© 2007 at&t knowledge ventures. all rights reserved. at&t is a registered trademark of...

© 2007 AT&T Knowledge Ventures. All rights reserved. AT&T is a registered trademark of AT&T Knowledge Ventures. USi is a registered trademark of USinternetworking, Inc.

An AT&T CompanyAn AT&T Company

USi’s Knowledge Portal

Endeca Case Study

Presented by Toby Ford

CTO, AT&T Hosting & Applications Services

© 2007 AT&T Knowledge Ventures. All rights reserved.AT&T is a registered trademark of AT&T Knowledge Ventures. USi is a registered trademark of USinternetworking, Inc.


With the acquisition of USi, AT&T expanded its participation across the IT services spectrum

Infrastructure Focused

Application Focused

ColocationManaged Services

Global data network and IDC footprint

Broad suite of IT infrastructure support services

Advanced capabilities such as virtualization and Visualizer maps

Linkage to AT&T security, consulting, VPN, transport and other services

Enterprise, eCommerce and Messaging application outsourcing

eCommerce custom development and hosting

Business advisory and application-specific professional services

Software-as-a-service enablement

Professional Services

Managed Application Outsourcing




USi’s Knowledge Management History

Primary Impetus circa 2004

• Reduce Labor Cost through Automation and Knowledge Management

• Capturing our Intellectual Capital and Property– Stored in Enterprise Applications, Document Repositories,

Wiki, Operational Support Systems– Required additional storage of data in new official FAQ or

terms application

• Finding data faster from numerous disparate systems



USi’s Background in Data Integration, Knowledge Management, and Search

Selling Enterprise Application Integration– Doing EDI -> EAI -> Web Services for 10s of clients– WebMethods Partnership

Selling Enterprise or eCommerce Search – Applying search techniques to catalogs or intranet websites or

document repositories

Selling KM thru Enterprise Applications and Integrations



Evaluations of Knowledge Search Approaches

Typical Enterprise Search Options

• Integration Type thru overlay or directly

• Crawler/Index Type

• Self built via Meta-data approach– Build Meta-schema, integrate, presentation

Atypical Enterprise Search Options• Self built via Iterative Integration, Search Driven

Methodology



Initial Evaluation issues

Working out Meta-data issues is hard

Working out System Integrations is hard

Enterprise Applications aren’t web crawler friendly

“Magical” data inter-workings aren’t apparent a priori



Choosing Endeca

Experience using Endeca with eCommerce Catalogs

Impressed with Refinements & Dimension driven search

Impressed with Speed of Searches

Flexible and Easy to Implement



Building the USi Knowledge Portal

Wanted Google Simplicity, followed Google Philosophy– The interface is clear and simple.– Pages load instantly

Utilized the training and development tools provided by Endeca

Utilizing simple page design, Tomcat/JSPs, agile SDLC, and one developer over 6 months



Data “Pipelines”

• PeopleSoft CRM

• PeopleSoft HR Skills Module

• PeopleSoft FIN

• USiOasis iChanges - Change Management Tool

• USi Contract Application MRDB

• USiOasis CMDB - Devices and Client Solutions

• eRoom

• Atlassian Confluence

• Salesforce.com

• Developed special Terms application for managing official USi Terms

• Working on official USi FAQ/Q&A answer database now



Project Conclusion

Implementation • Short, iterative “Beta” releases works well

• Promotion and Training necessary for the easiest to use interface

Support • Feedback on Data Quality and Typical Search patterns is essential

• Awareness of “Data Life-cycle”; Data Source Support required

“Virtual Auto Generated Data Integrations and/or Reporting” in tool have led to interface improvements and integration enhancements via iterative, user driven feedback



Business Conclusion

Support people have faster direct access to information from many sources

Less time searching for key data points

Reducing redundant efforts and data

Reporting on business in general; skill, location, solution health, support trends, etc.

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