An Implementation Plan for Taxonomies for SharePoint 2010 Should Contain a Content Audit - Blogging Thoughts on SharePoint and Office 365

As Mike Doane notes, a successful implementation plan for supporting SharePoint 2010 with taxonomies should include a content audit. Mike Doane is the author of a set of video training content on Managing Enterprise Metadata with Taxonomy Management in SharePoint 2010, which is available for purchase on our web site, SharePoint-Videos dot com. This content is also available to anyone with a subscription to our web site content.

In fact, it makes sense to audit content actually stored in SharePoint coincidental with interviewing important stake holders and power users. The objective of the content audit is to determine the type of content already residing in SharePoint as well as the type of content that users are routinely creating and targeting for storage in SharePoint document libraries and lists. The results of the content audit, interviews and other steps in the taxonomy implementation plan should be used to put together a road map for the complete project.

Useful content auditing tools, as Mike points out, include simply looking at the titles of the types of documents stored in document libraries. In fact, these titles can be useful clues as to the type of content that users are routinely creating and storing in SharePoint. These clues can be used to ” . . . frame out the higher levels of the taxonomy.” (quoted from Mike Doane’s video course, Planning Taxonomy implementation in SharePoint 2010 – Part Two). Another set of clues on the term groups and term sets that make sense for a custom taxonomy is to review any/all SharePoint 2010 Site Columns which should, already, be organized by Site Content Types.

It makes sense to record the complete list of custom term groups, term sets, and terms for an organization of business in an Excel spreadsheet. Once a custom hierarchy of this information has been recorded on an Excel spreadsheet, it is a simple matter to merely upload the spreadsheet to the Term Store. Once the data has been incorporated within the Term Store, the taxonomy will be accurately depicted by term groups, term sets and terms for ease of review.

In this video course, Planning Taxonomy implementation in SharePoint 2010 – Part Two, Mike Doane explains that keywords (which are included within the Term Store tools beneath any/all custom hierarchies, within the “System” section) are the words that users assign to their documents and lists once they have added their data to SharePoint. It makes sense to include these keywords within the set of information subject to periodic audit and taxonomy maintenance.