Business Value of Taxonomy 08-04-10 TaxoCoP

The Business Value of
Taxonomy
Improved efficiencies, increased sales,
motherhood and apple pie
Seth Earley, CEO
Earley & Associates, Inc
seth@earley.com
Earley & Associates, Inc. | Classification: PUBLIC USE

Copyright © 2010 Earley & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Earley & Associates Highlights
Founded 1994
Focus Areas Holistic approach to specific

business contexts and goals for:
• Retail
• Manufacturing
• Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences
• Public Sector
• Media & Entertainment
Personnel Core team of 25 consultants
Locations Concord, MA headquarters, consultants

in US, UK & Canada, global projects
Services • Taxonomy & Information Architecture

• Search Strategy for Enterprise & Web
• ECM, DAM & Information Lifecycle
• Program Management & Governance
2
Seth Earley, Founder & President, Earley & Associates
• Co-author of Practical Knowledge Management from IBM Press

• 16 years experience building content and knowledge
management systems, 20+ years experience in technology
• Former Co-Chair, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
Science and Technology Council Metadata Project Committee
• Founder of the Boston Knowledge Management Forum
• Former adjunct professor at Northeastern University
• Currently working with enterprises to develop knowledge and digital
asset management systems, taxonomy and metadata governance
strategies
• Founder of Taxonomy Community of Practice – host monthly
conference calls of case studies on taxonomy derivation and
application. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxoCoP
• Co-founder Search Community of Practice:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SearchCoP
3
Agenda
• What is a taxonomy and why should I care?

• Making the business case
• ROI? CDB? M-O-U-S-E
• Drivers:
 Revenue
 Cost/Efficiency
 New Service/Capability
 Infrastructure
• Ten examples of where taxonomy brings value
• Resources/Next steps
4
Geek Alert:
You will not learn how to do stuff today

(For how to do things see any of the other 98 public webinars from April of 2005)
5
What is Taxonomy?
• It is a system for classification

• It allows for a means to organize documents and web content
• Helps us fine tune search tools and mechanisms
• Creates a common language for sharing concepts
• Allows for a coherent approach to integrate information sources
• It is a common language for business processes
6
What is metadata?
• It is the “is –ness” of a piece of content
• And the “about- ness” of a piece of content
• This is a Product Description
• It is about the Motorola Razr
Taxonomies are the organizing principle behind metadata

and the values that populate metadata fields
7
7
Taxonomy definition
• Taxonomy is a system for

Products
organizing concepts and
categorizing content
 Expresses hierarchical Action
Games
relationships (parent/child) figures
 Arranged in a tree-like structure,
with top level categories that Board games Card games
branch out to reveal sub-
categories and terms in varying
levels of depth
Brands
 Dictionary of preferred
terminology
Milton
Disney
Bradley
Battleship Scrabble
8
Why Taxonomy is important
• Organization need ways to manage information assets in order to

reduce rework and prevent duplication of effort, speed processes,
create new efficiencies, and more quickly develop new products
• To use it, you have to find it.

• To find it, you have to name it.
• Need consistent handles (names) and labels on content in

order to locate, reuse, integrate, recombine assets
If you can’t name it, you can’t find it

and therefore can’t reuse it
9
Taxonomy and Metadata Supports a Range of Applications…
Content
Enterprise Management Website
Search, Navigation,
Portal Design, Search &
Collaboration SEO
Taxonomy,
Digital Asset Metadata, Records
Management IA Management
& Usability
Workflow Rights
Management Management
Security &
Privacy
Management
10
Alignment, linkage, measurement
CEO- “Show me how this project will increase our revenue?”
Grow top line revenue

Organizational Strategy
Measuring here Increase customer satisfaction

Objectives align (macro level -
with strategy outcomes)
Expand offerings Develop new markets
Business Unit Objectives
LINKAGE
Measuring here Customer Support Web Channel Sales

