Taxonomy 101: from Initial Intimidation

to Complete Control (Part I)

A Two-Part Workshop2015 AIRS Conference

Dallas | May, 2015

John Allec, CRSManager,

FindHelp Information Services, Toronto

&

Ryan Ward, MSW, CRSResource Manager,

Texas Information & Referral Network

All(?) things are difficult before they are easy.

- Thomas Fuller

Workshop Objectives

PART I:• Provide an overview of Taxonomy

• Review the Taxonomy’s structure and design

• Introduce basic principles and practices of indexing

PART II:• Introduce the concept of customization

• Discuss taxonomy maintenance and resources

Taxonomy•What IS Taxonomy?

• A tool that helps people find what [information] they need.• A type of controlled vocabulary; a standardized set of terms, used to index and

retrieve information.• Systematic, unambiguous, orderly• Dynamic, responsive, evolving• Helpful, fun!

Information & Referral Taxonomy

The AIRS Taxonomy of Human Services• Sets a standard for defining services, indexing, and accessing the wide variety of human

services available in communities across North America• Work began in 1982; first printed version completed 1987.• Continually developed and assessed by Georgia Sales (LA County 2-1-1), full-time editor

and researcher• Specifically designed for indexing community resources in a computerized environment• Endorsed by AIRS and United Way Worldwide• Originally written for US; now includes two Canadian versions

Terms of the Human Services field• Center around social service delivery• Include disadvantaged and vulnerable populations• Professional vocabulary• Regularly updated• Focus on basic needs fulfillment

AIRS Standard 9: Classification System/Taxonomy

The I&R service shall use the AIRS/211 LA County Taxonomy of Human Services (formally titled A Taxonomy of Human Services: A Conceptual Framework with

Standardized Terminology and Definitions for the Field) to:• Index and facilitate retrieval of resource

information, • Increase the reliability of planning data, • Make evaluation processes consistent and reliable,

and • Facilitate national comparisons of data

Additional classification structures such as keywords may supplement the Taxonomy, but must be connected to the Taxonomy rather than functioning as independent indexing systems.

Taxonomy Works for Us

What we want from the Taxonomy• Simple, but definitive

language• Intuitive, but discerning

structure• Searchable, customizable,

dispensable

What we get with the Taxonomy• Simple, flexible structure• Use References; combined

searches• Ability to customize• Responsive architects• Browseable, searchable

World Without Taxonomy

Taxonomy StructureDivides all human and social services into 10 Service categorieswith a separate, 11th Target group section

• B - Basic Needs• D - Consumer Services• F - Criminal Justice and Legal Services• H - Education• J – Environment and Public Health/Safety• L - Health Care• N - Income Support and Employment• P - Individual and Family Life• R - Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services• T - Organizational/Community/International Services

• Y - Target Populations

Hierarchical Structure

Terms are arranged in branches, with clear lineage relationships.

Terms can be conveniently rolled-up for less specific reporting.

Terms and Cross References

Use References are non-preferred terms that point to preferred terms.

Taxonomy Terms are also known as preferred terms.

Each term is assigned a distinct definition and a code, which corresponds to its location within the Taxonomy Hierarchy.

See Also References are other similar terms.

External Classification Terms are similar terms in other taxonomy systems.

Related Concepts are terms of similar subject matter.

Basic Principles of Indexing:Types of Terms

The following types of terms directly index Services:

Service Terms – The vast majority of all terms; describes the provided service (e.g. Academic Counseling)

Organization/Facility Type Terms – Relatively common; describe what an organization is, implying function (e.g. Food Pantries)

Named Program Terms – Widely-known programs, such as governmental programs (e.g. Food Stamps/SNAP)

Basic Principles of Indexing:Types of Terms (cont.)

The following types of terms do not index services directly, but rather link to Service Terms to further describe them:

Modality/Delivery Format Terms – describe the way in which a service is delivered (e.g. Legal Counseling)

Target Terms – describe a group to whom the service is provided (e.g. Veterans); should not be used if target group is included in the Service term (e.g. Veteran Home Loans)

POP QUIZTypes of Terms

1) Barber Complaints2) Medicaid Card Replacement3) Fossil Permits4) Special Care Inpatient Units5) Remarried Couples6) On the Job Training7) Alcoholism Drop In Services8) Internet Support Groups9) Psychiatric Hospitals10) United Nations Associations11) Vocal Musicians12) Spider Control

For each Term below, name the Term Type.

Service

Organization / Facility

Type

Named Program

Modality /Delivery Format

Target Populations

Basic Principles of Indexing:Types of Services

Primary – “Entry point” services; open to anyone who meets eligibility criteria; always index these kinds of services (unless they do not meet your Inclusion Criteria).

