An effective tagging system allows users to quickly classify content and find similar content. In this article, we share our favorite strategies for tagging in UNIFI.

When you think of the word “taxonomy,” you might think of the Animal Kingdom Taxonomy. That naming system allows scientists to easily classify and organize animal species based on their similarities and differences. That’s exactly what you want your tagging system to do for you: you want it to be organized in such a way that users could clearly distinguish one group of content from another.

But just because tags are useful doesn’t mean that you throw them around like confetti. A well-planned tagging strategy can turn a “useful feature” into a vital tool for increasing team efficiency.

Below you’ll see some of our favorite tagging strategies, but before adding any tags, you will want to make sure to follow your companies’ Content Standards and Naming Conventions.

Have tags align with your team’s BIM content strategies. This could be as simple as what kinds of projects or places that content is used for so that you can grab what you need based on what you are working on.

For example, a sink could be used for a Residential or Commercial project and in a Kitchen or a Bathroom. Tagging by project type or place can give context to how the content is used and allows users to find content based on what they are working on (for example, a tag such as “Residential Kitchen Sink”).

Getting input from others helps you acquire multiple perspectives on tag usage and increase team buy-in.

Revisit your tagging system regularly and tweak as needed. You will need to tweak tags as you go, but try to avoid changing the overall structure too often

If you aren’t specific enough, you might end up with hundreds of search results to sift through. Try to find that sweet spot where you have narrowed down your results to a manageable amount. For example, “Division 12” might be too broad, but “Div 12 3000 (Casework)” is more specific.

While it’s important to get specific with your tags, you could run the risk of being too specific. Make sure that the tag applies to several items (it could get unwieldy if there are only 1 or 2 pieces of content connected to a tag).

Another powerful tagging strategy is shortening file names and using tags instead. For example, you could remove the manufacturer name from the file name and create a manufacturer tag instead. This would simplify file names and allow you to easily access content from that manufacturer. This is particularly useful if you are using content that may have been built by a specific manufacturer as placeholder content.

You might also want to consider tagging content by project. Users often think about what content they want to add based on what content they may have added to a specific project they worked on before. Therefore, tagging by project name makes it easier to find this content when working on a similar project.

Hopefully, we’ve inspired you to implement a tagging strategy that will make it even easier for your team to access content in UNIFI. But don’t forget, you don’t need to have all of your tags nailed down right away. Take it slow and revise as you go.