Processes enable (micro level -
objectives effects)
Customer Acquisition
Business Processes
Working here
(tools, Call Center
Content supports Knowledge E Commerce
technology, IA,
processes base System
taxonomy, Proposal
search, etc) Management
Content Sources System
11
ROI vs. CDB
Source: AIIM IOA Course

12
Taxonomy brings value to all areas of the business
1. Improved Product
Sales 2. Call Center/
10. Improved data Customer Support
quality
3. More Efficient
use of Marketing
9. Better business Assets
reporting/BI
Enterprise Taxonomy
8. Better SharePoint 4. Better Search

Structure Recall and Precision
7 Rights 5. Harmonized
Management Infrastructure
6. Content and Asset
Reuse
13
1. Improved Sales – increased findability linked to conversions (sales)
Example of increased findability on e commerce site.

(Improved from 7th place out of top 10 e-commerce sites to number 1 position based on evaluation of site taxonomy)
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Task 5 Task 6 Task 7 Task 8 Task 9 Task 10
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2. Call Center Effectiveness
Example of improved knowledge access based on taxonomy.

Took call center reps 50% less time to solve a problem than when information was not organized correctly
Code Number of Percentage of Percentage Time per

• Average Reactive Time Per Incidents per total where of total incident
Incident (TPI) with knowledge code codes were incidents
used
not available (KNA) - 10.35hrs
Total number 25,164 (avg.) 9.6
K helpful 3,833 18% 15% 5.45

• Knowledge Helpful (KH) K not 455 2% 2% 8.49
Average Reactive TPI - 5.45hrs effective
K not 3,313 15% 13% 10.35
available
• Knowledge Helpful Comparison K not 13,992 65% 56% 5.95
to Average Time per Incident required
no code used 3,571 not applicable 14% 8.22
5.45/9.6hrs = 57%
• Knowledge Helpful Time Saved Compliance 86%

Per Incident - 43% Use/Opp % 68%
KH/Use % 50%
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3. Improved Management of Marketing Assets
Marketing operations applications (like Aprimo) require taxonomy
and metadata to correctly function
• Type: Magazine Ads

• Channel: Print
• Target Demographic: Parents
• Country: US
• Language: English
• Concept: Rebellion
• Brand: Settletra
Do your kids:
• Have discipline problems?
•Trouble paying attention in school?
•Trouble getting along with others?
Maybe it’s time to find out how

Settletra™ can help
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Taxonomy values are added as metadata Types

Provides structure to allow asset retrieval
Logos Advertisements
Metadata
Magazine Ads TV Ads
Date created May-15-2009

Type Magazine Ads
Country US Countries
Demographic Parents
Asset Spain
Demographic
Multiple US
Taxonomies
Youth contain
descriptive
data for asset
Parents
17
Images reused in Digital Asset Management system

Central marketing service organization saved $1.25 mm per year
• System contained large amounts of stock photos –

average cost $125
• Cost of 10,000 photo inventory = $1.25mm
• Yearly downloads = 40,000
• Assume 50% usage
• 20,000 x 125 = $2.5mm
• Net direct benefit = $1.25mm
• Compliance benefits = reduced legal exposure from incorrect

use of images, correct records management retention
schedules
18
4. Improved Search Precision and Recall
Router is an ambiguous term
355,574 results
19
Document type
Taxonomy terms
Site Area
Facets
Product
Task
20
85 results
Refinement of
choices based
on selected
terms
21
5. Infrastructure Harmonization
IBM
Media Bin
Endeca
E commerce suite
Reconcile vendor product metadata
Digital Asset with structure and format for catalog, Guided navigation
Management merchandising, order management
Facets and attributes based
Structure and terminology on taxonomy resolve with
to support non text asset search user experience best
location and reuse practices
Enterprise taxonomy
Sterling
Autonomy/
Interwoven
Cross sell/up sell

