For all of the preceding reasons, the Managed
Metadata Service (MMS) must be utilized if you want to significantly
improve the findability of information in your environment. It is the
only way you’ll achieve consistent application of metadata to your data
within SharePoint 2010. When your users consistently apply metadata to
information, they will be able to find information more easily and
quickly. The MMS is all about putability in your information
architecture.
Table 1
provides an outline of how content type syndication and the MMS achieve
the metadata.
Table 1. Alignment of the MMS with Metadata Criteria
| METADATA CRITERIA | MANAGED METADATA SERVICE | NOTES |
|---|
| Discriminatory | X |
Through the central management of content types, metadata fields can be controlled and applied. Closed
choice fields can be promulgated across the enterprise, ensuring that
metadata values selected have been vetted to make sure they are
discriminatory.
|
| Input accurately | X | Closed choice fields can ensure that metadata is selected, rather than input, which will reduce or eliminate misspellings, undefined synonyms, or other extraneous data input. |
| Input consistently | X | By setting the metadata fields in the content types to require population, you can ensure that metadata is applied consistently. |
| Defined | X | Set the baseline for end-user education about metadata with the glossary that defines the metadata fields and possible values. |
By the product team’s own
presentations, the MMS was built on four basic scenarios. The first
scenario concerns consistency: Is the description of the data (the
content type) the same across the enterprise? Do the metadata fields and
the values input into those fields contain consistency in both
structure and application? When you stop to think about it, content
types and metadata are really about consistent governance, management,
and standardization of information descriptors in the enterprise. In
other words, if you develop content type “A” in site collection 1, is it
the same construct as when it is used in site collection B? The MMS
answers this question in the affirmative and yet provides localized
extensibility for greater usability of the content type in specific
scenarios.
Note:
A content type
is merely a data element plus metadata combined into a persistent
structure that can be utilized throughout the SharePoint 2010
environment.
The second scenario is about
identity: What is in the content type? Regarding the enterprise, does
this content contain the same type of data and metadata? Understanding
the construction of the content type helps you understand its focus,
purpose, and meaning.
The third scenario
involves location: Where is this content type and how can you use it?
The MMS will allow you to pull down the content type from the hub and
ensure that it is located in your site collection.
The fourth and last
scenario is about life cycle: This scenario encompasses the creation,
consumption, and disposition of the content type in the enterprise. More
specifically, the content type can be mapped to a document’s life cycle
and then utilized across the enterprise in distinct ways using the
information policies and workflow associations of the content type. So
you can use workflows to move the document from one life-cycle stage to
the next, ensuring that compliance is enforced, tracked, and audited.
