Information Architecture (IA) for a large organization is often as complex as a twisting labyrinth. In this session, we will explain, and demonstrate, why a good IA design is important for search and also provide best practices on how to plan, maintain and govern. We will also demonstrate how search provides the building blocks (entity extraction, metadata processing, etc..) for improving knowledge management and discovery scenarios for people and content.

1. Best Practices for
Information Architecture
and Enterprise Search
Agnes Molnar
Founder, Managing Consultant,
Search Explained

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Introduction – Agnes Molnar
7 years SharePoint Server MVP
Enterprise Search, Information Architecture
Founder & Managing Consultant
Worldwide Consultancy, Guidance, Trainings,
Workshops
Web: http://SearchExplained.com
Yammer: http://yammer.com/SearchExplained
Twitter: @molnaragnes
E-mail: agnes.molnar@SearchExplained.com

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Agenda
Information Architecture:
Organize and Classify the Content
Enterprise Search:
Find the Proper and Relevant Content

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Information Architecture
The art and science of organizing and labeling
the CONTENT
(documents, web sites, blog posts, database entries, etc.)
to support findability and usability

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Enterprise Search
Connects people
to the information
they need to get their jobs done

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Enterprise Search
Search Technology
that your organization
owns and controls

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ENTERPRISE CONTENT
MANAGEMENT

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Content Management in SharePoint

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Content Management in SharePoint

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Organize and Classify Content
in SharePoint
Document Libraries & Folders
Content Types
Document Sets
Managed Metadata
Document ID
Workflows
Content Organizer Rules
…

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Folders or Not Folders?
Linear Structure
• Requires drilling down to sub-folders
• Difficulty in finding content
• Inefficient during upload
Every File HAS to belong to ONE folder
Moving document = URL change
Deep folder structure = long URL
• Max URL length: 256 characters
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Folders or Not Folders?
Lack of flexibility in views
No Synonyms
Folder names cannot contain special characters
Folder structure can be modified by any team
member (Contributor)
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Folders or Not Folders?
Lack of Standards
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Folders or Not Folders? - Alternatives
Tagging
Document ID
Content Type
Document Set
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Why Keep Using Folders?
Risk of low user adoption
Metadata is a huge mind shift
Permission model (folder-level)
Bulk upload – No metadata enforcing/support
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How to use Folders?
Combine Folders + Metadata + Content Types
+ Document Sets + …
Create “Without Folders” View
• Hides folder structure
• Eliminates hierarchy
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Location: Folders vs. Document Sets
Document Sets:
Components, similar to folders, that enable users to
collaborate on related documents without having to
create a new document library or site.

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Document Sets in SP2010
Document Library
Document_1
Document_2
Folder_1
Document_F1_1
Document_F1_2
Folder_F1_1 Folder_F1_1_1 Document_F1_1_1_1
DocumentSet_F1_1 Document_DS_F1_1_1
Folder_2
Folder_3
DocumentSet_1
Document_DS1_1
Document_DS1_2

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Document Sets in SP2013
Document Library
Document_1
Document_2
Folder_1
Document_F1_1
Document_F1_2
Folder_F1_1 Folder_F1_1_1 Document_F1_1_1_1
DocumentSet_F1_1 Document_DS_F1_1_1
Folder_2
Folder_3
DocumentSet_1
Document_DS1_1
Document_DS1_2
Folder_F1_1 Folder_F1_1_1 Document_F1_1_1_1

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Content Types
Document
Document_Root
Contract Technical Document
Requirements
System
Requirements
Functional
Requirements
Case Study User Manual
Marketing
Presentation
For Business
Decision Makers
For Developers
For Admins

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Content Types
Storing the Templates in local folders

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Content Types
Organize the Templates into Template Library

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Content Organizer Rules
Property based rules
Users don’t need to know where to save
anymore
Well organized content
Searchability and Findability

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Content Organizer Rules
•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!

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ENTERPRISE SEARCH

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Organize and Refine Results
in SharePoint Search
Refinement Panel
 Managed Properties
Result Sources / Query Rules
 Properties (Metadata)
 Content Source
 Content Type
 …
Core Results Web Part
 Managed Properties
 Customization
Hover Panel
 Managed Properties
 Customization

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Search Metadata –
Crawled/Managed Properties
Crawled property: metadata extracted from the
documents/items during the crawl.
Managed property: created from crawled
properties, controlled by the Search Admins,
helping users perform more efficient and
successful queries:
 Refiners
 Properties displayed in Search Results
 Sorting Properties (FAST)

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Identifying and Planning Managed Properties
Crawled
Property
Managed
Property
Author
CreatedBy
From
Author
Usage
Refiner
Display on
Result Set
Display on
Hover Panel
Sorting by

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Search Metadata
Refinement
Result Type &
Display Template
On Hover
Panel
Query &
Query Rules

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Search Metadata

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Managed Navigation
+ Search

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Managed Navigation

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Conclusions

34. Thank you for your attention!
This presentation will be available on the Toronto
SharePoint Summit web site a few days after the event.

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