Metadata strategies for transportation agencies: An information management perspective
1 like536 views
The document discusses the challenges and strategies in enterprise information management, specifically focusing on the integration of data and content management, and the necessity of establishing an effective metadata strategy. It emphasizes the importance of developing a comprehensive metadata governance framework to enhance asset findability, promote reuse, and optimize operational performance. Additionally, it outlines methodologies for developing enterprise taxonomies and metadata specifications to support content lifecycle management.
Metadata strategies for transportation agencies: An information management perspective
- 1. Taxonomy Strategies Metadata Strategies An Information Management Perspective January 14, 2014 Copyright 2014 Taxonomy Strategies. All rights reserved.
- 2. Agenda Information management challenges Enterprise metadata strategy Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 2
- 3. Data Management Content Management Link to related Link to source Visualization Analysis Description Access control Identification Publication Management Collection Less structured Structured Challenge #1: Integrating data and content management Data management applications are typically structured to provide a view at the present time. For example, What is the current balance in a program fund account? But it is more difficult to answer questions like— Why have there been fluctuations in a program fund over the life of the program? Content management applications focus on versioning and formatting narrative content for presentation and publication. Enterprise content management (ECM) encompasses both data and content management. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 3
- 4. Challenge #2: Linking to source data Enterprise content is heterogeneous. Narrative content is often based on structured data sets and includes visualizations of that data. For example, a research report on highway safety includes tables of data, charts and maps. Can further analysis of the same data set readily be replicated, or new analyses performed? It is no longer sufficient to manage narrative content as a static content item. It is becoming necessary to link narrative content to source data. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 4
- 5. Challenge #3: Managing the content lifecycle Content evolves over time through drafts and versions, and annotations and commentary are associated with it. For example, a PowerPoint report on material properties of highway surfaces is developed through many drafts and versions for different audiences such as engineers and budget analysts. Which version is the most current? Which one is the official approved document of record? etc. It is a requirement to manage and synchronize multiple versions of overlapping sets of heterogeneous sources. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 5
- 6. Agenda Information management challenges Enterprise metadata strategy Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 6
- 7. Characteristics of enterprise metadata strategy Strategy: Reflects overall program goals of organization. Integration: Framework for organizing, finding and presenting assets from disparate systems. Capability to leverage available tools to pull related information from multiple applications to 1) manage the enterprise, and 2) communicate with the stakeholders. KPIs: Provide common way to measure and report performance. Objectives of enterprise metadata strategy Compliance with regulations. Measure and optimize performance Content findability and use. Support operations/procedures. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 7
- 8. Metadata strategy development methodology Fact Finding HighLevel Detail Validation Governance Background research Industry standards and best practices Competitor and peer practices Organization policies and procedures Quantitative inputs – review analytics. Application statistics Content use statistics Search query logs Qualitative inputs – ask stakeholders. One-on-one interviews Focus groups Surveys Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 8
- 9. Generate use cases DOT information is created to support a business function or activity. Anticipate and envision future secondary and potential tertiary uses of that information. Information is generated as part of an immediate operational activity such as accessioning assets which is part of the DOT asset management function. Later that same information may be analyzed to produce an asset maintenance plan. How should information be structured to maximize its potential uses? When is it appropriate to archive and/or purge information from an active collection? Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 9
- 10. Metadata ROI Assets are expensive to create so it’s critical that they can be found, Asset Cost so they can be used and re-used. Every re-use decreases the asset creation cost. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Asset Uses Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 10
- 11. Metadata capital* Asset reuse is contingent on the creation and accessibility of Asset Value complete and consistent metadata. Every re-use increases the asset value. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Asset Uses * “Metadata capital” is a term recently coined by Dr. Jane Greenberg, Director of the Metadata Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 11
- 12. Identify key performance indicators (KPI’s) Number of content assets added/edited during the period. Number of content assets used and re-used during the period. Revenue from content assets during the period (conversion and lift) Number of content assets with metadata (completeness) Number of metadata inconsistencies (consistency) Number of times each category has been used. Number of cross-references. Number of end user reviews, subscriptions to feeds, etc. (channel engagement) Number of new content asset alerts generated. Number of end user subscriptions to feeds. Number of change requests handled (new categories, synonyms, notes, etc.) Number of information products/applications added (aggregation, search, filtering, personalization, multi-channel, etc.) Number of content asset/service recommendations. End user satisfaction (survey) Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 12
- 13. Metadata specification development methodology Fact Finding HighLevel Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information Detail Validation Governance 13
- 14. Enterprise metadata standardizes Resource description (title, summary and subject categories) Resource function/purpose in the record retention context (typology of use cases). Resource types E.g., Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) – Task Resources. Describe how to accomplish a task, listing a series of steps that users follow to produce an intended outcome. – Concept Resources - Definitions, rules, and guidelines. – Reference Resources - Detailed, factual material. Geographic locations generally, and facilities specifically. Roles (employee, manager, partner, supplier, etc.) and/or audience/persona. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 14
