Getting Started with Business Taxonomy Design

1. Getting Started with Business Taxonomy Design Joseph A. Busch, Founder & Principal Ron Daniel Jr., Principal

2. Workshop agenda

3. Who we are: Joseph Busch • Over 25 years in the business of organized information. • Founder, Taxonomy Strategies LLC • Director, Solutions Architecture, Interwoven • VP, Infoware, Metacode Technologies • (acquired by Interwoven, November 2000) • Program Manager, Getty Foundation • Manager, Pricewaterhouse • Metadata and taxonomies community leadership. • President, American Society for Information Science & Technology • Director, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative • Adviser, National Research Council Computer Science and Telecommunications Board • Reviewer, National Science Foundation Division of Information and Intelligent Systems • Founder, Networked Knowledge Organization Systems/Services

4. Who we are: Ron Daniel, Jr. • Over 15 years in the business of metadata & automatic classification. • Principal, Taxonomy Strategies • Standards Architect, Interwoven • Senior Information Scientist, Metacode Technologies (acquired by Interwoven, November 2000) • Technical Staff Member, Los Alamos National Laboratory • Metadata and taxonomies community leadership. • Chair, PRISM (Publishers Requirements for Industry Standard Metadata) working group • Acting chair, XML Linking working group • Member, RDF working groups • Co-editor, PRISM, XPointer, 3 IETF RFCs, and Dublin Core 1 & 2 reports.

5. Your Role Content Manager Editor Information Architect Usability Expert Librarian Records Manager Knowledge Engineer Ontologist Chief Information Officer Communications Administration Industrial Sector Financial Services Banking & Insurance High Tech Computers, Software & Telecommunications Heavy Manufacturing Steel, Automobiles, Aircraft, etc. Government Federal, State or local Manufacturing Consumer Products, etc. Medical & Health Care Mining & Refining Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas Pharmaceuticals Drugs, Biotech What sectors do you work in? Who are you?

6. Pop Quiz • On a blank piece of paper: • What question(s) did you want to have answered by coming to today’s talks? • Flag one question to be discussed later. • You do NOT have to provide your name. • Please DO provide your job title, division, and either company name or company type.

7. Like this? Or, like this? Exercise 1: How do you organize your sock drawer?

8. Getting Started with Business Taxonomy Design: Background

9. Simple definition of metadata and taxonomy The Taxonomy is the lists of values to go into the metadata fields. Audience Internal Executives Managers External Suppliers Customers Partners Topics Employee Services Compensation Retirement Insurance Further Education Finance and Budget Products and Services Support Services Infrastructure Supplies Metadata Title Author Department Audience Topic Metadata is data about data – in our case it is a set of fields of library catalog-like data about published content..

10. Traditional Taxonomy Detailed model for real world. Absolute Granularity and Ultimate Classification. Modern ‘cladistic’ approach yields far deeper hierarchies with very low fan-out. Business Taxonomy Simple & Usable for common tasks Granularity is small groups, not individual items. Modern ‘faceted’ approach uses multiple small facets which combine to yield small groups. Traditional v. business taxonomy: Side-by-side comparison Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis Catenifer) Kingdom  Animalia Phylum  Chordata Class  Reptilia Order  Squamata Family  Colubridae Genus  Pituophis Species  Catenifer

11. Business taxonomy problem: How can a customer pick from >5,000 faucets w/o quitting? Refine search by: Category Price Brand Color/Finish # Handles Series Name Water Filter? Faucet Spray Handle Shape Soap Dispenser?

