Corporate taxonomy is the hierarchical classification of entities of interest of an enterprise, organization or administration, used to classify documents, digital assets and other information.
Taxonomies can cover virtually any type of physical or conceptual entities (products, processes, knowledge fields, human groups, etc.)
A powerful approach to map and retrieve unstructured data, taxonomies allow efficient solutions in the management of corporate knowledge, in particular in complex organizational models for workflows, human resources or customer relations.
As an extension of traditional thesauri and classifications used in a company, a corporate taxonomy is usually the fruit of a large harmonization effort involving most departments of the organization.
It is often developed, deployed and fine tuned over the years, while setting up knowledge management systems, in order to assure the survival and good use of valuable corporate know-how.