TKG Consulting LLC Managing Content in SharePoint: Design construct and case study Gilbane Conference on Content Management April 10, 2007 Craig St. Clair

TKG Consulting LLC 2 Agenda Background: TKG and SharePoint SharePoint brief and recent history Designing the platform: merging user requirements and content delivery mechanisms Case Sudy: Content lifecycle management (CLM) and SharePoint

TKG Consulting LLC 3 TKG Consulting and SharePoint TKG is strategy consultancy focused on the ways that knowledge and information are transferred in organizations TKG’s approach is: –Establish business and user requirements >> –translate to functional requirements >> –apply functional requirements to a specific technical solution SharePoint is one of our technical competency areas

TKG Consulting LLC 4 SharePoint (very) brief history 2001 SharePoint Team Services (STS) for collaboration features created as a separate “add on” to Office 2000 SharePoint Portal Services (SPS) version 1 (2001) started life as a document management and indexing application: –Limited document sharing and versioning (Web Store) –Digital Dashboard interface (non asp.net development environment)

TKG Consulting LLC 5 SharePoint (very) brief history 2003 STS renamed WSS v. 2 (2003) –Team and project oriented –Collaboration store –Web parts as distinct page “building blocks” carrying specific functionality –Standalone sites that could be set up quickly using pre-defined templates and web parts SPS v. 2 (2003) –Built on top of WSS v. 2 –Adds enterprise-wide view designed to knit together individual WSS sites Indexing search Personalization Enhanced administrative management and taxonomy Document profiles and workflow left out MS CMS continued on its own path with poor integration

TKG Consulting LLC 6 SharePoint (very) brief history 2007 WSS v. 3 (2007) –Breadcrumbing and configurable navigation linking together collections of hierarchical sites –Supports for blogs, wikis and RSS improves bottom-up authoring SPS v. 2 becomes MS Office SharePoint Services MOSS (2003) –CMS merged with portal to create seamless content management capabilities across multiple sites and platforms –Front page imbedded into MOSS as SharePoint Designer –Truer ECM capabilities with MOSS envisioned as the single platform for team, intranet, extranet, and internet sites

TKG Consulting LLC 7 SharePoint weaknesses and limitations Continued confusion around differences between WSS and MOSS WSS started life as a team collaboration tool, not an information and functionality aggregation tool WSS as a stand alone application is not an enterprise intranet MOSS sits on top of individual WSS sites Look to WSS for page level tools: web parts, intra-site information architecture, out of box collaboration functionality Look to MOSS to knit together WSS sites: search, personalization, enterprise content management, global navigation and information architecture

TKG Consulting LLC 8 Developing a user driven design construct Business Needs and Goals Overall Design Concepts Specific Business Requirement Specific Business Requirement Specific Business Requirement Functional Requirements SharePoint Toolset

TKG Consulting LLC 9 SharePoint toolset Personalization Features SharePoint Architecture SP Content Management Tools Audience Targeting of content items, web parts, and sites Web part selection Web part arrangement on page Web part distribution across pages Page hierarchy within sites Site collection hierarchy among sites Site and site collection navigation Native SharePoint authoring tools SharePoint designer for webpage design CMS functionality Integration with other MS Office applications

TKG Consulting LLC 10 Site architecture design variables in terms of SharePoint Web Parts (WSS) Page Hierarchy (WSS) Site Hierarchy (MOSS) Site Collections (WSS + MOSS) Content Items (WSS) Audience Targeting (MOSS)

TKG Consulting LLC 11 Content management activities related to the SharePoint tool set Content element Content item Web part Page design Management of page level static content SharePoint tool MS Office apps WSS out of box functionality Native SP authoring tools SharePoint designer (replacing FrontPage) Integrated CMS functionality

TKG Consulting LLC 12 MOSS demo: MS CMS and SharePoint integration

TKG Consulting LLC 13 Case history: Enabling CLM within MOSS

TKG Consulting LLC 14 Project overview Create a more maintainable KM structure and environment –smooth the transition from project working documents to documentation of lasting value –create structured summary documentation that is easier to produce and maintain –describe a content management lifecycle that is sustainable across the organization Improve “findability” for KM documentation across service areas –create a single platform for KM –create multiple access points to individual documents

TKG Consulting LLC 15 Project approach Interviewed six consultants working on projects within a single practice area –Understand current practices for information creation, consumption and maintenance Reviewed the current WIKI and SharePoint environments –Derived existing taxonomy structures and types of content Defined a high level content lifecycle framework Applied findings by extending the current SharePoint platform –Proof of concept demonstration Identified exemplary documents –Demo population and testing

TKG Consulting LLC 16 Information and knowledge maintenance challenges Content is additive (it never goes away) Manual content maintenance does not scale It is often regarded as “job scope creep” It never stops…. it requires constant vigilance Building in owner accountability in the face of “immediate business need” is extremely difficult It is probably the most pervasive knowledge management problem Good reliable content maintenance often defines knowledge management success We are much better at creating information than we are at disposing of it The value of a knowledge base dramatically decreases as out-of- date information increases

TKG Consulting LLC 17 Project focus areas Document creation –Collaboration and iteration around team based project documentation Document and knowledge maintenance –Identification and promotion of project information and learnings to a central knowledge base –Combine summary level information with native project documentation Findability –Browse, search and retrieval of information in the knowledge base –Provide views across sites in the system –Add structure and improve search results via a more robust search engine –Use audience targeting to further refine views and results

TKG Consulting LLC 18 Sharepoint knowledge baseSharepoint team site Content lifecycle AUTHOR ITERATE FINALIZE PROMOTE ACCESS ARCHIVE

TKG Consulting LLC 19 Proposed site structure Knowledge base Organizational administration Archive Team or project sites Advanced search and personalization filters

TKG Consulting LLC 20 Proposed site content flow Knowledge base Archive Team or project sites

TKG Consulting LLC 21 Team site > Knowledge Base > Archive

TKG Consulting LLC 22 Questions? Comments? Discussion Contact: Craig St. Clair TKG Consulting LLC Web: tkgconsult.com Tel: