LEARNING CUMULUS (POWER TIP):
Using Related Categories to Create Asset Indexes
Taxonomies are great for organization, but sometimes a old-fashioned “flat” index is what users need most.
Even the best Canto Cumulus category hierarchies can become so “deep” that they confuse users. To simplify file finding
in your catalogs, use Cumulus related categories to “flatten” things a bit. It’s a solution so easy and elegant, you’ll be
kicking yourself for not thinking about it sooner. (Or, maybe you did!)
Where > is > the > file > I > need?
Hierarchical structures are wonderful for keeping
things organized—so long as you understand the
hierarchy. If you don’t, you find yourself fishing
through multiple levels of meaninglessness,
wasting valuable time all the while.
When you think about it, only two organizational
structures are widely understood by virtually
everyone—alphabets and numbers. These are
great default organizational options because they
require no explanation; but they are also ineffi-
cient options because they are one-dimensional.
Consider a large book. Page numbers are helpful,
but content is likely divvied into hierarchical
chapters and sections to keep things organized.
Perfect, right? Well, if it was perfect, we wouldn’t
need a table of contents, or index.
The same applies to your Cumulus category
structures. Your category hierarchy might be per-
fect for your needs, but without knowing what
you know, your users might be lost.
Cumulus related categories offer a perfect option
for you to offer the best of both worlds.
It’s the same thing, only not.
If the geeky terms
“proxy” or “pointer”
make sense to you,
you already know
what a related cate-
gory is. In short, a
Cumulus related cat-
egory is nothing
more than a place-
holder for another
category.
Figure 1 shows a
basic use of related
categories. (Each
color represents a
single category of
FIGURE 1: Cumulus related assets.) In this
categories in action. example, the same
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EDU/mkTIP-RelatedCategoryIndex/2010.03
three “original” categories—BMW, Toyota and Building the perfect index.
Yugo—are needed in multiple locations. With the concept of related categories mastered,
it’s easy to imagine how an index of categories
You could create separate categories for each
location, but it would be difficult to keep asset would work: Just create related categories of all
your original categories and move them into their
assignments in sync between the original and
new “index” structure.
“copy” categories. Instead, you can create a
related category for each original and then put it Your index structure can be completely flat, like a
anywhere in the hierarchy. No matter where it simple alphabetical list, or you can build a new
goes, it always “contains” the same assets as its (simplified!) hierarchical structure.
original category when double clicked. (Assets
assigned to the related category are actually Sticking with our auto manufacturer category
example, we’ll build an alphabetical index, as
assigned to the original category, ensuring the
shown in figure 3.
original and its “clones” are always in sync.)
Creating related categories
You can create related categories in either the
Cumulus Native or Web clients. The process is
the same in both:
1. Select the original category.
2. Choose Metadata > New Related Category.
The related category appears below the origi-
nal, indicated by italic type, and appended
with “(related).” (See figure 1.)
You can move related categories to any category
tree location you want, and you can create as
many related categories for an original category
as you need. You can delete related categories at
any time without affecting original categories,
and you can even rename related categories.
NOTE: Open the All category tab when you
want to drag related categories between mas-
ter categories. (Figure 2)
FIGURE 2: The
All category
enables you to FIGURE 3: Indexes are easy to create using related
drag categories categories. Note that “Mini” and “Cooper” are virtu-
between master ally synonymous on the market, so related catego-
category tabs. ries make it easy to provide entries for both.
NOTE: This example uses a new master cate-
gory (tab). If your edition of Cumulus doesn’t
include this feature, build your index under the
$Categories or $Keywords master categories.
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LEARNING CUMULUS (POWER TIP): Using Related Categories to Create Asset Indexes

FIGURE 4: If you want

to limit certain users to
seeing only your cate-
gory index, create a
new category view set
that limits master cate-
gory access (left), and
use permissions to
restrict users to only
that view set.

When an affected user

logs in to Cumulus
(right), only your cate-
gory index is visible.

Figure 3 shows a new master category called
$Index, and new normal categories created
beneath $Index for “A - D,” “E - H” etc. Inside
those categories are related categories for the
auto brands in the catalog. After they were cre-
ated, they were dragged under the appropriate
$Index category and renamed. References to
other categories were added manually.
Options for using category indexes.
Once your category index has been created,
there are several ways to use it, including:
An extra category hierarchy for users Without
doing anything tricky, your new category index
can just be another option for users who browse
through your catalog. Like the index of a book,
they might turn to it to find something fast, or
when your normal hierarchy isn’t helping them.
A restricted category hierarchy for guests If your
edition of Cumulus supports the creation of cus-
tom master categories (like the $Index category
tab shown in figure 3), you can use permissions
to limit some users (like guests) to seeing only
your category index. This is a good option when
your standard taxonomy wouldn’t make sense to
anyone outside your organization.
The “root” category for Cumulus Sites Part of
your Cumulus Sites configuration determines the
root category hierarchy that users and guests will
see when they connect via Cumulus Sites.
(Figure 5) This is another great reason for creat-
ing category indexes or other hierarchies. This
option is available to any Cumulus edition that
includes Cumulus Sites.
This Power Tip is intended to work in Cumulus 7.0 or later.

<catalog>
<catalogName>Sites For Sore Eyes</catalogName>
<rootCategory>$Categories:Index</rootCategory>
</catalog>
<catalog>
<catalogName>Auto Industry Assets</catalogName>
<rootCategory>$Index</rootCategory>
</catalog>

FIGURE 5: Part of the Cumulus Sites configuration file (above) lists which
catalogs will be available to users. A default “root category” is specified for
each catalog. Sites users won’t see anything outside this root.

Related categories offer a perfect solution for creating custom category

hierarchies suitable for guests connecting via Cumulus Sites. (Right)

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Canto, the Canto logo and Cumulus are registered trademarks of Canto. Other company and product names might be trademarks of their respective owners. Some product
claims and features are not included in all versions of the software and/or might require additional Cumulus Add-ons or Plug-ins.
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