Transcript Strategy, Planning, Stakeholders & the Semantic Web

Taxonomy Strategies LLC
Enterprise Web Taxonomy Design
Best Practices
Joseph A Busch, Founder & Principal
November 13, 2008
Copyright 2008 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC:
http://www.taxonomystrategies.com/html/aboutus.htm
Founded: 2002
Location: San Francisco, CA
Members:
 Business consultants who specialize in applying taxonomies, metadata,
automatic classification, and other information retrieval technologies to
the needs of business.
 Spin-off from Metacode Technologies, developer of XML metadata
repository, automated categorization methods stack and taxonomy editor
acquired by Interwoven as MetaTagger product line.
 More than 50 years experience among our members.
 Metadata and taxonomy community leadership.
 President, American Society for Information Science & Technology
 Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Board Member
 Chair, PRISM (Publishers Requirements for Industry Standard Metadata)
working group
 Co-editor, PRISM, XPointer, 3 IETF RFCs, and Dublin Core 1 & 2 reports.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
2
Recent & current projects:
http://www.taxonomystrategies.com/html/clients.htm
Government
Commercial
Not-for-Profit
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
3
Agenda
 Taxonomy business case and use scenarios.
 Taxonomy project start-up tasks.
 Taxonomy tasks and deliverables.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
4
What is a Taxonomy?
 A categorization framework agreed upon by business and
content owners (with the help of subject matter experts) that
will be used to tag content.
 6 broad, discrete divisions (called facets)
 2-3 levels deep.
 Up to 15 terms at each level.
 1200 terms total.
 With some logic—hierarchical, equivalent and associative relationships
between terms.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
5
Effectiveness of taxonomies
 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 material.
Main
Ingredients
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chocolate
Dairy
Fruits
Grains
Meat &
Seafood
Nuts
Olives
Pasta
Spices &
Seasonings
Vegetables
Meal Type
•
•
•
•
•
•
Breakfast
Brunch
Lunch
Supper
Dinner
Snack
Cooking
Methods
Cuisines
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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
 Can be easier to navigate, if
software supports it.
42 values to maintain (10+6+11+15)
9900 combinations (10x6x11x15)
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
6
What technology analysts have said
 “Better structure equals better access: Taxonomy serves as a framework
for organizing the ever-growing and changing information within a
company. The many dimensions of taxonomy can greatly facilitate Web
site design, content management, and search engineering. If well done,
taxonomy will allow for structured Web content, leading to improved
information access.”
 “Adding metadata to unstructured content allows it to be managed like
structured content. Applications that use structured content work better.”
 “Enriching content with structured metadata is critical for supporting
search and personalized content delivery.”
 “Content that has been adequately tagged with metadata can be leveraged
in usage tracking, personalization and improved searching.”
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
7
Potentially quantifiable taxonomy benefits
 Reduce customer service call center/associate support requests.
 Improve call center efficiency and effectiveness.
 Increase telemarketing conversions.
 Reduce cost per unique user (UU)
 Improve search engine optimization (SEO)
 Decrease searches with zero hits (on website enterprise search).
 Increase number of links (internal cross-cutting links)
 Reduce time/cost to build new web sites, implement web services
and develop applications.
 Increase number of web pages with metatags.
 Comply with regulations.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
8
What uses must a Taxonomy support?
 Tagging
 Content Management
 Dynamic Publishing
 Search
 Navigation
“ When we talk about a taxonomy, we are not only talking about a
website navigation scheme. Websites change frequently, we are
looking at a more durable way to deal with content so that different
navigation schemes can be used over time.”
– R. Daniel “Taxonomy FAQs”
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
9
Why build and apply a Taxonomy? Taxonomy enables
usability and re-usability
What’s going on behind the screen …
Content managers
Content users
… as well as what’s going on in front of the screen.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
10
Taxonomy benefits
In front of the screen: Web property publishing and use
 Standard categorization enabling dynamic content delivery.
 Content re-use in multiple distribution channels – internal web, external web and




