Search Service Application for SharePoint 2013
October 9, 2012
When it comes to SharePoint, the search application has always been a tricky feature. For smaller companies, if programmed directly, it does the job perfectly, but for larger organizations a more robust solution for search was found in third-party software. Rather than turn to ISVs, these days many IT professionals are developing solutions in house to save on costs and to make a piece of software that does exactly what it needs. SharePoint Tutorial took the “do it yourself” approach for “SharePoint 2013 Create Search Service Application with PowerShell.”
The article teaches you the following:
“This guide shows you how to create a SharePoint 2013 Search Service Application using PowerShell and how this process differs from creating a SharePoint 2010 Search Service Application using PowerShell.”
PowerShell is the task automation framework from Microsoft. It uses command-line shell and other scripting languages for Windows. Its main function is to primarily allow IT professionals have greater access over the administrative function of Windows; mostly it uses cmdlets, which can be combined into scripts or executables.
The article walks the reader through steps on how to create a search service application by going through each step individually and explaining them with the use of screenshots. The coding examples are the real winner as they provide the real basis for understanding how to create the search application. Sometimes in the coding process it is easy to get lost and confused, but when a ready reference is available for help it makes the process all the easier to get through. If the coding examples, screenshots, and explanations are not enough to get you started, the article links to the SharePoint 2013 Resource Page. It is SharePoint Tutorial’s Web resource page that points to all their gathered knowledge on the new SharePoint 2013 deployment.
As SharePoint 2013 is still a new and its sea legs are still being tested and it is still being determined whether a homebuilt application to augment its out-of-the-box search capabilities. If we can follow the same pattern from other SharePoint versions, then a homebuilt, customizable solution is the way to go. The article starts IT professionals and SharePoint developers with a good starting point. The real test will come with longtime exposure to 2013, long enough to get all the bugs figured out.
Search Technologies can provide organizations worldwide with engineering and support services for SharePoint Search as well as other enterprise systems. The firm’s engineers can create PowerShell and other components to improve the performance and user satisfaction of any search and retrieval system. More information about Search Technologies is available at http://www.searchtechnologies.com/.
Iain Fletcher, Search Technologies, October 9, 2012
PS. Search Technologies is holding our first search meet up. Details are available at http://www.meetup.com/DC-Metro-Enterprise-Search-Network/ and http://goo.gl/P5oKY.
Comintelli Releases White Paper Analyzing Knowledge XChanger and SharePoint
October 9, 2012
Comintelli provides enterprise information access software in the realms of competitive intelligence, knowledge management, content delivery, and search. Comintelli recently released a White Paper on knowledge management which looks at Comintelli’s flagship product, Knowledge XChanger, and Microsoft SharePoint. The release can be read at, “Knowledge Management, With or Without SharePoint?” The importance of information assets is explained,
In today’s business environment, knowledge has emerged as the most valuable corporate asset and deserves to be managed as such. Managing knowledge is about the information your company possesses and the people, who increase the value this by adding experience, knowledge and associations in order to produce new insights. This cycle continues endlessly and the companies who succeed in organizing and using this flow will be the winners of tomorrow.
The author goes on to add:
IT tools can extend knowledge networks and make it easier to find information and people who have the knowledge you seek.
It is pointed out that any knowledge management software should be able to find and retrieve internal and external information, successfully use taxonomies to filter and structure information, have an intuitive interface, faceted search, and employ user designed alerts. The complete White Paper is available to order and looks at how applicable SharePoint and Knowledge XChanger are for knowledge management on their own and if they could work together. If you are weighing software options for your knowledge management strategy, consider bypassing ordering a White Paper and take a closer look at the Fabasoft Mindbreeze’s Folio Connector solution. The Connector links systems for enterprise-wide information access with faceted search, a familiar user interface, search results that can easily be processed into actionable information, and more. The Fabasoft Folio Connector includes the SharePoint Connector, as well as eGov-Suite, Exchange, File System, and Web Connectors.
Philip West, October 9, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
WalMart Looks to Semantic Technology to Boost Site Search
October 8, 2012
Claudia Bruemmer, Chief Editor of the TopTenWholesale Newsroom, looks at Wal-Mart’s announcement of using Polaris search for its online retail Web site in the post, “New Semantic Search Engine Boosts Wal-Mart Sales.” Polaris uses semantic technology, which works to uncover the connections between people, events, places, and products. The development of Polaris is explained,
Built in 10 months by a small team in @Wal-MartLabs, the retailer’s research and technology hub, the new Polaris search engine is based on the lab’s Social Genome project, which uses public data on the web, proprietary data, and social media, to identify interesting entities and relationships, then adding them to the Social Genome.
