Essential fundamentals
Basic concepts
OpenKM has several built-in types of nodes:
- Folder.
- Document.
- Mail.
- Record.
A node type folder is a storage unit or a container. As a document, it also has a name but is not a file, and it can contain documents, records and other folders.
A node type document is a file. A document serves to establish one or several facts, and can be relied upon as a proof thereof.
A node type mail, most commonly referred to as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. A mail can contain documents (in the mail context these are called attachments).
In essence there are basically two kinds of nodes of type record:
- Non-digital records.
- Digital records.
A non-digital record is only a set of metadata groups.
A digital record can contain documents, mails, folders and other records.
Non-digital record sample:
When OpenKM is used to store the location of papers in the real world, each record is only a set of metadata fields that help the user locate papers, and there is no binary information associated (like an associated scanned document, etc.).
Digital record sample:
OpenKM is used to store business records, where each record represents the result of some business process transaction. The digital record, then, is used to store documents and mails associated with that process.
Understanding taxonomy, keywords, categories and metadata groups.
Spending time on node categorization is good practice. A good categorization will help users quickly find the desired information, using less time, saving money and making your business processes more efficient.
OpenKM helps you with this by providing basically four ways to recategorize your repository:
- Taxonomy.
- Keywords.
- Categories.
- Metadata groups.
You can use one of these features to categorize your repository or a combination of all.
Taxonomy
The dictionary says:
"Taxonomy (from Greek taxis meaning arrangement or division and nomos meaning law) is the science of classification according to a pre-determined system, with the resulting catalogue used to provide a conceptual framework for discussion, analysis, or information retrieval. In theory, the development of a good taxonomy takes into account the importance of separating elements of a group (taxon) into subgroups (taxa) that are mutually exclusive, unambiguous, and taken together, include all possibilities."
Basically, a taxonomy is a way to group things together. Like a controlled vocabulary focuses on concepts, in practice, a good taxonomy should be simple, easy to remember, and easy to use.
For best performance in the UI we suggest - when possible - a taxonomy where each parent has 200 children or fewer.
Each folder in a taxonomy represents a "concept" and lists a number of nodes ( folders, documents, mails or records ) associated with it.
Keywords
A keyword, in the context of document management, is a particular word or phrase that describes the contents. Setting keywords is the simplest and most basic system for categorizing the nodes in your repository, but at the same time is the least powerful. For large repositories we encourage using metadata groups.
Limitations of keywords usage:
- When you have thousands of keywords, searching by keywords can be inefficient (you cannot refine searches and you get a lot of results with the same keywords; users do not follow a restricted way to catalog). A tag cloud diagram in these cases is usually an unusable graphical representation of keywords.
- It's difficult for users to set keywords because they do not know the entire keyword dictionary of the company.
- Users write keywords in a similar way but not always the same (for example, users use the words "building", "construction" and "edifice" interchangeably).
You can get the best results when:
- You limit the number of users who are able to set keywords.
- You use a controlled keywords dictionary (more information at http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/).
- You share a complete company keywords dictionary with your users. That helps them understand how knowledge is mapped in your organization and helps users find it.
Categories
In OpenKM, the categories are a virtual taxonomy that helps with the navigation of taxonomy nodes across other concepts. Each category node represents a "concept" and lists a number of nodes ( folders, documents, mails or records ) associated with it.
We suggest using categories rather than keywords.
Metadata
Metadata groups are data that describe other data, providing information about certain nodes' content. Metadata groups help create controlled classification and are a powerful way to locate nodes and refine query searches.
With metadata groups you can simulate the keywords and categories features. We encourage spending some time investigating the metadata feature and suggest using it rather than keywords and categories.
