How to create a cross-firm taxonomy: a new step-by-step case study by Iron Carrot
In this case study, I will share the process we recently implemented for one of our law firm clients, who was looking to achieve a firmwide taxonomy to support their new intranet.
It is typical of the critical steps, deliverables, and challenges you’ll need to address when tackling your own taxonomy integration project.
The background
The firm’s plan to merge three legacy intranets into a single new platform was pushing ahead to an aggressive timeline. A robust plan to migrate or retire the content of these old intranets was in place, but during the socialisation of the plan, the Head of KM identified a gap which would stop the new intranet from being launched on time.
No work was being done on integrating the taxonomies of the three legacy intranets, as it was assumed that the structure for drop-down lists, keywords, and tagging could simply be merged. This would lead to chaos as the oldest system didn’t reflect the firm’s current practices, sectors, and teams.
This activity needed to be done quickly by someone who understands law firm language, so Iron Carrot was engaged by the firm to support the work. Using her background in taxonomy management and extensive experience working with law firms, CJ Anderson and her team at Iron Carrot provided the correct skillset to maximise the successful outcome of the taxonomy integration process.
The process
Step 1: Understanding the scope and goals
Before Iron Carrot looked at the three legacy intranet taxonomies, we sat down with the Head of KM, the Intranet Project Sponsor, and the Intranet Project manager to get a better understanding of the content in the legacy intranets and where their taxonomies had come from.
We also discussed the components of the taxonomies with a broader group of project team members and the Project Board so that we understood the purpose of the new intranet and the owner of each vocabulary.
Step 2: Reviewing and mapping the taxonomies
The Project Team extracted the taxonomies from the three legacy intranets into spreadsheets, and Iron Carrot spent a week creating a proposed new taxonomy. The discussion version included the taxonomy and a mapping document for each legacy intranet to show how their terms related to the new taxonomy. Part of this proposal was deleting terms which were no longer required since they were only used by legacy content which was being deleted or archived.
Step 3: Testing the proposal
The next step was a review by the Head of KM, the Project Manager and the Project Team to confirm their satisfaction with the new taxonomy. This was done in a half-day workshop where Iron Carrot walked them through the taxonomy and the mapping documents (so they understood how we made decisions about terms.)
Step 4: Socialising the proposal
The proposal was shared with the Project Board, PSLs, and Marketing Managers (who were already involved in reviewing content for migration or deletion) for their review and feedback. Fortunately, this included only minor amendments to reflect better the firm’s business language rather than substantive editing.
Step 5: Detailed planning
Iron Carrot worked with the Project Manager to include the adoption of the new taxonomy in the new intranet project plan, including helping to develop the communications and change messaging that would be required.
The payoff
Happy stakeholders
The Head of KM was confident that the single new taxonomy would add to the value of the new intranet. They were also very pleased with the Iron Carrot proposal, which fitted their firm’s needs.
Better quality intranet
With the new taxonomy embedded in the project plan, data migration work could include adopting the new language. This meant that the intranet content was easier to find and understand on launch day as the drop-down pickers, keywords, and tags better reflected the firm’s business language.
No impact on the project timetable
Because this activity ran parallel to the content evaluation workstream, a stakeholder review of the new taxonomy was conducted simultaneously. The mapping work could be planned into the (as yet unwritten) migration scripts, meaning the scheduled go-live date remained the same.
Conclusion
Just because you have a tight deadline, it doesn’t mean that you can’t fix your taxonomy. Putting it off might impact the success of your project as the language you use might not reflect the firm’s business language as it is today.
