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You probably know by now that SharePoint 2010 includes a feature called Managed Metadata. If you haven’t yet used it, you may not know how absolutely cool this feature is. In fact, it goes beyond cool, Microsoft got this feature so right, that they have inspired me to think they can write software that might someday soar above average. In keeping with the adage “no good deed goes unpunished” the introduction of Managed Metadata now has me wanting to break one of my own rules. I have always advocated that metadata be created and maintained by the people involved with governance. Now, I’m not so sure.

OK, I am still sure about true metadata; people involved in governance should decide what types of terms we associate with documents and what those terms are. But, I now feel that there is a secondary use of this Managed Metadata feature that should be a bit more “open to the public”. I am talking about using the Managed Metadata feature for adding ease of use capabilities instead of just managing metadata terms.

The project we are working on right now requires documents to have three bits of metadata: Facility name, Policy Number and the Named Insured. Our governance committee determined when we need these terms and how we specify them. Using the new feature made implementing the governance goals amazingly easy. If you know any portion of the facility name, you will get the correct term. That’s because we used the ability to include synonyms to add every possible way people refer to these facilities. You can have a term called “American Nuclear Insurers” but by adding synonyms, you can get there by typing “ANI”. If we wanted to, we could make it so you could get there by typing “that place where Antion works”. Beyond that, associating the right policy number with a facility is just as easy. We made the facility name a synonym of the policy number. We did the same for the named insured. So, if you’re an engineer, and you think in terms of the physical places you visit, you’re all set. Likewise, if you’re an underwriter, and you think in terms of policies, you’re set too.

The rule bending comes in for other “terms”. We need to know the person who created the document, but it won’t always be the person who put it in SharePoint. Still, we want that name in the “domain/userID” fashion that gives us maximum utility for use in workflows. We added a set of terms for users, with the fully qualified name as the term and every other variation as synonyms. So “MyDomain/Dantion” is the result for “Dan”, “Antion” “DAntion”. It will also show up in a group of names if you type “IT” (which will let you then choose from my entire department). We could add “VP Info” and “Head Geek” if we wanted to. The way Managed Metadata works is so awesome, that it’s too hard not to abuse – especially when you consider the two other awesome features. Managed Metadata terms are single lists that are available across all site collections and, you can surgically assign maintenance responsibility. But wait, there’s more! I can have levels within these terms. “MyDomain/Dantion” can be the term, but my email address can be a sub-term. When you create a Managed Metadata Column, you can specify that the column show the value at the email level! You could get everything about me just by knowing my name. I see myself advocating using these terms in Tasks, Event, and a host of custom lists throughout SharePoint.