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Taxonomy (tags and categories) is the organizational backbone of FTS. A well-designed taxonomy makes cases discoverable and keeps knowledge organized as your library grows.

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What is Taxonomy?

Taxonomy in FTS consists of:
  • Tag Groups: Categories like “Equipment Type,” “Department,” “Severity,” “Root Cause”
  • Tags: Individual labels within each group (e.g., under “Equipment Type”: Motor, Pump, Bearing)
  • Hierarchical Tags: Optional parent-child relationships (e.g., “Hydraulic System” > “Pump” > “Relief Valve”)
When you create a case, you assign one or more tags. These tags enable:
  • Filtering: “Show me all Critical equipment failures from the Maintenance department”
  • Search: Tag-based search alongside keyword and semantic search
  • Analytics: Reports showing how many cases exist for each tag
  • Consistency: Everyone uses the same terminology

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Tag vs. Tag Group

Think of a tag group as a category and tags as options within that category:
Tag GroupTags
Equipment TypeMotor, Pump, Bearing, Gearbox, Valve
DepartmentMaintenance, Operations, Quality, Engineering
SeverityCritical, High, Medium, Low
Root CauseDesign Defect, Material Fatigue, Operator Error, Maintenance Lapse
This structure prevents confusion. If you just see “Motor,” you don’t know if it’s equipment, a department, or something else. The tag group provides context.

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Workspace-Level Taxonomy Management

Only workspace admins can create or modify the taxonomy. Access taxonomy settings:
  1. Go to Settings → Taxonomy
  2. View all tag groups and tags
  3. Add new tag groups: Click + New Tag Group
  4. Add tags to a group: Click the group, then + Add Tag
  5. Edit or delete tags: Click the tag to rename or remove it
Plan your taxonomy carefully before adding cases. Reorganizing tags later is labor-intensive. Involve your team in taxonomy design.

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Hierarchical Tags

For complex organizations, use hierarchical tags: 
Manufacturing Equipment
├── Mechanical
│   ├── Motors
│   │   ├── AC Motors
│   │   └── DC Motors
│   └── Pumps
└── Electrical
    ├── Contactors
    └── Relays
When assigning tags, you can select at any level. Selecting “Motors” automatically includes it under “Mechanical” and “Manufacturing Equipment.”
Hierarchical tags are optional. Simple flat taxonomies work well for small workspaces.

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How Admins Set Up Taxonomy

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Example: Manufacturing Plant

An admin might create:
  1. Equipment Type (Motor, Pump, Bearing, Valve, Gearbox, CNC, etc.)
  2. Department (Maintenance, Operations, Quality Assurance, Engineering)
  3. Severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low)
  4. Root Cause (Design Defect, Fatigue, Contamination, Operator Error, Maintenance Lapse)
  5. Shift (Day, Night, Weekend)
  6. Line/Area (Line 1, Line 2, Quality Lab, Assembly)
Once defined, every new case requires tags from most or all groups (configurable by admin).

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Assigning Tags to Cases

When creating or editing a case:
  1. Scroll to the Tags section
  2. Click each tag group to expand options
  3. Select applicable tags (usually multi-select within a group)
  4. For hierarchical tags, expand the tree and choose the most specific level applicable
Yes. A case might be tagged with both “Motor” and “Pump” if both equipment types were involved.
Contact your admin to add new tags. Don’t leave cases untagged as a workaround.
Tags power multiple discovery paths:
  1. Tag Filters: Click Filters in search and select tags visually
  2. Tag Operators: Use tag:equipment-failure in advanced search
  3. Semantic Search: AI search understands tag context and can weight results by selected tags
  4. Saved Searches: Save filter combinations for quick reuse
Well-chosen tags make your cases more discoverable than keyword search alone.

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Taxonomy & Analytics

Admins can view:
  • How many cases exist for each tag
  • Which tags are most frequently used
  • Gaps in your knowledge (tags with few cases)
  • Tag trends over time
Use this data to identify training needs or recurring issue areas.

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Best Practices for Tag Design

Each group should represent one dimension of classification (Equipment, Department, Severity—not mixed).
critical-failure not Critical Failure. Consistency matters for search operators.
Don’t create “Motor” and “Electric Motor”—use hierarchy instead.
As your operations evolve, your taxonomy should too. Add tags for new equipment or departments.
Optionally, add descriptions to each tag group (e.g., “Equipment Type: The primary machinery involved in the incident”).

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Renaming & Reorganizing Tags

If you rename a tag, all cases previously tagged with that tag are automatically updated. No data is lost. Reorganizing hierarchies (moving tags under different parents) also updates existing cases seamlessly.
Deleting a tag removes it from all cases. Consider marking tags as deprecated instead of deleting if cases rely on them.

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Private Tags (Workspace-Only)

Tags are workspace-specific. You cannot export taxonomy to other workspaces or import external taxonomies. Each organization builds its own structure matching its operations.

Cases

Learn how to assign tags when creating cases.

Search

Discover how tags power filtering and discovery.