Secondary – Must already be receiving Primary services to be eligible; Do not index these kinds of services (although their mention in service description is permissible).

Indirect – Services an Agency does not provide directly; Do not index these kinds of services (and if you do, do so accurately).

Ancillary – Services an Agency provides, but in a minimal capacity, or in such a manner so as to make them not worth indexing;

Do not index these kinds of services.

Phantom – Services an Agency claims to offer, but rarely provides; Do not index these kinds of services.

POP QUIZTypes of Services

1) Townsville Church of Paganism provides food pantry services to members of its congregation on Saturday morning, before mass. (Term: Food Pantries)

2) Land County Office of Social Services provides referral forms, which can be redeemed at local shelters for a night’s stay. (Term: Homeless Shelters)

3) Cityton Community Center provides one-time assistance (up to $10) for past due utility bills . (Term: Utility Service Payment Assistance)

4) Children’s Hope Center provides free parenting classes to members of the community. (Term: Parenting Education)

5) Centerburg Health Clinic provides just about every health related service you could think of, except oncology. (Term: Biopsies)

For each scenario below, name the Service Type.

Primary

Secondary

Indirect

Ancillary

Phantom

Basic Principles of Indexing:Major Concepts

Accuracy - Choose the most accurate/specific term available to you that fully describes the service in question.

Consistency - Once a term has been chosen to describe a type of service, the same term should be used to describe similar services offered by other organizations; avoid using a broad term if a narrower term is already being used, or vice versa.

Question: What can we use to be more accurate, and consistent in our indexing decisions?

Basic Principles of Indexing:Major Concepts (cont.)

Avoid Double Indexing – there are two kinds of Double Indexing

• Vertical / Intrabranch: using two terms on the same branch anywhere in your database.

• Horizontal / Interbranch: using multiple terms to describe one service.

Basic Principles of Indexing:Major Concepts (cont.)

The following are not instances of Double Indexing

• One or more Target Terms linked to a Service term(ex. Home Rehabilitation Loans – Avalanche Victims, Earthquake Victims)

• A Modality Term linked to a Service term (ex. Marriage Counseling – Mediation)

• An Organization/Facility Type Term used in conjunction with a Service term to a Service

(ex. Hospice Facilities; Hospice Care)

POP QUIZTypes of Services

1) Becky is indexing a Service record of The Helping Center, pertaining to their assistance with electric bills. She decides to post to the terms Electric Service Payment Assistance [BV-8900.9300-180] and Utility Service Payment Assistance [BV-8900.9300].

2) Donald determines that A Safe Place should be indexed to Crisis Shelter [BH-1800.1500], and that Kid’s Place should be indexed to Runaway/Youth Shelters [BH-1800.1500-700].

3) Lisa is indexing Helping Hands Accessibility service, which constructs ramps for eligible low-income older adults and individuals mobility issues. She uses Home Barrier Removal Loans [BH-3000.3540].

4) Ethan is indexing his state’s Food Stamps/SNAP primary intake record. He uses Food Stamps/SNAP [NL-6000.2000] and Emergency Food [BD-1800].

For each indexing decision below, determine the issue.

Accuracy

Consistenc

y

Double Indexin

g

Indexing Steps

1. Identify the services that will be indexed:A. Which services are Primary?B. If more than one are Primary, should they be separated into

different Service records?C. For multiple Primary within the same Service record, should they be

individually indexed, or “grouped”?

2. Determine if there is a facility type term that would be appropriate; if so, this may account for all services.

3. If not, identify the most appropriate term to characterize each service concept.

4. Read the definition of the taxonomy term that you think is appropriate to verify correctness.

Indexing Steps (cont.)

6. Be sure that your selection is allowable, based on your I&R operation’s rules for indexing, including custom taxonomy if used. Be sure that it is consistent with how other similar Services are indexed. If term is not approved but is at a generally approved level (e.g. Level 5), then it should have either an approved parent or child term available.

7. Look at the See Also References listed for the term; can any of them be used to index the Agency’s other services?

8. Is a Modality Term needed to clarify the manner in which the service is delivered

9. Would a Target Group be useful and appropriate?

This concludes Part I.

If you’re feeling up to it…

…please rejoin us for Part II!

Taxonomy 101: from Initial Intimidation

to Complete Control (Part II)

A Two-Part Workshop2015 AIRS Conference

Dallas | May, 2015

John Allec, CRSManager,

FindHelp Information Services, Toronto

&

Ryan Ward, MSW, CRSResource Manager,

Texas Information & Referral Network

Basic Principles of Indexing:Types of Terms

The following types of terms directly index Services:

Service Terms – The vast majority of all terms; describes the provided service (e.g. Academic Counseling)

Organization/Facility Type Terms – Relatively common; describe what an organization is, implying function (e.g. Food Pantries)

Named Program Terms – Widely-known programs, such as governmental programs (e.g. Food Stamps/SNAP)

Basic Principles of Indexing:Types of Terms (cont.)

