1. Exploring Enterprise Search for
Oracle WebCenter Content
Harness the Power of Google Search
Presented by Fishbowl Solutions
5.31.2012
2. Agenda
+ Introduction
+ What is Enterprise Search?
+ Enterprise Search Considerations
+ WebCenter Search Options
+ Demo: GSA Connector Version 2.0
3. About Fishbowl Solutions
+ Specializing in portals & content management for 13
years
+ Customers throughout North America & EMEA
+ Enterprise-wide consulting services
+ Packaged software for WebCenter
+ 100+ WebCenter-related projects
in last 2 years
+ Google Enterprise Partner
6. Why Search?
+ User expectations are changing
– Proliferation of internet search capabilities
– Changing demographics
7. The Need for Search
Can you do without your phone/computer?
Productivity 1 GB of data created per user annually
91% use multiple search tools, 86% unhappy
K-workers spend 25% time to find information
Cost Self-serve customer service is cheaper
Fast-fail saves $1B in drug cost
30-40% leaders find it hard to get information
Intelligence for company-wide decisions
Keep track of industry, competition
8. WebCenter Search Frustration
+ Can’t find the content after check-in
+ Makes users feel like the system doesn’t work
+ Can’t remember metadata
+ Decreased Adoption
+ Unhappy Users
9. The Cost of “We Can’t Find Anything”
+ 1 in 5 searches do not find what is they were seeking
+ An average knowledge worker spends 16% of their
time searching
+ 20% spent with unsuccessful searches
+ An organization with 4,500 knowledge workers is
looking at a inefficiency cost of $1.7 million per year.
+ Many organizations are running at 40% to 70%
success rates for search
Source: http://www.personalinfocloud.com/2010/05/understanding-the-cost-of-we-cant-find-anything.html
11. Enterprise Search
Search All
Enterprise Content
from One Place
+ WebCenter
+ File shares
+ SharePoint
+ Web Sites
12. Architecture
User
Content
Server Search
Oracle Connector
WebCenter Content Engine
Other
Connectors
SharePoint
Connector
File System
Connector
Other Sources
Microsoft
SharePoint Sites Network
File Share
14. What are your search needs?
+ Internet vs.
Enterprise
+ Reporting vs.
Research
+ Content Type
+ Language
+ Security
15. Content
+ Where is my data located?
– Databases
– Content Management Systems – Oracle
WebCenter, SharePoint, Documentum, FileNet
+ Formats
– html/Documents – PDF, MS Office, etc.
+ Social/People Search
– MS – expert finder, social proximity
16. Organizing Content
+ Sites/Collections/Source Groups
– Security Classifications
– Search Subsets of Indexed Content
– Configure Relevancy
17. Indexing Process
+ Crawling
– Website/HTML Content
– Internal page links help determine relevancy
+ Feeding (Connectors)
– MS Office
– PDF
– Other binary files
19. Feeding
Content Content Search
Source Connector Engine
Periodically
Asks for new or
changed content items
Feeds list of new or changed
content to connector
Feeds new or updated
content to Search
Engine
Indexes content
20. Content Connectors
+ Developed for individual content sources
+ Leverage vendor frameworks
+ May assist with security
21. Connector Availability and Features
+ Connector Availability and Support
– Vendor – May require additional licensing
– Partners
– Custom – consider documentation, user communities,
and the underlying technologies used
+ Features can vary greatly between search
platforms and connector implementation
– Security
– Metadata Configuration
– Performance
23. Security
+ Authentication
– Identifying and validating the user performing the
search request, i.e. User Name/Password
+ Authorization
– Determining which content the user has
permission to access. Commonly based on group
memberships or specific access granted to users.
– Early Binding vs. Late Binding
25. Tuning Results – Relevance
+ Compare platforms
+ True results comparison in your organization
with your content
+ Consider standard SEO methods to
measure/influence relevancy
+ Result biasing
26. User Experience
+ Search suggestions
+ Spelling suggestions
+ Faceted classification
+ Text clustering
30. Popular queries
+ Users are defining
what’s important
+ They’re also telling you
what’s hard to find via
navigation
31. Ineffective queries
+ Queries with low click-through rate (CTR)
+ Search results aren’t what users seek
32. Failed (Zero Result) Queries
+ Users looking for something, it’s not there
+ Taxonomy – valid synonyms?
+ Need to publish something?
+ Need to crawl something?
