Types of Taxonomies and Hierarchies

EnterWorks provides the ability to manage three distinct types of hierarchical relationships. The main difference between them is how a record stores its taxonomy or hierarchy.

• Taxonomy – used to define what a record “is”. The taxonomy is stored in a designated attribute in the record, for instance, an attribute called “Taxonomy”. (The attribute is designated as a taxonomy by indicating in the profile that it is a Special Function attribute and its code set is designated a taxonomy object.) Since there is only one attribute in a record that stores the taxonomy, each record can be linked to only one node in the taxonomy. A taxonomy node can also have category attributes associated with them. (See Category Attributes ). For example, a cup requires a field to capture its volume capacity, but plate does not.
  
  

Taxonomy Behavior
A repository can have only one taxonomy. A repository record can be linked to only one taxonomy node. A taxonomy can be assigned to multiple repositories. Category attributes can be associated with nodes.

• Hierarchy – A hierarchy is used to define a navigational path to one or more records. The node assignments are stored in a separate repository, to allow each record to be assigned to multiple hierarchy nodes. This allows the record to be found in more than one category during a search. An example would be record for an “Abrasive Disk” item that was assigned to a category node called “Abrasives” and a category node of “Power Tool Accessories”. Records can be assigned to multiple nodes from multiple Hierarchies. Hierarchies cannot have category attributes.

Hierarchy Behavior
A repository can have multiple hierarchies. A repository record can be linked to multiple hierarchy nodes. A hierarchy can be assigned to multiple repositories. Cannot have category attributes.

• Restricted Hierarchy – A restricted hierarchy is similar to a taxonomy. An attribute in the repository is used to store a record’s hierarchy node assignment, so a record can only be assigned to one node in the hierarchy. However, the record can be assigned to nodes in multiple hierarchies. Each hierarchy’s node assignment is stored in its own repository attribute. Restricted hierarchies cannot have category attributes.

Restricted Hierarchy Behavior
A repository can have multiple restricted hierarchies; each hierarchy node assignment is stored in its own attribute. A repository record can be linked to only one node in a restricted hierarchy. Nodes cannot have category attributes.

All three types of classification listed above can be used to find records by drilling down the tree structure and selecting a node to see the records assigned to that node.