Enterprise Taxonomy Planning and
Structure: A Case Study
Gene Stakhov – enChoice, Inc.
Tom Moss – Security Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York
Information Governance
“Information governance is the
specification of decision rights and
an accountability framework to
encourage desirable behavior in the
valuation, creation, storage, use,
archival and deletion of information.
It includes the processes, roles,
standards and metrics that ensure
the effective and efficient use of
information in enabling an
organization to achieve its goals.”
--Gartner
Source: http://www.edrm.net/resources/guides/igrm
Unified ECM Foundation
•  Digital disruption
•  Key imperatives
–  Stay competitive through productivity and cost savings
–  Increase growth through customer centricity
–  Protect customer content and data through security and
compliance
•  Stay away from data silos!
•  ECM Foundation Strategy
http://www.slideshare.net/IBMECM/ecm-content-platform-story-july-14-final-for-content-zone-51363628)
Taxonomy
“The hierarchical classification
of entities of interest of an
enterprise, organization or
administration, used to classify
documents, digital assets and
other information”
-Wikipedia(Corporatetaxonomy)
Standardization
•  Objects and Classes
–  Inheritance
–  Specialization
•  Controlled Vocabulary
–  Master Data Management
–  Metadata
•  Standard Security Model
–  Directory Service
–  Access Control
Design Style Choices
•  Content-Centric
•  Organizational
•  Functional
Content-Centric
Organizational
Functional
Security Mutual Life
•  Class hierarchy
–  Content Grouping
–  Security Concerns
•  Taxonomy Elements
–  Metadata (Properties, Fields)
–  Vocabulary Control (ChoiceLists, Picklists, Validation)
•  Enterprise RM Program
–  Corporate Policy & Procedures
–  Records Retention Schedule
Planning
•  Plan Ahead
– 
– 
– 
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It’s not just about keeping it, it’s about managing it…
Approach like a game of pool
Consider security
Consider retention & disposition
•  Consider the Users
– 
– 
– 
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They own it! You don’t…
Meet and confer
Consider their needs
Get them engaged in their records/content
Implementation
•  Intuitive thinking
–  On-Boarding Process
–  Feedback Loop
•  Technology
–  Capture Method
–  Content Management System – Repository
–  Records Management System – File Plan Management
•  Experienced Partner(s)
–  Internal Support (IT, Legal, Compliance, Business Units)
–  External S.M.E.
Return on Investment
•  What did this buy us?
–  Moving away from storing and retrieval
–  Process Improvement
–  Big picture, but baby steps
Summary
Security
•  Not taxonomy…
taxonology!
–  Technical underpinning
of information
governance
–  Metadata, structure,
relationships and
security
–  A looking glass into ops
of your organization
Capture
Search/
Retrieval
Lifecycle
Process
Analytics