FODA Taxonomy Methodology

Feature-Oriented Domain Analysis (FODA) applied to data governance taxonomies. A systematic approach to identifying, organizing, and managing data classification schemes.

FODA Basics

Originally a software reuse methodology. Core idea: analyze a domain to identify common and variable features that can be composed into specific solutions.

Application to Data Governance

Feature Identification:

• What data categories exist?
• Which are mandatory vs. optional?
• What are the variation points?

Feature Relationships:

• Requires: Category A needs Category B
• Excludes: Category A incompatible with Category B
• Optional: Category A may include Category B

Benefits for Data Taxonomies

• Explicit variation management
• Reusable category definitions
• Clear compositional rules
• Systematic gap identification

Implementation

1. Survey existing classifications
2. Extract common features
3. Identify variation points
4. Define composition rules
5. Generate specific taxonomies from features

Related: 02-molecule—taxonomy-design, 04-atom—data-governance