34. The Evolution of Search
HIGH
GSA Connector
Verity OracleTextSearch OracleTextSearch – • In-context search
• Local • Powerful but a lot of 11g experience
• Configurable administrative • Extremely powerful • WebCenter websites and
• Millions of items overhead but still high level of repositories
admin overhead
USER Oracle SES
Secure Enterprise
SATISFACTION Search (SES)
FAST
• Restricted use
license
• Secure crawling,
indexing & searching
• Improved
manageability
• Functionality
overlap
LOW
YEAR
35. Microsoft FAST Search
+ Highly customizable
+ Pros
– Connect to LOB data sources
(databases or other repositories, ERP, CRM, ECM)
– Connectors for Exchange
– Flexible UI customizations using web parts
+ Cons
– Once search expands outside of department,
complexity goes up
– Long deployment times
– “Limited” WebCenter Content integration
36. Oracle Secure Enterprise Search
+ Enterprise search for Oracle-based
systems/applications
+ Pros
– Easier to install as standalone
– Integrates with Oracle Applications
– Integrates with Oracle WebCenter
Content
+ Cons
– Some connectors are an additional
cost
37. Google Search Appliance
+ Rapid installation with reduced
administration
+ Pros
– Plug-and-play
– Easy to install and maintain
– Integration with Oracle WebCenter
Content
+ Cons
– Two-year-term licenses
– Limited extensibility
38. Google Side-by-Side Search Tool
+ Compare search results from GSA
alongside results from any other
search engine or alternate appliance
+ Features:
– Voters vote and taken to the next
query
– Tool can be seeded with queries of
your choice
– Simple web-based tool to configure
multiple tests
– Most votes, probabilities and
confidence intervals, and whether
there is enough data for the
comparison to be statistically
significant
– Randomize set of results that shows
up on which side
– See vote history and even change
previous votes.
43. Fishbowl + Google + WebCenter
+ Content Server
+ Enterprise Search
+ SiteStudio Site
+ Content-Based WebCenter
Portals
44. Fishbowl’s GSA Connector: Overview
+ Provides alternative to native
Oracle WebCenter Content
database search
+ Integrate WebCenter
websites, intranets,
content repositories
+ Insure higher adoption rates
and overall use
+ Extend the Value of Your
Oracle WebCenter Investment
45. Fishbowl GSA Connector 2.0
+ What’s New
– Ready-to-use templates for Oracle
Content Server
– Google Search available as Quick
Search
– Retrieve cached text versions through
the Content Server
– Expose type-ahead and spelling
suggestions
– Administration interfaces for easy
collection configuration and content
maintenance
– Make other GSA collections available
for search within WebCenter Content:
SharePoint, Fileshares, etc.
46. Fishbowl GSA Connector 2.0
+ Additional Features
– Search full text, standard, and custom
metadata
– Crawl Oracle WCM (SiteStudio) sites
– On-demand full search collection build
and rebuild
– Supports custom search interface &
result templates
– Return public and secure content
based on credentials
– Search multiple WebCenter Content
instances
47. Once Stop Shop for GSA
+ Software
+ Hardware
+ Services
+ +
“Google is pleased to add Fishbowl Solutions to the Google Enterprise Partner program.
We’re looking forward to Fishbowl Solutions extending the power and reach of the
Google Search Appliance by offering content connectors for Oracle UCM to customers.”
Brent VerWeyst, Search Partner Lead for Google Enterprise
49. Increased Visitor Time Spent on Website for
Sensor Manufacturer
Business Problem Results
Internet looked “dated” Increased site visits
Complaints regarding web Decreased bounce rate
searches
Increased average time on site
Site analysis showed high
bounce rates and short site visits Decreased complaints
regarding “findability”
Fishbowl Solution
GSA Connector for WebCenter
Website searches facilitated by GSA
Public-Facing
Consulting Services Site Studio Site
Upgraded UCM 7.5 SiteStudio system
to 10gR4
Implemented Dynamic Navigation
50. Accelerated Access to Corporate Information for
Employees at Healthcare Provider
Business Problem Results
Lost staff time wasted in
Shortened search times for
fruitless searching
employees and development time
Confusing results page
for IT staff
navigation
Decreased administration
Latency in content being
available for search More relevant search results
Search backed by was Google
quickly adopted by staff
Fishbowl Solution
GSA Connector for WebCenter
Intranet searches facilitated by GSA
Consulting Services Site Studio
Enable Oracle WCM (SiteStudio) Employee
based web pages to be part of Intranet
search results
51. Improved Intranet Portal Search for Employees at
Healthcare Provider
Business Problem Results
Users complained search was More relevant search results
bad on old intranet
for users
Poor search on the new intranet
would hurt adoption Decreased development time
Manually sorting and to implement
configuring search results was Better end-user impression
time consuming and ineffective of new intranet site
Fishbowl Solution
GSA Connector for WebCenter
Intranet searches facilitated by GSA WebCenter
Consulting Services Portal Intranet
Use Google Search Appliance to
search WebCenter Content surfaced
up via WebCenter Portal and display
results in the Poratl
52. Why Fishbowl & the GSA Connector
+ World’s most popular search engine
backed by best-in-class ECM
+ Single provider
– GSA Hardware, Software and Services
– GSA implementation and configuration experts
+ Deep domain expertise with Oracle WebCenter
– Numerous customers in production
+ End-to-End Consulting Services
– Project Scoping, Implementations, Support, Tuning
53. Summary
+ What is Enterprise Search?
