is a limit or - more than 50k unique permissions per list is a hard limit.
The Practical Limit? 2000 users/groups given access
5k users/ad groups per sharepoint group
When you add a user or group to a unique ‘scope’ (broken permissions) it actually adds that user or group with ‘limited access’ to each scope in the hierarchy above the item…
Best practice:
Rely on group membership instead of indivudal user membership in the scopes. For example, if a single group can be used in place of 1,000 users, the scope will be 999 membership entries smaller for the scope and any of its parent scopes which will be updated with Limited Access rights for that single group instead of all 1,000 individual users with Limited Access rights. This additionally helps increase the speed of Limited Access rights push and ACL recalculation at the parent scope objects.
Deep hierarchies also impact performance considerably. So try and avoid very deep hierarchies with unique permissions.
Note: We do not recommend that you use SharePoint groups to assign permissions to sites, because when a SharePoint group is used to assign permissions, a full crawl of the index occurs. Instead, we recommend Domain groups to be used.
We recommend that you use FGP for only those business cases for which it is required. FGP can be expensive in terms of both operational oversight and performance.
If you must use fine-grained permissions, consider the following recommended practices:
Ensure that you do not have too many items at the same level of hierarchy in the document libraries, because the time necessary to process items in the views increases.
You can avoid the use of FGP by doing the following:
Break permission inheritance as infrequently as possible.
Use groups based on directory membership to assign permissions.
Assign permissions at the highest possible level. As part of this strategy, consider the following techniques:
Use different document publish levels to control access. Before a document is published, the advanced permissions and versioning settings can be set for users who can only approve items in the document library.
For non-document libraries (lists), use the ReadSecurity and WriteSecurity permission levels. When a list is created, the owners can set the Item-level permissions to either Read access or Create and Edit access.
Basically manage permissions by each SharePoint site uniquely (instead of at a fine grained level). So use the 3 built in groups or AD groups etc and set permissions at the web level.
From another point of view, if you have a large list where you want to uniquely set permissions try having ‘more than one list’ in multiple webs to get around some of the performance impact involved (2k unique permissions per web as an example). It avoids a lot of the hierarchy performance hits we discussed.
Of course even better is using multiple site collections, but for now we will keep it simple and say at a minimum an effective way would be doing it at the web level (or even list/library level before getting to the item level).
Use event handlers to control edit permission. You can have an event handler that registers an event using the SPEventReceiverType.ItemUpdating and SPEventReceiverType.ItemUpdated methods, and then use code to control whether the update should be allowed. This is extremely powerful, because you can make security decision based on any metadata of a list or item, without affecting the view rendering performance.
Use AddToCurrentScopeOnly method to assign Limited Access membership within a SharePoint group. The key element in this principle is to redesign the architecture so that scope membership does not cause ACL recalculation at the parent document library and Web.
This is mainly applicable if the cause of the excessive number of unique scopes was through an automated process such as an event handler or workflow that dynamically modified object permissions. The recommendation in this case is to make a code change to whatever process was creating the unique security scopes.
Your group needs to see summary information about the list items or different views of the same set of items. For example, a manager may want to see the progress on all technical issues for an organization or see all the issues that were filed within the same time period.
People want to browse or search for the issues in the same location on a site.
You want to apply the same settings to the list items, such as tracking versions or requiring approval.
The groups working on the list share similar characteristics, such as the same levels of permission. Unique permission can be applied to specific list items, but if the levels of permission vary greatly, consider multiple lists.
You want to analyze information about the list or receive consolidated updates for the list. You can receive alerts when the list items are changed or see the changes to a list by using RSS technology. RSS feeds enable members of your workgroup to see a consolidated list of information that has changed.
You don't expect people to need summaries of the items together.
The groups of people working with the information are distinct and have different permission levels.
You need to apply different settings, such as versioning or approval, to multiple sets of items.
You do not need to analyze the items together or receive consolidated updates about the list.
Your group needs to see summary information about, or different views of, the same set of files. For example, a manager may want to see all files grouped by department or by due date.
People want to search for the files in the same location on a site.
You want to apply the same settings to files, such as tracking versions of files or requiring approval.
The groups that are working with the library share similar characteristics, such as the same levels of permission.
You want to analyze information about the files in a spreadsheet, or to receive consolidated updates about the files.
