Term sets are part of the larger set of MMS functionality present in a SharePoint Server 2013 ECM solution. MMS encompasses two distinct groupings of metadata: taxonomy and
folksonomy.
■■ Taxonomy The more formalized of the two groupings, taxonomy is hierarchical and deliberate in nature and includes terms and term sets.
■■ Folksonomy The more casual of the two groupings, folksonomy imparts items with metadata via the use of tags/keywords; no hierarchy can be implied or defined.
A term set is nothing more than an intelligent grouping of related terms; terms are nothing more than metadata that can be associated with items in a SharePoint list or library.
SharePoint administrators are often not the people who define term sets. Most term sets start as tags and keywords (folksonomy) and are then promoted to a more formal status as part of a term set (taxonomy). Be familiar with how this transition takes place.
Terms
One of the more interesting behaviors of terms is that they can be nested, up to seven levels deep. Additionally, you can designate certain levels of terms as “unavailable for tagging,” meaning that you will be using them only for navigational purposes (such as grouping topics by letter, for example, A–F, G–J, and so on).
Term sets
Term sets with SharePoint are stored within a term store, which is stored within a MMS application. A SharePoint implementation is not limited to a single metadata service application; multiple service applications might be present to service different legal or organizational functions.
Term sets can have a status of either open or closed. An open term set enables anyone to contribute a new term; a closed term set only enables contributors and owners to be able to add a new term.
IMPORTANT SHAREPOINT METADATA HIERARCHY
MMS Application(s) → Taxonomy Term Store (organized by language) → Term Set Group → Term Sets → Terms
Defining term set functionality
As human beings, we use metadata on a regular basis. We have logical groupings of metadata that describe our existence, such as these:
■■ Colors Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet
■■ Sizes X-small, small, medium, large, X-large
■■ Fabrics Polyester, cotton, wool, silk
In these examples, colors, sizes, and fabrics could all be valid term sets; their values would be considered as terms with a SharePoint environment. Additionally, these term sets could be grouped into a larger term set group, such as clothing.
Local versus global term sets
As term sets are being designed, it is important to consider the audience who will be consuming the metadata. During this design phase, questions such as these often arise:
■■ Does everyone in the enterprise need access to a particular term?
■■ Is the term specific in scope?
■■ Who should be managing the term set?
■■ What is the desired “footprint” of the term set?
A SharePoint MMS application is associated to a web application via the service application proxy. Terms provided via the proxy can be assigned to items within the desired SharePoint web application; the only consideration that must be made is one of scope.
Term sets are assigned by way of the Term Set Management Tool, which can be utilized at two distinct levels: site collection administration and Central Administration. Term sets created via site collection administration are called local term sets; those created via Central Administration are called global term sets.
Often, terms are generated specifically for the use of a single component/entity of the business; term sets that are scoped to a single site collection are known simply as local term sets.
Storing terms in a local term set simply means that the terms are available for use only within the site collection in which they are generated (although the term set is stored centrally within the MMS application). Such an arrangement might be preferable for items intended to be limited to one segment of the business and/or requiring less formal information management oversight (such as working with an enterprise librarian).
The creation and management of local term sets is done by site collection owners and administrators using the Term Store Management Tool.
Term sets that apply to a large section of the business are generally designed by an information management team. These term sets are often more formalized and are intended for application across multiple sites and site collections within a web application.
The creation and management of global term sets can be done by farm administrators, or (preferably) alongside appropriately trained business stakeholders who have been granted access via the MMS instance management page in Central Administration.
Core term set planning
The process of creating an information taxonomy can seem daunting, even in a relatively small business. The key to a successful metadata planning effort is to approach the information plan one piece at a time.
Members of a particular business unit often volunteer to be early adopters of this information management strategy and are willing advocates for a successful ECM implementation. Traditionally, this is the point at which IT has often attempted to interface with the business stakeholders directly, presumably to try and assess any technical pitfalls that could arise.
As it turns out, it is a common misconception to assume that term set designers have to be technical in order to design an effective metadata taxonomy; truthfully, they do not. Working with an enterprise librarian or design team, it is quite preferable to involve this group of term set designers in planning simply because they have firsthand knowledge of the products and processes that are pertinent to their segment of the business.
MORE INFO TERM SET PLANNING WORKSHEETS
Microsoft provides two distinct metadata planning worksheets in Microsoft Excel format. The term sets planning worksheet (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/ p/?LinkId=163486&clcid=0x409) provides a basic worksheet that can be implemented manually; the detailed term set planning worksheet (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/ p/?LinkId=163487&clcid=0x409) can be used for more in-depth metadata design. Of extra benefit is the fact that the detailed worksheet can be directly imported (in Comma- Separated Value [CSV] format) into the Term Store Management Tool.
Successfully planning a term set involves four core activities: identifying each term set, identifying a term set owner, designing term set groups, and defining the term sets
themselves.
Identifying term sets
Identifying what items should belong in a term set (and at what level) is often the hardest part of the entire metadata process. The sheer amount of metadata present in a business can be overwhelming, but there is an easy way to overcome the initial shock: Look for the pain points.
