How is Technopedia categorization created?

[MAFelder]

I have a similar question regarding how Technopedia categorization is created.  Are the vendors providing this, or is it being derived.  Is it possible to provide the software category and software sub category based on the FEA Infrastructure Reference Model.

[JohnSorensenDK · Accepted solution]

@MAFelder 

Did you check Technopedia - The Taxonomy that briefly describes its historical background?

And please don't forget that when using Flexera Data Platform or IT Visibility (strikethrough as per @Resnofendri's detailed response below) you'll be able to include your own internal categorization or other taxonomy as contextualization data source and as such contextualize your normalized data according to own internal needs...

Thanks,

[JohnSorensenDK · Accepted solution]

@MAFelder 

Did you check Technopedia - The Taxonomy that briefly describes its historical background?

And please don't forget that when using Flexera Data Platform or IT Visibility (strikethrough as per @Resnofendri's detailed response below) you'll be able to include your own internal categorization or other taxonomy as contextualization data source and as such contextualize your normalized data according to own internal needs...

Thanks,

[MAFelder]

Interesting, not the answer I was hoping for but still insightful. It may be worth considering down the road using TOGAF and or FEA since that would reduce the burden of manually remapping categories and enable team to use more of the data out of the box.

[Resnofendri · Accepted solution]

@MAFelder, Technopedia categorization (i.e. taxonomy) is a  Flexera's own IP, the background/historical creation of which was highlighted in the blog article mentioned by @JohnSorensenDK above (note that this blog is 8 years old, so some information in there may be outdated). It takes reference from various established taxonomy systems, while at the same time, curated to fit the needs of Flexera customers so that over time, it has dynamically evolved in terms of granularity, breadth and depth.

The process of assigning categories to a product in Technopedia involves an extensive research to understand the function of the product based on artifacts found on the vendor's official publication, taking into consideration how the vendor wishes to position the product in the market. It also involves research on how the industry categorizes the product (how established, trusted industry review or analyst websites categorize the product). Further comparison with similar/competing products is also being considered, before the decision as to which category fits the product the best is ultimately decided by Flexera content team.

There are cases where none of the existing categories in Technopedia taxonomy fit the product nicely, therefore, a process to expand the taxonomy to add new categories may be involved. It goes through due diligence process, working together with various customers, and sometimes directly with the vendor, making sure Technopedia has enough critical mass to create the new category. Finally, any changes to the taxonomy system will be announced in our Community Portal as part of the Content Release Checklist to afford customers an advanced notification so they're prepared with any potential impact on their system.

To answer your question, RE: TOGAF and FEA, there is currently no direct one-to-one reference between Flexera's taxonomy system with those established sources. We do have a category-level mapping with UNSPSC category (to accommodate our ARL library, which is being used by our FlexNet Manager solution). @JohnSorensenDK did mention a method to bring those categories into Data Platform via mash-up, however, that is assuming you have your inventory data (i.e. products) already categorized according to those system. From your question (and further comment), that doesn't seem to be the case, therefore not something that I would recommend. Additionally, any mention of or potentially bringing this into IT Visibility via contextualization process is premature at best, so I would rule out this recommendation for now.

@MAFelder, I would like to explore further how you (and your organization) uses TOGAF, FEA or any other established Taxonomy system out there alongside Technopedia taxonomy. If this is something that majority of our customers would be interested in having supported by Technopedia, we'd be very open to see how we fit this into our future direction. Would you be willing to get in a quick call to discuss this topic and see how we can benefit from understanding your use-cases?

[MAFelder]

After taking a look at definition from the taxonomy posted in the forum, and examining our end points I think it will be easy for us to map these. Thank you for sharing which model is used, this will definitely help in explaining how we can leverage it and map to it.