United States International University-Africa

BIS 6120: Knowledge Management Systems

LAB EXERCISE 4: Knowledge Capture: How to preserve & formalize

data using Taxonomy: Content Types, Terms and Term Sets

Objective
In this exercise you will learn how to organize and store content of your site in order to be easily searched and
retrieved. Taxonomy is often used in SharePoint to provide structure of how data will be stored, where it will be
found, who has access to particular data and a brief about the data.

Requirements
Access to your SharePoint site collection (http://sharepointsvr.usiu.ac.ke:2184/sites/<yourname>)

Sub-sites: Documents sub-site created in Lab Exercise 2

Duration: 40 minutes

Introduction
What Are Taxonomies?

Taxonomy, frequently referred to as the information architecture of your site, is often the most visible
and most important tool for SharePoint users to locate information

Within SharePoint 2013, an organizational taxonomy is a classification mechanism, often hierarchical in

nature, which users in that organization can apply to documents or items that are held in SharePoint
libraries or lists

The purpose of implementing taxonomy is to provide a means to organize and classify stored content.
Taxonomies can help users with the following tasks:
Identifying how to store information.
Identifying where to find information.
Identifying the intended audience of information.
Identifying the purpose of information.

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When you plan taxonomy, you must consider how and why users may want to classify or organize
content. Common taxonomies include the following sample classifications:
Geography, such as country, region, office location, or site.
Confidentiality, such as public, private, confidential, or secret.
Departments, such as Human Resources, IT, Manufacturing, or Logistics.
Projects or programs.

Corporate
Taxonomy

Geography Departments

Information
Kenya United Kingdom Technology

Human
Nairobi Glasgow
Resources

Mombasa London Research &

Development

Creating Content Types for Propagation

Custom Columns and Site Columns
In SharePoint 2013, you can create custom columns to hold information such as metadata or item
data. When creating custom columns, you can choose the data type for the column and specify the
information that the column stores.
Column data types include:
Text or HTML content.
A predefined list of choices, or choices that are based on another list in the site.
Numbers.
Currency values.
Date and time entries.
A person or group that is selected from the available SharePoint 2013 or Active Directory,
directory service users.
An image.
A calculation that is based on other column values.
A choice from a Managed Metadata term set.

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Task 1: Create the Invoice content type
1) In the Internet Explorer address bar, type
http://sharepointsvr.usiu.ac.ke:2184/sites/<yourname>, and then press Enter.
2) On the Settings menu, click Site settings.
3) On the Site Settings page, under Web Designer Galleries, click Site columns.

4) On the Site Columns page, click Create.

a. On the Create Column page, in the Column name box, type Supplier.

b. Under Group, click New group, and in the box, type <your first name> Columns, and
click OK.

5) On the Site Columns page, click Create.

a. On the Create Column page, in the Column name box, type Payment Due Date.
b. Under Name and Type, click Date and Time.

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 c. Under Group, in the Existing group list, click <your name> Columns, and then click OK.

6) On the Site Columns page, click Create.

a. On the Create Column page, in the Column name box, type <your name> Department.
b. Under Group, in the Existing group list, click <your name> Columns, and click OK.
7) On the Site Columns page, click Create.
a. On the Create Column page, in the Column name box, type Payment Amount.
b. Under Name and Type, click Currency.
c. Under Group, in the Existing group list, click <your name> Columns, and then click OK.
8) On the site breadcrumb trail, click Site Settings.
9) On the Site Settings page, under Web Designer Galleries, click Site content types.

10) On the Site Content Types page, click Create.

a. On the New Site Content Type page, in the Name box, type Invoice.

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 b. In the Select parent content type from list, click Document Content Types.
c. In the Parent Content Type list, click Document.

d. In the Group section, click New group, and then in the box, type <your name> Content
Types, and then click OK.

11) On the Site Content Type page, under Columns, click Add from existing site columns.

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 12) On the Add Columns page, in the Select columns from list, click <your first name> Columns.

13) In the Available columns list box, click <your first name> Department, Payment Amount,
Payment Due Date, and Supplier, click Add, and then click OK

Note: To select multiple items, hold down the Ctrl key and click each item.
Task 2: Create the Contract content type
1. On the Settings menu, click Site settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, under Web Designer Galleries, click Site columns.
3. On the Site Columns page, click Create.
a. On the Create Column page, in the Column name box, type Client.

b. Under Group, in the Existing group list, click <your first name> Columns, and click OK.

4. On the Site Columns page, click Create.

a. On the Create Column page, in the Column name box, type Final Effective Date.
b. Under Name and Type, click Date and Time.

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 c. Under Group, in the Existing group list, click <your first name> Columns, and click OK.
5. On the Site Columns page, click Create.
a. On the Create Column page, in the Column name box, type Contract Owner.
b. Under Name and Type, click Person or Group.
c. Under Group, in the Existing group list, click <your first name> Columns, then click OK.
6. On the site breadcrumb trail, click Site Settings.
7. On the Site Settings page, under Web Designer Galleries, click Site content types.

8. On the Site Content Types page, click Create.

a. On the New Site Content Type page, in the Name box, type Contract.
b. In the Select parent content type from list, click Document Content Types.
c. In the Parent Content Type list, click Document.
d. In the Group section, in the Existing group list, click <your first name> Content Types,
and then click OK.

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 9. On the Site Content Type page, under Columns, click Add from existing site columns.

10. On the Add Columns page, in the Select columns from list, click <your first name> Columns.
11. In the Available columns list box, click Client, Contract Owner, and Final Effective Date, click
Add, and then click OK.

Publishing Content Types Across Site Collections

Task 1: Publish the Content Types
1) On the Settings menu, click Site settings.
2) On the Site Settings page, under Web Designer Galleries, click Site content types.

3) On the Site Content Types page, under <your first name> Content Types, click Contract.

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 a. Under Settings, click Manage publishing for this content type.
b. On the Content Type Publishing: Contract page, make sure Publish is selected, click OK.
4) On the Site Content Type page, on the site breadcrumb trail, click Site Content Types.
5) On the Site Content Types page, under <your first name> Content Types, click Invoice.
a. Under Settings, click Manage publishing for this content type.

b. On the Content Type Publishing: Invoice page, make sure Publish is selected, click OK.

6) In the Internet Explorer address bar, type

http://sharepointsvr.usiu.ac.ke:2184/sites/<yourname>/ and then press Enter.
7) On the Settings menu, click Site settings.
8) On the Site Settings page, under Web Designer Galleries, click Site content types.

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9) On the Site Content Types page, verify that the list of content types includes a group named
<your name> Content Types.

10) Verify that the <your first name> Content Types group includes content types named Contract
and Invoice.

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