12. How business taxonomy translates into front-end interface • Metadata Field: • Size • Taxonomy Values: • 4.5 • 5.5 • 6 • 6.5 • 7 • 8 • … • Metadata Field: • Type • Taxonomy Values: • Athletic Inspired • Boots • Loafers and Slip-ons • Oxfords and More • Sandals • Metadata Field: • Color • Taxonomy Values: • Black • Blue • Brown • Green • Grey • Ivory • … • Metadata Field: • Brand • Taxonomy Values: • Antonio Maurizi • Bacco Bucci • Ben Sherman • Bruno Magli • …

13. How business taxonomy translates into front-end interface…for YOUR BUSINESS • Metadata Field: • Topic • Taxonomy Values: • Manufacturing • Benefits • Infrastructure • Quality • Safety • … • XYZ Corp. Intranet • Departments: • HR • Finance • IT • More… • Document Types: • Forms • Policies • Reports • News • More… • Topics • Benefits • Manufacturing • Quality • Safety • More… • Regions: • N. America • Europe • Asia • S. America • More… • Metadata Field: Department • Taxonomy Values: • HR • Sales and Marketing • Communications • Shipping • … • Metadata Field: • Locale • Taxonomy Values: • North America • Europe • Asia • South America • … • Metadata Field: Document Type • Taxonomy Values: • Forms • Policies • Procedures • Reports • News • …

14. Exercise 2: High Level Taxonomy Identification • Your Org’s Site • Grouping A: • Lorem ipso • Factorumdelos • Istabuno • Libreajohe • More… • Grouping B: • Lorem ipso • Factorumdelos • Istabuno • Libreajohe • More… • Grouping C: • Lorem ipso • Factorumdelos • Istabuno • Libreajohe • More… • Grouping D: • Lorem ipso • Factorumdelos • Istabuno • Libreajohe • More… Metadata Field A: ___________________ Taxonomy Values: _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ Metadata Field C: ___________________ Taxonomy Values: _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ Metadata Field B: ___________________ Taxonomy Values: _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ Metadata Field D: ___________________ Taxonomy Values: _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________

15. Main Ingredients Meal Type Cuisines Cooking Methods • Chocolate • Dairy • Fruits • Grains • Meat & Seafood • Nuts • Olives • Pasta • Spices & Seasonings • Vegetables • Breakfast • Brunch • Lunch • Supper • Dinner • Snack • African • American • Asian • Caribbean • Continental • Eclectic/ Fusion/ International • Jewish • Latin American • Mediterranean • Middle Eastern • Vegetarian • Advanced • Bake • Broil • Fry • Grill • Marinade • Microwave • No Cooking • Poach • Quick • Roast • Sauté • Slow Cooking • Steam • Stir-fry Why use facets in a business taxonomy? • Categorize in multiple, independent, categories. • Allow combinations of categories to narrow the choice of items. • 4 independent categories of 10 nodes each have the same discriminatory power as one hierarchy of 10,000 nodes (104) • Easier to maintain • Easier to reuse existing lists • Can be easier to navigate, if software supports it • Accommodates different needs and preferences 42 values to maintain (10+6+11+15) 9900 combinations (10x6x11x15)

16. Justification for business taxonomy • Easier information management • Flexibility to respond to changing needs • Foundation for findability and usability • Typical ROI Scenarios: • Greater sales on a public shopping site • Faster and more consistent responses by call center staff • Reduced regulatory and legal risk • Improved knowledge worker productivity • Improved overall staff productivity • Don’t justify the taxonomy, justify the goal the taxonomy will help you achieve.

17. Effectiveness of applications of a business taxonomy • For a product catalog, e.g., HomeDepot.com • Conversion rate increases • 20% increase. Petersen • Lift in average order size. • 20% increase. Petersen • For knowledge workers, e.g., call center support staff • Time saved • 36% faster than search. Chen & Dumais. • For knowledge workers, e.g., analysts • Increase in productivity • 25% productivity increase from not re-creating content . Taylor. • Estimated productivity loss exceeded $10M per year—about $500 per employee per year. Nielsen.

