Organization

We recommend that you organize business glossary objects in a hierarchical manner for good visibility and ease of access. You can implement hierarchical structure with catalogs and sub-catalogs. For more information on creating catalogs and sub-catalogs refer to the Creating Catalogs topic.

You can design hierarchical structure with the help of the classification themes based on:

  1. General and specific glossary objects

    2. The hierarchical structure includes:

    • General glossary objects under catalogs
    • Specific glossary objects under sub-catalogs

    For example, agreement is a general glossary object whereas contract and purchase order are specific glossary objects.

  2. Areas of interest or subject areas

    3. The hierarchical structure includes:

    • Umbrella glossary object under catalogs
    • Subject areas under sub-catalogs

    For example, you can breakdown the organization (umbrella glossary object) into subject areas like sales, products, orders, shipments, and other related areas.

    The following image displays a hierarchical structure with catalogs and sub-catalogs for business terms.

We recommend you to take note of the following things when building a classification theme:

  • Every glossary object may not fit neatly into a single classification.
  • There may be instances where a term may be in multiple places.
  • The nesting depth should not go beyond five levels.
  • Avoid technical jargon or complexity.

We recommend you to have:

  • Single business glossary: If you can standardize names and meaning of all business glossary objects across the organization.
  • Multiple business glossaries: If agreements cannot be reached on a single meaning for a business glossary object. For example, in industries like healthcare and insurance you need to have multiple business glossaries.