Custom categories can be used to categorize method elements so that the practitioners can find them easily and quickly. They also form the basis of a published configuration by defining the navigation view structure for the configuration. 

Custom categories are highly customizable and can contain any type of element. Custom categories allow you to categorize content according to any hierarchical scheme you want and can then be used to compose publishable views, as well as providing a means to organize the method content prior to publishing. For example, you could create a custom category that logically organizes content relevant to your development organization department, such as a Testing category that groups together all roles, work products, tasks, and guidance elements relevant to testing.

When defining custom categories, consider the different ways you may want to access the elements, as well as the ways in which the end-user of the method may want to access the method elements.  The former may result in ideas for "method management-focused" custom categories, while the latter may result in ideas for navigation view focused custom categories. What information is needed? How does one find that information? Well crafted custom categories will help enormously.

Custom categories can be nested to create a categorization hierarchy. For example, if you want to define a navigation view that includes "sub-folders", you can do that by defining a sub-custom category in a navigation view custom category for each folder you would like to be included.

Custom categories can also be nested to organize the custom categories. For example, if you define a set of custom categories that are intended to represent navigation views and another set that are not. You may want to package all the navigation view custom categories in a single custom category. In this case, the topmost custom category is more like a package than a custom category.

You can add elements to existing categories by defining a custom category that contributes to the original custom category and adds the desired elements. 

• Method authors have a consistent way of categorizing content
• Method authors and delivery practitioners can find related content more easily and reference it
• Published configurations will have the same look and feel to the delivery practitioner making the web site easier to navigate and information easier to find
• Delivery practitioners will require less education and training on the set of configurations with which they work

For recommendations on naming custom categories, see Guideline: Method Element Naming Conventions.

Be sure to capture the purpose of the custom category in its description, so that the reason the custom category was created and what it contains is maintained. This will make it easy for other method authors to understand when the category should be used.

Custom categories cannot be packaged in separate packages in plug-ins. Thus alternative categorization schemes must be defined in separate plug-ins.

For more information on defining navigation views, see Guideline: Defining Navigation Views.