- 15. Adopt an enterprise core metadata standard Element Description Title The name given to the resource. Description An account of the resource. Type The nature or genre of the resource. Subject The topic of the resource. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource. Creator The entity primarily responsible for making the resource. Owner The organizational entity that is responsible for the lifecycle of the resource. Approver The entity that is responsible for approving the publication of a resource. Retention Schedule The retention schedule that applies to the resource. Dates The dates associated with a resource lifecycle event. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 15
- 16. Identify and manage key resource lifecycle events/transactions Event Metadata Actor Description Default Creation Date Created Author Date content originally created. Today Approval Date Approved Approver Date content approved Not approved Publication Date Published System Date content was published. Today Expiration Date of Expiration Author Date when content is to be deleted. +365 days Review Date of Next review System Date content must next be reviewed. +365 days Modification Date Modified Author or Approver Date content was last modified. Today Deletion Date Deleted Author, Approver, NPI Team Date content was deleted. +365 days Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 16
- 17. Develop an enterprise taxonomy Standard vocabularies used to describe what the content is about and why it is important—the “subject”. 8-12 facets—discrete aspects of the “subject” such as who, what, where and why. 2-3 levels deep. < 20 categories per level. 1500 total categories. Captures synonyms, abbreviations, acronyms, translations, and other, term variations (such as regional variations) as well as notes that explain how the term has been determined, and how the term should be used. Example: TRT (Transportation Research Thesaurus) Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 17
- 18. TRT high-level taxonomy example Red = Facets Black = Categories Disciplines Agriculture Architecture Civil Drilling Economics Electrical Environmental Geography Geology Geotechnical Hydraulic hydrology Industrial Information management Materials science Mechanical Planning Process Safety processes Simulation Structural Surveying geodesy Telecommunications Populations Age groups Gender Educational level Families & households Race & ethnicity Language backgrounds Socioeconomic levels Organizations Facilities Businesses Industries Service agencies Governments Military organizations Membership organizations Forms of business or industry Structures Specialized facilities Facilities & structures by use Transportation, hydraulic & utility facilities Structural deterioration & defects Materials Classes of materials Properties of materials Physical phenomena Laws of physics Sound Chemical reactions & processes Electricity Electromagnetism Mechanics Light Nuclear phenomena Surface phenomena Heat Systems Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information Vehicles & equipment Vehicles Vehicle characteristics Vehicle dynamics Vehicle components Equipment Equipment characteristics Topics Transportation Transportation operations Management & organization Communication & control Planning & design Construction & maintenance Testing Safety & security Environment Economic & social factors Locations Content Types States A-Z Regions Geographic features Monographs Serials Dictionaries Registers Correspondence Patents Reviews Reports Specifications Data sets Forms Visual presentations Multimedia Legal documents Maps 18
- 19. Metadata elements vs. metadata values Dublin Core (ISO 15836:2009) is a vocabulary of fifteen properties for use in resource description Dublin—Originated at a 1995 workshop in Dublin, Ohio. Core—Elements are broad and generic, usable for describing a wide range of resources. SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System (W3C Recommendation 18 August 2009) is a data model to identify, define and link concept vocabularies. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 19
- 20. Metadata elements vs. metadata values Blue = Dublin Core Red = Vocabularies Element Scheme Value dc.identifier http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx dc.title FAR Encyclopedia dc.description The FARS Encyclopedia offers an intuitive and powerful approach for retrieving fatal crash information. dc.type DITA Reference resource dc.subject TRT Traffic crashes, Fatalities dc.coverage dc.creator dc.date 1994-2011 US Govt Manual National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2012 Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 20
- 21. Metadata elements vs. metadata values Blue = Dublin Core Red = Vocabularies <!--Each page must contain this info, per OMB--> <meta name=“dc.identifier” content="http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx" /> <meta name=“dc.title" content="FAR Encyclopedia" /> <meta name=“dc.description" content="The FARS Encyclopedia offers an intuitive and powerful approach for retrieving fatal crash information." /> <meta name=“dc.type" scheme=“DITA“ content="Reference resource" /> <meta name=“dc.subject" scheme="TRT" content="Traffic crashes, Fatalities" /> <meta name=“dc.coverage" content="1994-2011" /> <meta name=“dc.creator" scheme=“US Government Manual" content="National Highway Traffic Safety Administration" /> <meta name=“dc.date" content= “2012“ /> <meta name="dc.format" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="dc.language" scheme= "DCTERMS.RFC1766" content= "EN-US" /> <meta name="keywords" content= "FARS, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, PAR, Police Accident Reports, statistics, data, facts, car, truck, motorcycle, vehicle, pedestrian, street, road, highway, interstate, accident, injury" /> Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 21
- 22. Three pillars of enterprise metadata governance Communications Plan Roles and Responsibilities Executive Sponsor Taxonomy Manager Content Owners Content Managers Event Message Channel Audience Policies and Procedures Structure Criteria Review Approval Each pillar has four elements. Fully mature Governance Models implement all elements. Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 22
- 23. Resources Cambridge Systematics. NCHRP Report 754: Improving Management of Transportation Information. 2013. http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/169522.aspx Dublin Core (ISO Standard 15836:2009) http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/ J. Greenberg, S. Swauger, E.M. Feinstein. Metadata Capital in a Data Repository. Proceedings of International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2013. http://http://dcevents.dublincore.org/IntConf/dc2013/paper/view/189/172. Simple Knowledge Organization System (W3C Recommendation 18 August 2009) http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-skos-reference20090818/ Transportation Research Thesaurus. http://trt.trb.org/ Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 23
- 24. Joseph A Busch, Principal jbusch@taxonomystrategies.com twitter.com/joebusch 415-377-7912 QUESTIONS? Taxonomy Strategies The business of organized information 24