Information Architecture within SharePoint is relatively unnoticeable when it does it’s job efficiently. Unfortunately, this often means that as an undesirable side-effect, when it goes wrong, end users become extremely agitated with it. When it works completely and there are no problems, it’s very easy to presume as a user that what is actually running smoothly is the design or a “well-configured search engine”. The poor beleaguered IA is either ignored or reviled.
According to Joe Sheply of CMS WiRE, the worst offenders for bad SharePoint Information Architecture are the business sector, noting:
“It’s safe to say that the lion’s share of documents in corporate America’s repositories are a mess and that end-users at those organisations are suffering the effects of the lack of effective IA.”
Listing the problems users encounter when faced with badly constructed Information Architecture, Sheply argues that a typical corporate SharePoint solution poses problems in version management, document management, duplication, poor information life-cycles, unregulated content leading to lost/untraceable/invisible files and data and inconsistencies in the metadata.
Orphaned data, input inconsistencies in both metadata and file naming conventions and unnecessary multiple copies of files are wasteful and time-consuming. They encourage users to dismiss a SharePoint solution in favour of less efficient but essentially more familiar ways of working, such as using paper documents or emails. In a busy corporate environment in 2011, this just isn’t feasible.
Hadron SA is our award winning, advanced SharePoint solution accelerator, incorporating sophisticated Information Architecture and document management within the build.
We have over a man year of development in Hadron SA, reflected in the sophisticated Information Architecture and components at its heart. The value of the intellectual property within Hadron SA is considerable and allows us to deliver a highly featured and effective SharePoint intranet, incorporating rich document management, collaboration and information retrieval in less than 12 weeks; sooner if you can keep up. Hadron SA also provides the platform for future phases and enhancements, such as our Rapid BI solution or our Clinical Centre.
For further reading, we recommend the original article: “The Root of all Evil” by Joe Sheply. We also highly recommend “Information Architecture in SharePoint” – a short video from a designer’s POV.
