Taxonomy Management

A taxonomy is a formal classification system that groups the words, terms and synonyms that describe something, and then arranges these groups into a hierarchy. The software allows for the construction of taxonomies for almost any kind of information from organizational structures, chart of accounts, product catalogs, network infrastructure, or geographical locations.

Taxonomy is built using hierarchical list of terms with synonyms. In this structure a term might include other terms or serve as an endpoint of the term hierarchy. Each term might include synonyms to simplify tagging and search.

The software uses taxonomies to enable various operations such as:

• tagging assets to facilitate consistent use of metadata
• assigning labels to indicate various asset characteristics
• grouping assets by multiple independent criteria to improve assets discover-ability
• simplifying search for the assets following taxonomy hierarchies
• assigning configuration, security policies and communication protocols to various groups of assets under management

Exploring Taxonomies

Beyond a simple hierarchy of terms, you can also visualize the relationship of the taxonomy to better understand how the branches are built. This provides a representative view to more easily review and manage existing taxonomies or build new ones with multiple branches.

To explore and visualize taxonomies:

1. Log in with an Administrator or Taxonomy Manager account.
2. Navigate to Management > Taxonomy, locate the taxonomy you wish to visualize and click its Expansion down arrow.
3. The visualization of this taxonomy will appear below the list and will display each branch of the taxonomy. With this visualization, you may:
   1. Explore each branch to understand the complete relationship of the entire taxonomy
   2. Click on a header to collapse/expand a branch to focus on specific areas
   3. Hover on a header to see the Term and its description.

Creating a new Taxonomy

By default, 12Port Horizon includes two taxonomies that you can use as-is or customize to meet your requirements. If you would prefer to create your own taxonomy:

1. Log in with an Administrator or Taxonomy Manager account.
2. Navigate to Management > Taxonomy and click the Add button.
3. By creating a new Taxonomy, you will begin by building the top level. Enter a name for Taxonomy and an optional description. Click the Save button to save your new taxonomy.

Once the top level is built, you can now begin to create your taxonomy branches. From the taxonomy's top level:

• Click the Actions menu and use the:
  • Edit: Use this edit option to make a change to the current taxonomy level. For example, from this top level, you can change the Name or Description of this term.
  • Terms: Use this terms option to add child terms below this parent level. This option will open a new Terms page where you can begin creating your next level or branch. Use the Add button to create a new term. When creating a new term, you will these have parameters available:
    • Name: provide a name for this term which will be visible in the taxonomy.
    • Description: optionally, enter a description of this term to define its intended use.
    • Could Be Selected: this indicator designates a term that could be selected as a value in an asset taxonomy field. The terms that could not be selected as a field value are useful to be a part of the taxonomy hierarchy to contain other terms, acting like a container.
    • Synonym Name: is a word or sentence alternative to the term name like a translation. A term might have multiple synonyms.
    • Qualifier: is a tag to restrict the synonym use for certain purposes.
    • Use the Save button to create a new child term.
  • Delete: Use this option to delete the term at this current level. Note that you cannot delete a parent branch that contains child terms using this option.
  • Deep Delete: Use this option to delete the parent term at this current level AND all child terms beneath it.

Note

You can navigate down a taxonomy tree by clicking on the Name of the level o or using the Actions > Terms option, both will navigate down to its next child level. You can navigate up a taxonomy tree by clicking on a parent level from the Term Path breadcrumbs.

Updating Taxonomies

Changes can be made to an existing taxonomy to add more terms, append synonyms, copy or move terms between parents and other functions. To update an a taxonomy:

1. Log in with an Administrator or Taxonomy Manager account.
2. Navigate to Management > Taxonomy and navigate to the term or level where updates need to be made.
   • If you are updating a term, navigate to the level where this term resides and use its Actions > Edit option to make a change to this specific term.
   • If you wish to add new child terms, navigate to the parent level and use the Add button to begin creating the child term under the parent. You can use the Term Path breadcrumbs to confirm the current parent location.
   • To navigate to a terms sub or child terms, click the Terms option or click on the parent term Name.
   • If you wish to copy or move a child term (and any children it may have), navigate into the parent level and from the child term's Actions menu, use either the Copy or Cut options. Navigate to the destination parent, and use the Paste option to complete the copy or move operation.
   • If you wish to delete a child term, navigate into the term's parent and for this term, use its Actions > Delete option to remove this term. Note that you cannot us this option to delete a term that currently have child terms.
   • If you wish to delete a parent term AND all child terms beneath it, navigate to the term's parent and for this term, use its Actions > Deep Delete option. This will delete the parent term and all its sub or child terms.

Note

Taxonomies inherit down from parent to child spaces. A taxonomy created on a parent will be shown as inherited (under the Actions column) on a child space and can only be updated or extended on the parent from where it was created.

Tip

Use the Term Path breadcrumbs to confirm the current location in the hierarchy.

Export and Import Taxonomies

To copy or move an entire taxonomy, you can use the Export and Import controls. This will allow a taxonomy to be created in one tenant or instance of the software, like a development or testing environment, and copied or moved to another like production.

To export a taxonomy to a .json file:

1. Log in with an Administrator or Taxonomy Manager account to the source location.
2. Navigate to Management > Taxonomy, select the root level of the taxonomy to export and use the Actions > Export option. A new .json export file will be created and downloaded through your current browser.

The export .json file can now be used for import.

To export a taxonomy to a .svg image file:

1. Log in with an Administrator or Taxonomy Manager account to the source location.
2. Navigate to Management > Taxonomy, from the root level of the taxonomy to export and use the Actions > Edit option to open its Edit Taxonomy page.
3. On this Edit Taxonomy page, click the Export to SVG button. A new .svg image file will be created and downloaded through your current browser.

To import a taxonomy from a .json file:

1. Log in with an Administrator or Taxonomy Manager account to the destination location.
2. Navigate to Management > Taxonomy and from the root level, use the Actions > Import option.
3. When prompted for the import file, select your exported .json file and click the Import button to being the operation.