+ Enterprise Search Considerations
+ WebCenter Search Options
+ Enterprise Search with Google & Fishbowl’s
GSA Connector Version 2.0
+ +
54. Fishbowl Summer Webinar Series
+ Creating a Visually Rich and Personalized WebCenter-
Based Intranet in 60 Days or Less
– June 7th, 12pm CST
+ ECM on the Go: A Quick Start iPad Application for Mobile
Content Management
– June 14th, 12pm CST
+ Preview Fishbowl's SharePoint Connector for Oracle
WebCenter Version 2.0 - Beta Customers Wanted!
– June 21st, 12pm CST
register:
fishbowlsolutions.com/news
56. Contact Us to Learn More
web: fishbowlsolutions.com email: info@fishbowlsolutions.com
phone: +1.952.465.3400 blog: cfour.fishbowlsolutions.com
twitter: @FishbowlE20
facebook: facebook.com/fishbowlsolutions
linkedIn: join our groups
webcenter content & webcenter portal
57. Indexing Items from
Oracle WebCenter Content
Oracle WebCenter Oracle Fishbowl GSA Google Search
Content User WebCenter Content Connector Appliance
Checks in content item
Periodically
Asks for new or
changed content items
Feeds list of new or changed
content IDs to Connector
Feeds new or updated
content to GSA
Indexes content
58. Searching Secured Content from within
Oracle WebCenter Content
Oracle WebCenter Oracle Fishbowl GSA Google Search
Content User WebCenter Content Connector Appliance
Performs search
Forwards search request to the GSA
Requests user ID
Passes User ID back GSA
Executes query
against all content
Requests which content is
accessible by user
Requests security groups and (Batch Authorization)
accounts user has access to
Passes security group and
account information
Evaluates which items
user has access to
Provides list of content
items user can view
Returns list of items back to WebCenter
Applies result template and
displays results to user
59. Searching Public Content from within
Oracle WebCenter Content
Oracle WebCenter Oracle Fishbowl GSA Google Search
Content User WebCenter Content Connector Appliance
Performs search
Forwards search request to the GSA
Executes query against
all public content
Returns list of items back to WebCenter
Applies result template and
displays results to user
60. Searching Secured Content from the
Google Search Appliance Front-End
GSA Front-End Oracle Fishbowl GSA Google Search
User WebCenter Content Connector Appliance
Performs search
Requests user credentials
User credentials passed to GSA
Executes query
against all content
Requests which content is
accessible by user
(Batch Authorization)
Requests security groups and
accounts user has access to
Passes security group and
account information
Evaluates which items
user has access to
Provides list of content
items user can view
Returns list of items to user with the GSA’s front-end interface
61. Searching Public Content from the
Google Search Appliance Front-End
GSA Front-End Oracle Fishbowl GSA Google Search
User WebCenter Content Connector Appliance
Performs search
Executes query against
all public content
Returns list of items to user with the GSA’s front-end interface
62. Authorization
+ Index Time
– Access determined when content is indexed
– Can be out of date since last index update
– Most efficient approach
+ Query Time
– Access is evaluated when search is performed
– May use individual HTTP HEAD requests, or more
efficient batch authorization
Hinweis der Redaktion
Hi EveryoneThank you for joining us today as we Explore Enterprise Search for Oracle WebCenter Content and the Power of Google SearchI’m Kim Negaard, Marketing Associate at Fishbowl Solutions and I’m joined today by Sr. Marketing Associate Jason Lamon.
i’ll begin with a brief introduction on enterprise search, we will then review what to consider when evaluating enterprise search, some common enterprise search vendors, and how the Fishbowl GSA Connector for WebCenter content can provide more relevant search experience within webcenter content.