Specifically, you are looking for places that even a limited application of metadata could streamline processes and make information more readily searchable, such as the following:
■■ Custom columns, particularly those that enable the selection of one or more values (such as choice fields)
■■ Words or phrases that are being regularly used to tag an item (from folksonomy to taxonomy)
■■ Metadata that users often use to sort or filter items in a list or library
■■ Acronyms or abbreviations for a function or product
■■ Items that are, by definition, hierarchical in nature (for example, inventories) Items that probably should not be included in a term set might include these:
■■ Items that have column metadata fields that have already been provided with the SharePoint framework (built-in columns)
■■ Boolean (yes/no) values
■■ Items that might have different values in different segments of a business
■■ Items that have no well-defined values
Identifying term set owners
A term set owner is the person or group responsible for the maintenance of terms in a particular term set. As an example, if a business has locations that are added and removed on a regular basis, the term set owner is the person who does the additions and deletions of terms from the term set.
In more formal term sets (global term sets, in particular), the term set owner is often not a single individual but a small team of people who are responsible for the overall correctness of the term set.
Determine term set groups
Term set groups define security for a particular term set; they also provide for the logical grouping of term sets. Earlier in this section, we combined the term sets of colors, sizes, and fabrics into a term set group.
Users can be designated as contributors for a term set, and these people can be enabled to manage a particular term set in the group. Additionally, individuals can be designated as term set group managers, enabling them to assign and remove permissions to a term set or sets as required.
Defining the term set
After owners are defined for a particular term set, they can either choose to define the term set on their own or designate contributors to a term set to more fully develop the term set. Defining a term set boils down to these three distinct questions:
■■ What terms belong in any given term set?
■■ How are terms organized with a term set?
■■ Who are designated contributors for a given term set?
Creating a new term set
There are at least two ways to begin the process of generating a new term set, and they both use the Term Store Management Tool.
SCAs/owners can find the Term Store Management Tool from any site in the site collection. To begin using the Term Store Management Tool do the following:
1. Click the Settings icon in the upper-right corner of the site.
2. When the drop-down menu appears, select Site Settings.
3. From the Site Settings page that appears, within the Site Administration section, select the Term Store Management link.
Farm administrators and designated term store administrators can find the Term Store Management Tool from within Central Administration. To begin using the Term Store Management Tool, follow these steps:
1. Open Central Administration.
2. In the Application Management section, select Manage Service Applications.
3. Look for the name of the MMS and select its link.
4. The Term Store Management Tool will appear.
Creating a term set from the Term Store Management Tool
Within the Term Set Management Tool, there are two panes. The leftmost pane is hierarchical and enables the administrator to navigate down through the following:
■■ The Taxonomy Term Store that is being administered (based on language)
■■ The name of the MMS instance (icon depicted as a house icon with a tag overlay)
■■ The name of a term set (icon depicted as a manila file folder with a tag overlay)
■■ The term set (depicted as a series of tags in a group
■■ To create a new term (depicted as a single tag) To create the new term set, do the following:
1. Select an existing term set group and then click its drop-down arrow.
2. Note the options; you can do the following: A. Create a new term set.
B. Import a term set (from a comma-delimited UTF-8 CSV file, generated with the detailed planning workbook).
C. Delete a group (deletes the entire term set Group).
3. Selecting To create a new term set enables you to type a value for its name.
4. At this point, there are four tabs associated with your term set: General, Intended Use, Custom Sort, and Custom Properties.
5. On the General tab for the service application, you can specify the following:
A. Term Set Name: Specifies the term set name
B. Description: Enables you to type a description for the term set
C. Owner: Enables you to choose a primary user or group to designate as an owner for the term set
D. Contact: Enables you to specify an e-mail for term suggestions and feedback; without this value entered, the suggestion feature is disabled
E. Stakeholders: Enables you to specify people and groups within the organization who should be notified before major changes are made to the term set
F. Submission Policy: Enables the term set to be closed or opened; after it's closed, only metadata managers can add terms to the set
G. Unique Identifier: Displays the GUID associated with this term set
6. On the Intended Use tab, you can specify the following:
A. Available For Tagging Enables the term set to be used by end users and content editors of sites
B. Use This Term Set For Site Navigation Enables the term set to be used for managed navigation
7. On the Custom Sort Order tab, you can specify either of the following:
A. Use Default Sort Order According To The Current Language
B. Use a Custom Sort Order
8. On the Custom Properties tab, you can create any new custom properties for use in the term set.
Thought experiment
Designing a navigational taxonomy
In the following thought experiment, apply what you’ve learned about this objective. You can find answers to these questions in the “Answers” section at the back of this chapter.
You have been tasked with the implementation of a navigational taxonomy for your enterprise portal. The taxonomy will be designed by the corporate communications department and deployed by the SharePoint team. Additionally, it will be required that certain search terms will automatically promote the corresponding sites in the portal.
Describe a general approach you might take for this deployment.