The types of files that you want to store and manage are distinct, and you don't expect people to frequently view summaries of the files or to search the files together.
The groups of people who are using the files are distinct and have distinctly different permission levels.
You need to apply different settings, such as versioning or approval, to different sets of files.
You do not need to analyze the files together or receive consolidated updates about the files.
You want to provide different sets of options for creating new files, or you want the options on the New menu of a library to appear in a different order.
You can set the default content type of a library – and set that content type’s default values so that any item added to that library will automatically have metadata associated with it.
Use if you have clear organizing requirements
Deploy a good Search Architecture Search Based Navigation
Don’t forget to turn on the Content Organizer Feature – on the Target Site too!
Don’t forget to implement Content Types in the Target Libraries
Teach the users!
Never, ever, use folders!
Except when it makes sense to do so.
[ANIMATED]
Ease of use for users: File Open/Save – reduce metadata load
Managed Metadata Services
Term Store
Hierarchical collection of terms
Multilingual
Synonyms
LimitMaximum valueLimit typeNotesMaximum number of levels of nested terms in a term store
7
Supported
Terms in a term set can be represented hierarchically. A term set can have up to seven levels of terms (a parent term, and six levels of nesting below it.)
Maximum number of term sets in a term store
1000
Supported
You can have up to 1000 term sets in a term store.
Maximum number of terms in a term set
30,000
Supported
30,000 is the maximum number of terms in a term set.
Note:
Additional labels for the same term, such as synonyms and translations, do not count as separate terms.
Total number of items in a term store
1,000,000
Supported
An item is either a term or a term set. The sum of the number of terms and term sets cannot exceed 1,000,000. Additional labels for the same term, such as synonyms and translations, do not count as separate terms.
Note:
You cannot have both the maximum number of term sets and the maximum number of terms simultaneously in a term store.
Webpage (instead of just a folder name and possible metadata)
Synchronization of metadata
The ability to synchronize metadata allows users to change metadata on multiple items at once within a collection of content. Frequently users will want to do a bulk change of metadata stored within a folder. The most common way to achieve this using Folders is by utilizing the Datasheet View for document libraries, which allows users to bulk change properties quickly. However, this can be error prone and has limitations, such as the inability to change Managed Metadata fields.
In contrast, Document Sets allow the ability to configure a column as a Shared Column. Shared Columns then share metadata across the entire Document Set. By changing the column value at the document set, all content contained within the Document Set will be updated with the new value without the user manually having to change each individual document. Another advantage is that all columns types are supported, so users can also easily change Managed Metadata columns for all content as well.
Running workflows on multiple items with SharePoint Designer
Running workflows on multiple items is another commonly asked for requirement in many organizations. The ability to send multiple items through an approval process is something that commonly appears on a list of requirements when organizations are implementing SharePoint.
With folders there is really no other option than to manually start an Approval process on each item. Unfortunately even though you can now select multiple items to perform actions on within Lists and Libraries, you cannot do this with workflows. If you have ten documents that you need to send through an Approval process, then it's a rather laborious process. Of course you can create custom workflows in .NET code to solve this issue and it's a good example of where the new Site Workflow type may be used. However, if we are limiting ourselves to out-of-the-box or SharePoint Designer declarative workflows then we are out of luck.
With Document Sets we have new Workflow Actions available in SharePoint Designer 2010. This means that we can indeed send an entire Document Set through an Approval Process. Since a Document Set includes multiple documents, we are in effect sending multiple items through an approval process
Provisioning of default content
The ability to create a template and have this reused when a user is creating a document is commonly used in SharePoint. The power of Content Types within the platform can be harnessed very effectively to create these templates and deploy them across multiple sites. However, often we don't require just a single document to be created, but rather a collection of documents to be provisioned. For example consider a project submission pack or a RFP Response that consists of multiple documents.
In an ideal world, a user would be able to create collections of documents quickly and easily. If using the folder approach, you can only create single documents, one at a time. So if a user wanted to create a project submission pack then they would create the folder that would house these documents, and then create each individual Content Type one at a time. This is obviously a cumbersome approach.
In contrast Document Sets allow us to provision default content when the Document Set is created. So if we create a RFP Response Document Set we can choose to have default content created when a user creates the Document Set:
Folders can have folders under them etc. Doc sets cant.
