The most important part of a successful technology implementation is the underlying taxonomy. The taxonomy is the roadmap for the business information, how it's organized and how it flows. The ideal taxonomy delivers the right information to the right person at the right time. The taxonomy is one of the largest contributors to cognitive user experience.

The first step in developing a taxonomy strategy is to establish clear business reasons for the taxonomy. As part of informu.com's consulting methodology, the taxonomy development team will determine the business drivers of the taxonomy development. The most common reasons a business decides to implement a taxonomy are:

• Implementing a content management and portal solution.
• Reducing the cost of multiple sources of information to a single source
• Reducing the risk of inconsistent or unauthorized information
• Developing navigation schemes for the public website and or Intranet
• Identifying communities of practice within the business

• Perform a knowledge audit to map how information is generated, located and used across business processes.
• Draft a high-level taxonomy architecture & specification
• Develop a proof-of-concept taxonomy.
• Add detail to the taxonomy and examine logical relationships to make sure all items are at the same level of abstraction.
• Establish a Meta data policy and practice
• Establish maintenance and governance processes.
• Evaluate technology and assess vendors

Prior to the finalization of the Taxonomy Architecture Specification, the informu.com team will work with the stakeholders to build consensus. This will involve iteration between the high-level architecture and the proof of concept model, the goal is to align theory and practice.