A few months ago I worked on a project where the client was really keen on getting an understanding of content type and metadata best practices. After a merger with another company they had to consolidate their SharePoint environments and part of this was obviously to revisit the enterprise metadata model. I thought I’d share this with you and hopefully some good feedback and different views from you can help improve these best practices J

Reasons for creating a new content type and best practices

• Document Templates: If a document template needs to be re-usable, a content type will be required to govern and maintain the document template across the organisation
• Search: Would a user search for this type of content uniquely? This will also govern content type inheritance. If, for example, a termination form and a recruitment request form, have some similarities but each use a different template, Newcrest would want to create a parent “Form” content type and 2 child content types called “Termination Form” and “Recruitment Request Form”. This ensures that similarities are shared across multiple content types through the parent content type. Also users will be able to search for a specific type of form instead of just “Forms”.
• Workflows: Content types might need to be created to better govern document management through a workflow, unique to the content type.
• Re-usability: New content types should/can be introduced if there is a need to reuse a set of metadata applicable to a type of content within a site, site collection or across the enterprise
• Naming Convention:
  • A naming convention and grouping needs to be developed to ensure consistency across the organisation.
  • Ensure unique names for all content types within a site collection, site or on an enterprise level
  • Plural nouns should be used as content types classify a group of content (e.g. HR Forms)

Reasons for creating a site column and best practices

• Universal metadata columns: These are columns that have an enterprise wide purpose and need to be assigned to all content types. A typical scenario would be a records retention code.
• Search Considerations:
  • Publishing content: Columns for publishing content should be based on the question whether or not the user will actually use the content classification to search for content. The better and more detailed the classification definition is, the easier it will be for users to find information.
  • Collaboration content: Ideally the mandatory columns assigned for content classification should not exceed 5 columns. Users usually have up to 30 seconds of patience when uploading new content, therefore the process (upload and classify content) should not exceed this time frame.
  • Both:
    Where possible, default values should be assigned, to shorten the upload process. Also calculated values should be considered, if applicable.
    Calculated values based on other metadata, can help decreasing the upload time and increasing metadata consistency (and therefore a better search experience)
• Naming Convention:
  • A naming convention and grouping needs to be developed to ensure consistency across the organisation.
  • Ensure unique names for all site columns within a site collection, site or on an enterprise level
  • Singular nouns should be used for column names unless a multiple choice data type is used
• Choice values:
  • Values in a choice list should be mutually exclusive
  • Fill in choice list options should be avoided for a consistent search experience
  • The following choice options should be avoided:
    • N/A
    • Other
    • None
  • Values should be in an order logical to the end user

Usability Metadata (Parameters)

These are metadata properties which ideally only apply to a certain list or library. They are normally not used to search or classify content as such, but to filter and group content within a single container (document library or list). Usability metadata should only be assigned to a content type if it will be reused in various locations.