Risoe

Summary

Risø establishes one point of access to their Intranet information sources with the Search Engine Forward Search from Forward.

“Sharing knowledge is a high priority for Risø. It is therefore essential that the users at Risø have easy access to available information via our Intranet – an Intranet which is, without comparison, the institution's most crucial internal source of information. And one of the key components is an efficient search engine that sifts through as much information as possible in one pass.”

Challenge

Currently, searches in our unified web environment are carried out with a search engine that does not include search results from our internal databases. These databases are handled with the database tool Livelink Discovery Server instead

Solution

We would like to offer one single point of access to retrieval and discovery. Forward is therefore developing a search engine in collaboration with Risø, called Forward Search, which will allow us to search in all our internal sources with one single search and with one single tool – with all the benefits that this entails."

Thus Birgit Pedersen, head of The Department of Information Services at Risø – one of the largest research institutions in Denmark with almost 700 employees. Risø's activities fall into 3 areas: Technology for sustainable energy supply, Technology for increased competitiveness and Technology for the health sector.

Risø is a knowledge-based organisation with huge collections of differentiated information stored partly in a number of special databases and partly in a Content Management System based on Sitecore CMS combined with Microsoft Windows SharePoint technology as the document server. This web environment also includes a number of independent Teamsites based on SharePoint technology for management and knowledge exchange in a number of teams, including collaboration with universities, research institutes, technological institutes and the industrial sector on a national, European as well as on an international basis.

Result

Single point of access to knowledge

To meet these needs Forward is currently completing the development of a new search engine in close collaboration with Risø: Forward Search. Forward Search not only applies advanced search features to the content in internal research databases but also covers web content and SharePoint sites. This gives us great expectations for near future, says Birgit Pedersen:

"Having one search engine for everything offers a number of benefits: One access point, one search format for queries in multiple repositories and aggregate results presented in one, unified and sorted hit list. This means greatly improved search functionality, to the benefit of Risø's employees ."

At the same time, the advanced search technology, which until now has only been available in the research databases, now becomes a possibility in all the internal information sources at Risø, says Søren Hovmand responsible for Risø's information databases.

"Forward Search is just as simple to use as other search engines – like Google, for example – but it has options that enable more advanced search functionalities. For instance, a search with 'truncation', which includes not only words but also word stems. If, for example, I do a search for the word 'biomedicin' not only do I get all documents containing the word 'biomedicin', I also get all the documents containing the word 'biomedicinske'."

"Forward Search is also able to manage user or group rights for each individual information item – determining who is allowed to se what. This facility is necessary for search in closed SharePoint sites, where the content is only accessible to employees with certain user rights."

Currently, in late August 2006 the final pieces of the project have not quite fallen into place yet. But Birgit Pedersen looks forward with great anticipation to using the final product in fall.

"It has been a rather lengthy and complex process to get to where we are now. But we have had a very good collaboration with Forward throughout the process, where we have mainly contributed with specifications, tests, ideas and critique, while they have handled all the development tasks. And this has been – and is – a good experience. They have been keen to comply with all our requests and show great professional competence, and at the same time our collaboration has taken place in a pleasant atmosphere. So we are looking forward with great anticipation to being able to use the new search engine."

Technical Description

Risø Search Systems – now and in the future

Risø's internal web is based on the CMS-platform Sitecore, a Danish product, which keeps track of all the information that internal users have access to on Risø's intranet. During the fall, Risø's public site will also migrated to Sitecore.

As part of the process, a number of open as well as closed workgroups have been established no Risø's intranet, based on Microsoft SharePoint Teamsites where variuos groups of employees and external users are able to share documents and information.

For example, Risø's internal research databases, which contain employees’ publications, educational activities and library inventory, and which are handled by a Livelink Discovery Server, are not currently included in the general web search engine.

With the completion of this project, a search with Forward Search will cover all these sources of information while still enforcing the security policy of each unique information source, including closed SharePoint Sites.

Forward Search

Are your users, customers, partners or others able to find the information they seek when they visit your Intranet, Website or Extranet?

It is hard to measure the financial cost of wasted time when employees are unable to locate the right information at once – or the cost in terms of additional phone calls to the company or lost sales when customers or partners are unable to find the right support information or articles online.

A good search engine can help to make the working process more efficient, minimize the support costs and increase sales.

Forward Search offers the user one single point of access to the organisation's knowledge and expertise that is currently hidden in different documents and systems. This is accomplished without compromising the protection of individual documents and content elements.

Forward Search consists of several products and modules that cover different business needs. From searches in web content in a Content Management Solution to the content in a Portal solution or the content of a Knowledge Management Solution, Customer Relationship Management or other business critical solution.

An open architecture, advanced search functions, ease of use, versatility of modulesand competitive pricing offer a very cost-effective solution that is suited for many different business sizes and needs.

Forward Search is based on a Search Engine technology that is used by more than 2,000 customers worldwide. It is well known as a very stable, high-performance solution that handles very large quantities of unstructured information.
Forward Search is based on WebServices (SOAP) and on Microsoft .Net technology (2.0).

Forward Search versions supports Sitecore CMS, Microsoft SharePoint, File Servers, Web and database solutions.

Try it out for yourself, or read more about Forward Search on www.forwardit.dk

About Risø

Risø is situated under the Ministry of Knowledge and Technology; with its nearly 700 employees it is one of the largest researchinstitutionsin Denmark.

Risø is one of the leadingresearch centresin the field of energy and is a key player in the field of health-related technology.

Risø's mission

• creating new knowledge based on world-class research, and
• ensuring that our knowledge is used to promote the development of an innovative and sustainable society

Risø's vision

In close dialogue with the business sector, the political system and the research community, we create new

• opportunities for the energy systems of the future
• technological possibilities for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases
• knowledge-based products and business enterprises with growth potential

Risø is situated on a peninsula in Roskilde Fjord a little under 4 miles north of the university town of Roskilde.

Read more about Risø on www.risoe.dk

About Forward

Forward is a focused supplier of Portal Solutions (Enterprise Content Management).

Our solutions include product technologies from leading vendors such as Bluebeam, Microsoft, Sitecore and OpenText, besides our own Forward Search platform.

Portal solution areas

• Knowledge Management
• Enterprise Search and Information Retrieval
• Document Management
• Web Content Management / Portals
• Integration and content exchange