Hands-On: Taxonomies, Search, and SharePoint

Offered any time via the Web and teleconference at your convenience

What you will learn
Who should participate
Course format
Course outline
Instructor
Questions and answers
Cost
How to register

In this hands-on course, you will learn how to plan for, implement, and customize SharePoint search and navigation. The curriculum can be tailored to your goals, experience, and timetable. In addition to receiving one-on-one assistance with planning, taxonomy development, and customization tasks, you'll be able to download helpful reference documents.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
At the end of the seminar, you should be able to:

• Plan a SharePoint search system that serves the needs of both enterprise and team search;
• Create a content infrastructure compatible with SharePoint search;
• Customize the behavior and "look and feel" of SharePoint search;
• Create a metadata repository that includes a taxonomy and thesaurus for use with SharePoint;
• Create a site navigation system for SharePoint sites and sub sites;
• Add and use custom metadata elements;
• Design governance and metrics appropriate for your application.

WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE
This course is designed for Web site publishers, content owners, knowledge managers, technical writers, e-commerce managers, editors and others who want to learn how to enhance the SharePoint search and navigation system.

COURSE FORMAT back to top
The course is conducted via teleconference and email using a 200+ page textbook and a Web-based metadata repository lab.

Jean Graef is a "boundary spanner" with an interdisciplinary background as a manager, entrepreneur, librarian, programmer, and journalist. She has been developing and conducting seminars on cutting edge information topics since the early 1980's.

All you need is a Web browser, preferably Internet Explorer.

If you don't see the answer to your question here, call us at (423) 968-5584.

What are the steps involved in completing the course?

1. With the instructor's help, select a project that targets a business problem or function in your company. The ideal project is a highly visible but discrete problem that management is keenly interested in solving. You will be developing metadata and customizing a SharePoint Web site for this problem.

2. Complete both high level and detailed planning worksheets for your project.

3. Under the direction of the instructor, create a controlled vocabulary, thesaurus relationships, and list of name authorities applicable to the project domain. Submit metadata for content, thesaurus, people, and authorities to the instructor in Excel form. The instructor will load these data into the metadata repository lab.

4. Using a Web browser, edit your sample data in the metadata repository lab. You will be able to view your sample data in the Montague Institute's A - Z topic index format.

5. With the assistance of the instructor, create and customize a SharePoint Web site for the project.

6. With the assistance of the instructor, integrate data from the metadata repository into the SharePoint Web site. You will be able to view your data in SharePoint search results using the Montague Thesaurus Web Part.

7. Conduct a demo of the SharePoint site and metadata repository for your team and management. Write an evaluation of the demo, including team comments and your own assessment. The instructor's acceptance of this report concludes the course.

How long does it take?
The time required to complete the course is generally 40 - 80 hours and depends on the following factors:

1. How much time you need to spend understanding the business application for the project.

2. How much sample data you want to enter. The more sample data, the more you will learn and the better your demo will be. However, gathering and organizing sample data is time consuming. If you already have some metadata in an Excel spreadsheet or other data structure, you can use it.

3. How many people take the course. We recommend that at least two people take the course as a team, not only to spread the work but also to provide two different perspectives (e.g. library science/taxonomy and business analyst/manager or content owner).

What happens to my sample data?
At the end of the course, your sample data is exported and returned to you in a series of Excel spreadsheets. Then it is permanently removed from our server.

Can I license the metadata repository software and the thesaurus Web part?
Yes, you can contract for a custom version of the Montague Institute metadata repository and thesaurus Web part that will reside on your own network.

Can I get university credit?
Yes, as long as you make arrangements in advance with the university of your choice. For details, see How to get university credit.

HOW TO REGISTER
To register, call (423) 968-5584 to request a pro forma invoice or provide credit card details (we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, and Discover). Regardless of method, we must receive payment prior to the event. Created on January 8, 2010 l Updated on December 2, 2012