Perfecting Information Architecture (IA): Exposing the Secret Sauce for Success

Jill Hannemann, Practice Director

Tatiana Baquero, Senior KM Consultant

Portal Solutions

November 20, 20141

Jill Hannemann@JHCherryBlossomjhannemann@portalsolutions.net

Editor, Digital

Workplace Today

Director of Advisory Services

10+ years in Knowledge

Management

SharePoint expertise: information architecture, records management, content migration, document management

Culinary project: It’s soup and chili season!

Meet Jill

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Tatiana BaqueroFormer KM

Institute Board

Member

Senior KM Consultant

10+ years in Knowledge

Management

SharePoint expertise: Taxonomy and Metadata workshops, document management, search improvement, requirements identification

Music and Dance: guitar, sing, Gotas de Miel CD

Meet Tatiana

About Portal Solutions

We deliver Digital Workplace Products and Solutions that help organizations share what they know and find what they need by connecting people, data, and content.

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What are we going to talk about today?

1. Information Architecture Challenges

2. Secret Sauce for Successful Information Architecture

3. Metadata Case Study

4. Information Architecture Best Practices

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IA CHALLENGES

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“Search doesn’t work!”“I can’t find what I’m looking for!”

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Garbage in… Garbage out…8

Disparate databases, applications and file shares.9

People try to develop their own folder structures. A folder-based organization doesn’t scale. 10

Some of the facts…

• Unstructured content = 80% or more of all content

• Need to add structure to make it useful

• Information is about meaning, semantics

• Search is about semantics, not technology

• Can’t Google do it?• Link Algorithm – human act of meaning

• Doesn’t work in enterprise

• 1,000’s of editors adding meaning

• New technology makes it possible – Text Analytics

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To find content online we need to be speaking the same language. And that language is called Taxonomy and Metadata.

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Secret Sauce for Successful IA

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What is Metadata? Supermarket ExampleMETADATA FIELD SAMPLE VALUES

Departments(Product Category)

Bakery- Cakes- Breads

Frozen Food- Deserts- Frozen Meals- Vegetables

Meat & Poultry- Beef- Chicken

Produce- Fruits- Vegetables

…

Product Brand Lean CuisineOscar MayerQuakerThomas…

Price $10$20$30…

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Metadata Example – Shoes Store

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IA DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

• Information Architecture (IA)

Secret Sauce for Successful IA

(Navigation, Search, Taxonomy, and Metadata)Key Ingredients

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IA’s Key Ingredients

Key Ingredients

• Taxonomy and Metadata:• End user focus• Think creatively when designing it• Use simple words based on the organization’s language

• Site Navigation: • A flatter taxonomy structure with maximum 3 levels

deep• At least 5 sub-categories per category, but no more than

15• Avoid overlap between content or duplication of

content• Search:

• Flexible and dynamic search approach that allows easy sort and filter based on metadata

• Document Management:• Content types and classification• Filtering, searching within libraries and lists

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Metadata Applied to Documents

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Audience

• Internal

• Executives

• Managers

• External

• Suppliers

• Customers

• Partners

MetadataTopics

• Employee Services

• Compensation

• Retirement

• Insurance

• Further Education

• Support Services

• Infrastructure

• Supplies

• Products and Services

• Finance and Budget

Title

Author

Department

Audience

Topic

Metadata per Document Type

Presentations

Forms

Policies

TitleSub-headerPresenter's NamePresenter's Title DateClassification

TitleNameDateJob TitleDepartment #EntityClassification

TitlePolicy NumberDepartmentLast UpdatedClassification

METADATA

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User Centered Design

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Optimizing SharePoint to be designed around how users can, want, or need to use it, rather than forcing them to change their behavior to accommodate it.

Card Sorting ExerciseBuilding, Testing, Validating Design

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Card Sorting Exercise Types

• Open card sorting allows participants to create and name their own categories. Using the open card sorting method allows you to see how participants mentally classify the cards and what terms they use as categories.

• Closed card sorting allows you to set and name your categories. This helps you evaluate if the category names you set provides an effective way of organizing content.

• Hybrid card sorting is a mix of the open and closed card sorting methods. You can set predetermined categories, but if a participant cannot find a suitable category to sort a card, you can allow participants to create their own category during the survey.

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Card Sorting Exercise Steps1. Identify and label the cards (approx. 50).

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Card Sorting Exercise Steps1. Identify and label the cards (approx. 50).

2. Ask users to sort the cards in the order that makes sense to them.

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Card Sorting Exercise Steps1. Identify and label the cards (approx. 50).