The focus here needs to be on pain points and outcomes: NOT Requirements
Try to stick to one team at a time
3 – 8 people is ideal – up to 12-15 can work.
Need to make sure you hear from everyone
Don’t let manager dominate
Make SURE you get front-line workers, not just managers
Book 1.5 hours – plan on an hour and a bit.
People love some extra un-booked time at the end.
This is to set the conceptual scene
You will see this diagram a lot.
First, I do a presentation about what metadata is to a collection of groups
Give them homework
Then, bring them back to build taxonomy:
This needs to be done with just one group at a time
Using mind-mapping tools to build the taxonomy from the homework
I use MindJet MindManager – and I like and highly recommend it.
There are other tools that are less expensive.
Even without building an automated workflow, it’s essential to understand the business process of your customers.
Use BizAgi (which is free to download) or Visio 2010 to map these processes.
What is wireframing?
Creating page mockups that show the function and structure of the page without the fonts/colors/images, etc
This tool called ‘Balsamiq’ makes it extremely simple and fast to make wireframes.
They look cartoonish, but that makes it easy to focus on what’s important (not color, font, etc.)
This tool called ‘Balsamiq’ makes it extremely simple and fast to make wireframes.
They look cartoonish, but that makes it easy to focus on what’s important (not color, font, etc.)
The first tip I will give is to never ever give a single number. As an example when asked how long it will take to make ‘report A’ let the requester know a range that you feel comfortable with. Why a range? Realistically in a quick situation like that if you don’t give a range it won’t indicate how uncertain you are about the estimate.
If you were thinking about the request and felt like the task would take somewhere between 2-8 hours then communicating only a single value guess such as ’6 hours’ can be misleading as it doesn’t include any information about how confident you are.
So the first thing we need to agree on is that quickly estimating a ‘single number’ (without math/careful consideration) typically leads to poor results in both setting the right expectation and being accurate.
Now onto the difficulties of even coming up with a range of possibilities. One of the hardest parts of estimating is coming up with a range you feel really confident in.
Basically when you give an estimate you should give a range that you feel 90% confident that the real value will fall within that range (90% is the suggested optimal confidence level due to the effort involved in getting more than 90%).
You don’t have to be perfect but you have to feel willing to bet on it.
In other words if you consider giving a range of 2-8 hours on a task as an estimate you should confirm that you are actually 90% confident that the total time will fall between that range. There is a trick (one of many) that Douglas mentions in his book that is easy to remember and use for testing whether you are actually close to 90% confident about an estimate.
Imagine that you win $2000 in one of two ways:
A) You will win $2000 if the true time it takes turns out to be between the upper and lower bounds you provided. If not then you win nothing.
B) You draw a M&M at random from a bag of 9 red M&M’s and 1 blue M&M. If the M&M is red you win $2000. If it is blue you win nothing.
Which option would you take? If you choose B) (which statistically most people do) then it means you might not be 90% confident but actually less confident (say 80%, 60% etc). If you choose A) it’s also not really what we want because it means you are probably over confident (especially if you felt strongly geared toward A). So you adjust the bounds (upper and lower) until you find a place where you feel indifferent between option A) and B) – that is ‘probably’ your 90% confidence level for this estimate.
It’s not as complicated (or in some ways as effective) as many other methods you can use to calibrate how confident you are about your estimates but it works and is easy to remember and start implementing immediately.
Now onto the difficulties of even coming up with a range of possibilities. One of the hardest parts of estimating is coming up with a range you feel really confident in.
Basically when you give an estimate you should give a range that you feel 90% confident that the real value will fall within that range (90% is the suggested optimal confidence level due to the effort involved in getting more than 90%).
You don’t have to be perfect but you have to feel willing to bet on it.
In other words if you consider giving a range of 2-8 hours on a task as an estimate you should confirm that you are actually 90% confident that the total time will fall between that range. There is a trick (one of many) that Douglas mentions in his book that is easy to remember and use for testing whether you are actually close to 90% confident about an estimate.
Imagine that you win $2000 in one of two ways:
A) You will win $2000 if the true time it takes turns out to be between the upper and lower bounds you provided. If not then you win nothing.
