I remember the first time I was shown the MindManager tool specifically for documenting enteprise-grade taxonomies. For too long tools like Excel had ruled the day, but tools like Excel and Word are too linear and not visual enough for complex taxonomies.
Mindjet MindManager has since become my tool of choice for creating and document SharePoint information architectures/taxonomies. I have created a template for SharePoint that you can also use in your next project to get started. While it has some specific columns and has a term store section it can also be used for MOSS/WSS 3 taxonomies as well with a little editing.
The template includes the following features.
- Content type nodes and hierarchy illustrated. The content type nodes also include properties such as internal name, public name, template, etc.
- Every out-of-the-box column has a template node with the available custom properties to define. Also included are visual column groups.
- Site structure illustration. Included are color-codes notes with properties for sites.
- Term store groups. Term store groups, sets and terms are illustrated hierarchically.
- Property mappings for user profile. Since SharePoint 2010 utilizes user profile properties in the term store an example node is included with the custom properties definable for a property import.
- A visual icon designation for many of the nodes as well as a legend is also provided.
Here are a few images to illustrate what it looks like.
Content Types
Term Store
Site Structure
Here is a video giving an overview of the mindmap (although it’s a little out of date now).
Note on Compatibility: While this will open in the Mac version some fidelity is lost. Mindjet hasn’t quite gotten down the compatibility between the two versions. This was created in version 8 for Windows but opens and works fine in version 9 (not tested in lower versions).
I’d like to ask if you can post or send me a screenshot of the MindJet sample you’ve used during the Arcovis ShopTalk on February 24th.
Thanks, would appreciate it.
You can view the video and download the files from my recent blog post.
I’m sorry, I must be missing something. In your recent blog post, the link “Sample taxonomy mindmap mentioned in video” links back to this blog post. I can’t find a link to the mindmap file itself…
Thanks.
Here you go.
Thanks for making the template available. I am in the process of considering using SP2010 to manage our co. taxonomy and this will help me make a case. Would it be okay to ping you if I have some questions on how to use the template and what some of the nodes mean?
You bet!
Hey Chris,
a really nice and helpful Post!!! Thx a lot for that. Do you have a hint for extracting the content (the input for your mindmap) out of the heads of the customers? Any links or best practice tutorials?
Thanks
Christian
Hey Christian, that’s a good question. Unfortunately, it’s beyond the scope of a blog comment. Is there a section in particular you’re interested in?
Hey Chris,
actually just some hints for the first steps. For example: Starting with Organization Units and then go on with kinds of Documents for each department, or something like this. I know it´s a complex question ^^
Thx
Christian
Well before you start talking about anything related to IA design, you have to understand the content. This is called content analysis. Here is a good primer.