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. Like a document, it also has a name but is not a file; 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 (which in the mail context are called attachments).

In essence, there are 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.

Note

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 helps users 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, use less time, save money, and be more efficient in your business processes.

OpenKM helps you with this by providing four main ways to organize your repository:

• Taxonomy.
• Keywords.
• Categories.
• Metadata groups.

Note

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.

Caution

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 content. Setting keywords is the simplest and most basic system for categorizing the nodes in your repository, but at the same time it is the least powerful. For large repositories, we encourage using metadata groups.

Limitations of keyword usage:

• When you have thousands of keywords, searching by keywords can be inefficient (you are not able to refine the search and you get a lot of results with the same keywords; users do not follow a restricted cataloging method). 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 company’s complete keyword dictionary.
• Users write keywords in similar ways but not always the same (for example, users use the words “building”, “construction”, and “edifice” indistinctly).

Note

You can get the best results when:

• You limit the number of users who are able to set keywords.
• You use a controlled keyword dictionary (more information at http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/).
• You share a complete company keyword 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 navigate 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.

Note

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 classifications and are a powerful way to locate nodes and refine search queries.

Note

With metadata groups you can simulate the keywords and categories features. We encourage you to spend some time investigating the metadata feature, and we suggest using it rather than keywords and categories.