Business classification scheme (Taxonomy)

RECORDS
CLASSIFICATION
By Solomon Kaminda, MSc IT, Bsc IS-Rec Mgnt,MSc IT, Bsc IS-Rec Mgnt,
Principal
Enterprise Records Management Consultant
- Kenvision Techniks Ltd
KENVISION TECHNIKSKENVISION TECHNIKS

What is Records Classification?
• Processof identifying and arranging records
(documented information resources) in accordance
with an approved filing system
• Includes records regardless of media format
(paper, microform, electronic)
• Ensuresall records:
• Can be easily located at any time
• Can be located by any one person
• Can be located with a minimum of time,
effort, and expenditure

What is Records Classification? (continued)
• Sometimescalled a‘taxonomy’
• Should beused by all staff personsin the
organization
• An organization should not havemultiple
systemsfor arranging itsrecords
Same classification principles apply to
both paperand electronic records
• Should beeasily understandable(i.e., designed
using layperson terms)

Benefits of Records Classification
Industry figuresestimatean employeein an
organization without any recordsprogram
spendsan averageof 50 minutesper day
searching for misplaced and/or misfiled records
• Including electronic recordsaswell aspaper records
• Substantial productivity gainscould berealized with
employeesconcentrating on their jobsrather than
searching for records

Benefits of Records Classification
(continued)
 Minimization of Legal and Financial
Risks
• Locaterecordsneeded immediately in the
event of lawsuits, government audits, etc.
• Even relatively short delaysin locating
necessary information can result in fines, as
well ascasting suspicion in themindsof
outsiders(especially if thosesamerecordsturn
up in someoneelse’spossession)

Purpose of classification scheme
Classification enablestheuser to
browsefor records
• Browsing isdifferent from searching
• when searching documents, wehavea
specific target in mind, and generally use
metadata, such asthenameof the
document to find what wewant.
• When webrowsefor records, wegenerally
do not havean ideaof what wewill find.

Purpose of a records retention
schedule
• To authorizedestruction of public library
recordspursuant to thescheduleon an
annual basisaccording to theestablished
policy.

Records retention and Disposal policy
• Thepurposeof theRecordsRetention
and Disposition Policy isto establish
and maintain auniform records
management policy for:
• theco ntro l, retentio n, sto rage, retrieval,
and dispo sal of recorded information to
comply with all statutory, regulatory, and
administrativerequirementsgoverning an
organisation

Enterprise Records Management
Classification Technologies
• Enterpriserecordsmanagement hasproven to beacomplex
beast to subdue.
• Organizationsthat havesought to deploy RM enterprise-wide
havefaced anumber of significant challenges,
• Technologiesto capably addressthesechallengeson atruly
enterprise scale areonly now beginning to cometo market.

Enterprise Records Management
Classification Technologies
• Autocategorizationisoneof agroup of emerging
technologiesthat will makeenterpriseRM possible.
• FederatedRM, which permitscontributor and
coordinator functionson other repositories;
• Informationlifecyclemanagement, or ILM, which
permitstheactual execution of RM commands;
• Radicallydistributedingestion, with mfpsthat allow
control of content at thepoint of origin or receipt.

The Importance of Autocategorization
Why is Autocategorization so
critical?:
• Documentsmust bedeclared asrecords
and classified asto what kind of record
they are.
• Not all peoplewho createrecordsin your
own organization, would careor even have
theskill to perform accurate, manual
declaration and classification.
• Having asystem that carriesout
autocategorization helpsin bridging this
gap.

Federated Records Management
• Thistheability to establish, execute, and enfo rce a
common records policy acrossdistributed,
heterogeneousrecordsrepositories, using aset of
standardsthat provideinteroperability for functions
such as:
• Search,
• Collection
• Identity and accessmanagement
• Retention and disposition, and
• Other functionsthroughout thelifecycleof arecord.

Information LifeCycle Management
(ILM)
• ILM doesnot comein abox; nor isthat likely any
timein thenear future.
• Theautomation of info rmatio n management
po licies regarding pro tectio n, security, and
retention requireadifferent way of thinking about
information, itsvalue to theorganization, and the
business needs for theuseof theinformation.

Records Management Lifecycle
Thespan o f time of arecordsfrom itscreation or
receipt, through itsuseful life, to itsfinal disposition,
whether that disposition isdestruction or retention asa
historical record.
~ ARMA, Requirements fo r Managing Electro nic Messages as Reco rds

Records Management
Lifecycle

Information Lifecycle
Management (ILM)
ILM isnot atechnology - it isacombination of
processesand technologiesthat determines ho w data
flo ws thro ugh an enviro nment. It helpsend users
managedatafrom themoment it iscreated to the
timeit isno longer needed.
ILM usesanumber of technologiesand business
methodologies, including thefollowing: Assessment,
Socialization, Classification, Automation, and
Review.

