SharePoint Metadata Strategy

Having a metadata strategy is key to implementing a functional and effective SharePoint portal or any other portal or knowledge management solution for that matter.

Framework
In order to build a successful metadata strategy a framework must be built in which documents can be stored. A balance between the document storage process and document retrieval must be attained in order for that framework to be successful.
The framework must also be flexible enough to adapt to the ever changing structure of an organization. For example, a strategy will be set for an organization based of the information gathered by people and departments but over time as an organization evolves departments are created, removed or consolidated and the strategy must be able to adapt accordingly.

Corporate Vocabulary
One of the most important components of a metadata strategy is to define a corporate vocabulary.
The first step is to identify which words used throughout an organization actually mean the same thing.
The second step is to identify words used throughout an organization that are spelled the same but mean different things.

Document Type
Another key component is identifying the types of documents used throughout the organization. Different document types have unique metadata attached but will often have metadata that span across types. Analyzing document types will help in creating the metadata strategy and later on with SharePoint Content Types for documents.

SharePoint Features
SharePoint has features to help with building and maintaining a flexible metadata framework through “Content Types”, library and list columns and “Managed Properties”

SharePoint Content Types
The “Content Type” is a new feature of SharePoint Services 3.0 designed to help users organize their SharePoint content in a more meaningful way. A content type is a reusable collection of settings you want to apply to a certain category of content. Content types enable you to manage the metadata and behaviors of a document or item type in a centralized, reusable way.

Managed Properties
“Managed Properties” contain crawled metadata that come from libraries, lists and documents and are available in search results and advanced search.