Migrating from Hierarchies to a Graph: An Enterprise Case Study
KGC 2026
•
31m
During a recent engagement, Factor led a client effort to migrate from a traditional RDBMS-based taxonomy management system to a graph-based environment.
The client's semantic ecosystem was complex, comprising dozens of taxonomes managed in two separate toolsets (a taxonomy management tool and a PIM system), including many duplicate, redundant, and outdated structures, and supplying taxonomy data to multiple downstream systems including content management, publishing, DAM, search, navigation, sales enablement, customer management, and other data repositories.
This migration presented opportunities to consolidate existing vocabularies, eliminate duplicate concepts and attributes, perform metadata cleanup, and update the model into a richer semantic structure, all while (insofar as possible) minimizing disruptions to downstream systems.
Along the way we learned many lessons about the scope of such efforts in terms of required research, remodeling, consolidation, cleanup, user engagement, and data migration and testing. This short case study outlines some of the challenges, solutions, and missed opportunities we encountered.
Attendees will come away with an understanding of the work involved in such migrations, including the critical importance of preparation and testing, as well as considerations around modeling and potential disruptions to downstream consuming systems as a result of changes.
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