The ABCs of Search
Five Steps for Creating and Implementing a Search Strategy

Now that you have a security framework and key data sources identified, create a search interface that is easy to navigate and presents one to two methods for filtering results. Do not try to do everything at once. If discovering hidden relationships is one of your most important requirements, then introduce clustering. If collaboration is critical, then you will want to introduce end-user tagging and shared folders.

As you deploy your solution, keep in mind the use cases and success criteria you identified early and build to them. One of the greatest challenges organizations face is scope-creep—the temptation to introduce new features during the initial deployment. Do not fall victim to delaying your first deployment to get these new ideas implemented. Instead, plan to phase them into your solution after you go live.

Enhancing search. The final phase of creating a successful enterprise search solution is to listen to your users and to plan for the future. In the first phase, you created hypothetical use cases to finalize your set of success criteria. Now that you have actual users, study how they use your search and listen to what they find helpful and where improvements can be made.

Keep in mind that listening does not merely mean "sending out user surveys" or "conducting focus groups." Although these are great tools and should be used when appropriate, analyzing search logs can often provide you the same intelligence. You can improve your search just as easily by understanding what people are searching most often, what queries are returning zero results or don’t lead to any clicks and which groups are searching most.

For example, if you notice that the top queries users are submitting are around "people," then the second phase of your search project should be building out better people search. If you notice that employees are not finding information about your product development plans, it may be because the specific file system storing this data is not yet indexed. All of this helps you plan out the next phase of your search application.

The second key in tuning the results is planning ahead. By its nature, search does not require a lot of maintenance. Once search is configured you should not have to do much to keep it running. However, investing in your search solution by adding content, analyzing the feedback and broadening the scope will increase the benefit as your organization grows.

Making Search Matter.
The search for search started with a simple request to find information. But experienced IT and knowledge management professionals know it takes more than good intentions to turn that vision into a reality. It takes a solid strategy and execution to deliver a search solution that users will use and value for years to come.

By following these ABCs of search, you are sure to build a strong search strategy that will allow your organization to capitalize on its most valuable asset—its people.

Enterprise Search Features to Consider
Although there are more to consider than just features when embarking on an enterprise search initiative, here are some common functions to consider. They are broken down into the three dimensions of enterprise search: discovery; personalization; and collaboration.

Discovery

• Clusters
• Conceptual search
• Spotlights and keymatches
• Graphical sliders
• Result preview
• Refinement by metadata
• Histograms and slides
• Executive dashboards
• Connectivity to third-party repositories

Personalization

• Customizable relevance
• Customizable tabs and scopes
• Document- and content-level security
• Role-based search
• Alerts

Collaboration

• Tagging
• Annotating
• Rating and voting
• Shared/saved folders, queries and results
• People/expertise search
• Executive dashboards

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Vivisimo provides enterprises with innovative search solutions that allow end-users to find and take advantage of all appropriate and available information, regardless of source, location or type. Vivisimo’s innovative technology, including social search tools that enable collaboration throughout the enterprise, is delivered with a focus on end-user satisfaction and application control through easy-to-use interfaces, flexible security management and a modern architecture that enables quick deployment. Vivisimo products are available both for standalone search applications, or as OEM versions that can be embedded as critical search technology within partner applications and solutions. Vivisimo serves its global clients from headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA, and partners throughout the world. Please visit www.vivisimo.com and our [Search Done Right™] blog.