print.
Content re-use in customer facing FAQ s on specific topics and products.
Orienting Googlers—even when they land on a page fifteen layers deep.
Ensuring consistent values for analytics across channels (website analytics)
Reduce time to on-board new web properties.
Behind the screen: Content retrieval for authors and web managers
 Finding a piece of content that exists.
 Determining ownership of the content and if can it be re-utilized.
 Enabling alerts – if new, by subscription, by interest, by individual, etc.
 Keeping content fresh, accurate and in compliance with regulations.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
11
11
Alignment with enterprise applications
 Data analytics and web analytics count attributes.
 You can’t count document-like content unless it is categorized.
 You can’t compare document-like content categories to
structured data values unless they use the same (or similar)
frameworks.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
12
Aligning with enterprise applications
 Dublin Core is a de-facto standard
across many other systems and
standards
Taxonomies, Vocabularies,
Ontologies
Dublin Core
 RSS (1.0), OAI (Open Archives
Initiative)
 Inside organization – CMS
(content management system)
e.g., MOSS, portals, etc.
 Mapping to DC elements from
most existing schemes is simple
 Metadata already exists in
enterprise applications
 SAP, EMC Documentum, MS
Office, etc.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Source: Todd Stephens, BellSouth
Per-Source Data Types, Access
Controls, etc.
13
Agenda
 Taxonomy business case and use scenarios.
 Taxonomy project start-up tasks.
 Taxonomy tasks and deliverables.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
14
Taxonomy start-up tasks
 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.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
15
Taxonomy start-up tasks (2)
 Designate who will be the project manager / single-point of
contact.
 Develop a list of stakeholders and interview candidates
 Minimum of 6 and usually less than 12 interview sessions.
 One-on one interviews, or focus groups.
 Schedule stakeholders briefing
 Schedule interviews to start immediately after the briefing.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
16
Agenda
 Taxonomy business case and use scenarios.
 Taxonomy project start-up tasks.
 Taxonomy tasks and deliverables.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
17
Define and quantify business benefits
Potential Benefits
1
Reduce call center customer service/support
requests
Cost per
$
20
%
Reduce
1%
Current
No
%
Increase
10,000,000
Annual
Benefit
$ 2,000,000
According to HDI 2007 Practices & Salary Survey, median cost per incident reported via phone, e-mail and self-service was $20, $16 and
$5 respectively. In phone interview, John M said there were 10M calls in 2007.
2
Improve call center efficiency & effectiveness
$
44,014
3%
300
$
330,105
According to PayScale, median call center salary for company is $44,014. In phone interview, John M said there were 300 agents.
3
Reduce cost per UU (unique user)
$
0.10
10%
19,196,774
$
191,968
$
150,000
2007.com+ Inet visitors from web summary report. What are the total estimated costs attributed to .com + Inet?
5
Decrease searches with zero hits
$
15
10%
100,000
Cost per is difference between self-service and phone call. How many zero result searches? Can this be inferred to be a customer service
call?
6
Increase number of links (internal cross-cutting links)
$
20
200,000
100%
$ 4,000,000
Specifically counting links to related content. Usually, this is in right column box, but could be embedded in text. Not included are top, left
or bottom nav which are usually part of the template. How many links of this type are there currently? How much does it cost to create
such a link? How much of an increase should be considered a target benefit?
7
Reduce time/cost to build new website
$ 100,000
50%
5
$
250,000
How much does it cost to build a new website, or re-design an existing one? How much could reasonably be saved by improving content
re-usability?
8
Increase no. of web pages with metatags
$
3
50,000
100%
$
150,240
How many pages have metatags? How many metatag values total? How much does it cost to add metatags to a page? How much
increased metatagging should be considered a benefit?
Total
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
$ 7,072,313
18
Develop use cases and use scenarios: Intranet examples
 Content related to business areas or facilities
 By geographic location, by type, by specific facility, by access
restrictions, by audience, 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 Oregon.
 Company-wide content
 By business function, by topic, by access rights, etc.
 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.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
19
Develop use cases and use scenarios: .com examples
 Web content managers
 By content type, 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 child safety.
 Public users seeking information
 by topic, by location, etc.
 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 .com search so that they can find historical
information about their holdings.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
20
Create a typology of use cases
Intranet
Access
Right
Audience
Bus
Function
Content
Type
Product
Geog
Loc
Job
Type
Org
Topic
Find content related to a
specific location by …
Find company-wide content
by …
.com
For web content managers,
find content by …
For public users, find
content by …
Primary
Secondary
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
21
Draft the high-level taxonomy: Oracle.com example
Person
Organization
Location
Content Type
Audience
Products
Product Line
Technology
Application
Industry Solution
“Is a” groups
of Products
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
22
Illustrate with tagging examples: Travel approval
form
Facet
Content Type
Value
Form
Organization
Business Function Travel
Product
Geo Location
Topic
Approval
Job Type
Audience
Employees
Access Right
All Employees
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
23
Build detailed taxonomy: NASA Taxonomy website
http://nasataxonomy.jpl.nasa.gov/
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
24
Validate the taxonomy: Analysis example
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
25
Form the taxonomy governance team
Corporate
Communications
Taxonomy Editor
Content Sponsors
IT Implementers
Other Staff
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
26
Develop taxonomy integration roadmap
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
27
Develop communication model
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
28
Key components to a successful taxonomy project: Project
best practices
 Incremental, extensible process that identifies and enables users, and











engages stakeholders.
Engage stakeholders from the start and throughout the process.
Talk with implementers as early as possible.
Keep your audience in mind.
Strive for subject-based categorization.
Be consistent.
Control depth and breadth.
Make a long-term investment.
Develop and carry out a communication plan.
A means to an end, and not the end in itself .
Not perfect, but it does the job it is supposed to do—such as improving
search and navigation.
Improved over time, and maintained.
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
29
Taxonomy Strategies LLC
Questions?
Joseph A. Busch, +1-415-377-7912,
[email protected]
www.taxonomystrategies.com
November 13, 2008
Copyright 2008 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.
Enterprise Web Taxonomy Design Best Practices
The message has finally gotten through—to build an effective portal and web framework you need
an enterprise taxonomy strategy. This enterprise interest and focus is one of the key differences we
see in recent taxonomy projects. Developing the business case, getting stakeholders on board,
engaging in a collaborative process, validation, education, training and developing an
implementation roadmap are more important than ever before. Business managers now expect
that information on an organization’s public websites and intranets be findable, and that web
services such as RSS feeds and alerts, guided navigation and search result filtering, mashups and
visualization, and others be available. This talk will discuss what an enterprise web taxonomy is and
then describe the key tasks and outcomes in a typical enterprise-wide taxonomy project. Examples
will be provided from many large public and commercial organizations will be used to illustrate best
practices.






What are the most the typical and most compelling use cases and use scenarios for developing a
taxonomy?
What are the critical start-up tasks in a taxonomy project?
What are the best criteria for identifying business stakeholders to participate in the project, how do you get
them involved, and what should be their role in the taxonomy development process?
What do business managers need to know about taxonomy and why it’s important?
What are the best practices for taxonomy development tasks and deliverables such as the high-level
taxonomy design?
How does an enterprise web taxonomy align with other enterprise information and data management
applications?
Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
31