Information Lifecycle Model

Organisational Taxonomies
•What is taxonomy?
• It issimply classification of stuff so that
it can befound easily.
• Organisational taxonomiesshould be
designed so that they areflexibleenough
to outrideany organisational
changes/restructures.

Ensuring flexibility of taxonomy
To achieveflexibility, an organisation should
design essentially two typesof taxonomies:
1)A departmental based taxonomy, which
representstheorganization'shierarchy.
2)A functional based taxonomy, which
representsthekey subject functionsof an
organisation.

Reasons for implementing a
department-based taxonomy:
-Departmental based taxonomiesareideal
asthey mimic permissionsand security
access, they giveclear senseof ownership
and collaborativeworkspacefor groupsof
users.
-Usersusually tend to work at a
departmental level for retrieving and
storing content, and only on rareinstances
requireasubject view to information.

Reasons for implementing a functional-
based taxonomy
-Overtime, thedepartmental structureof the
organisation changes(specially in largeorganisation,
e.g. restructures), however, thesubject domain
areasof an organisation areusually constant and
rarely change.
-When departmental restructureshappen, content is
usually moved from onelocation within the
taxonomy to another and/or thestructureof the
taxonomy isreorganized e.g. theinformation
technology department movesunder information
management..
-Somegroupsof users(e.g. management) within an
organisation requireasubject functional view on
contents.

Classification Models
Arranging Recordsby Subject Groups
or by Function

Structure of Subject Classification
• Typically Primary, Secondary, and
Tertiary Classifications
• Primary Classificationrefersto ageneral
subject or function, under which secondary
classifications(which relateto more
specific subjectsor functions) may be
arranged

(continued)
• Secondary Classificationrefersto amore
specific subject or function - it isasubdivision
of aprimary classification codeand heading
• Case File (also known asaTertiary) isafolder
or other filing devicecontaining avariety of
documentsrelating to aspecific perso n, pro ject,
actio n, event, o r o ther subject - casefileseries
havethesameclassification codes(both
primary and secondary identifiers), with each
individual casefilebeing assigned aunique
casefileidentifier

(continued)

Functional Classification
• In accordancewith ISO15489
• Better model than onestypically used in thepast:
• Issuitablefor organizationsthat haveno or fewer support
staff for classifying and filing records
• Iseasier to embed into electronic document management
and workflow softwareapplications
• Staff personsaretypically awareof thebusinessprocesses
within which they work
• Preventstheclassification system from growing ‘out of
control’

Structure of Functional
Classification

Designing a Taxonomy
Necessary Componentsof aRecordsClassification
System

Categories
• Recordsarenormally grouped into
subject or functional categories
• Finance
• Human Resources
• Information Systems
• Administration

Primary Classifications
• A primary classification consists of 2
elements:
• A classification code(may benumeric, alphabetic,
or alphanumeric)
• A written heading (or title)
• Primary classifications reflect broad
subjects orfunctions
• AccountsPayable, not Invoices
• EmployeeManagement, not aparticular
employee’sfile
• Postal & Courier Services, not Courier Log Books

Primary Classifications (continued)
• Theheading should ideally be2 to 5 wordslong
• Beconcisewhen creating theheading or title
(but providesufficient description)
• Although thereisno specific limit re: the
number of primariesunder each category, ask
yourself thefollowing questionsif you find the
number of primariessteadily increasing:
• Are so me o f them seco ndary classificatio ns o r case
files (tertiary classificatio ns), not primaries?
• Can several primaries be co mbined into o ne?
• Do es it really belo ng here in this particular
catego ry?

Primary Classifications (continued)
• Leavespacebetween primary numbers, if
possible, (e.g., 100, 120, 140, etc.) – this
way, if anew primary needsto beadded, it can
beeasily slotted in next to theprimary which
it most closely relatesto.
• Avoid using specific program or department
names, astheseregularly change
• Avoid using descriptionsor termsknown only
to key peoplein aparticular department,
which theaverageuser won’t beableto
comprehend
• Spell out abbreviations(e.g., ALR –
Agricultural Land Reserve)