2. Ask users to sort the cards in the order that makes sense to them.

3. Once the results are in, analyze the data and identify any similarities using visuals and statistics.

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Card Sorting Exercise Steps• The result? Well-defined content categories.

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Tips to Pick Cards for Card Sorting1. Be consistent in the capitalization of the card

labels.

2. Avoid obvious patterns in the card labels.

3. Use representative cards in a category, rather than an exhaustive list.

4. Exclude well known cards.

5. Be consistent with the granularity.

6. Include enough cards of a given type for groups to be formed.

7. The card labels should be meaningful to the participants.

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Goal: Groupings, not Hierarchy

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A couple rules…One of these things is not like the other…

Maintain consistent degree of generality in sibling categories. 30

Document Types

Proposals Contracts Reports

Document Types

Proposals Contracts U.S.A.

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Online Card Sorting Tool

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Online Card Sorting Tool

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Online Card Sorting Tool – Results

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Taxonomy Workshops and Focus Groups• 1-2 days of guided discussions to define taxonomy, metadata, and related terms

consistently.• Create a “Starter Taxonomy” and initial metadata strategy.

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Taxonomy Workshops and Focus GroupsTarget Audience

• Cross-organizational group of subject matter experts and project owners from key business units

• Max. 12-15 attendees

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Document Categorization Process

Note: Identify dependencies between Document Types and specific Metadata Fields.

Identify Content Types

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An EXERCISE

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IA BEST PRACTICES

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Best Practices for Information Architecture

Facilitate cross-organizational taxonomy

sessions

Identify all possible audiences

Refine and validate the taxonomy through various

iterations

Implement a change management strategy Have a clear plan to

build your site

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Best Practices for Information Architecture

Gain Management Support

Map Legacy Data to New Taxonomies for Content Migration

Communicate the Evolving Nature of

Taxonomy

Identify Metadata for Documents

Content Governance

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Final Thoughts

• What are your company’s main Information Architecture needs?

• Are you or your colleagues struggling to find content in your company’s Intranet?

• What card sorting methodology could you use in your organization to help improve content categorization? Online card sort? A workshop?

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METADATA Case Study

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Case Study• 2,000-employee company in the health care industry, a

highly regulated field. • Frequent records inspections from global regulatory

agencies.

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Business Case Details• Project Scope: Design and implement a pointer system in

SharePoint 2010 for multiple electronic and hard copy document repositories related to different products.

• Project Timeframe

Requirements Design Implementation Support

Nov 2013 – Feb 2014 Feb 2014 – Aug 2014

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Business Case

• Disparate databases applications, file shares

• Electronic and hard copy records

• Records search could take weeks or months!The Challenge

• Short project timeframe (audit from a Regulatory Agency)

• Limited Resources (SMEs)

The Project Constraints

• Taxonomy/Metadata Workshops

• Metadata analysis from existing repositories

• SharePoint 2010 Best PracticesThe Methodology

• SharePoint 2010 Records Search System

• Metadata, Managed Metadata, Content Types

• Advanced Search, Search RefinersThe Solution

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Project Team

Project Team

Portal Solutions

PM and IA Lead

Development Lead

Company Healthcare

PM

6 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

Technical Support Engineer

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Project Scope• SharePoint-based document records search system

• Central metadata-based source of document records

• A pointer system to multiple document repositories

Document Records Search System

- Record Title - Record Type- Date- Author

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The System in Numbers

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Search: Basic Search and Advanced Search

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14 Content Types available to create New Document Records

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Text Fields

Managed Metadata Fields

Calendar Fields

Drop-down Fields

Various Types of Metadata Fields

* Mandatory Fields 52

Managed Metadata: Term store, Term Sets and Terms

• Example: Document Types hierarchy and synonyms.

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SharePoint 2010 Search Features

• List - Sort and Filter features

• List - Managed Metadata Navigation feature

• List - Key Filters feature

• Basic Search

• Advanced Search

• Refiners in the Search Results Page

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Search: List - Sort and Filter features• Example: Ability to sort the “Title” column in ascending or descending order, or to

filter by individual document title.

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Search: List - Managed Metadata Navigation• The Managed Metadata is configured to filter

two of the most important Managed Metadata fields : Document Type and CTD Section.

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Search: List - Key Filters feature• Four Key Filters help users look

for content in the Document Records list.

1. Document Approval Date 2. Document Effective Date3. Document Type4. Section Number

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Search: Advanced Search• Search for content based on specific metadata values (Properties).

Section NumberDocument TypeFMC CodeJurisdictionMarketMoleculeProduct NameReceiving SiteRegionsSending SiteSite OwnershipTest MethodsTrade Name

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Search: Refiners in the Search Results Page • Refiners assist users in finding the specific document records they are looking for

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