Fishbowl Solutions is a recognized leader in the Oracle WebCenter space. We have over 13 years experience designing, implementing and supporting enterprise content management and portal systems to customers throughout North America and EMEA. This includes delivering value-add software components for Oracle WebCenter Content and Oracle WebCenter Portal.We are a certifiedOracle WebCenter Content and Portal Specialized partner as well as a Google Enterprise Partner. Fishbowl’s mission is to help companies solve costly and frustrating knowledge sharing problems... in order to do this, search is key.
Fishbowl has unique expertise in bringing WebCenter content to mobile device, WebCenter Portal and Spaces user experience design, integrating WebCenter with SharePoint and today’s topic – Google Search Integration and Enterprise Search.
Let’s begins by looking at why search matters.
Public web search has improved dramatically in the last 10 yrs. Businesses now measure how much employee time is wasted in information search.Google’s public web search has changed people’s habits. More and more web users will search before navigating a site.People expect to find what they want by using search, whether they are using google.com, your public site’s search, your intranet’s search engine.Your search experience’s point of reference is Google. If your business users are unhappy with search results, they’ll ask you why it doesn’t behave like Google or other major consumer sites.
WebCenter users are no exception to the search expectations of today’s users. How many times have your or your colleageslost something after it got checked in? This makes users feel like the system doesn’t workWhich can lead to Decreased Adoption and Unhappy Users.
There is a huge cost to the “We Can’t Find Anything” problem.1 in 5 searches do not find what is they were seeking which means a sample organization with 500 searches per day has 100 failuresAn average knowledge worker spends 16% of their time searching , 20% spent with unsuccessful searchesAt an average salary of $60,000 per year that leads to $375 per person of inefficient productivity An organization with 4,500 knowledge workers is looking at a inefficiency cost of $1.7 millions dollars per year.And keep in mind, knowledge workers are usually the most efficient at search. Many organizations as a whole are running at 40% to 70% success rate for search
What is enterprise search?
Enterprise search refers to the processof making content from multiple enterprise-type sources, such as websites,intranets, fileshares and content management systems, searchable from a single point by one search engine.
Typical enterprise search architecture consists of one or several search servers indexing content from various sources. Users may interact directly through a search interface provided by the search server, and/or through separate front end web servers.An enterprise search architecture includes connectors to various content sources. Connectors offer a way of readily connect to a number of third party systems. This allowsdiverse content to be searched through a single query, providing real-time access to business applications, websites, or business intelligence systems. An enterprise search solution means that it doesn't matter where your data resides; ultimately you want to get access to all your content.
Let’s review a number of factors that organizations should consider when evaluating and implementing an enterprise search solution.
There are a number of questions such as:What do you want to search? Are you looking to search multiple enterprise systems or tackle search challenge on one site or repository? Will the search engine be used as a reporting tool? If yes, then it is important that the results returned by the search engine will include the total number of items in the index that match the given criteria. This can be especially difficult if the content is secured depending on how the authorization is implemented.What type of content is being indexed? Web pages typically have links to other web pages which are used by many search engines to determine the page rank and ultimately the relevancy of an item within the search results. It is more difficult for search engines to calculate page ranking on individual files such as MS Word documents that do not have relationships to other content in the index.What languages does the index need to support? The availability of some features including spelling suggestions, spell checking, query expansion, synonyms, dynamic navigation, and result clustering may be different depending on the language.What kind of security is required on the content that is indexed? Complex security requirements can have an impact on search performance and content sources depending on how the security is implemented.
The type of content you are looking to search impacts the search solutions that will make the most sense. For example, some search solutions are tailed to certain data types such as webpage content, people directories, or documents. It is important to first think through what types of content you will want to search in order ensure the search solution can index those content types.
Another important consideration is how to break up content into groups. For example you may want to have one site that searches many content repositories but offers filtering individually, we will see an example of this later in the demo. You many also want to use the same search engine on your intranet to search only content from the intranet, while excluding content from the public web or file shares.
For content to be searchable it must first me indexed. Indexing content is accomplished in one of two ways: crawling or feeding.
--Crawling, also referred to as spidering, is one of the most common ways for a search engine to index website contents. The search index is configured with one or more URLs to begin processing, normally the website home page, or an index page with links to each of the sections to be indexed. The search index retrieves the contents of the page for indexing, as well as collecting a list of all of the links that exist on that page. It continues to process all of the links it finds throughout the site until all content in the site has been indexed. This process works best with traditional websites containing HTML with explicit links to other content located on the website vs. dynamic relationships built using JavaScript. After the initial index of the content, the indexer will periodically re-index the website to update the search index with any modified content. Pros: Easy to set up, search index can calculate page rank based on relationships through linksCons: Dynamically built pages and links can be difficult to index, difficult to index content other than HTML
The feeding process allows external sources to push content into the search index through content connectors instead of requiring the search engine to perform periodic crawls. The contents of the feeds typically contain metadata information about the content as well as a link to the location the search engine can retrieve the content for indexing or the actual content itself. Search engines typically include connectors for some common systems with the purchase of the software and may offer connectors for other content sources at an additional cost. Most of the search engines also include an SDK to allow custom development of connectors if necessary. One of the main advantages to using a feed is fact that the source is often aware of changes to content that have occurred since the last feed was sent. This allows for incremental inserts, updates, and deletes to be fed into the search index to reduce the amount of processing required by the index server and content source.Pros: More efficient and timely incremental index updates, ability to crawl non-HTML content.Cons: Page ranking may be indeterminate, or may require additional software or custom development to refine.
