Managed Metadata In SharePoint

Managed metadata

In this article, we will discuss Managed metadata in SharePoint, so before we dive into Managed metadata, we will discuss Metadata first.

What is Metadata?

Metadata is essential information or data about data. It helps to describe content, manage content, and organize content according to need. It gives information about other data. We don’t need to check the whole data collection to check whether there are changes or not. So, essentially, Metadata adds context to the data and makes it more useful and meaningful to get an overview of data.

Types of Metadata

1. Descriptive Metadata provides information and identifies resources, such as a Book title, subject or author name, and some keywords.
2. Structural Metadata indicates how data is structured and organized, how data is ordered, and how it relates to other data. It helps maintain the structure of complex data.
3. Administrative Metadata: provides the information to help manage resources. This includes technical metadata like file creation date, file type, and preservation metadata like document versions and incudes access rights.

Example: Digital Photo: Metadata contains the date and time the photo was taken, geolocation, camera settings, and more. Document: Metadata contains the author and creation date, file format, document version, and more.

What is Managed Metadata in SharePoint?

Managed metadata in SharePoint is a feature that allows to centralized management of Terms and Taxonomies across sites and site collections. Managed metadata refers to a collection of centrally managed terms that you can define and use across multiple sites and site collections in SharePoint. These terms are organized in Term Sets within Term Store.

Managed metadata is used to tag documents, list items, and pages with consistency terms, making it easier to categorize and retrieve them. Managed terms can be used in search filters, allowing users to boost search results based on specific criteria. Managed metadata can be integrated with content types to enforce consistency. In SharePoint, we can use Managed metadata to help our business.

Terminologies which is used in SharePoint-managed metadata

Now, we will discuss Terminologies which is used in SharePoint Managed metadata.

• Taxonomy:  taxonomy is a formal classification system. Which groups words, labels, and terms that describe something and then arranges that group in a hierarchy. We can construct a taxonomy for any kind of information, for example. biologists group living organisms into four major classifications:  animal, plant, fungus, and microbe. Each of these groups has many subdivisions together, this whole system is called Taxonomy. This Taxonomy can be organizational also related to their business need.
• Folksonomy: Folksonomy is an informal classification system. Which refers to a system of tagging content with keywords that are generated by users, rather than being predefined or centrally managed.  This contrasts with Taxonomy, which is centrally managed. As per user are free to create and apply tags to content they see fit. These tags and labels are totally to the user’s understanding. They can define what they want, leading to flexibility and a dynamic way of organizing information. Folksonomy facilitates collaboration and knowledge sharing by allowing users to categorize content in ways that make sense to them. It is a completely user-driven representation.  
• Terms & Group: A term is a specific word or phrase that you associate with an item or content, such as documents, list items, or pages in SharePoint. Each Term represents a unique concept, keyword, and label.  
• Group: A group is a container within the Term store that helps to manage multiple Term sets. Group is the top-level container within the Term Store which contains one or more Term sets. The group helps to organize Term sets based on logical categories or organizational divisions, like departments, projects, etc.…
• Term Set: A Term Set is a group of related terms used to classify and tag content. It is organized within a Group. Each Term set can contain multiple terms, and these terms can be hierarchical. 

There are two types of Term sets

1. Global Term Sets: These are available across the entire SharePoint environment and can be used in any site collection. They are managed centrally at the Term Store.
2. Local Term Sets: These are specific to the site collection it can not be used in another site collection. They are used only for site-specific metadata needs.

Here we have the Term Store management tool & Managed metadata column & Tagging  

The Term Store management tool is a tool for managing Taxonomy used to create and manage term sets and terms within them. It displays all Local and Global Term Sets available in the site collection.

A managed metadata Column is a specific type of column used to list library items. It allows users to tag items with terms from a predefined Term Set stored in a Term Store, which enforces consistency.

• Tagging: In a general sense, Tagging is the process or act of applying managed metadata to items in a list or libraries.

Benefits of Managed Metadata

• Consistent use of Metadata: Managed Metadata ensures that all content is tagged using a standardized set of terms, which sustains consistency across the entire SharePoint Environment. Terms are also managed centrally in the Term Store, making it easier to update and maintain the taxonomy. Any changes made to the terms are immediately reflected in all sites and content that use those terms.
• Improved content discoverability: Enhance Search experience by tagging content with Managed Metadata; search results become more relevant and accurate. It also allows users to refine search results by selecting specific terms, which improves the overall search experience.
• Increased flexibility: Terms store allows the administrator to create and manage terms, and also ensures that only authorized users can make changes. It also makes it easier for Term Store Administrators to maintain and adapt users' metadata as needed. And can update the term set easily. In such a way that it provides flexibility. When a change is made to any terms, it will automatically reflect on the terms where they are used.

Now let's discuss how Managed Metadata is quite pretty to use without any chance of misleading.

Suppose that you have an employee list. In that list, there are three columns: Employee name, field ( from which field the employee belongs), and Category (a position that is related to the Field column ); now Field and Column both columns belong to each other. We have used the Choice column type in both Category and Field Column. Now, suppose that there is mismatching in both columns, which are not related to each other. This can lead to incorrect information. So to prevent this mismatching in both choice column fields, we can create site level or local level term set so that there is no any chances to be mismatching. Rather than selecting individual categories and fields, the Term set makes it easy to use, and there are no chances for mismatching.  

To create Site level-managed metadata, go to site information > view all site settings  

Now there will be a new page containing different settings. Go to Web Designer Galleries and select Site Column

Now, at the top, there is a Create option. Click on it. This will show the page for creating a column, and select the Manage metadata radio button. At the bottom of the page, select Custom your term set radio button, then create your term set and hit ok. now go to your List and add column and select managed metadata type which will open panel from right side and allows you to select term set. Select Your Term set that you have created.

In the above image, we have columns according to the example, and then we have used the Managed Metadata column and our Term Set. Only the person/field content is both data and is associated in the right manner, so we can see that it is simple and stops mismatching.

Global-level managed metadata

To globally create Managed Metadata, access the admin center and select Content services or more features depending on the version of SharePoint you’re using. There will be an existing Term Group, and inside, you can create a new Term Set, or you can create a new group also as needed.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed Managed Metadata and seen the terminologies used in It. Managed Metadata is a powerful tool for managing and organizing content centrally, which provides consistency and improves searchability. It also prevents mismatching while working with thousands of or more data with a Choice column type.