This is an in-depth walkthrough of Microsoft 365 information architecture. It includes:
* Ways into M365 - Teams, SharePoint and Viva Connections
* Elements of information architecture in M365
* M365 governance
* Classification, security and retention models and the role they play in enterprise search
2. Primary ways into M365
The importance of strategy
Designing an M365 information architecture
M365 Information Architecture components
Skills and knowledge needed by IM professionals
How a well configured M365 tenant can look
The roles of IT and IM and other key stakeholders
2.5 hours, 10 minutes of Q&A
15 June, 2022
3. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should do it. Your
M365 strategy is influenced by:
• Strength of executive support…and budget
• Value placed on IM vision and strategy
• The level of authority of your Information Management team
• The importance placed on information governance
• The level of technical and user support you can provide
• The maturity of user skills and nature of an organisation roles
• Organisational culture
• KISS – Keep it Simple for Staff
5. SharePoint
Files & Security
Libraries & Intranet
Teams
Collaboration/Chat/Calls/Meetings
The front door to many apps
Microsoft Groups
Security
Exchange Mailbox / Outlook
6. Executive sponsorship
Initial and ongoing budget
IM strategy linked to corporate strategy – VISION
Architecture
◦ Consistent IA design and processes…
◦ …keyed to organisational, intranet & IM strategy
◦ Extended for individual business units…
◦ …taking into account organisational maturity/capability
7. Organisational change
◦ More effective business processes
◦ Training
◦ More effective communications
and collaboration
◦ Behavioural change
Support
◦ Deployment & migration during rollout
◦ Governance and support model
◦ Ongoing business and technical support
Knowing what the technology can be made to do
Time!!
8. • Information management strategy
• Foundation IM infrastructure capability
• Well managed business content (documents, images, audio-visual)
• Taxonomy and classification
• Navigation from any entry point
• Document management-type workflow
• Seamless records management
• Seamless intranet
• Collaboration
• Extended capability
• Forms and business process workflow
• Retention for business applications
• Business intelligence & reporting
• Inter-organisation collaboration
• Client engagement
• Automated publishing - web and print
• Processes and content spanning intra- and Internet sites, and mobilised
versions of your content and forms
Skills:
• People
• Process
• Change
• Information and knowledge curation
• Technology & tools
• Governance
9. Global navigation Hub structure
Local site and page
navigation
Metadata
architecture
Search experience
Personalised
content experiences
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/information-architecture-modern-experience
1
2
3
4
4 9
12. What Information Management processes do
you want to see consistent across business
units?
…from a Business Value and
User’s perspective
…technology agnostic
22. Review and approval is a component step in an end-to-end
process
As an IM professional, we should ask ‘what’s next’ and
understand process analysis
If your solution does not have effective approval processes,
you are open to the risks seen in the last several slides, then:
◦ Your level of IM maturity is low
◦ You invariably have inefficiencies built into your IM systems, content
duplication, decisions made on incorrect data, and manual processes
for ensuring currency of information
◦ The risk is worthy of including in your corporate risk register
23. WORK IN PROGRESS
Information being
developed by its author,
not visible to others
SHARED SECURED
Information shared with
selected teams or
external parties but not
the entire organisation
SHARED
Information authorised
for broad distribution.
Appears in enterprise
search and an
integrated intranet
LOGICAL ARCHIVE
Removed from general
access and live search.
Available through
‘archive’ search
DISPOSED
Disposed with a record
of destruction citing
authority
WITHDRAWN/SUPERSEDED
COLD ARCHIVE*
Removed to offline
archive for retention.
Available for restoration
if needed.
