Frustrated with SharePoint? Can’t find anything? Copilot results disappointing? You need Managed Metadata! It isn’t just another buzzword – it’s your secret weapon for:
- Supercharging search accuracy
- Creating intuitive navigation
- Preparing your organisation for Copilot
- Streamlining workflows
What is Managed Metadata?
SharePoint metadata is all the information that is attached to your data in SharePoint: “information about information.”
Managed Metadata provides a formal classification system to manage hierarchical collections of terms that can be used as attributes in SharePoint sites. It’s a system for creating, defining, and managing standardised terms and categories that can be applied across your SharePoint environment. Managed Metadata is a powerful feature in SharePoint Online that can revolutionise how your organisation handles information.
Trying to organise SharePoint without managed metadata is like everyone playing different poker rules — impossible to track. Setting up even basic metadata, like document types or topics, ensures everyone plays by the same rules, making it easier to sort, filter, and quickly find the content you need.
- Liza Tinker, WebVine Senior Consultant
What is a SharePoint Term Store?
A SharePoint Term Store is a central repository for managing metadata across a SharePoint environment. It allows us to create, organise and maintain standardised terms and categories, ensuring consistency in tagging and classification of content.
SharePoint Consistency is Key
One of the primary benefits of Managed Metadata is its ability to ensure everyone in your organisation uses the same terms to categorise information like clients, departments, markets or document types so Jane doesn’t describe her department as “Accounts” while Raj describes it as “Finance”. This eliminates confusion and significantly improves search accuracy. No more guessing games when trying to find that crucial document!
Efficiency in Information Retrieval
Standardised terms and categorisation lead to more efficient information retrieval.
Users can quickly find what they need without wading through irrelevant documents. This time-saving feature can dramatically boost productivity and reduce frustration across your organisation.
Managed Metadata can also be used to create intuitive navigation structures. This makes it easier for users to browse and locate information within SharePoint, enhancing user experience.
Accurate Reporting and Analysis
With consistent metadata, you can easily track trends and identify patterns based on how documents are categorised. This capability facilitates more accurate reporting and analysis, providing valuable insights for decision-making.
Managed Metadata and Copilot
Using Managed Metadata and the Term Store can significantly prepare your organisation to successfully embrace Copilot. Here’s how:
- Improved Data Organisation: Managed Metadata allows for consistent tagging of documents and items across SharePoint. This consistency helps Copilot understand and categorise information more effectively.
- Enhanced Searchability: Managed metadata helps Copilot understand what files contain, which can help it return relevant information. By leveraging the Term Store, Copilot can perform more accurate and context-aware searches. This means users can find relevant information quickly, improving productivity.
- Performance: Like any database, making it easier for Copilot to index SharePoint information means faster searches and better performance.
- Better Compliance and Governance: Managed Metadata helps enforce data governance policies by ensuring that all documents are tagged correctly. This is crucial for maintaining compliance with industry standards.
- Streamlined Workflows: Metadata can trigger automated workflows in Power Automate, making processes more efficient. Copilot can use metadata to understand the context and automate routine tasks, reducing manual effort and errors.
Implementing Managed Metadata
To maximise the benefits of Managed Metadata, consider the following steps:
- Create metadata sets for document types, functions, and key terms specific to your organisation
- Make the term store available across all SharePoint sites within your organisation
- Encourage the use of relevant keywords from the term store alongside managed metadata for even more granular search capabilities
By implementing Managed Metadata, you’re not just organising your data; you’re paving the way for a more efficient, user-friendly, and future-ready SharePoint environment.
The benefits extend beyond simple organisation to improved searchability, streamlined workflows, better compliance, and enhanced user experiences. In today’s data-driven world, can you afford not to care about Managed Metadata?