Creating and Using Managed Metadata

Managed metadata was described from a high level in Chapter 18, “SharePoint Foundation Versus SharePoint Server 2010,” in the section titled “Service Applications Available in the Different Versions of SharePoint 2010.” This section builds on the basic concepts presented in that section and gives an example of creating managed metadata and how it can be used to make centrally managed metadata available to multiple site collections.

Managed Metadata Service is a service application managed and accessed from the Central Administration site. For testing purposes, it is generally a good idea to create a new service application, by completing the following steps. The first step is to set a content type, then create the service application, and then define the term sets.

1. Access a site collection that will be used as the content type syndication hub and access site settings from the top-level site. Click Site Collection Features.
2. Locate the content type syndication hub and click Activate.
3. Next, access the Central Administrator site and click Manage Service Applications under the Application Management section.
4. Click the New drop-down menu on the Ribbon and select Managed Metadata Service.
5. Give a title to the service application (for example, Test Managed Metadata Service App).
6. Scroll down and verify that the SQL server name is correct and provide a name for the database that will be created (for example, TestManagedMetadataServiceApp).
7. In the Application Pool section, click Use Existing Application Pool, and select SharePoint Web Services Default.
8. In the Content Type Hub field, enter the URL for the site collection that was activated in step 2, as shown in Figure 22.24.

   Figure 22.24. Creating a new Managed Metadata Service.

   

9. Leave the other settings at their defaults and click OK. The service application will be created along with the database, and it will then be shown on the ServiceApplications.aspx page.
10. Click the top line of the new service application so that the line is selected (do not click the active hyperlink), and then click the Properties button on the Ribbon. This page lists the settings that were just entered. Click Cancel to return to the ServiceApplications.aspx page.
11. Now click the actual link to the service application (Test Managed Metadata Service App, in this example); the Term Store Management Tool page will open.
12. Click the top-level node in the left Taxonomy Term Store area and then select New Group from the drop-down menu on the right side of the top-level node.
13. A new node will appear. Click the new node, give it a title such as Company ABC Terms, and press Return.

    Note

    Enterprise keywords can also be added to the Managed Metadata Service application, as shown in Figure 22.25. After added, these words or phrases that can then be used by tagging tools in SharePoint 2010 site collections. Enterprise keywords are part of a single, nonhierarchical term set called the keyword set.

    Figure 22.25. Creating a new term set.

    

14. Click New Term Set from the drop-down menu on the new node (Company ABC Terms in this example), as shown in Figure 22.25. Title this node Client Codes and press Return.
15. Next access the drop-down menu for Client Codes node and click Create Term.
16. Title the term Company DEF Codes and press Return.
17. Click the node for Company DEF, and access the drop-down menu for it and click Create Term.
18. Title the term below as Company DEF USA, which would correspond to a division of Company DEF with offices in the United States, and then press Enter.

    Tip

    When creating a term, the option exists to provide other labels to the term, which are also called synonyms. For example, when the term Company DEF USA is defined, a synonym might be DEFCo New York, which is another way to refer to Company DEF USA branch. Another might be DEFCo LA (if there is also an office in Los Angeles). The farm administrator did not want to create individual terms underneath the Company DEF USA term because that is “too granular,” and for the organization’s requirements, having end users differentiate between the different international branches of Company DEF is sufficient.

19. Repeat step 17 to create additional nodes under Company DEF, as shown in Figure 22.26.

    Figure 22.26. Adding additional terms to the Company ABC term set.

    

20. Click the node Company DEF Codes, and the right pane should show additional settings for the term. Uncheck the box next to Available for Tagging because this is an organizational term rather than a term the administrator wants end users to use as metadata. Click Save to save the changes to the term.
21. Click the node Client Codes and review the settings in the right pane. Note that there are fields for Description, Owner, Contact, Stakeholders, a choice to leave the term set Open or Closed, and a check box to allow the term set to be used for tagging or not.

These terms will now be available to use from SharePoint lists and libraries. As briefly reviewed earlier, a number of configuration options are available for each term. In the following section, this managed metadata will be accessed from a list to show the power of the tool.