Microsoft® SharePoint®
Technologies Solution
Overview
Lesson 1 Introduction
Key planning questions for information architecture*:
• What information do your users need to have
and use to achieve their goals?
• Where is that information stored now? • What is the best way to organize it?
Use taxonomies to organize information
• Metadata taxonomy – primarily for searching • Navigational taxonomy – primarily for browsing
Lesson 1 Overview Metadata Taxonomy Site Columns Content Types Managed Properties Navigational Taxonomy
Logical Architecture Review
Components and Architecture Models
Other Planning Topics
Metadata Taxonomy at a Glance All Metadata Crawled Properties Site Columns* Site Columns in Content Types Managed Properties**
Site Columns
Site Columns
Planning for Site Columns
Site columns are “column templates”
Updates to site columns can be propagated to the entities that use them – but do so with care! Site columns should be grouped into meaningful categories
Use to improve data quality and simplify data entry
Planning scopes:
Site collection level – for intrasite search & data entry Enterprise – for intersite search & enterprise data entry
Content Types
Document Library
Planning for Content Types
Content types are composed of site columns Content types are independent of file type Plan for workflows to associate business processes with specific content types
Site columns should be grouped into meaningful categories
Planning scopes:
Site collection level – for intrasite search, data entry, and business processes
DEMO
Metadata Taxonomy:
Managed Properties
Metadata associated with an item of content.
Content items from different content sources have different property names for the same properties.
Crawled Property
A single property with a one to many relationship with many crawled properties. Enables improved search and metadata control.
Implementing Managed Properties
Managed Property Crawled Property
Customer Client (SharePoint)
Cust (BDC)
Customer (Word)
Managed Properties Used In:
Scope definitions
Advanced Search Web part Property filter query syntax
• author:luis
DEMO
Metadata Taxonomy Planning Summary
Element Scope(s) Planning Questions
Site Column Site
Site Collection Web Application* Farm*
Who is the information aimed at? What type of data do users work with? Can users already find the information they require?
How do users work with content? Content Type Site
Site Collection Web Application* Farm*
What document types do your users deal with? What site columns have you defined for user content?
How will your users locate content? Managed Property
(MOSS ONLY)
SSP What content sources are available to users? How does content from one source relate to content from another?
Will there be a benefit to the user if you create a managed property?
SharePoint Containment Hierarchy
Items
Folders, Documents, List Items, Other Files, Calendar Items, Images, etc. Lists
Doc Lib, Pages, Events, Discussions, Surveys, etc.…
Sites
Wikis, Blogs, Team, Doc, Mtg, etc.
Site Collections
Publishing, Intranet Portal, Team, Records Center, MySite, etc.
Databases
Content, Config, SSP, Search, SSO
Web Applications
Central Admin, SSP Admin, Content (with Zones& Managed Paths, associated with SSP) Servers
Web Front End, Application (Index, Excel, Query, etc.), SQL
SharePoint Intranet Information Architecture Model
Permanent Central Portal Enterprise Search Enterprise Browse
Divisional Portals
Groups & Teams Projects & Workspaces
Personal Sites Corporate Business Taxonomy With Divisional Stakeholders Per User Ad Hoc Self Service w/ Life Cycle Management
Permanent Division Portals Business Process Management
Division News
Group Reporting & Scorecards
Semi Structured Group, Team, Project Sites and Workspaces
Blogs, bios, Social networking
Managed Paths & Site Directories
Managed Paths
Wildcard – Many site collections Explicit – One site collection
Site Directories
Cross-site and site collection navigation! “Ordinary” Site Directories
•Sites list & site categories •Site navigation pages
•Connection between site creation and sites list •Ad-hoc links to sites
Master Site Directory
Examples: Secondary Impacts of Taxonomies Metadata Taxonomy Impacts on Browsing
List & Library Views
Content Query Web Parts Audience Targeting
Navigational Taxonomy Impacts on Search
Content Database Planning Considerations Setup considerations
Who will create them? Naming conventions Physical considerations
Plan for software boundaries Plan for backup/restore SLAs Content-specific considerations
Database Administrator (DBA) Checklist
Configure the database surface area Create a database with a collation of LATIN1_General_CI_AS_KS_WS
Set the database owner to be the setup user account Add the application pool account to the Users group and assign roles
Content Database Configuration
Lesson 2: Solution Architecture Feature Architecture
Installing and Uninstalling Features Activating and Deactivating Features Site Definitions
Site Templates
Feature Architecture
Feature Scopes
Installing and Uninstalling Features Feature Receivers
Feature Dependencies Feature Scopes
Installing and Uninstalling Features Feature Stapling
Installing and Uninstalling Features
stsadm –o –installfeature –filename <Feature xml path>
Activating and Deactivating Features
stsadm –o –activatefeature –name <Feature name> -url <site> stsadm –o –deactivatefeature –name <Feature name> -url <site>
When activating a feature via STSADM, check the logs to confirm successful deployment. See
DEMO
Site Definitions
<Template Name="MySiteDefinition" ID="1091">
<Configuration ID="0" Title="My Custom Site Definition" Hidden="FALSE"
ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/stsprev.png" Description="A custom site for teams" DisplayCategory="Collaboration" > </Configuration>
</Template>
DEMO
DEMO
Solutions and Deployment
Solution
Solution Deployment Cycle
1. Install (Server Administrator) 2. Deploy (Farm Administrator)
3. Synchronize (Server Administrator - optional) Used when adding or restoring servers
DEMO
Design Considerations Scoping
Site Definitions are scoped at the Farm level only
Site Templates can only be scoped at the site, web, and farm level (unless you use a feature to install them)
Modifications
Features can be used to customize existing sites
Changes to site definitions cannot extend existing sites (though these changes may break them)
Design Considerations (continued) Inheritance and deployment
Site templates can be deleted without consequence
Site definitions should not be deleted (though they can be hidden)
Features can be deactivated and uninstalled
Recommended References
Information Architecture
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Administrator’s Companion, Ch. 8, by Bill English and The Microsoft
SharePoint Community Experts
Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Resource Kit, Chapter 8, by Bill English and Microsoft
SharePoint Team
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites by Louis Rosenfeld and
Peter Morville
Unlocking Knowledge Assets by Susan Conway and Char Sligar
Boxes And Arrows (Information Architecture Design site): http://www.boxesandarrows.com/
Plan for software boundaries: http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/6a13cd9f-4b44-40d6-85aa-c70a8e5c34fe1033.mspx?mfr=true
SharePoint Governance Checklist Guide: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=91896&clcid=0x409
Solutions, Features, Site Definitions, and Site Templates
WSPBuilder: http://www.codeplex.com/wspbuilder
WSS 3.0 Application Templates:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sharepoint/wssapps/templates/default.mspx
Working with Templates and Definitions: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms434313.aspx