SharePoint Information Architecture & Taxonomy | PCL

Business Challenge

• Desire to design and construct an intuitive information architecture built on a stable technology environment that provided district autonomy while maintaining best practice in information management
• Complex and confusing organization and navigational constructs did not mitigate the effects of the sheer amount of amount of information
• Poor search experience described as a “random document generator”

Approach

• Taxonomy, information architecture and technology assessment resulting in a roadmap and detailed plan of future activities
• Requirements analysis including surveys, interviews, collaborative design sessions, content audits and development of a migration plan
• Identification of key audiences and development of user scenarios and workflow
• Design of content types, metadata schemas, taxonomy framework, controlled vocabularies, site map, navigation and wireframes

Outcome

• Development and prioritization of 275 system requirements, creation of a standard set of 11 content types, 50 metadata attributes and 11 controlled vocabularies
• Identification and mapping of 240 audiences, design of 11 standard use cases and related system workflows
• Design of a multi-level site map and 38 wireframes taking into consideration departmental structures, district autonomy and faceted search