Content connectors provide search engines with the ability to index and serve content results form specific third party content sources. Connectors are specific to content sources such as Oracle WebCenter Content, Mircosoft SharePoint, or Lotus Notes. Some platforms allow for development of additional customconnectors by partners. The Fishbowl GSA Connectors for WebCenter Content is an example of such a connector. We will cover this in more detail later.
The availability of connectors for various content sources change vary widely between vendors. Some connectors may require additional licensing. In addition, features can vary greatly between search platforms and connectorsConsiderations includeSecurity – does the connector support your security model and requirementsMetadata Configuration – can you index the necessary metadataandPerformance – how long do searches take and how many users can the solution support
Content can generally be classified into two main categories: public and secure. Public content is generally available to anyone without the need to provide authentication credentials during the search process. Secure content normally requires a user to provide authentication credentials in addition to having the correct authorization permissions to access the content.
AuthenticationAuthentication is the process used to prove a user’s identity when performing a search. This is often accomplished by prompting a user to enter a user ID and password which is verified against a trusted source such as Microsoft Active Directory or another LDAP server. There are also a number of ways to accomplish this using Kerberos, NTLM, or other single sign on products that can provide transparent authentication without user interaction. Some search engines can be configured to perform authentication against one or multiple content sources when searches are performed.AuthorizationAfter authentication is performed and the user’s identity has been validated, the authorization process evaluates the user’s assigned permissions against the permissions required by the content to determine which items the user is able to access. There are two strategies commonly used to perform content authorization: early binding and late binding.Early BindingEarly binding is used to describe the approach under which content access is assigned to items during the indexing process. This typically consists of network groups and individual users that have access to each item. These values are normally stored as metadata information in the index along with each item. When a user performs a search, the search index includes the user ID and group memberships of the user in the search query to limit the results. This is the method that the Content Server uses by assigning a security group and optional account metadata to content.Late BindingLate binding is used to describe the approach under which access to content is determined at the time the query is executed. When a user performs a search, the search engine will determine the most relevant content that matches the user’s query. It will then evaluate each item to determine if the user has permission to access that item. This request must be made for each item. In some cases it is also possible to perform batch authorization though a content connector to improve performance. Most search engines provide some kind of internal caching mechanism to reduce the need to repeatedly re-authorize content and will only authorize enough items to meet the requirements of the search, for example, the first twenty matches. In this case the search engine will not be able to return the total number of items matching the user’s query.While this method allows complex security models and supports real-time authorization, it can have performance implications and makes it difficult to determine the total number of matching results.
Managing the search user experience presents several opportunities and challenges. The default search page is hosted by the search service and will have options to show or hide links and information. This search page is hosted by the search service and will have a separate URL. Organizations may want to hide a link to an advanced search interface, or expose search tips on a results page. When evaluating search options it is important to assess how difficult this is and whether it can be accomplished in admin interface, through xml configuration updates, or through custom coding.
This is what it’s all about for users. Do I see the results I expect?Record the results of search terms on the existing search platform and new platformcandidates. Compare the results in a spreadsheet. Which one is truest to your organization’s content needs without going through the work of tuning results? Most search software gives weight to standard SEO items: title, keywords, description, keyword density within the content, and relevant links.
Search services offer a variety of options for customizing the hosted default page; these include modifying styles or colors, and showing or hiding logos. You may want to include corporate branding and page templates from the website that will feed traffic to the search page. Make sure that you’ll be able to address these requirements using the search services tools you are considering.A more involved, and more powerful option is to request the search results as a service and embed the search form and result set in a separate website. This will keep users in the same web experience, avoid the workaround of skinning the default search page to appear to be part of the website, and allow developers to use the same development tools they use for the rest of the website. Search engines expose their results as web services differently, so be sure to evaluate the API if custom development will be required.
