Classification System

The classification system allows you to label outputs and defined objects so that users can more quickly find what they are looking for. You can label the same object or output multiple ways to make it easier to find, like looking up a library book by its title or a keyword regardless of where it is physically located.

You can define hierarchies to create labels that are related to each other in a logical way, and use these relations in Oracle LSH's advanced search facility. Oracle LSH also uses these hierarchies to create a custom user interface for displaying outputs in the Reports screen.

For example, you could create a two-level hierarchy called Project/Study, populate the Project level with the names of all your ongoing and past projects, and populate the Study level with the names of all your ongoing and past studies, linking each study to the appropriate project.

In the Reports screen, Oracle LSH displays folders, subfolders, and outputs in about the same way that your personal computer does, using hierarchy values for the folder and subfolder names. If you define a Project/Study hierarchy, Oracle LSH displays the Project/Study hierarchy as a top-level folder. Within it are a set of folders, one for each project, labeled with the name of the project. Within each project folder are a subfolder for each study and any reports that are classified to the project as a whole. Within each study folder are reports that are classified to each particular study.

In addition, if your company is a pharmaceutical company, you could define a single-level "hierarchy" called CROs, and populate it with the names of all the Contract Research Organizations with which you work. Users could then search for a report, or for the Program that generated the report, by its project and study, or by the CRO that collected the data.

Or if your company is a CRO, you could define a single-level "hierarchy" called Pharmas and populate it with the names of all the pharmaceutical companies with which you work. Your users could then search for a report, or its generating Program, by its project and study or by the pharmaceutical company sponsor of the study.

You define hierarchies that reflect your business organization and practices, populated with values, or labels, from your environment, to make the organization of the Reports screen and the categories available for use in searching as intuitive as possible for your users.

You can classify the containers—Domains, Application Areas, and Work Areas—you define as your organizational structure, and set up classification by reference, so that the objects and outputs you specify are classified the same way (for a particular hierarchy level) as their container. For example, if an Application Area is classified, or labeled, as Study 01, you can set up your classification system so that by default all Program definitions there are automatically classified to Study 01 as well. You can change a reference classification to an explicit classification at any time if you have the necessary privileges.

Classification concepts and design issues are covered in Designing a Classification System for Searching and Browsing.