The Evernden Eight - the 8 key factors for architecting information							Introduction
Categories	Understanding	Presentation	Evolution	Knowledge	Responsibility	Process	Meta Levels

Factor 1 - Categories provides the labels or terms that are used to structure or analyse information. Given a piece of information it answers the simple question: what type of information are we dealing with? Information categories, or types of information, include:

• Products, Goods and Services
• Places and Locations
• Accounts and Finances

The information in the example is an instance of an address. An address is a cluster or group of information items within the information category Places and Locations. It is a physical address, rather than a logical or digital one.

Other information clusters in this category include telephone number and e-mail address.

More complex information, such as a report on trends that offer new marketing opportunities, might span several different information categories. It is easier to organize, structure, classify, compare, and analyse information with a standard set of information categories.