APPROVE/REVIEW
24. Approval Date
Owner
Last Review Date
Next Review Date
Review Status
Doc Status
• Draft
• Review Draft
• Approved
• Withdrawn
• Copy
Doc Type
• Report
• Checklist
• Meeting etc
BCS
Notes (free format
text)
25. Not all content is equal. A policy document needs an approval date,
an end date (when it’s withdrawn or superseded) and a review date. A
report does not
M365 allows you to assemble sets of metadata into content types,
and create new content types from lower-level types
PMK Document
• Notes
• Doc Status
• BCS
• Business Unit
• Fin Year
PMK Policy
• Notes
• Doc Status
• BCS
• Business Unit
• Fin Year
• Owner
• Approve Date
• End Date
• Review Date
PMK Project
• Notes
• Doc Status
• BCS
• Business Unit
• Fin Year
• Project
• Key Document
• Metadata flows from lower
to higher level Content
Types
• Folders are a Content Type
• Web pages (aka Publishing
Pages) are a Content Type
• Lists are a Content Type
26. A site may have many libraries
Sites should have a consistent
structure
Business units have processes they
share with other business units…
…but have processes which make
them unique
Metadata is added to libraries by
adding Content Types
Template sites can be created…
…but Content Types and Views
still need to be added to
libraries (aka Provisioning)
PMK Document
• Notes
• Doc Status
• BCS
• Business Unit
• Fin Year
PMK Project
• Notes
• Doc Status
• BCS
• Business Unit
• Fin Year
• Project
• Key Document
27. Content Services
• Term Store (Taxonomies)
• Content Types and
Metadata (aka Columns)
M365 Admin
Finance
M365 SharePoint Sites
Intranet
Projects
(Hub)
Project 2
Project 1
HR
28.
29.
30. Named sets of library columns
◦ Grouped
◦ Filtered
◦ Sorted
◦ Display formats
…including
` Gantt charts
Support processes and search
within a library
31.
32. Global navigation Hub structure
Local site and page
navigation
Metadata
architecture
Search experience
Personalised
content experiences
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/information-architecture-modern-experience
1
2
3
4
4
33.
34.
35. Intranet pages:
◦ Are files in a SharePoint library
◦ Have metadata and content types
◦ Provide quick navigation to corporate
resources and team sites
◦ Have a strong governance model…
◦ …central ownership with devolved
responsibility to business units
◦ Should be subject to the same search,
classification and retention rules as
any other content
36. Very powerful – capable of spanning applications
Drill-down search supported by metadata columns
‘Result sets’ can be configured for targeted search (e.g.,
policies and procedures)
Search applies:
◦ At the site level
◦ Within Office applications
◦ Across all content in M365
Full text search has a syntax similar to Google search
◦ E.g., from: simon AND tennis in Outlook will find emails sent by me to
my Monday evening tennis competition players
45. Search at first glance is complex!!!
…but very powerful
‘Result Sets’ allow you to define the scope of search
Refiners are metadata which allow you to drill down on search
results using taxonomies like your BCS
Technical design issues apply to search
The key stakeholders are IM, IT, MARCOMMS…and business users
Search needs a strategy and must be built into training,
communications, and change management
46.
47. ‘Must have’ elements of IA
Templates
◦ Corporate and business unit resources are needed
◦ Part of Ways of Working
◦ Will drive future auto- classification and generation of documents (Syntex)
◦ Metadata can be incorporated into templates
◦ Templates can be added to the New menu in a library
Default metadata columns
◦ Avoid the need for users to enter metadata
◦ Libraries and folders can have default values
◦ Content Types can have default values
◦ Templates can have default values
51. Site design – inc. hubs,
sites, libraries & folders
Metadata & Content
Types
Taxonomies (including
your BCS)
Library Views
Navigation and menus
Search – targeted search
and search refinement
Intranet
Retention rules &
policies (labels)
Security Templates
Metadata Defaults Workflow & Processes
Syntex auto-
classification
Viva topic cards
52. Global navigation Hub structure
Local site and page
navigation
Metadata
architecture
Search experience
Personalised
content experiences
1
2
53. • Keep it Simple for Staff (KISS)
• Build your IM processes and use of metadata and templates into
training, comms, and change management
• Make default metadata a major part of your IA
• Start small –you can add more metadata later
• …but you need the Content Type structure in place
• Minimum set of metadata
• Notes – it’s valuable and people will use it
• BCS – drives search and records management
• Doc Status (lifecycle – Draft, Review Draft, Final, Withdrawn etc)
Add more to higher value content Policies, procedures, contracts
54. IM meets process improvement and innovation
Every cloud system has a vendor feedback button
Feedback provides a structured approach to capturing
opportunities for process improvement
‘Fix it or flag it’ – a lesson from Knowledge Centred Services
(KCS)
Types:
◦ Errors in documents
◦ Questions (clarification)
◦ Ideas for document improvement
◦ Ideas for process improvement
55. Information management is
multi-disciplinary and strategic
Information
Management
Process /
Quality
Office
Digital
Transformation
Information
Technology
Marketing &
Comms
Knowledge
Mgmnt
HR /
Training
Customer
Support
Customer
Self
Service
Digital
Transformation Business Units