Tag Wizard Brings Consistency to Innovation Catalog Search
Item #: 20230017
CONTACTS
Implementing Organization: Research and Innovation
Implementation Lead: Quinten Klingonsmith
Development Team: Winston Inoway and Quinten Klingonsmith
Article Written By: Quinten Klingonsmith
Innovation Council Liaison: Quinten Klingonsmith
Innovation Team Coordinator: Quinten Klingonsmith
STATUS
Implementation Date: Mar 16, 2023
Adoption Status: Implemented (further adoption possible)
Adoptability Note: This technique could be used anywhere people need to select from a list of items so that their selections are consistent and constrained to the same set of options.
What other content could be tagged with these standard terms so that they are easier to find across systems?
APPLIES TO
Topic: Data Collection, Analysis and Visualization
Organization(s): Asset Management, Communication, Data Technology & Analytics, Employee Development, Finance/Comptroller, Human Resources/DHRM, Internal Audit, Planning, Research and Innovation, Risk Management
Job Role(s): Administrative Staff / Commissions, Business Analyst, Information Specialist
Tags: labor costs, labor productivity, employee empowerment, expenses, expenditures, ( process improvement ), ( simplification ), standardization, information technology >> software, networks
PROBLEM
Over the years UDOT has reported on hundreds of valuable innovations that have provided cost and time savings to the department. We can learn a lot from these innovations and for many there is still potential for wider adoption.
If people cannot find what they need, then content, no matter how valuable, will not make an impact. Properly tagging innovations provides more relevant search results and enables effective reporting. However, tags that are inconsistent, overly general, or too specific are ineffective.
CHANGE
guide them through the process of selecting the most relevant tags for an innovation.
The Tag Wizard is a Google Form that presents over 130 transportation related tags in 14 categories. Users select the terms that best describe the innovation. The results are submitted to a spreadsheet where they can be copied and then pasted into the innovation record. The Innovation System considers these tags in searches and they are available for reporting.
Tags were taken from TRB’s Transportation Research Thesaurus and organized in categories that describe key aspects of innovations. Examples of categories include, Mode of Transportation Impacted, Type of Change, Hot Technologies, Scientific and Academic Disciplines and internal and external benefit descriptors.
We also created a similar Job Role Wizard and an Organization Wizard to help identify and consistently tag the audiences who might be interested in each innovation.
RESULT
Consistent content tagging has made innovations easier to find and report. The more an innovation is accessible, the higher chance it has of being found and adopted by others looking for similar productivity, efficiency and safety gains.
Having an agreed upon list of standard tags is key to consistency. Other tagging systems, that allow users to enter any tag, can quickly become bloated with meaningless or inconsistently spelled tags. The Tag Wizard employs standardized tags taken from TRB’s Transportation Research Thesaurus so they are consistent and interoperable with terms used in the research community.
The Wizard approach greatly reduced the time it takes to properly tag content. Selecting from small well organized lists makes tagging easy and more consistent, thereby increasing the chance that authors will take the time to add appropriate tags to their content.
As the industry changes, the Tag Wizard can be updated with new terms.
RELATED INNOVATIONS
ROI Calculator Aids in Better Efficiencies Reporting and Decision Making (20230018)
Innovation Submission Forms and Processes (20230020)
New Innovation Catalog Built In-house with Google Looker Studio (20230023)
New Annual Innovation and Efficiencies Report Offers Up-to-date Information and Cost Savings (20230026)
New UDOT Employee Innovation Station Puts Innovation Resources at Employees Fingertips (20230027)
IMPACT
BETTER MOBILITY
N/A
GOOD HEALTH
N/A
CONNECTED COMMUNITIES
N/A
STRONG ECONOMY
Lower labor costs due to faster data entry
Greater innovation savings due to more innovation adoption
Cost avoidance efficiency realized because it is part of a larger innovation system that did not need to be purchased because we built the system in-house for less money
EFFICIENCIES*
Cost Avoidance: $13,020 over 20 years (March 16, 2023 - March 16, 2023)
Benefit/Cost Ratio: 18:1
*Benefits are estimated net of initial and ongoing expenses. Savings are averaged over the expected benefit life of the innovation. See details.