Secondary Classifications
• A secondary consists of 2 elements:
• A classification code(number)
• A written heading (or title)
• Secondary classifications are subdivisions of
primaries and represent specific subjects or
functions.
• Under aTeleco mmunicatio ns primary, wemay find secondaries
such asCellular Pho nes, Telepho ne Lines, and Lo ng Distance
Lo gs
• Under aBuilding Inspectio n & Maintenance primary, wemay
find secondariessuch asElevato r Inspectio ns and Janito rial
Services
• Under aCapitalAssets primary, wemay find secondariessuch
asCapitalAsset Depreciatio n, CapitalAsset Invento ry, and
CapitalAsset Repo rts

Secondary Classifications (continued)
• What about ‘General’ classifications?
• General secondary captures“orphan”
documents
• You may possibly never haveto usethis
secondary, unlesstheneed arises
• Very useful for identifying theneed to revise
or expand theclassification system
• When at least 5 to 6 documentsin the
general secondary filerefer to thesame
subject, it isprobably timeto createanew
secondary classification

• Theheading should ideally be2 to 5 words
long (don’t get too wordy)
• Beasconciseaspossiblewhen creating the
secondary heading or title
• Ideally, thereshould beno morethan 10 to 20
secondary classificationsunder each primary
• If you find thenumber of secondary
classificationssteadily expanding, ask yourself
if someof them areprimariesor casefiles

• Avoid using descriptionsor termswhich the
averageuser won’t beableto comprehend (use
vernacular, or common, language)
• Spell out abbreviations
• Leavesomespacebetween secondary
numbers, if possible, to allow for inclusion of
new secondary classifications
• Avoid using specific program or department
names, astheseregularly change

Scope Notes (continued)
• The scope note describes the
functions, uses, and content of the
records which areto beclassified under a
specific primary or secondary codeand
heading.
• Thorough and descriptive
• Conciseand to-the-point
• Easily understood even by someonewho has
never dealt with that subject or function
before, and by someonewho hasnever seen
therecordsbeforeeither

• A scope note is typically 2 to 5
sentences in length, with themajority
being 3 or 4 sentenceslong
• A scopenotecomprising only 1 sentenceis
insufficient, not only in length, but in
content
• A scopenotecomprising morethan 5
sentencesisprobably going into too much
detail, which may also indicatetheneed to
split theclassification up

• First sentence should always begin the
same way (e.g., “Recordsrelating to…”)
• Don’t simply repeat word for word what’sin
theclassification title, asthat doesn’t add any
value(even if thetitlealoneiseasily
understood by theaverageuser)
• Theuser will wonder “What’sthe
classification all about, and what’sit used
for?”

• May include a description of what
the subject constitutes, so theaverage
user can understand it
• Thisshould beabout 1 or 2 sentenceslong
(no need to writeabook!)
• Ensurethat theaverageuser will know
whether to usethisclassification in order to
classify or retrievespecific records

• When writing ascopenote, don’t assume
that only thepersonswho work in the
department wheretherecordsarehoused
will beclassifying and retrieving them
• Ensurethat even someonewho hasnever
worked in that particular environment can
readily understand what theclassification
actually means, and thereforewhat types
of recordsmay befiled under it

• Define any subject ortopic which may
confuse users
• Subjectssuch asnaturalizatio n plans, mino r
variance applicatio ns, and marine vesselservices
• Also such seemingly “easy” subjectsasairpo rt
develo pment, co mputer hardware, emergency
planning, security, and labour nego tiatio ns
• No need to defineeverything, however, (i.e.,
don’t insult users’ intelligence)
• Includestermssuch ascommittees, employees, and
resumes

• Ideally includeasentencetalking
about thetypes of issues ortopics
that may becovered under this
classification: e.g
o Illustrates the definitio n
• A few examplesisall that theuser
requiresto determinewhether or not
thisclassification containsthe
information he/shewishesto retrieve

• Thelast sentencemay beadescription of the
individual types of documents that may be
classified here:
• Reports, correspondence, statistics, surveys,
complaints, etc.
• Need not beentirely comprehensive, asa
broad description will suffice
• Identify documentswhich areduplicates(i.e.,
“copiesof…), and ensureacross-reference
directing usersto wherethemaster record
copy islocated

Naming ConventionsNaming Conventions
Applies to folders and electronic
documents

Tertiary Classifications
Case Files (orTertiary Classifications)
• Areplaced “under” secondary classifications
• Whereasasecondary relatesto aspecific subject or
function, acasefilerelatesto an individual person,
place, date, or event that fallsunder thesecondary
• Fo r example, there may be a seco ndary fo r Year-
End FinancialStatements; the case files under
this seco ndary wo uld be the individualyear-end
financial statements (which wo uld be pro duced o n
an annualbasis)
• Thus there wo uld be a 1994file, a 1995file, a
1996file, and so o n

THE ENDTHE END

Business classification scheme (Taxonomy)

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