This workshop will cover the development of a requirements assessment, the preparation of a specification, the management of the selection process, and how to conduct and evaluate a Proof of Concept test. Particular attention will be paid to the format of a Request for Proposal to ensure a win-win result for both the organization and the vendor. A case study of a recent selection project will be used as a framework for the workshop. This workshop will be of value to managers planning to upgrade their current application or implement enterprise search for the first time.

This workshop will cover the project management of enterprise search upgrades and implementation, the skills needed in a search support team, the analysis of search log analytics, search tuning, and good practice in search usability. A project plan for implementing a company wide enterprise search solution will be presented, together with the blueprint for a scalable secure search architecture, which can accommodate changing user requirements. This workshop will be of value to managers seeking to get the best performance from enterprise search applications.

Faceted navigation continues to grow in popularity by delivering better search results than simple relevance-ranked lists. However, there are many design and implementation issues that have to be carefully handled to avoid overly complex systems. Using real life examples, this workshop takes you through the entire process, starting with designing the system of facets, including appropriate internal structures for each facet as well as how they function as an integrated system. Other topics include developing a plan to generate the necessary amounts of metadata including the use of taxonomy or text analytics software. It will end with a discussion of testing and refining the application with emphasis on how the facets function as a system.

Ever wonder why people bookmark webpages in their browser, but rarely use their bookmarks to re-find information? Did you know that researchers have found that MIT students prefer browsing over search? In this session we’ll draw on academic and corporate research projects to examine how people really look for information.We’ll go beyond web search to dig into users’ “findability toolbox”—the mix of tools and techniques they use to get the information they need. Instead of focusing on a single technology, we’ll look at the social and technological constraints that influence users. As a participant, you will learn how to get more value from your enterprise search investment by understanding when and how people use search. You’ll learn about user search behaviors, such as teleporting and orienteering, and why people prefer one over the other. You’ll also learn quick and simple research techniques that you can take back to your organization to analyze your users’ findability toolboxes.