All SharePoint deployments have the goal of architecting an Information
Architecture that enables data
governance. However, to achieve that goal Information and data needs to be
structured, classified, managed, and secured in ways appropriate for its
importance and sensitivity.
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SharePoint Information Architecture
in
Five Simple Steps:
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Your Site Map Draft Concept is reviewed
against a Site
Classification Pyramid to clarify a governance plan for site
type.
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Next Partition your sites into
Solution
Boundaries based on site type and governance policies
(storage requirements, management boundaries, information
security).
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Adapt this to SharePoint's
Containment Hierarchy, adhering to SharePoint architecture
limits and best practices based on the classified solution
boundaries.
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Use SharePoint architectural components
(explicit and wildcard managed paths) to ensure a
Scalable Site Structure that allows for future growth and
expansion. Use wildcard site-collections by default as these are
super scalable. Adapt or customize SharePoint global menu and
current menu to your navigation concept, to hide the solution
boundaries.
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Define your URL Scheme using host headers and managed paths.

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Aligning your strategic business goals with Sharepoint features is an
important early step in planning
- How the site will be structured and divided into a set
of site collections and sites.
- How users will authenticate (FBA, SSO,
ADFS)
- How data will be presented in the site.
- How site users will navigate through the sites,
collections, and portals.
- How information will be targeted at specific
audiences.
- How search will be configured and optimized.
Information Architecture Containment Hierarchy
Number of Farms
Development, Staging, Production

Number of Servers
(by Predicted Server Load)
Web Front End, App, SQL

Web Applications
(by Authentication Zones)
Solutions, Central Admin, SSP Admin, Portal(s) Content

Web Applications
(by Predicted Size for
Management/Recovery)
Content, Configuration, SSP, Search

Site Collections
(by security inheritance/DB storage)
Internet, Intranet, Portal, Doc Archive

Top Level Sites
Site Home, Projects, Teams, Wikis, Blogs

Sub-sites
(or managed paths)
Site Sections, Doc Workspaces, Meeting Workplaces
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