The lab was set up after Wal-Mart’s acquisition last year of Kosmix (Mountain View, California), as Kosmix had developed a social media technology platform that filters and organizes content in social networks in a manner relevant to users.
The move is in response to Wal-Mart’s every growing competition with sites like Amazon and eBay. It is hoped the search will also figure out user intent to deliver better results. A business Web site is the new storefront. When it comes to creating a user-friendly Web site and managing a Web presence, all organizations may want to look closer at their site search. With no installation, configuration or maintenance required, Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite is designed to instinctively find information on your site with a familiar interface. Here you can read how InSite “recognizes correlations and links through semantic and dynamic search processes. This delivers pinpoint accurate and precise finding experiences.”
Philip West, October 8, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Endeca Set to Enrich Oracle Business Intelligence Solutions
October 8, 2012
It may be obvious that Oracle’s purchase of Endeca allows the tech behemoth to incorporate unstructured data like social media, log files and text documents into their business intelligence framework. Emtec‘s blog gets more specific in the post by Jamal Syed, “What Endeca Adds to the Oracle BI Bag of Tools. . . .” The write up tells us:
“Endeca enables users to iteratively model the data as it suits them. IT does not have to perform traditional data modeling on the data before it can be available for end users. Endeca combines structured and unstructured data from disparate systems (inside or outside the company) and automatically organizes the information for search, discovery and analysis. This makes Oracle Endeca the only BI technology that unifies structured content and social media for analysis.”
For now, anyway. For those familiar with using Essbase as a data source with the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Syed includes this caveat:
“The Endeca integration will not be as simple because of the unstructured nature of the data. Harnessing the power of Endeca’s search engine that utilizes breadcrumbs instead of keywords will be a challenge- but will provide huge benefits to Oracle BI.”
Syed expects to see a unified platform arise from this union within the next year. Endeca was founded in 1999, and developed into a leader in faceted search before being snapped up by Oracle last year.
Cynthia Murrell, October 08, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Increasing SharePoint User Adoption with Easy to Understand Training
October 5, 2012
Chris Wright, founder of the technical copyrighting company Scribble Agency, discusses SharePoint end user adoption issues in his CMSWire post, “Driving Adoption: Three SharePoint Concepts End Users Need to Understand.” Wright explains that because SharePoint is such a complex system, end user training is a necessity, even if it is simply a newsletter with tips and tricks. He has this to add:
There are three core SharePoint concepts that you need to explain to your end users, to give them any chance of sticking with SharePoint in the long term. These are Sites, Lists and Webparts. For those of us in the know this is basic stuff, and of course there are a ton of other things you could educate users about. But I firmly believe teaching these three things to the man or woman on the street will give them a huge head start.
Wright goes on to share in a little more detail each of the three core components and how he has found success in relaying the concepts to his users. He suggests starting with a discussion on sites using a ‘container’ metaphor – that sites contain all the content that will eventually be displayed somehow. He adds that lists can be explained in Excel terms of columns, rows, and cells and that Web parts are the main way to surface list data onto a page.
A third party application can also simplify SharePoint for end users while maximizing return on investment in the product. One worth looking at is Fabasoft Mindbreeze’s Enterprise search and SharePoint Connector. The Connector adds a powerful search to increase the findability of documents in SharePoint with the benefit of a friendly user interface.
Philip West, October 5, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Empowering your SharePoint User Base
October 4, 2012
CMS Wire brings the article, “SharePoint: Empowering Your User Base,” to discuss how to get the most out of your SharePoint solution by getting the most out of your user population. The author begins by framing her argument:
In previous articles, we have covered the different solutions that can be built using SharePoint. But even the best of features are no good if they aren’t being fully utilized by the organization. One of the best features of SharePoint is that with the right expectations, training and guidance your internal Information Workers can be empowered to build solutions without having to work with IT or have IT build it for them. There are endless possibilities for the potential solutions that can be implemented.
The author then goes on to discuss how the empowerment happens, particularly through training. While training is important in any organization for a number of functions, most SharePoint analysis would show that the learning curve for SharePoint is steep enough that most end users will never harness its full potential. For that reason, many small or medium organizations are turning to intuitive third-party solutions to optimize their enterprise solution without a huge investment in time or training. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is one such solution that optimizes efficiency simply by an intuitive interface and ease of use for the end users.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 4, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Google Yearns for Yahoo Partnership
October 4, 2012
There has been much talk in the tech community about Apple’s public diss of Google with the launch of its own map service and the subsequent neglect of the Google Maps feature the company had been using. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt spoke about this change at a recent Nexus tablet launch, but perhaps made a more shocking statement about a coveted partnership. We learn in the Forbes article, “Eric Schmidt Says Google Would Love to Replace Microsoft as Yahoo!’s Search Partner,” that Google is very interested in replacing Microsoft’s Bing in a search engine partnership with Yahoo.