Does your search software make it easy to enable search suggestions, whether it’s type-ahead matching when providing the search term, or suggestions of similar searches after executing your search
Faceted classification is a method for exposing categories implicit within search results that allows search users to show or hide each category from the results, with dynamic updating as selections are made. Classifications may be due to admin-expressed preferences, such as identical values in certain attributes. It may also be driven by automatic topic extraction also referred to as “text clustering” or “document clustering”.
Information gleaned from search statistics can help surface site navigation issues and fixes. For example, a popular query item may be difficult to find through navigation, and may need to be more prominently located or placed on a home page. The statistics may indicate that result biasing needs to be put in place, or that content needs to be optimized so that it is more relevant for key queries.Statistics and analytics need to be seen by business users who are most familiar with the indexed content and can give administrators recommendations for search improvement . Another point to consider is the ease with which business user access can be made available, and the ability to limit these users’ access to application configuration.
Popular search terms = important contentDo popular search terms mirror items easily found in site navigation? If not it could indicate something is hard to find.
Sometimes, it’s obvious to search admins and business stakeholders why terms have low CTR, based on their implied knowledge of organization terminology. You may want to tune the results for these terms with relevancy weighting, synonyms, preferred results, etc. Do this work in concert with business users. If it’s not obvious why the terms have low CTRs, you may have an opportunity to canvas business users.
When users search for terms that aren’t found, it might be because they’re using synonym terms for items in the collection. You can usually tune this by populating search appliance with synonym lists, or forcing results to include certain URLs. If you analyze failed queries and determine that users are searching for things that aren’t in the collection, your organization may need to make sure the content is indexed if it exists, or create the content if it doesn’t
I will now turn things over to Fishbowl Senior Marketing Associate, Jason Lamon, who cover some common Enterprise Search options for WebCenter customers.
WebCenter Content’s previous iterations (Stellent, xpedio, intradoc) offered Verity search within the content management platform. The enterprise search company Autonomy acquired Verity in 2005.In 2006, Stellent added search by FAST, a Norwegian company, as an option. FAST was later acquired by Microsoft. Soon thereafter, Oracle acquired Stellent, and the FAST relationship didn’t last.In releases 10g and 11g Oracle offered search based on database indexes. Search is provided by a component and the database supporting the content server either with a full-text index, or for searching only metadata. Advantages should include faster searches, capacity for 10x the search volume and less maintenance than with Verity related to reindexing.With Oracle Secure Enterprise Search an enterprise search option is available to allow cross-search ofmultiple content servers along with other repositories such as web sites, databases, Portals andERP/CRM applications. Starting with the 11g release, Oracle is including a limited license for SES withUCM as an alternative to database searching.Search has evolved and so has user satisfaction- Verity – Stellent users liked it- Oracle acquires Stellent- TextSearch – rebuild index- SES – very powerful, heard from customers that it was expensive and they were confused with functionality overlap- 11g – improved but still a lot of administration- GSA connector
Even before FAST was acquired by Microsoft, it was recognized as a leader in the search market. Now with Microsoft, FAST has been extended to provide a search option for Microsoft SharePoint. It is a robust search system that can be configured to connect to line of business data sources and other repositories, including data from enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems. There is a connector available to search email within Microsoft exchange, and the front-end user interface can be easily customized using web parts.Some of the drawbacks with FAST is that it is a fairly complex search system. Complexity seems to go up as search expands outside of departments or when numerous collections are added. This leads to long deployment times and added costs for consulting. Also, for WebCenter customers, there is no packaged connector available from Oracle or any of Oracle’s partners. We have heard of customers that have integrated FAST with WebCenter, but this involves custom consulting services.
As mentioned earlier, WebCenter Content can be integrated with Oracle’s Secure Enterprise Search or SES. This system is optimal for Oracle shops, or organizations that want to leverage as much Oracle technology as possible. It is pretty easy to install and configure for search against Oracle applications and systems, including WebCenter Content. And SES does enable searches against other ECM repositories, but each of these comes at an additional cost. In fact, if organizations want to search against Oracle WebCenter Content with no restrictions, they will have to pay for a connector.
The last search system I want to mention as way of comparison is the Google Search Appliance or GSA. The GSA has been available since 2002, and Google has succeeded by making it easy for organizations to deploy. The value of the system truly lies in its ability to get it working fast – configuring it to begin crawling and indexing websites and other data sources can be achieved in a matter of hours. And once it is configured, organizations have found that it requires pretty minimal administration. Through some of Oracle’s partners, including Fishbowl Solutions, there is a connector available to connect the GSA with Oracle WebCenter Content.So some organizations don’t like how the GSA is licensed, which is a lease for two-years, but the overall price is determined by how many items your organization intends to index. The GSA has been designed to provide an overall search infrastructure for organizations to improve content searches across an organization. However, if custom data source connectors need to be created and configured, say for example, to search an ERP database, this is fairly involved and difficult.