Content management
Semantic relationships
Content and document for related products,
types, topics/subjects, controlled terminology for
audiences, etc to support merchandisers to support
unstructured information specific promotions
www.target.com
22
23
6. Content and Asset Reuse
Example of web content management system reusing product component item

in multiple site usage contexts.
Product item may be used in several locations and functions. Changing it in one place will change in all usage contexts
Product item
STS 5000
Long
=
battery life
+ Multi band
Pr
Promo Noise cancelling
Disclaimer Product Page

Product Template
Taxonomy and metadata allows management

and assembly of component asset
24
Motorola reduced time to market and lowered costs across all of its web site
properties by applying taxonomy to content reuse
Product item may be used in several locations and functions. Changing it in one place will change in all usage contexts
STS 5000
Product item
Long
battery life content type
Pr
Multi band
Noise cancelling
Product Page Purchase

Product Template Product
Long
battery life
Compare Home
Product (featured product)
25
Marketing organizations are asking creative agencies to

provide components and not just composites
This Digital Asset Management reuse scenarios allows organizations to retrieve creative
building blocks for new asset creation
• Taxonomy can be used to allow components to be located separately from

the composite and be used in a completely new context
Hoppy
Birthday ! Occasion = Birthday Occasion = Easter
Subject = Rabbit Subject = Rabbit
Subject = Balloons Subject = Easter Bunny
Style = Cute Style = Cute

Component asset
Composite asset (end product)

26
7. Asset Monetization/Rights Management
As organizations reuse assets, create new derivative products and take

advantage of new platforms and channels, rights management becomes a
complex issue
Multiple taxonomies are used to track various factors around when and how an asset can be sold or
used. Need to boil an agreement down to fundamental issues.
• Each component requires defined Content

Formats
vocabularies to determine what
Subject Content
can and cannot be done with an Area Types
asset
• As systems become more Functional Content

Roles Rights Status
automated (think purchasing on
demand viewing of video from a
web site or cable TV provider),
automated rights management will Business Rights
Units Metadata
become a bigger issue Geography/
Locations
27
8. Better SharePoint Structure – Use of Faceted Search Techniqiues
• Improve findability by leveraging consistently tagged metadata surfaced via facets in

a variety of ways
Faceted
Search
28
8. Better SharePoint Structure – Consistent Topics for Navigation
• Display of topics defined as part of the taxonomy

• Execute scoped search when clicked
A-Z
Topic Index
29
8. Better SharePoint Structure – Displaying Subsets of Information
• Display of facets defined as part of the taxonomy

• Scoped to include forms, templates & checklists only
Forms &
Templates
30
8. Better SharePoint Structure – Consistent Metadata Schemas
• Capture, define and document organizational taxonomy

 Preferred terms, hierarchy, relationships, vocabularies, etc.
11 Content Types
15 Vocabularies
50 Metadata Fields
31
8. Better SharePoint Structure – Consistent Metadata Schemas
• Define a core set of metadata elements required to be applied to all documents upon
their creation or upload.
• Document metadata requirements for unique doc types
Schema included:
• Field names
• Column types
• Descriptions
• Mandatory requirement
• Multi-value assignment
• Data source (lookup)
32
32
8. Better SharePoint Structure – Audiences and Personalization
• Audience definition and mapping of job roles

• Passive personalization design
 Push of predefined content targeted to users based on audience
Matrix included:
• System identification
• Preferred content types
• Topical interests
• Required content
• Related roles
33
8. Better SharePoint Structure – Knowledge access
• Display of facets defined as part content type

• Scoped to include knowledge bulletins only
Knowledge
Bulletins
34
9. Better Business Reporting/ Business Intelligence
Organizations are spending enormous amounts of money on BI. The problem is

they cannot locate reports and analyses and therefore BA’s create more reports
Taxonomy can be used to make sense of existing BI and to gain new insights from data
• Business Intelligence needs metadata on structured data as the

basis for quantitative analysis, taxonomy on unstructured content
for the results of analysis
• Extend traditional quantitative BI with qualitative BI from

unstructured content once a taxonomy is applied:
 For example: analysis of call center issues by product to monitor a recall
• Master Data Management needs taxonomy – both aim to define a

