Lee Romero blog.leeromero.org November 2010 Enterprise taxonomy Six components of a vision

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 2Enterprise taxonomy Contents Why a vision for a taxonomy? 3 The vision 5 What does the vision mean? 7 Adopted for use in all systems Ensure consistent language Enhance the information experience Managed as an asset Use systems of record Monitoring changes A vision for your taxonomy 14 © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited Why a vision for a taxonomy?

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 4Enterprise taxonomy Why a vision for a taxonomy? A vision: Defines the desired or intended future state of an organization or enterprise in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction. Vision is a long term view, sometimes describing how the organization would like the world in which it operates to be. 1 A vision provides the picture of where you want to be It ensures all are working toward the same end state Your governance and management processes should be shaped by your vision and work to move you down the path to achieving the vision 1 – Wikipedia - © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited The vision

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 6Enterprise taxonomy The vision The taxonomy will 1.Be adopted for use in all systems that manage content or documents for those facets that are defined within the taxonomy 2.Be used to tag content within those systems in order to ensure consistent language to describe our content 3.Enhance the information experience for users through that tagging 4.Be managed as its own asset, including defining the facets and the values used within those facets 5.Use appropriate systems of record when possible to define the set of values used for a particular facet 6.Enable monitoring of changes to the taxonomy values by content managers © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited What does the vision mean?

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 8Enterprise taxonomy What does the vision mean – “Adopted for use in all systems”? The taxonomy will be adopted for use in all systems that manage content or documents for those facets that are defined within the taxonomy Any experience a user has with information should be shaped, influenced and improved by your taxonomy A new web site or portal will use navigation labels from the taxonomy A new repository of content will use the terms in your vocabulary to tag content Existing systems will work toward adoption of your taxonomy © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 9Enterprise taxonomy What does the vision mean – “Ensure consistent language”? The taxonomy will be used to tag content within content and document systems in order to ensure consistent language to describe our content: Users will be able to expect the same language Users will know that the use of the same term indicates the same information Whether visiting a web site, or accessing content in a repository, or reading and interpreting a sales report, users will not have to guess or assume the meaning of a term © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 10Enterprise taxonomy What does the vision mean – “Enhance the information experience”? The taxonomy will enhance the information experience for users through that tagging The navigation provided to your information will be more easily understood Users will be more satisfied with their search and navigation experiences Your users will be more successful in accessing and interpreting the information they need to accomplish their tasks © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 11Enterprise taxonomy What does the vision mean – “Managed as an asset”? The taxonomy will be managed as its own asset, including defining the facets and the values used within those facets The taxonomy is a piece of content (actually, many pieces of content) subject to the same types of business rules we apply to other content The taxonomy is subject to appropriate workflows to review changes The taxonomy is subject to periodic reviews Changes to the taxonomy can be “staged” in the way other content changes can be staged for review The taxonomy must be treated as an asset with value © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 12Enterprise taxonomy What does the vision mean – “Use systems of record”? The taxonomy will use appropriate systems of record when possible to define the set of values used for a particular facet This promotes commonality across systems for users Integrates the taxonomy with other information access systems No need to manage changes in both the system of record and in the taxonomy Ownership of the values for these facets can be kept closer to the business responsible for them © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 13Enterprise taxonomy What does the vision mean – “Monitoring changes”? The taxonomy will enable monitoring of changes to the taxonomy by content managers Given that the taxonomy is managed as an asset, it is important that content managers must able to monitor changes within the taxonomy. This means content managers: ‒ Have a means to easily find and review all changes being considered to the taxonomy ‒ Will be able to comment on any specific proposed change ‒ Will be able to view a life history of any term or facet within the taxonomy – when was it added, changed, deprecated, etc. ‒ Will be able to view all facets and values – including ones that are no longer “active” within the taxonomy © 2010 Lee Romero

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited A vision for your taxonomy

© 2010 Deloitte Global Services Limited 15Enterprise taxonomy A vision for your taxonomy My goal here is to impress upon you the value in defining where you want to take your taxonomy. Consider the end state you want to achieve and define it. This will shape your governance It will shape your management processes Ultimately, it will shape the experience your users have with the information your organization makes available, which in today’s knowledge-driven economy is a big part of your success! © 2010 Lee Romero

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