Enterprise Data Classification using Semantic Web Technologies

Organizations today collect and store large amounts of data in various formats and locations. However they are sometimes required to locate all instances of a certain type of data. Good data classification allows marking enterprise data in a way that enables quick and efficient retrieval of information when needed. We introduce a generic, automatic classification method that exploits Semantic Web technologies to assist in several phases in the classification process; defining the classification requirements, performing the classification and representing the results. Using Semantic Web technologies enables flexible and extensible configuration, centralized management and uniform results. This approach creates general and maintainable classifications, and enables applying semantic queries, rule languages and inference on the results.