We learn in the article:
“Of course, Schmidt was involved in the discussions between Yahoo! and Google in late 2008 after the Microsoft buyout fell apart and before Carol Bartz approached Steve Ballmer to do a deal. Google and Yahoo strongly wanted a deal done, but the government said no. […] Several people who cover Yahoo have stated in very strong language that, although the search partnership with Microsoft has been a failure, there is no way that Yahoo could do an alternative deal with Google due to regulatory issues.”
With the marked drop of Yahoo’s search share, the situation is much different than it was in 2009 and reportedly Yahoo could end the deal with Microsoft as early as next year. We may learn more as the new Yahoo CEO (and former Google exec, to boot,) Marissa Mayer preps her presentation on her plans for innovating search at Yahoo. We are left to ponder until then if a deal with the Goog is in the mix.
Andrea Hayden, October 04, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New Search Service SeenBefore Helps Users Look Back
October 3, 2012
It is an exercise in frustration: you’ve previously searched for and found a certain something online, but when you wish to refer to it again, it stubbornly refuses to be found. Developing a reflexive bookmarking habit could save you, but not if the page you want has been removed. New search engine SeenBefore tackles that uniquely modern hassle. Its description succinctly explains:
“Find that website you read weeks ago, faster than any other tool. Chrome only at the moment. [The page later adds that support for FireFox and Safari is almost ready.]
“Works across multiple machines, displays results within Google’s results and stores the website so if the content online ever changes, you can still read it.
“40% of searches online are people simply looking for what they have already seen before. Time to improve this experience!”
So, with this tool installed, SeenBefore will save all your search results on their cloudy servers. But wait, you may say, why not just use the browser history? Because, they would reply, “people regularly delete their browser history.” Well, yes. . . there’s a reason for that.
The site does give some nods to privacy. It doesn’t keep track while you’re in “incognito” mode, and gives you the option to disable the recording for a couple hours at a time. They insist they will never share data with third parties. Also, if enough users say they like the idea, they will offer a private server for $300 per year.
SeenBefore is a neat concept, and I believe them when they say privacy is important to them. If they ever have a well-publicized breach, after all, they are sure to fizzle fast. However, the idea still makes me a little uneasy. I think I’ll stick to my cache and my bookmarks; thanks anyway.
Cynthia Murrell, October 03, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Move Over Google Yandex Is On the Move
October 3, 2012
Who would have thought that someone would be able to challenge Google’s mighty search power? Investors noted that “Yandex Building Right Side of Base as Competition with Google Builds In Russia.” Yandex is Russia’s biggest search engine and its stock has gained valued in seven of the past eight weeks. Russia has become Europe’s largest population of Internet users, boosting Yandex to the top of the search engine popularity lists
Yandex stocks have garnered interest in investors:
“Also, Yandex’s Accumulation-Distribution Rating has soared to a best-possible A+ from C- at the end of June, indicating that institutional investors find the shares attractive. In fact, fund ownership jumped 20% last quarter, including a new position started by the highly ranked Columbia Acorn Fund.”
To extend its reach, Yandex is headed to the mobile search market and the search engine has also started a mapping service. One of its primary goals is to decrease its dependence on Russian advertising by trying its lot in Turkey. Like anything these days, however, Yandex’s success fluctuates with Russia’s economy, but profit is expected to continue to for the rest of the year. Yandex has its job cut out for it in the US market. Google is so ingrained into the average US’s citizen’s daily life: maps, mail, social networking, documents, etc. that Yandex will have to up its offerings and services to compete.
Whitney Grace, October 03, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Making Web Site Search Better for Users and Search Engine Optimization
October 3, 2012
When it comes to improving search engine optimization, there are many services available to choose from. One of these services is discussed in the article, “Smart Rank – Make Your Website Search Engine in a Smart Way.” The author has this to say about the service:
There are many things you have to do if you are looking for a solution regarding making your website top in sales. You would have also come across various seo websites, which are exclusively out there over the internet to help in search engine optimization. A best example for this kind of seo agency is Smart Rank. Smart will help you to increase website traffic without facing the difficulties of technical aspects of search engine optimisation.
The author adds that increasing the bottom line and visibility should be the main focus upon when you own a business or Web site online. And while he advocates Smart Rank, details of the service are not explained but rather that it is simply an easy solution to boost SEO. It may be worth reading into, but you might consider looking at a service with a proven record. Fabasoft Mindbreeze’s InSite solution offers faceted search for your site to give visitors the latest and most relevant content. Additionally, InSite allows you to extract the value of real-time search reporting to give insight so to keep your site optimized.
Philip West, October 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
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