“single version of the truth”
 MDM to eliminate structured data redundancy
 Taxonomy to eliminate unstructured content ambiguity
35
10. Better Data Quality
Understanding what metadata originates where, and in which systems it is

consumed, in the broader context of business process
36
Multiple Uses for Taxonomy Throughout the Business
Browsing & filtering Related documents
Financial reporting Compare product
Case Example:
Motorola’s Global Business intelligence Program Management
Taxonomy Framework
Served Multiple Processes Product Lifecycle
Management
37
Why you will not “just get Google”
• Google leverages linkages on the web that are not typically

duplicated internally in the organization
• Search engines cannot infer intent or know what is important to

you in the context of your work task
• Information relevance is dependant on who you are and your

level of expertise as well as what you are trying to accomplish
• Not all content is equal - Google is fine for broad search results or
less precise information, may not work as well if large numbers of
documents with finer granularity of differences
38
Conclusions and Next Steps
• Taxonomy provides benefits to all aspects of enterprise operations
• Most organizations have pieces of the puzzle, but not a comprehensive approach to
cross platform and application integration
• Need to leverage meaning and nuance as well as data and structure
• For more info, or to schedule a briefing, contact kathleen@earley.com
• Feel free to call me as well seth@earley.com 781-820-8080
• For more information see
• Washington DC - October 18-2

• San Diego – November 8-11
• Houston – November 29-December 2
• Tampa – December 13-16
• New York – January 10-13
39
Research Reports and White Papers
Go to http://www.earley.com/Articles.asp
• Aligning Business Technology Goals
• Deriving a Taxonomy: Assembling Terms for a Consistent Point-of-View
• Indexing & Taxonomies: Finding the Best Way to Organize Online Content
• Knowledge Mapping - A Fast Way to the Heart of the Organization
• Making the Business Case for Enterprise Taxonomy
• Managing Multiple Facets & Polyhierarchy
• Measuring the Success of a Taxonomy Project: Tuning Content Categories
for Continuous Improvement
• Retrospective Indexing: Strategies for Cataloging Legacy Content
• Taxonomy Metadata & Search
• Text Mining: Search's Silver Lining
40
Core Capabilities
Digital Asset
Enterprise Management
Website
Search, Navigation,
Portal Design, Search &
Collaboration SEO
Taxonomy,
Web Content Records
Management Metadata,
Management
& Usability
Workflow Rights
Management Management
Security &
Privacy
Management
41
Core Capabilities
Digital Asset Management: Document/Content/Management:

• DAM strategy • Strategy and requirements planning
• DAM taxonomy • Taxonomy, Metadata, Object modeling
• DAM technology evaluation • Audit and analysis
• Asset lifecycle management • Migration
• Marketing resource management (MRM)
• Tagging and indexing
• Lifecycle and workflow planning
Information Architecture/Usability:
• Technology selection, RFP development
• Usability studies (site, navigation, taxonomy)
• Content modeling, workflow design • Governance
• SharePoint IA
Taxonomy & Metadata:
Search: • Taxonomy strategy
• Search audit and user testing • Taxonomy development (for e-commerce, faceted
• Search strategy and ROI analysis search, ECM, DAM, enterprise taxonomy, thesauri)
• Taxonomy for faceted search and search • Taxonomy evaluation and testing
optimization
• Taxonomy implementation
• Search deployment
• Search and business intelligence • Taxonomy governance and training
• Search tuning and SEO • Taxonomy tool selection
• Search technology evaluation/tool selection • Metadata standards development
• Metadata schema design
• Metadata governance
42
Courses in Information Organization and Access (IOA)
• Half day briefing for managers

