Why all the buzz around Information Architecture? Heck…what IS Information Architecture?
Community Guest Blog Post by Anne Thallman
You hear the phrase “Information Architecture” and like most members of the technology community, nod your head and agree about the importance of the concept for organizing company information. Then, when no one is looking, you nonchalantly reach for your phone to Google the term so the next time you hear Information Architecture or IA you are not thinking, “Huh?” From one of the non-buzzword savvy to another, please continue reading for some enlightenment and nifty tips…
What is Information Architecture?
Information Architecture is a powerful concept for content management, providing users with efficient access to information, allowing for easy content creation, and enabling the reuse of key material. Distributing information effectively to the workforce begins with a well thought-out content organization hierarchy. Classic portal architecture has been vertical and organized by business units; however, what if these business units work on the same project? Are the lines of business collaborating or is redundant information being created and stored?
Planning how information is organized is critical, impacts adoption of a solution, and establishes how well a workspace initiative will drive business processes. Ideally, the architecture matches the business process practice in order to streamline user adoption, allowing subject matter experts to maximize the potential of content and empower supporting department members.
Got Any Tips?
Define a system of record for all important company entities!! Internal departments, product names, office locations, client names, and any other piece of information important to running an enterprise are all valuable metadata that rely heavily on data integrity. The information should come from a common centralized source. Determining the source is vital to ensuring reliable data. There are usually two approaches to defining the source: Query a Line of Business (LOB) application or manage it manually.
Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint Foundations follows the query approach, enabling the creation of External Columns, which are metadata columns that retrieve data from backend sources. These items appear as metadata columns for portal content.
If manual management is the preferred tactic, take advantage of the SharePoint feature, Managed Metadata Service, a tool allowing content owners to create internal taxonomy through a series of terms grouped into term sets. The term sets are then made available to all SharePoint site collections through syndication. Metadata columns created using a manual approach can also be shared across site farms.
Interested in Learning More?
To learn more about Information Architecture, learn more about TAG's upcoming webinar titled SharePoint 2010: Get it Right the First Time that introduces key concepts for creating a SharePoint 2010 environment that will be scalable, searchable, and ready to meet the demands of any organization well into the future.
When? Tuesday, May 24th at 11:00 AM
What? A webcast highlighting how to maximize the features and functionality of SharePoint 2010 using best practices to solve specific business problems
Where? Visit the TAG website to register and obtain attendance instructions.
