Notation Module in Thesaurus Master™

Data Harmony's optional Notation Module represents a new way of structuring material in a thesaurus. Notations are prepended onto thesaurus terms, forming the basis for an alternate ordering of the terms within the thesaurus. The notational hierarchy may reflect an ordering strategy that fits your unique needs in addition to the standard alphabetic ordering of sibling term groups of a traditional thesaurus.

Notations allow great flexibility in thesaurus construction, to more accurately reflect user-defined weighting and prioritization of terms. Notation allows a thesaurus to reflect:

Process structure
- Thesaurus structure may now match the steps of a process or workflow, in the order that they are followed within the business or industry.
System structure
- An annotated thesaurus can prioritize as well as accurately map the structure of a system, from top level to component to sub-component.
Organization structure
- Departments of an organizational structure may be placed according to priority, funding, etc.
Filtering levels
- Assigning a notation to a term simplifies filtering of levels of information or data against which the thesaurus is applied. Data discovery tools can be set to recognize terms with the same levels of notation (a “3.2” term and a “6.2” term could be mined similarly, based upon the “.2” element) or select which areas of data are examined first.
Security levels
- Thesaurus structure can reflect levels of security or access within a system or organization.
Report or manual structure
- The terms in the thesaurus can be ordered to reflect a report or manual used within a business or organization; the thesaurus itself forms the index structure of a document.
Frequency weighting
- Terms can be arranged within the thesaurus to reflect frequency of term appearances within databases or other material.
Chronological order
- Terms may reflect the order in which they were added to the thesaurus, or may reflect a fiscal cycle.
Multiple sources or editors
- Prepended notations may reflect the source of a term, where several thesauri are being combined, so as to provide ready visual cues for those combining the terms into a new structure. A notation prefix may also be assigned to each editor involved in creating or maintaining a thesaurus, to easily “brand” work as it is done.

Another advantage of notation is the intuitive positional relationship when a term record is viewed in isolation. The notation contains information which gives the user insight into the hierarchical position of the term: “2.2.3: Passenger service” immediately indicates that this is a third-level term, under the top term annotated with “2”.

It should be noted that, while notation allows freedom from strict alphabetical structure, a thesaurus can be both annotated and alphabetized, to exploit the strengths of both systems, as below:

1: Apples

1.1: Granny Smith
1.2: Jonathan
1.3: Winesap

2: Bananas
3: Oranges
4: Pears

The Notation Module is designed to allow instant toggling between the annotated form and a traditional hierarchical view -- the best of both worlds!

Here is a simple thesaurus in the Notation View:

1: Physics

1.1: Nuclear Physics
1.2: Astrophysics
1.3: Geophysics

2: Chemistry
3: Biology
4: Mathematics

And here is the same thesaurus in the traditional hierarchy view, alphabetized:

Biology
Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics

Astrophysics
Geophysics
Nuclear Physics

The notations may also be alphabetical - Bcma would indicate a 4th level term in the 2nd branch of the notated hierarchy.

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