 High level overview of the topics of the course
 Appropriate for managers or non specialists who want the
high points
Location Date
• Two day Practitioner Course Washington DC October 18-2
 Focused on strategy, theoretical framework, planning San Diego November 8-11

projects
 Covers taxonomy, ontologies, content modeling Houston November 29-December 2
 Results in Practitioner Certification Tampa December 13-16
New York January 10-13

• Two day Specialist Course
 Focused on the how to of projects
 User analysis, scenarios, content inventorying, standards
 Includes governance, case studies, maturity models
 Results in Specialist Certification
• Four day Master Class

 Practitioner and Specialist plus take home case study
 Results in Master Certification
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Who Should Attend
• Half day briefing is for professionals in non IT areas, directors, business managers,
leadership, who want to understand principles and practices and the role of
taxonomy, metadata and information architecture in enterprise search, content
management, business intelligence
• First two days are for people who want a solid foundation in theory supporting
improved content processes, taxonomy, metadata, content modeling and search
approaches
• Days 3 and 4 are for information professionals and business users who want hands
on knowledge of approaches. Much of day 3 and 4 are spent in group exercises
• I would recommend that if you have the time, you attend the full 4 days and attain
the master certification
• I keep the course practical and interactive and share best practices, example,
deliverables and templates from actual engagements.
44
Questions?
Seth Earley
seth@earley.com
www.earley.com
781-820-8080
45

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The Business Value of

Earley & Associates, Inc. | Classification: PUBLIC USE

Focus Areas Holistic approach to specific

Personnel Core team of 25 consultants

Locations Concord, MA headquarters, consultants

Services • Taxonomy & Information Architecture

• Co-author of Practical Knowledge Management from IBM Press

• What is a taxonomy and why should I care?

You will not learn how to do stuff today

• It is a system for classification

• It is the “is –ness” of a piece of content

• And the “about- ness” of a piece of content

• This is a Product Description

• It is about the Motorola Razr

Taxonomies are the organizing principle behind metadata

• Taxonomy is a system for

• Organization need ways to manage information assets in order to

• To use it, you have to find it.

• Need consistent handles (names) and labels on content in

If you can’t name it, you can’t find it

Grow top line revenue

Measuring here Increase customer satisfaction

Measuring here Customer Support Web Channel Sales

Source: AIIM IOA Course

8. Better SharePoint 4. Better Search

Example of increased findability on e commerce site.

Example of improved knowledge access based on taxonomy.

Code Number of Percentage of Percentage Time per

K helpful 3,833 18% 15% 5.45

• Knowledge Helpful Time Saved Compliance 86%

• Type: Magazine Ads

Maybe it’s time to find out how

Taxonomy values are added as metadata Types

Date created May-15-2009

Images reused in Digital Asset Management system

• System contained large amounts of stock photos –

• Compliance benefits = reduced legal exposure from incorrect

Router is an ambiguous term

Cross sell/up sell

Example of web content management system reusing product component item

Promo Noise cancelling

Disclaimer Product Page

Taxonomy and metadata allows management

Product Page Purchase

Marketing organizations are asking creative agencies to

• Taxonomy can be used to allow components to be located separately from

Subject = Rabbit Subject = Rabbit

Subject = Balloons Subject = Easter Bunny

Style = Cute Style = Cute

Composite asset (end product)

As organizations reuse assets, create new derivative products and take

• Each component requires defined Content

• As systems become more Functional Content

• Improve findability by leveraging consistently tagged metadata surfaced via facets in

• Display of topics defined as part of the taxonomy

• Display of facets defined as part of the taxonomy

• Capture, define and document organizational taxonomy

• Audience definition and mapping of job roles

• Display of facets defined as part content type

Organizations are spending enormous amounts of money on BI. The problem is

• Business Intelligence needs metadata on structured data as the

• Extend traditional quantitative BI with qualitative BI from

• Master Data Management needs taxonomy – both aim to define a