The following types of terms do not index services directly, but rather link to Service Terms to further describe them:

Modality/Delivery Format Terms – describe the way in which a service is delivered (e.g. Legal Counseling)

Target Terms – describe a group to whom the service is provided (e.g. Veterans); should not be used if target group is included in the Service term (e.g. Veteran Home Loans)

Basic Principles of Indexing:Types of Services

Primary – “Entry point” services; open to anyone who meets eligibility criteria; always index these kinds of services (unless they do not meet your Inclusion Criteria).

Secondary – Must already be receiving Primary services to be eligible; Do not index these kinds of services (although their mention in service description is permissible).

Indirect – Services an Agency does not provide directly; Do not index these kinds of services (and if you do, do so accurately).

Ancillary – Services an Agency provides, but in a minimal capacity, or in such a manner so as to make them not worth indexing;

Do not index these kinds of services.

Phantom – Services an Agency claims to offer, but rarely provides; Do not index these kinds of services.

Basic Principles of Indexing:Major Concepts

Accuracy - Choose the most accurate/specific term available to you that fully describes the service in question.

Consistency - Once a term has been chosen to describe a type of service, the same term should be used to describe similar services offered by other organizations; avoid using a broad term if a narrower term is already being used, or vice versa.

Question: What can we use to be more accurate, and consistent in our indexing decisions?

Basic Principles of Indexing:Major Concepts (cont.)Avoid Double Indexing – there are two kinds of Double Indexing

• Vertical / Intrabranch: using two terms on the same branch anywhere in your database.

• Horizontal / Interbranch: using multiple terms to describe one service.

CustomizationConcept

Basic Assumptions• No I&R provider needs to use all 9400+ Taxonomy Terms.

• Carving off, deactivating, or ruling-out the 100’s or 1000’s of terms that are not relevant to your I&R makes for a manageable subset of Taxonomy.

• Resources indexed consistently are more easily found.

Helpful Questions• What are the Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria of your I&R

operation? • What types of resources are actually available in your

“community”?• How many resources will be listed for particular kinds of

services?• How much time do Resource Specialists have to devote to

maintenance?

CustomizationProcess

Process1. Review each major Taxonomy branch

to get a sense of at which levels your most used terms lie; this can change from branch to branch. (Allowing 2 levels is generally accepted for Y terms.)

2. Using these levels- and/or existing postings- as a guide, select which terms are “approved” or part of your custom taxonomy in each sub-branch.

3. Use some method to document your approved taxonomy if it cannot be easily implemented directly in your CRM system.

AIRS Standard 9: Classification System/Taxonomy

The I&R service shall update their version of the Taxonomy at least once every eighteen (18) months.

To update your system’s Taxonomy, visit 211taxonomy.org.

Taxonomy (.xml)

Taxonomy Resources211Taxonomy.org

• Keyword searching of the Taxonomy, Use References

• Drilldown navigation

Taxonomy Resources211Taxonomy.org

• Resources, including Library and Frequently Asked Questions sections.

• Recent Taxonomy changes.

Taxonomy Subscription

Subscriber Category Annual Rate

AIRS Members (non-profit or governmental)

$200

AIRS Members (for profit) $500

Non-Members (non-profitor governmental)

$250

Non-Members(for profit)

$650

Taxonomy Subscription Rates

Taxonomy ResourcesAIRS Networker

• Library of training materials, articles, best practices, other resources.

• Open Forum!

• Supportive community

• Networking, messaging, job postings.

Taxonomy ResourcesAIRS.org

• AIRS Online Training (Relias Learning)

• Standards

• Certification

• Accreditation

• Conference

• Membership

Taxonomy ResourcesGeorgia Sales

gsales4215@aol.com

• Creator of the Taxonomy, and AIRS Board Member

• Can accept and institute Taxonomy change recommendations

• Thoughtful, passionate, receptive, knowledgeable

Taxonomy ResourcesEach Other!

• AIRS Members, Social Workers, Professionals, Bleeding Hearts

• Can share experience, local best practices, materials, advice, empathy

• Thoughtful, passionate, receptive, knowledgeable

1) Turn to your neighbor.

2) Share your contact information.

3) Profit.

Questions?

Ryan Ward, MSW, CRSResource Manager,

2-1-1, Texas Information & Referral NetworkHealth and Human Services Commission (HHSC)

Austin, TX | 512-483-5117Ryan.Ward@hhsc.state.tx.us

John Allec, CRSManager,

FindHelp Information ServicesToronto, ON | 416-392-4605 Ext. 110

Jallec@findhelp.ca

Presenter ContactsOutstanding Questions, Comments, Feedback