1. A federated system comprising: a plurality of data sources configured across a distributed network, each data source being associated with a taxonomy; and one or more nodes comprising at least one data server that hosts an organization's data and user information, at least one of the one or more nodes comprising a taxonomy view, one or more of the plurality of data sources being defined on the at least one node, the at least one node further comprising one or more mappings between the taxonomy view of the at least one node and the taxonomy of at least one data source of the plurality of data sources defined on the at least one node, the at least one node being connectable to one or more clients, wherein the taxonomy view of the at least one node allows the at least one of the data source defined on the at least one node to be integrated into a standardized schema such that the one or more of the plurality of data sources is accessed via the taxonomy view of the at least one of the one or more nodes without requiring knowledge of each data source's schema; wherein the at least one node further comprises at least one other taxonomy view.