18. How do taxonomies improve search? • Input (Query) Side • “Search” using a small set of pre-defined values instead of trying to guess what word or words might have been used in the content. • Have synonyms mapped together so searches for “car”, “auto”, and “automobile” return the same things. • Output (Results) Side • Organize search results into groups of related items. • Sorting and filtering • Refining search results

19. Google search on “pcb” –Returns > 28M items Taxonomy could suggest “Polychlorinated Biphenyls” vs. “Printed Circuit Boards” or “Pakistan Cricket Board”

20. 169,169 items Refine search by clicking on categories Categorized results

21. Taxonomy in action on the results side: www.CareerBuilder.com search on IT positions By Category By Company By City By State

22. Intra-site navigation through metadata and taxonomy Main content tagged with:ORG = Parks, Recreation & Forestry Division/Parks Department TOPIC=Leisure & Culture/Parks & Gardens; Transport & Infrastructure/Construction, Maintenance & Improvements CONTENT TYPE = News and Announcements Home > Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Forestry > Division of Parks > News & Announcements Forest Park Master Plan Construction Update: July 2003 Aviation Field: The fields are complete and are open to the public. Work is still underway on the paths. The Forest Park Softball League is seeking teams for fall play. Contact Roger Berry at 289-5307. Boathouse: Project is complete and open. The City of St. Louis awarded the contact for the operator to SELECT Ttitle, Description, URL WHERE Org = “Parks Division” AND Type=HomePage Breadcrumbs and Left-nav are dynamic and based on directory in which content is created. Dynamically populated with query: SELECT thumbnail,URL WHERE Format = Video/* and Org = Parks. Select a random result if list is long. Org = RELATED_ORG(Topic = “Parks & Gardens”, “Construction, Maintenance & Improvements”) AND Type=HomePage (Get Title and Description) Org = “Division of Parks” AND Type=“Online Forms” Leisure & Culture Transportation & Infrastructure Parks & Gardens Construction, Maint, Impro Topic = AROUND(“Parks & Gardens”, “Construction, Maintenance & Improvements”)

23. Getting Started with Business Taxonomy Design: Taxonomy development methodology

24. Taxonomy development methods

25. Key components to a successful taxonomy project Set-up taxonomy team Identify business case Planning & research Maintain & evolve taxonomy Interview stake-holders Migrate content Define use cases Validation testing & review Build high-level taxonomy Build-out taxonomy detail

26. Define business case: Business case examples • Improve search and browsing to reduce the amount of time employees spend looking for information. • Reduce business silos, foster collaboration and content reuse, and thereby reduce redundant work. • Reduce the amount of time employees spend e-mailing basic information to each other. • Build confidence that employees are getting the most up to date information, and increase employee loyalty by helping them stay “up to date” on the company.

27. Research & planning • Identify target content to be focused on. • Provide a list of websites (and/or other target content file stores) • Prioritize this list for the purposes of the taxonomy project. • Gather any query logs, usage statistics and usability surveys. • Collect any existing documentation related to audience personas, content organization, metadata, keywords, and any other guidelines or standards. • Identify and gather any internal classifications (org charts, sales regions, records retention schedule, code of conduct, product lists, etc.); and any relevant industry standard classifications (UNSPSC, NAICS, USPS, regulated activities, etc.)

28. Interview stakeholders • Recruit people from business-critical functions such as marketing, public relations, product marketing, legal, etc. • Include people who have credibility, are early adopters, hold large amounts of content, and are “squeaky wheels” or “fans.” • Conduct 10-20 interviews. • The goal is for stakeholders to be the review board during the taxonomy development process, and beyond.

29. Define use cases: Intranet examples • Content related to business areas or facilities • By geographic location, by type, by specific facility, by access restrictions, by audience, etc. • Company-wide content • By business function, by topic, by access rights, etc. • Use Case: Create a safety policies and procedures website for facilities organized by State. • Use Scenario: Find all safety policies and procedures related to a facilities located in Ohio. • Use Case: Locate any content that has policies and procedures around a particular topic. • Use Scenario: A policy regarding smoking company-wide has changed and references to outdated policies should be removed. Find official policies, as well as newsletters related to the smoking policy company-wide.

