Five Tips for Reducing Search Risk
August 20, 2008
In September 2008, I will be participating in a a conference organized by Dr. Erik M. Hartman. One of the questions he asked me today might be of interest to readers of this Web log. He queried by email: “What are five tips for anyone who wants to start with enterprise search but has no clue?”
Here’s my answer.
That’s a tough question. Let me tell you what I have found useful when starting a new project with an organization that has a flawed information access system.
First, identify a specific problem and do a basic business school or consulting firm analysis of the problem. This is actually hard to do, so many organizations assume “We know everything about our needs.” That’s wrong. Inside of a set you can’t see much other than other elements of the set. Problem analysis gives you a better view of the universe of options; that is, other perspectives and context for the problem.
Second, get management commitment to solve the problem. We live in a world with many uncertainties. If management is not behind solving the specific problem you have analyzed, you will fail. When a project needs more money, management won’t provide it. Without investment, any search and content processing system will sink under the weight of itself and the growing body of content it must process and make available. I won’t participate in projects unless top management buys in. Nothing worthwhile comes easy or economically today.
Third, create a tight specification. Set forth specific requirements and provide performance metrics. The vendor has the task of meeting the requirements, and you can measure how near or far a vendor is from the metric. Very few organizations do a good job on search requirements. Many organizations detail “nice to have” functions and pay little, if any, attention to the “must have” operations and exactly what a system must do in terms of index updates, content throughput, administrative functions, etc. Most organizations don’t define the term “search” at all. Some people think it means Web site search. Others think it means searching the content in the marketing and sales department. Still others view search as a way to get competitive intelligence from third party sources. There’s always a cadre who wants search to make a Web site number one on a Google result list. If you don’t know what you mean by search, how can you buy a system? Yet, people do this everyday. I know there are many organizations with a Google Search Appliance that has never been unpacked or deployed. No one took the trouble to figure out what the problem was the GSA was to solve.
Fourth, you have to address security. Most organizations assume the information technology department or the lone security professional will handle this job. Wrong. When an inventory of content to be indexed is performed, security is part of this job. You have to know what to index, who may or may not know of the information’s existence or right to access that information, and the procedures for keeping the security system up to date. I know of a number of organizations that licensed a system, indexed what was accessible via the in house network, and then rushed to remove stolen software, confidential documents, and other types of inappropriate content. “I didn’t know it was there” is not an excuse.
Fifth, you have to have a team. When a single person selects a search or content processing system, that’s a sure sign of trouble. Information access is too complicated and too important to put in the hands of one individual. The team will have a group of people who are knowledgeable about information-centric problems, possessed of distinct technical skills, and committed to the project. A consultant or two is a good addition to the team in order fill in any knowledge or experience gaps. If the team is of the wrong composition, the search procurement will be off kilter. Team members who don’t care or don’t follow the project through to the end will put the procurement and deployment in jeopardy.
What did I omit? Let me know.
If you are interested in attending this program, contact Dr. Hartmann at Hartman Communicatie BV by phone at +31 (0)418 680 720.
Stephen Arnold, August 20, 2008
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