B) You draw a M&M at random from a bag of 9 red M&M’s and 1 blue M&M. If the M&M is red you win $2000. If it is blue you win nothing.
Which option would you take? If you choose B) (which statistically most people do) then it means you might not be 90% confident but actually less confident (say 80%, 60% etc). If you choose A) it’s also not really what we want because it means you are probably over confident (especially if you felt strongly geared toward A). So you adjust the bounds (upper and lower) until you find a place where you feel indifferent between option A) and B) – that is ‘probably’ your 90% confidence level for this estimate.
It’s not as complicated (or in some ways as effective) as many other methods you can use to calibrate how confident you are about your estimates but it works and is easy to remember and start implementing immediately.
Now onto the difficulties of even coming up with a range of possibilities. One of the hardest parts of estimating is coming up with a range you feel really confident in.
Basically when you give an estimate you should give a range that you feel 90% confident that the real value will fall within that range (90% is the suggested optimal confidence level due to the effort involved in getting more than 90%).
You don’t have to be perfect but you have to feel willing to bet on it.
In other words if you consider giving a range of 2-8 hours on a task as an estimate you should confirm that you are actually 90% confident that the total time will fall between that range. There is a trick (one of many) that Douglas mentions in his book that is easy to remember and use for testing whether you are actually close to 90% confident about an estimate.
Imagine that you win $2000 in one of two ways:
A) You will win $2000 if the true time it takes turns out to be between the upper and lower bounds you provided. If not then you win nothing.
B) You draw a M&M at random from a bag of 9 red M&M’s and 1 blue M&M. If the M&M is red you win $2000. If it is blue you win nothing.
Which option would you take? If you choose B) (which statistically most people do) then it means you might not be 90% confident but actually less confident (say 80%, 60% etc). If you choose A) it’s also not really what we want because it means you are probably over confident (especially if you felt strongly geared toward A). So you adjust the bounds (upper and lower) until you find a place where you feel indifferent between option A) and B) – that is ‘probably’ your 90% confidence level for this estimate.
It’s not as complicated (or in some ways as effective) as many other methods you can use to calibrate how confident you are about your estimates but it works and is easy to remember and start implementing immediately.
Now onto the difficulties of even coming up with a range of possibilities. One of the hardest parts of estimating is coming up with a range you feel really confident in.
Basically when you give an estimate you should give a range that you feel 90% confident that the real value will fall within that range (90% is the suggested optimal confidence level due to the effort involved in getting more than 90%).
You don’t have to be perfect but you have to feel willing to bet on it.
In other words if you consider giving a range of 2-8 hours on a task as an estimate you should confirm that you are actually 90% confident that the total time will fall between that range. There is a trick (one of many) that Douglas mentions in his book that is easy to remember and use for testing whether you are actually close to 90% confident about an estimate.
Imagine that you win $2000 in one of two ways:
A) You will win $2000 if the true time it takes turns out to be between the upper and lower bounds you provided. If not then you win nothing.
B) You draw a M&M at random from a bag of 9 red M&M’s and 1 blue M&M. If the M&M is red you win $2000. If it is blue you win nothing.
Which option would you take? If you choose B) (which statistically most people do) then it means you might not be 90% confident but actually less confident (say 80%, 60% etc). If you choose A) it’s also not really what we want because it means you are probably over confident (especially if you felt strongly geared toward A). So you adjust the bounds (upper and lower) until you find a place where you feel indifferent between option A) and B) – that is ‘probably’ your 90% confidence level for this estimate.
It’s not as complicated (or in some ways as effective) as many other methods you can use to calibrate how confident you are about your estimates but it works and is easy to remember and start implementing immediately.
So the first thing we need to agree on is that quickly estimating a ‘single number’ (without math/careful consideration) typically leads to poor results in both setting the right expectation and being accurate.
A lot of this can seem daunting and I know one of the hardest things is figuring out how to do some of the things I have shown today. If you are interested in further training or assistance please let me know. Based on the number of people who are interested and the areas of interest we can schedule further training sessions to help everyone better use the SharePoint portal.
It's our commitment to you that we will continue to hear your feedback and identify the issues. I encourage you to give us feedback during the coming months, and we will continue to deliver more and more functionality, more and more guidance to help you be successful with your application of SharePoint.
Thank You for Reading/Listening