30. Define use cases: .com examples • Web content managers • By content type, by topic, by location, etc. • Public users seeking information • by topic, by location, etc. • Use Case: Find and recall all public-facing pages that describe a specific safety tip. • Use Scenario: Find and recall all public-facing pages that discuss gas safety. • Use Case: Provide search for dividend schedules, earnings statements and stock splits; and the corresponding press releases for a specific time period. • Use Scenario: An investor who recently sold stock is preparing taxes and would like to do a concise search so that they can find historical information about their holdings.

31. Build high-level taxonomy • Identify the types of actors • Audiences, roles & access rights • Identify the types of content • Identify the types activities • Business processes, applications & uses • Identify the types of named entities • Products, services, projects, organizations, locations, etc. • Topics will be everything else. • A business taxonomy should have no more than 6-10 broad divisions.

32. Build high level taxonomy: Oracle.com top-level taxonomy Person Organization Location Content Type Audience Products Product Line Technology Application Industry Solution • The Oracle.com taxonomy has no explicit topics, only actors, content types, and named entities. “Is a” groups of Products

33. Build high level taxonomy: SGMS top-level taxonomyhttp://mysearch.internet.gov.sg/ Topics • The SGMS (Singapore Government Metadata Standard) Taxonomy is much more focused on Topics.

34. Build-out taxonomy detail • Get agreement on the broad divisions first, then build-out the detailed taxonomy. • Use existing terminologies whenever they are available for business functions, locations, products & services, etc. • Only build a vocabulary when no alternative authoritative source exists. • Only create categories for which there already is content, or likely to be content soon. • Keep the taxonomy broad and shallow. • Roll-up more specific terms into broader categories • A business taxonomy should have no more than 1,200 categories.

35. Build out taxonomy detail: NASA Taxonomyhttp://nasataxonomy.jpl.nasa.gov/

36. Validation testing and review

37. Migrate content • Prioritize content to be tagged • Identify and dispose of ROT. • Use business rules to automate content tagging • Tag landing pages for major sections. • Lower-level pages inherit tags from top-level pages. • Use workflow to enforce tagging • Require entry of simple tagging in order to submit an item into the content management system. • Use templates to guide user tagging • Pre-populate template fields whenever possible. • Use context-sensitive pick lists. • Call-out to taxonomy service for more complex controlled vocabularies. • Provide tagging incentives • Almost instantaneous feedback.

38. Maintain and evolve taxonomy • Taxonomy building is iterative. • A taxonomy should be improved over time and maintained. • Designate a taxonomy editor as the single point-of-contact for taxonomy changes. • Log change requests and notify requestors. • Prioritize taxonomy changes, e.g. • Improves information access, use and reuse. • Requires creating new data or metadata. • Affects program operations or has a financial impact. • Enables communication campaigns or organizational strategy. • Positive impact on users

39. Exercise: Build a high level taxonomy

41. What is Dunder Mifflin Promo? The new online division that markets promotional products. DM Promo was designed to reinvent the business of selling promotional paper products. The DMP website will provide: Product catalog browse by category, brand, cost, popularity, feature, etc. Product specs, series, schedule, imprinting, & colors. Various types of content such as product ideas, articles, testimonials, etc. Account information, shipping & returns. DMP Products include: Logo binders & filing supplies Logo calendars & planners Logo paper, cardstock & pads Logo pens & pencils Logo promotional products (badges & lanyards, mugs, stress balls, tote bags, mp3 players) Logo trophies & novelties (custom money, banners & signs, origami, party hats, paper boats) Logo wear (shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts , fleece, bathing suits, hats, bandanas, team uniforms, socks) Exercise: Promo website taxonomy

42. Exercise 3: Identify topics for Promo website taxonomy • Form groups • No more than 10 in a group. • Appoint recorder & reporter. • Brainstorm topics (10 min) • Write one topic on each Post-it • Sort Post-its into groups (5 min) • Present taxonomies (10 min) • Compare taxonomies (5 min)

43. Questions? Joseph Busch, 415-377-7912, jbusch@taxonomystrategies.com Ron Daniel, 925-691-8374, rdaniel@taxonomystrategies.com