Governance Series - How to create a Single Source of Truth in SharePoint

I was in the SharePoint Community site last night and someone asked about maintaining a single source of truth.  One way to do it is to have a central repository for documentation; in SharePoint we would use a record center.  But it brings up a good point of how you would distribute those documents out to the team sites where they are actually used and manipulated.  The answer is simple, we create a new type of document library that can only contain links to documents.  We template it and save it as part of all our site templates instead of a regular document library.  In addition, we could add form and workflow functionality that would allow the users to upload files, but they would automatically be routed to the document repository; but that is for another time.

So how do we do this?  First we are going to need two sites with two document libraries one we will use as the source, the other as the link. In my example I will start with the "Linking" site first, but it really doesn't matter which site is first, only that the document exists in the repository prior to creating a link.

Linking Site

Ok, so we created a new site, lets say it is a team site template.  With a team site and most sites you get a document library named "Documents",  I am going to modify that library and make it a "Link Library".  Now don't confuse this with the "Links" app, which is just a list of hyperlinks.  At the end, I will add the steps to make it into a "Link Library" template so it can be reused.

Creating a Link Library from a Document Library

1. In the Document Library Click the Library tab then Click "Library Settings"
   
2. In the Settings page, Click "Advanced Settings"
   
3. In Advanced Settings, under "Content Types", "Allow management of content types?", Select "Yes", then scroll down and Click "OK"
   
4. Under "Content Types", Click on "Add from existing site content types"
   
5. Scroll through the list and Select the "Link to a Document" content type, Click "Add" and then Click "OK"
   
6. Under "Content Types" Click "New Button Order and Default Content Type"
   
7. Change "Link to a Document" from "2" to "1" and Click "OK"
8. Under "Content Types" Click "Document"
   
9. Under "Document" Click "Delete this content type"
   
10. When Prompted, Click "OK" to delete the content type
    

Your Library is now configured to create links to documents rather than documents themselves, but I have not addressed the issue of the upload button, but it is simple enough to hide the button or if you want a complete solution you can create a workflow to move uploaded files to a designated location in the repository; to me that is a much better option.  One caveat I want to point out is that the "Link to a Document" uses a URL, not a navigation pane, so you need to know where the document you are linking to is located, the advantage to this is it allows you to cross site collections and farms, but does not provide a great user experience.

Repository Site

The Repository site, like the Linking site contains a Document Library, unlike the Linking site, however, we are not going to manipulate it in the same way.  Instead, we are going to configure it to make it fit for our purpose, which is the storage of documents.  Now I am not going to tell you have to do that, because everyone is different, but some things that you might look at doing include setting up folder containers to classify documents that are uploaded. creating retention and disposition workflows and of course version control.

Test out the solution and let me know what you think.  Based on writing this, stay tuned, I think I like the idea of showing you the Nintex workflows that would go along with ths.

Follow me on twitter @DavidRMcMillan and @DevFactoPortals.  Feedback and suggestions are appreciated and encouraged.

Properly Defining Information Technology

Information Technology

Not what you expected, or was it...

The definition of Information Technology has become corrupted over time as people have had different ideas on what it means.  If you looked up information Technology, you would think the definition would be something like,
"The management and distribution of information through the use of technology.",
after all that sounds right...


If you go to Wikipedia, Information Technology is defined as,
"Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, often in the context of a business or other enterprise.
The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Several industries are associated with information technology, including computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, e-commerce and computer services."


 This seems like a  good definition, though it seems a bit much for the management of information.  If we go to other sources for the definition, you will begin to realize how different the definitions have become.  merriam-webster.com defines Information Technology as,
"the technology involving the development, maintenance, and use of computer systems, software, and networks for the processing and distribution of data"


Now you may say that is not a lot different from Wikipedia or my original simplified definition, but lets exam it again.  If I were to say Library Sciences are a part of information technology (which in reality parts of it are) does it fit into these definitions?  If we look at my simplified definition, we can say "Yes", after all Library Sciences is about the organization of information and that organization in itself is an applied technology.


Now look at the other definitions, how did we move from technology to computer systems specifically? Simple, we applied the way it is done today... Is that correct? absolutely not.  The Typewriter was information technology, yet the definitions could never apply to it. Microfiche is another technology left out of the modern definition and there are many, many, many more.


Now can anyone tell me when the modern computer era began?  you could say 1983 (First PC) or you might say 1977 (Apple II) or even older with the kit computers.  Now let me ask you how old is the oldest Information Technology company? In that case you might say 135 years (IBM established in 1880) or you might say 138 years (Bell Telephone established in 1877), heck you might even say 3700+ years (first postal system) and in truth, you could even argue that.  Remember using technology to manage and distribute, well writing is technology, horse back riding is technology, heck shoes are technology, I still remember "sneaker net", running disks from one computer to another.


So how can we fix it?  Simple, remove any reference to the way we currently perform information technology, the term may have came with the computer revolution, but the definition doesn't need to be that narrow.


Follow me on twitter @DavidRMcMillan or @DevFactoPortals, my goal is to make information technology better, one person at a time.  This post was intended to support another post on Information Governance so stay tuned.