Category Group design is foundational. Get it right at launch; reshaping after thousands of articles tag against the structure is painful.
- Identify the dimensions you need
Most programs need Product, Region, Audience. Some add Lifecycle, Channel, or Compliance. Cap at three or four; more becomes unmanageable.
- Build each Category Group
Setup, Data Category Setup. Create the Category Group, name the categories, build the tree to the depth needed. Three levels usually suffices; deeper is rarely worth the navigation cost.
- Configure per-profile visibility
For each Category Group, set visibility per profile. Most production setups explicitly configure visibility rather than relying on cascade defaults.
- Link to Knowledge
Ensure the Category Group is associated with the Knowledge object so authors can tag articles.
- Train authors on tagging conventions
Document how to tag articles per Category Group. Inconsistent tagging is the single biggest reason Knowledge reports stop being useful at scale.
- Too many Category Groups overwhelm authors. Cap at three or four.
- Reshaping categories after thousands of articles tag against them is painful. Design carefully up front.
- Visibility misconfiguration exposes confidential content. Audit visibility per Category Group regularly.
- Deeper than three levels rarely justifies the navigation cost. Keep trees shallow.