So, if you are not using any of the search systems I just discussed and you are looking to evaluate such system, Google does offer a tool to help your evaluations. This side-by-side search tool can be used to evaluate search results coming from two different search systems. So, say that you are doing evaluations on a search system against a WebCenter-based Intranet or Internet, you could use the tool to evaluate query results coming from either system and then have your users rank the search results. It offers confidence levels and data points to ensure the results being evaluated are significant and at the end of the voting process, the votes are tabulated. This tool could be an effective way to utilize your actual users to help determine which search system meets their needs best.So that was a little comparison of the various search systems that have been configured with Oracle WebCenter, I will now turn it back over to Kim as she discusses enterprise search using the Google Search Appliance.
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The GSA Provides users with many of the same features as the Google.com siteGoogle’s Self-Learning Scorer Uses advanced statistical regression to analyze and score specific links and user behavior, making results increasingly precise without admin intervention.The GSA search box suggests query refinements, helping users to type less and navigate quickly.Automatic spellcheckguides users to accurate results, even with typos or mispellings. GSA automatically suggests corrections, even on company-specific terms and phrases. The GSA supports 220 files types for indexing including HTML, PDF, Microsoft Office, Open Office, and many other common and not-so-common file types.
Fishbowl’s Google Search Appliance Connector provides the flexibility to solve WebCenter Content search challenges. The connector can be used to surface results in the context of the WebCenter ContentServer interface, to include WebCenter items in the GSA’s Enterprise Search front-end, or to search public or secured SiteStudio sites or Content-Drive WebCenter Portals in-context.
The Google Search Appliance gives customers the search power and usability they've come to know from Google.com within the context of the enterprise. Coupled with Fishbowl’s GSA Connector for Oracle WebCenter, users will experience relevant search leading to increased findability, access, and information sharing and extending your webcenter investment.
Fishbowl released version 2 of their connector in January of 2012. This version now includes a ready-to-use Google search & result template for use within the Oracle Content Server. With this template you can search, view and access results from not only WebCenter Content by any other collection configured on the GSA. This could include a network file share, SharePoint site, Company Blog, or Public Website.This template also exposes type ahead and spelling suggestions within the Content Server and provides and easy-to-admin admin screen to configure the connector.
The GSA Connector has the ability to search full text, as well and OOTB and custom WebCenter metadata. While version 2 includes a ready-to-use template, the connector also supports the use of custom Google search result templates configured on the GSA front end or within a website or intranet.
As a google partner fishbowl can provide the hardware, software, and services necessary to meet your WebCenter or Enterprise search needs. Jason will now walk us through a demo of Fishbowl’s GSA connector to provide enterprise search functionality within the context of WebCenter Content.
BUSINESS PROBLEMS- “Dated” website did not align with or clearly convey key company themes around technological innovation, precision, and optimization. - Website search capabilities did not produce accurate results.- Website visit analysis showed high bounce rates and low page views.- Web Content Management (WCM) system was no longer supported.SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS- Fishbowl Solutions upgraded MTS’s WCM component, SiteStudio, from 7.5 to 10gR4, enabling them to take advantage of new website design templates and contribution methods.- Fishbowl Solutions GSA Connector for Oracle WebCenter enabled MTS to integrate the power of Google search with their website.RESULTS- New WCM system enabled easier content contribution leading to expedited page creation and updates.- Enhanced search capabilities helped reduce bounce rate by 14%.- Improved search and navigation features increased time spent on site by 42% and overall content/page views by 48%.
