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A Monthly Collection of Resourceful IT Articles by Davalen Technical Staff
February 2010
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RapidValue Services for Retail & Enterprise Search
Look into the possibilities of success your company can have through Davalen's RapidValue Services utilizing proper search technology.

Search Personalization on Retail Websites
Watch and comment on this high-level, non-technical overview of how to personalize search and product listings.

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RapidValue Services for WebSphere Portal Development
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Welcome to the February edition of the Davalen Monthly eNewsletter where we take a closer look at the collective practice areas of Davalen: Search & Discovery, Lotus, WebSphere, National Staffing and Davalen Brazil.

From technical tips to consulting and mentoring services, Davalen provides comprehensive resources for your business needs. So take a break, if only for a moment, and gain some quick but valuable insight from the professionals who know it best.

To view articles from previous editions of this eNewsletter series, simply visit our blog.

Peter Wilkerson, Search & Discovery Practice Manager

At the heart of any search solution is a good understanding of the business problem to be solved as well as knowledge of the available content and metadata. You have to work within the confines of the content you have (or can add with content enhancement). You have to analyze that content and be able to describe how you can identify some documents as being relevant for solving a business problem and why other documents are not relevant. That is just the beginning.

Developing an effective search solution is a complex space by it's very nature. It brings many different pieces together to accomplish specific business objectives. Managing the complexity of search is no simple matter. One of the top challenges faced by businesses is managing this complexity. The key is managing solution complexity and providing an effective solution to simplify the scope of the solution by dividing the space into meaningful layers:

Business Problem to Solve
The end goal is to provide a space where employees, customers and contractors can search for and find accurate and timely information. After all, their job is not to search but to complete some other business process or transaction. Search is a tool for helping people complete their tasks successfully. Understanding the business problem to be solved and how it relates to the larger strategic plan of the business is vital for creating a successful search space.

User Environment
Understanding how many people will be using the system, how they will access it (web, intranet, internet, mobile devices, embedded applications, etc.), and the business processes to be supported.

Search Application
Consists of the Query and Results sub-layers. It is a user interface which consists of various search tooling functionalities. People's impression of the effectiveness of a search solution is often based on the search interface alone. After all, that is what people see and use. Too often businesses use an out-of-the-box interface without evaluating whether it is designed to solve the business problems driving the need to update search.

Search Tooling
Search tooling is the tool set that a search platform provides to build search applications. Tooling may include search word boosting, relevance tuning, thesaurus, synonyms, stopword lists, facets, taxonomies, search analytics, knowledge extraction tooling, and more. Also included are how content sources are crawled, parsed and indexed. Different search platforms provide different tool sets. Understanding what tooling is available and how they work is key to being able to architect an effective search solution.

Search Platform/Engine
The software that provides the search tooling; whether it is IBM OmniFind Enterprise Edition, Endeca, Autonomy, FAST, Lucene/SOLR or some proprietary solution. In addition to search tooling you also want to pay attention to a platform's scalability, fail-over, disaster recovery, system management, configuration management, system security and availability.

Content Enhancement
Content enhancement or enrichment is sometimes required in order to develop a search solution that will solve a specific business need. This may mean that third-party data needs to be added to existing data. It may mean that knowledge extraction tools need to be used for unstructured (that is, non-fielded data) data like that found in emails, reports and memo fields in databases.

Content & Metadata
It is important to know the number of documents, content types (email, reports, database records, etc.), average size of documents, annual growth of your data stores, multi-lingual requirements, governance strategy. It is also important to know the types of information that is explicitly available or can be extrapolated via content enhancement. This information will be the basis for building an effective search solution.

Security
Security is a vital piece of any enterprise project. In the case of search, there is user authentication & authorization for accessing the search application and for the data that will be displayed in search results lists. (You don't want just anybody to view HR data.) Search engine crawlers also require authentication and authorization for access to different data stores at the collection level. And then there is security digital rights management at the individual document level within a given data store. In many cases this is the most complex IT piece of the search puzzle. However, solving this layer alone does not guarantee an effective search solution.

