Understand the Metadata… Be the Metadata…

About the Presenter Jason McKinney Senior SharePoint / ECM Consultant, McGladrey  Based out of downtown Minneapolis office  5 Years of SharePoint / ECM Consulting Experience  Implementations range from 25 to 45,000 users - Intranets, Extranets, Public Facing, Customer Portals, etc.  Technology ‘Geek’ - Always trying to stay on the e of technology but keep a sense of humor along the way 1 Follow / Reach Me

A Usual Metadata Definition “The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts. Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at design time the application contains no data. In this case the correct description would be "data about the containers of data". Descriptive metadata, on the other hand, is about individual instances of application data, the data content. In this case, a useful description would be "data about data content" or "content about content" thus metacontent.” -Wikipedia 2

The way I like to describe it  Let’s make things easier to find by adding “tags” of information related to it. Favorite Example:  When uploading a song to your preferred music library; there are a number of ways you’d like to find it: - Song Name - Artist - Album - Genre - Year  This information is metadata! 3

The Typical (Worst) Repositories 4 E:/OnMyHardDrive/NotInSharePoint/GrowingEveryDay/ WhenILeaveYouWillNotFindWhatYouNeedInThisMess/ SomeOfTheInformationRelatesToContractsWorthBig$$ToOurCompany

Metadata to the Rescue! Throw the folders away!  Flatten the structure 5

Metadata to the Rescue!  Improve visibility across teams & levels - Need to strategies not only how you will find it, but how OTHERS will find it  Improve (instant) Search Results - Search can be your friend or worst enemy; let’s take advantage of what it has to offer 6

So What Do I Get Out of Today?  Focus on the options  Visibility to what SharePoint has to offer - Feature sets across Foundation & Server  Get the thinking caps on for your business - Give you the power to architect a metadata solution for your business’s requirements  Not providing solution for your business - We can always talk about your specific needs 7

What Types of Metadata Column Types (OOTB)  Blue − SharePoint Foundation  Green − SharePoint Server Enterprise In the SharePoint realm Columns are Metadata, so I may switch between terms throughout presentation. 8

Creating a “Relationship” in SharePoint Lookup Columns  Unique Values  Multiple Selections  Additional Columns (2010)  Enforce relationship behavior (2010) 9

Some Metadata We Forget About… Approval  Draft / Pending / Approved  Comments on latest Approval Check in/out  Who’s working on it now?  Comments on latest check in Versioning  Current version #  Comments on latest version 10

Some Metadata We Forget About… Created  When  By who  Can retain original date with tools Modified  Last modified  By who Workflow Status  In progress to completed  Custom Messages 11

How Do We Take Advantage of Metadata? Instant Filter of Columns within List Views  Most columns can filtered or sorted List / Library Views  Highly customizable views of columns and other organization  Filter, sort, group by columns  Choose Specific Columns to Display  Able to filter by logged in person for tailored views  Many consider SharePoint views a reporting lite Personal Views  Users are able to create their own views 12

How Do We Implement These? Sections for Today  List / Library Columns - Customizing a single list and library  Content Types with Site Columns - Shared across sub sites - Leverage publishing to go across site collections  Managed Metadata - SharePoint farm-wide metadata repository - Ability to share across farms Note: Everything is out of the box / browser based today. 13

Demonstration

List/Library Columns Pros  Isolated to single list or library  Allow end users to highly customize lists / libraries  Easy to template and reuse across sites  Available across all versions of SharePoint  Quick updates via datasheet view Cons  Templates do not inherit / changes do not roll out  Limited column options in server versions  Require high security permission on list / library to edit 15

Demonstration

Site Columns & Content Types Pros  Globally managed (columns, workflows, retention policies)  Child sites are able to inherit (including lookup information)  Document content types can host separate templates  Publishable across multiple site collections Cons  Not able to roll-up to parent sites  Publishing content types do not sync lookups  Not able to template across farms  Require high security permission on site or site collection to edit 17

Managed Metadata – How it Breaks Down… 1. Groups  Group a number of term sets  Allow security permissions  Great for separate business teams / business processes 2. Term Sets  Selectable set within group  Ideal for category organization 3. Terms  Selectable tags 4. Children Terms  Selectable metadata tags  Allowed up to 7 per term 18

Managed Metadata – What Can We Do With Terms?  Copy Term: Creates a Copy within this Term Set  Reuse Term: Creates a copy and allows it to be place in any Term Set  Merge Term: Content that is tagged with the two terms is automatically updated to reflect this change.  Deprecate Term: Disables the term to be used anymore, but keeps it tagged to existing items.  Move Term: Move the term to another Term Set  Delete Term: Remove this term. It is recommended to Depreciate Terms rather than delete if it has been leveraged in the site. 19

Managed Metadata – Additional Benefits Enterprise Keywords  Allow users to add any keywords alongside the items in order to allow them to add any metadata as needed. Suggestions will be made from previous entries & reports can be run to promote frequently used terms. Ratings  Allow users to rate items throughout the site and track how many ratings per item. 20

Demonstration

Managed Metadata Pros  Globally managed (cross farm as well)  Consolidates information typically in multiple drop down fields  Granular security permissions  Able to be controlled across various site collections  Auto-complete suggestions (no need for long drop downs)  Allows item ratings  Allows unique keywords to be associated without prior creation Cons  Bulk updates via data view disabled (some would see as pro).  Not able to sync back to other repositories (OOTB) 22

Business Connectivity Services (BCS) What is it?  The ability to read / add / update data into a list view directly from a SQL or other data sources  Wizard like setup / configuration via SharePoint Designer  Lookup with Picker for metadata components 23

Thank You! Feel Free to Reach Out… Jason McKinney Senior SharePoint / ECM Consultant, McGladrey  Enjoy the rest of your sessions!  Check out the McGladrey booth!  Please remember to fill out surveys!  Slide deck will be available via my blog (today) or SharePoint Saturday site soon! 24 Follow / Reach Me

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