IM Keys to Success: Make metadata mandatory
Metadata sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is, but getting your colleagues to use it consistently can pay massive dividends down the line. At its core, metadata is just a set of identifiers and descriptors that help both humans and machines understand the contents and context of a given file or email.
Depending on which metadata variables are captured, this additional information enables the organization to achieve multiple business goals more easily:
Improve discovery
Finding the information we need takes up more time than we realize, but metadata can shave time off every data-hunting expedition. Every additional tag provides one more filter during searches and an additional context clue when perusing search results or browsing through file directories.
Add classification
Each individual email or file you save to Teams or SharePoint can be tagged across multiple dimensions and—if applicable—with multiple values for each property.
For example, when an employee at a law firm archives an email related to a case, multiple metadata tags can be applied, such as:
- Client
- Case Number
- Case Phase (i.e. discovery, trial, appeal)
- Venue (i.e. county, state, federal)
- Topic (i.e. physical evidence, deposition, accounts receivable, travel logistics)
- Assigned Staff
Now it’s a snap to see all the files and emails for a specific case or that a particular associate has worked on.
Facilitate email disposition
Metadata creates a holistic topography of information to aid in retention and destruction policy compliance. By assigning different metadata tags, a file or email is now properly categorized across a few dimensions, and other metadata (including time stamps and contract lengths) will inform the more calendar-based aspects of your policies. This provides much-needed context when implementing both manual and automated retention and destruction policies on Microsoft Teams.
Tie it into existing workflows
Expecting colleagues to add metadata of their own accord or go back after the fact to add it in isn’t realistic at scale. Consistently collecting metadata means it must be fully integrated into existing workflows and simplified for end-user adoption.
It’s wise to set up metadata fields in Microsoft Teams or SharePoint as picklists rather than free text entry fields whenever possible. This prevents the creation of overlapping and inconsistent metadata tags (not to mention typos and misspellings).
When users are asked to type in a value for a particular metadata field, you’re leaving a lot to chance. One person types in “USA,” the next “United States,” and the third “U.S.” They’re all correct, but those are three different values for the same place, which isn’t going to help much with automation and will muddle discovery.
Also critical is keeping things unique and consistent. Don’t let the same terminology/tag get used in different contexts. If your media library includes executive biographies but you also sell biology textbooks, for instance, don’t use “bio” in either context but give them unique tags (such as “biography” and “biology”).
Make it automatic
While some metadata must be defined by a colleague on a file-by-file basis, there’s also an opportunity to add metadata programmatically (based upon which folder a file or email is shared to). You’ll need to set this up in SharePoint rather than Teams, but once it’s configured it will be applied to any file added to the folder in question, regardless of whether that occurs in a SharePoint view or in Teams.
When metadata is applied at the folder level, it means every file added to the folder automatically gets tagged with a specific value for a particular metadata field. For example, if there’s a folder where all the files related to “France” are stored, you could automatically tag every file with the “Europe” value for the “Region” field when it’s added to that folder.
While “Region” could be set up as a mandatory field for that forced end users to make a selection every time, this approach saves everyone a step and ensures 100% compliance and accuracy for this field/folder combination. Read this blog post for step-by-step instructions.
Organizations should tap this powerful feature whenever they know that every file added to a particular folder should be tagged with one or more automatic metadata properties. This requires a careful analysis of the folders in each directory and an understanding of the business needs of the relevant stakeholders.
While this solution doesn’t automate everything, it can rapidly increase the quality and quantity of metadata getting applied to shared files without the end user doing anything extra. That’s one less task for busy workers that doesn’t compromise your organization’s information management goals.
Use tools to simplify tagging files
harmon.ie makes metadata tagging seamless by allowing users to define and assign metadata as you save files or emails to SharePoint or Teams. For example, harmon.ie automatically prompts user to fill in any required metadata fields when saving files or emails to M365. harmon.ie ensures that metadata is applied consistently, even integrating picklists for predefined values to prevent errors. Additionally, harmon.ie can automate tagging of emails by mapping email headers (To, From, Subject) to SharePoint properties, ensuring compliance and saving users the time and effort of manual metadata entry.
harmon.ie can rapidly increase the quality and quantity of metadata getting applied to shared files without the end user doing anything extra. That’s one less task for busy workers that doesn’t compromise your organization’s information management goals.
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