Storage Environment
Knowing the number and types of data stores (portal, file system, FileNet8, Domino, Quickr, Documentum, etc.) is vital. Knowing how frequently the stores are updated and will need to be searched is another key piece of information. It is also know the format that data is stored in (PDF, database, flat files, etc.).

IT Infrastructure
All of the above occurs within an IT framework of many layers in its own right and can include the following layers: network, hardware, operating system, system software and more depending on the environment.
from Dave Jacob, Managing Partner, WebSphere

It was wonderful to see everyone at Lotusphere this year and discuss so many offerings that are available within the Lotus brand!

At the event this year I had the opportunity and privilege to interview with Brian Chaput, Operating Manager for Portal, to discuss the benefits of WebSphere Portlet Factory for Domino developers and how it represents the next growth opportunity.

It's informational, short and informal so make sure you check it out below and let me know what you think.
from Len Barker, Managing Partner, Lotus

Two things have been monopolizing the time of our Domino Administrators over the last few months: helping clients upgrade their Domino infrastructures to version 8.5.1 and, interestingly enough, installing and configuring Lotus Traveler.

It should be no surprise that there is a tidal wave of Domino customers upgrading now. There are all of the usual reasons that clients are upgrading; from Domino 6.5 support going away to all of the total cost of ownership savings that go along with the upgrade, to the great new user experience the 8.5 client provides.

Then there is Lotus Traveler 8.5.1. In order to run Traveler 8.5.1 you need to be running Domino 8.5.1. Apparently the millions of iPhone, Windows Mobile and Nokia/Symbian device users who also have corporate Lotus Notes accounts have a lot of clout. Did I mention that Lotus Traveler comes free with Domino 8.5 and that it is easy to install and works great? Very good reasons all by themselves to upgrade to Domino 8.5.1.

Would you like more information about Davalen's services in relation to Lotus Traveler and Domino 8.5.1?
from Deborah Corcoran, National Practice Manager for Resource Deployment!

We just got back from Lotusphere 2010! Lots of exciting new software releases and applications coming your way from IBM. From Social Networking Applications to upgrading to the latest version of Lotus Notes; offerings that can help solve critical business needs and solutions which continue to provide ROI for your software investment.

The common theme that resonated with the majority of attendees we spoke with at Lotusphere was the huge interest in new emerging technical offerings such as IBM Expeditor, Lotus Connections, and of course upgrading to Lotus Notes/Domino 8.51.

Davalen Technical Staffing Services, is poised to provide you with the technical expertise and solid hands-on experience which cover the latest software versions and upgrades, including maintaining product certifications. If it is an IBM Software product - we got it covered for you through our Senior Technical Services professionals!
from Helmar Martens, Country General Manager, Davalen Brazil

Davalen Brazil has been working on a range of activities which include providing support for all of the demand in the WebSphere practice in the US, specifically in RapidValue Services for WebSphere Portlet Factory. We are also busy establishing a presence in Brazil by looking for new networking, sales and support opportunities.

The partnership between supporting the US WebSphere practice as well as generating new business for Brazil are a perfect combination to generate cash flow to support the Brazil sales activities which require some up front investment.

For more information on Davalen visit http://www.davalen.com or call 800.827.8451.

About Davalen: We Speak Business. We Understand Technology. Since 1993 Davalen, LLC has been a trusted name in collaborative software solutions for the enterprise. Davalen is an IBM Premier Business Partner that provides RapidValue Services for Lotus Domino, WebSphere Portal, Retail & Enterprise Search and Web Content Management. The RapidValue Services are designed to ensure clients receive the most value from their investment in IBM software. These services consist of a customized blend of system architecture, hands on training, mentoring and implementation assistance.

Contact us today.
Davalen, LLC

phone: 800.827.8451