Matrix classification
Caveats
Most if not all pages are just rough notes, and these pages as a whole are far from complete. More notes will be added in time, eventually, maybe.
If, from reading these notes, you conclude that I am off my rocker, you won’t be the first, and you may even be right.
No doubt there are a dozen and one reasons why none of this would ever work, but perhaps somewhere deep down there is a tiny fragment that could be used for something.
“Matrix classification” or “cross classification” is the classification of objects along two or more orthogonal axes. Notionally simple, software systems are all too often restricted to mere hierarchical classifications that are unable to represent intentions correctly.
For example, one could have a three-axis system as follows:
- A hierarchy of customers and their sites, containing all their endpoints (servers, desktops, laptops, phones)
- A cross axis of device type: server, end-user computer
- A cross axis (third dimension) of location: on-premise, cloud
Policies could then be created to define service behaviour for servers and desktops separately, and on-premise and cloud endpoints separately. A simple hierarchical classification does not allow for this.
The Multidimensional Filing System is a cross-classifier: two or more directory (folder) hierarchies can be overlaid, with folders existing at intersections between the two.
Matrix classification is not merely ad hoc application of policies to individual objects; it is the concrete classification of objects via multiple axes such that combinations of roles are inherent to the underlying object classification.