www.ecao.org 24 BUSINESS S Kill Your Haystacks – Find the Needle Small to mid-size businesses in the Canadian engineering and construction (E&C) industry know that: 1.  Speed and agility enhance productivity and efficiency. Better and faster means more market share. 2.  Urgency surrounding compliance audits demands immediate access to records. This can be challenging, stressful and punitive. 3.  Technology is the answer. It may look like automating manual processes, or integrating data across silos for better, faster costing, project management and tracking inventory. It means a transformation of the industry and your business. There is a sense of urgency to invest to modernize by using information management technologies like enterprise resource planning (ERP), project management, document management and other systems. Cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) is generating opportunities to mine data which is then used to make better business decisions and spark innovation. Yet, for many, looking for documents continues to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Taxonomy, a little-known document control solution, requires far less investment with quicker realization of benefits because it is hosted in your current active directory or SharePoint environment. The low- tech technique of taxonomies supports compliance in areas such as: health and safety, Canada Revenue Agency, quality By Claudia Mamros, ECAO Affiliate Partner management certifications, privacy, security, regulatory and other business needs. It can be a very effective lower-cost alternative. Taxonomy (structure) is like classification systems used in the life sciences field and the library community. Taxonomy is a process, not a product. Information Architecture Components Components Components Information Usage Pattern Information Flow Admin Structure (Visual of Taxonomy) Info Access Points Standards, Guidelines Taxonomy Information Architecture