Enterprise Performance Management - Data is First Priority

In last 10 days, after I wrote an article on spend analysis, supplier normalization and classification using taxonomies, I got number of responses on how to create a taxonomy, how to use it, what it should contain etc. I am responding everybody one on one, but thought I will also write some generalistic thoughts that will help somebody to get good idea to start with... So here it is - What is taxonomy? If you look at the dictionary, it says taxonomy means"the science or technique of classification". Wikipedia gives much broader information about it - "Taxonomies, or taxonomic schemes, are composed of taxonomic units known as taxa (singular taxon), or kinds of things that are arranged frequently in a hierarchical structure. Typically they are related by subtype-supertype relationships, also called parent-child relationships. In such a subtype-supertype relationship the subtype kind of thing has by definition the same constraints as the supertype kind of thing plus one or