Governance

In part 1 of this series, we talked about the power of using simple analogies to explain the benefits of taxonomy to laypeople.  Here I want to do the same thing but for another topic that’s near and dear to my heart: taxonomy governance.  Even if you clear the hurdles to get executive sponsors onboard for your taxonomy project, they need to know that taxonomy isn’t a one-and-done solution; rather, it’s something that needs to be actively managed over the course of its lifetime to provide maximum value.  My preferred tactic to break down the communication barrier between taxonomists and laypersons is to use analogies to everyday life; here are three to help you make the case for taxonomy governance.

Has SharePoint 2010 solved the content findability problem in your company?   Probably not. Why?   Because effective content management solutions need to be designed; and in most organizations, SharePoint 2010 is rolled out as a document sharing and collaboration platform with little if any thought to overall information architecture.

This is a continuation of last month's post: What You Need to Know to End Information Chaos.

Business makes extensive use of taxonomy and metadata in a variety of scenarios including accounting, databases and inter/intra-net based applications to provide structure and organize information.  All this is normal and straightforward.  Chaos arises, however, when a business manager or executive asks questions that cut-across systems.  When, for example, they want to be able to integrate engineering data, customer-oriented product information, customer information, and customer service complaints to identify new product-lines and solution opportunities. 

To achieve the goal of visualizing a business problem by mining information repositories in a creative way to address complex issues involving multiple data repositories, taxonomies and metadata must be aligned to establish a comprehensive "single source of truth."  The concept of a single source of truth is the mantra in the drive to put Master Data Management (MDM) into practice.  However, the effort comes with certain practical and serious challenges.  The most significant being the fact that different and well-governed information systems have different semantics and different metadata standards.  Achieving semantic interoperability is a serious challenge, especially as business systems and network service architectures develop to meet organizational needs to adapt to a rapidly changing technology environment.

So what to do?  How do organizations find ways to capture, manage, and derive understanding from a wide range of sources including its internal expertise resources and the stream of information provided by social media channels?

Part 1: Metadata governance, standards, and maturity

Clients I work with struggle with many issues.  Among these, two often rise to the top.

1. How do we show the impact of metadata on our business?
2. Do we need our own metadata standard? Alternatively, should we use industry standards?

This blog covers my approach to answering these questions.

To begin with, I ask them how they define metadata.  And most often, they give me the usual tautology: metadata is data about data.   You can do better than that!   A more meaningful alternative is to say that metadata is what allows data to be searched, understood, and consistently used within a company.

Metadata provides data with a context that enables users to think about and share data in useful ways.  In short, metadata transforms data into information.  It enables a complex organization to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions because we can look at our collective experience through a common framework of understanding.

The intellectual endeavor of managing "metadata" is at the core of all information and knowledge related work.  Taxonomy is dedicated to the practice of producing logical categorization models, and therefore at the very heart of creating metadata systems.  Human-understandable taxonomies provide the words and relationships needed to access and use information.

SharePoint is a technology rich in capability with an inherent nature to decentralize document and content management from the information technology function. It’s a platform with much promise that, simply put, places increased levels of power and autonomy into the hands of business users. On the surface, it seems like a valid approach because it’s difficult to find fault in letting those who understand the business best manage the information assets they create. The primary problem with that tactic, however, lies in the fact that many organizations lack both standard content management methods and expertise in the application of best practices across areas such as information architecture (IA), taxonomy, metadata and search. 

This week I have had the privilege of teaching the information organization and access (AIIM IOA) course at a combined meeting of the Joint Task Force North, The Dept of Homeland Security, The US Army North and the US Northern Command.

From the JTF site: “The Joint Task Force North http://www.jtfn.northcom.mil/ is the Department of Defense organization tasked to support our nation’s federal law enforcement agencies in the identification and interdiction of suspected transnational threats within and along the approaches to the continental United States. “

“Transnational threats are those activities conducted by individuals or groups that involve international terrorism, narcotrafficking, alien smuggling, weapons of mass destruction, and includes the delivery systems for such weapons that threaten the national security of the United States."

One of the primary goals of this mission is the capture and dissemination of knowledge throughout a network whose mission is the protection of the United States.  I was told by the head of the knowledge management organization, Dr Rick Morris, that my contribution would go directly to improving the security of the country.  I have to say that I am truly honored to be making such a contribution to our nation. 

Also from the JTF site: “JTF North’s homeland security support role is articulated in its mission statement:

I just finished moderating the Digital Motion Picture Metadata Symposium at AMPAS.  The day covered all aspects of metadata from pre-production through production, post, distribution and archiving.

We had presenters from Pixar, Sony Pictures, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Marvel Studios,  Warner Brothers, CNRI, Gracenote and the Library of Congress.

We saw examples from productions including The Incredibles, Wall-e, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Syriana, Ocean's Eleven and others.

The day was packed with presentations that addressed all aspects of the metadata lifecycle for Digital Motion Pictures.

Podcast and session summaries coming soon.