The importance of metadata for search Martin White Managing Director, Intranet Focus Ltd. [email protected] ISKOUK Conference 24 June 2014.

The importance of metadata for search

Martin White

Managing Director, Intranet Focus Ltd.

[email protected]

ISKOUK Conference 24 June 2014

“I couldn’t spot anything to do with designing content and metadata to aid findability.

I have in mind the improvements we made here at Arup to our search experience by ‘simply’ understanding, adjusting and aligning our metadata fields and their values for indexing.”

Kevin Franklin, Ove Arup June 2014

Planning the 2nd Edition

Agenda

• Information as an asset• Search satisfaction levels• “Today we have naming of parts”• The role of metadata in search• A case study - dates• Reflections and advice• Questions

Level 1 AwareThe organisation has no common information practices. Any pockets of information management maturity that the organization has are based on the experience and initiatives of individuals.

Level 2 Reactive The organisation has little in the way of enterprise information management practices. However, certain departments are aware of the importance of professionally managing information assets and have developed common practices used within their projects. At the enterprise level, a level 2 organization reacts to data quality issues as they arise.

Level 3 ProactiveThe organisation has a significant degree of information management maturity. Enterprise awareness, policies, procedures, and standards exist and are generally utilized across all enterprise projects. At level 3, the information management practices are sponsored by and managed by IT.

Level 4 ManagedThe organisation manages information as an enterprise asset. The business is heavily engaged in information management procedures and takes responsibility for the quality of information that they manage. A level 4 organisation has many mature and best-in-class practices and utilizes audits to ensure compliance across all projects.

Level 5 OptimisedThe organisation considers information to be as much an enterprise asset as financial and material assets. A level 5 organisation has best-in-class information management practices that are utilized across all enterprise projects. The distinguishing characteristic of a level 5 organisation is the focus on continuous improvement. At level 5, all data management practices and assets are regularly measured and the results are analysed as the basis for process improvement.

InformationMaturity

InformationAdvantage

Level 1 AwareThe organisation has no common information practices. Any pockets of information management maturity that the organization has are based on the experience and initiatives of individuals.

Level 2 Reactive The organisation has little in the way of enterprise information management practices. However, certain departments are aware of the importance of professionally managing information assets and have developed common practices used within their projects. At the enterprise level, a level 2 organization reacts to data quality issues as they arise.

Level 3 ProactiveThe organisation has a significant degree of information management maturity. Enterprise awareness, policies, procedures, and standards exist and are generally utilized across all enterprise projects. At level 3, the information management practices are sponsored by and managed by IT.

Level 4 ManagedThe organisation manages information as an enterprise asset. The business is heavily engaged in information management procedures and takes responsibility for the quality of information that they manage. A level 4 organisation has many mature and best-in-class practices and utilizes audits to ensure compliance across all projects.

Level 5 OptimisedThe organisation considers information to be as much an enterprise asset as financial and material assets. A level 5 organisation has best-in-class information management practices that are utilized across all enterprise projects. The distinguishing characteristic of a level 5 organisation is the focus on continuous improvement. At level 5, all data management practices and assets are regularly measured and the results are analysed as the basis for process improvement.

InformationMaturity

InformationAdvantage

The business…takes responsibility for the quality of information

Information as an asset

Optimised

Managed

Proactive

Reactive

Aware

No awareness

Majority Early adopters

1%

5%

25%

49%

26%

17%

31%

24%

27%

6% 48%

From The Digital Workplace in the Connected Organisation 2014 © NetStrategy/JMC and used with permission http://www.digital-workplace-trends.com

www.findwise.com

A six-year perspective

2010

2014

2012

2008

2008

2014

2012

2010

Very satisfied

Moderatelysatisfied

11%

11%

14%

9%

46%

42%

47%

25%

From The Digital Workplace in the Connected Organisation 2014 © NetStrategy/JMC and used with permission http://www.digital-workplace-trends.com

Metadata

Blood tests

Renal Unit

Phlebotomy Services

Cancer Ward

Kidney Unit

Children’s Unit Paediatric Unit

Oncology Ward

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

N,N'-1,2-Ethanediylbis[N-(carboxymethyl)glycine]

Tributin

Acroma DH 700

1S/C10H16N2O8/c13-7(14)3-11(4-8(15)16)1-2-12(5-9(17)18)6-10(19)20/h1-6H2,(H,13,14)(H,15,16)(H,17,18)(H,19,20)

EDTA

www.chemspider.com

www.conceptsearching.com

The responses to the question about Metadata Tagging, Accuracy and its Importance within Your Organization, as it applied to search accuracy, illustrated an across the board organizational effort to improve search by leveraging metadata, albeit as a manual process where end users are responsible.

Another positive response was some organizations do view metadata tagging as a governance policy.

Both of these responses showed a commitment by organizations to improve search, by recognizing the importance of metadata and improving it.

www.aiim.org

Dating the enterprise

• For internal search probably the most valuable piece of metadata is ‘DATE’

• But what date?– Compilation– Publication– Server update– Relative ( Q3, but what year? Calendar or Financial or Tax)

• And what format?– 6/5/2014– May 6 2014– 2014-05-06

Reflections

• Because there are so many points of failure in search it is difficult to show direct causality between improving metadata and better search performance

• There is a reasonable amount of survey evidence to suggest that improving metadata improves search

• The commercial evidence is that companies like ConceptSearch and SmartLogic would not be in business if there was no return from the investment in their technologies

Some advice

• Metadata schemes need to be developed within the context of a robust and supported Information Management policy

• Take a user-focused view of where targeted metadata could improve search performance

• Metadata consistency is very important in search• “Tag and forget” is not an option – track through search and

click logs• Invest in the skills needed• Metadata development must never be ‘a project’

Managing corporate assets

Questions?

[email protected]

@intranetfocus