BUSINESS PROBLEMS- Poor intranet search results; lost staff time wasted in fruitless searching- Users redirected to search appliance for results- Search index freshness dictated by crawl schedule- Needed to replace aging search infrastructureSOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS- Fishbowl provided Google Search Appliances, the Search Appliance Connector for Oracle WebCenter, and expertise to implement the connector and Site Studio results pages- This solution provides WebCenter content updates directly to the Google Search Appliance without the need for a content crawl. It allows an organization to surface metadata on the search page; to filter search results by metadata field; and scripts to embed search results in Site Studio templates.RESULTS- Shortened search and results development time for web team, which completely offset the purchase price of the connector- Google Search Appliance requires less administration, saving IT staff time; Quick-replace Google support model with active development cycle- Superior search results saves time across the organization- Staff welcomed search results “with Google” as trusted search brand
IIAB Framework – Webinar next Thursday
For public content in a repository, searches work the same way as they do with web and file system content. The Google Search Appliance searches its index and returns relevant results to the user without any involvement by the connector. To authorize access to private or protected content from a repository, the Google Search Appliance creates a connector instance at query time. The connector instance forwards authentication credentials to the repository for authorization checking. This diagram shows the event flow at a high level: 1. The end user submits a query to the Google Search Appliance.2. The Google Search Appliance prompts the end user for authentication credentials.3. The end user enters credentials, which are forwarded through the Google Search Appliance and connector manager to the repository. 4. The repository checks the user's credentials.5. The Google Search Appliance searches the index for relevant results. If the search results include protected documents, the connector instance contacts the repository to perform an authorization check.6. The repository performs an authorization check and restricts the result set to the documents to which the end user has access. 7. The end user views a page of the restricted results. The URL displayed depends on the connector instance configuration. Typically, the URL opens a repository summary page for the document.
For public content in a repository, searches work the same way as they do with web and file system content. The Google Search Appliance searches its index and returns relevant results to the user without any involvement by the connector. To authorize access to private or protected content from a repository, the Google Search Appliance creates a connector instance at query time. The connector instance forwards authentication credentials to the repository for authorization checking. This diagram shows the event flow at a high level: 1. The end user submits a query to the Google Search Appliance.2. The Google Search Appliance prompts the end user for authentication credentials.3. The end user enters credentials, which are forwarded through the Google Search Appliance and connector manager to the repository. 4. The repository checks the user's credentials.5. The Google Search Appliance searches the index for relevant results. If the search results include protected documents, the connector instance contacts the repository to perform an authorization check.6. The repository performs an authorization check and restricts the result set to the documents to which the end user has access. 7. The end user views a page of the restricted results. The URL displayed depends on the connector instance configuration. Typically, the URL opens a repository summary page for the document.
For public content in a repository, searches work the same way as they do with web and file system content. The Google Search Appliance searches its index and returns relevant results to the user without any involvement by the connector. To authorize access to private or protected content from a repository, the Google Search Appliance creates a connector instance at query time. The connector instance forwards authentication credentials to the repository for authorization checking. This diagram shows the event flow at a high level: 1. The end user submits a query to the Google Search Appliance.2. The Google Search Appliance prompts the end user for authentication credentials.3. The end user enters credentials, which are forwarded through the Google Search Appliance and connector manager to the repository. 4. The repository checks the user's credentials.5. The Google Search Appliance searches the index for relevant results. If the search results include protected documents, the connector instance contacts the repository to perform an authorization check.6. The repository performs an authorization check and restricts the result set to the documents to which the end user has access. 7. The end user views a page of the restricted results. The URL displayed depends on the connector instance configuration. Typically, the URL opens a repository summary page for the document.
For public content in a repository, searches work the same way as they do with web and file system content. The Google Search Appliance searches its index and returns relevant results to the user without any involvement by the connector. To authorize access to private or protected content from a repository, the Google Search Appliance creates a connector instance at query time. The connector instance forwards authentication credentials to the repository for authorization checking. This diagram shows the event flow at a high level: 1. The end user submits a query to the Google Search Appliance.2. The Google Search Appliance prompts the end user for authentication credentials.3. The end user enters credentials, which are forwarded through the Google Search Appliance and connector manager to the repository. 4. The repository checks the user's credentials.5. The Google Search Appliance searches the index for relevant results. If the search results include protected documents, the connector instance contacts the repository to perform an authorization check.6. The repository performs an authorization check and restricts the result set to the documents to which the end user has access. 7. The end user views a page of the restricted results. The URL displayed depends on the connector instance configuration. Typically, the URL opens a repository summary page for the document.
For public content in a repository, searches work the same way as they do with web and file system content. The Google Search Appliance searches its index and returns relevant results to the user without any involvement by the connector. To authorize access to private or protected content from a repository, the Google Search Appliance creates a connector instance at query time. The connector instance forwards authentication credentials to the repository for authorization checking. This diagram shows the event flow at a high level: 1. The end user submits a query to the Google Search Appliance.2. The Google Search Appliance prompts the end user for authentication credentials.3. The end user enters credentials, which are forwarded through the Google Search Appliance and connector manager to the repository. 4. The repository checks the user's credentials.5. The Google Search Appliance searches the index for relevant results. If the search results include protected documents, the connector instance contacts the repository to perform an authorization check.6. The repository performs an authorization check and restricts the result set to the documents to which the end user has access. 7. The end user views a page of the restricted results. The URL displayed depends on the connector instance configuration. Typically, the URL opens a repository summary page for the document.