Search-based application - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Search-based applications (SBA) are software applications in which a search engine platform

Search engine

A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...

is used as the core infrastructure for information access and reporting. SBAs use semantic technologies

Semantic technology

In software, semantic technology encodes meanings separately from data and content files, and separately from application code.This enables machines as well as people to understand, share and reason with them at execution time...

to aggregate, normalize and classify unstructured

Unstructured data

Unstructured Data refers to information that either does not have a pre-defined data model and/or does not fit well into relational tables. Unstructured information is typically text-heavy, but may contain data such as dates, numbers, and facts as well...

, semi-structured

Semi-structured data

Semi-structured data is a form of structured data that does not conform with the formal structure of tables and data models associated with relational databases but nonetheless contains tags or other markers to separate semantic elements and enforce hierarchies of records and fields within the data...

and/or structured content across multiple repositories, and employ natural language technologies

Natural language processing

Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....

for accessing the aggregated information.

Pre-Conditions

Search based applications are fully packaged applications that:

Are built on a search backbone to enable sub-second access to information in multiple formats and from multiple sources
Are delivered as a unified work environment to support a specific task or workflow, for example: eDiscovery, financial services regulatory compliance, fraud detection, voice of the customer, sales prospecting, pharmaceutical research, anti-terrorism intelligence, or customer support.
Integrate all the tools that are commonly needed for that a specific task or workflow, including:
Multi-source information access
Authoring
Collaboration
Business process
Reporting and analysis
Alerting
Visualization
Provide pre-configured data integration with multiple repositories of information in multiple formats as appropriate for the application domain.
Integrate domain knowledge to support the particular task, including industry taxonomies and vocabularies, internal processes, workflow for the task, connectors to specialized collections of information, and decision heuristics typical of the field.
Provide a compelling user interface and interaction design that eliminates the need for users to “pogo stick” or continually jump from one application to another. This buffers the user from the complexity of operating separate applications and enables them to focus on getting work done.
Are quick to deploy, easy to customize or extend, and economical to administer

Source: Worldwide Search and Discovery 2009 Vendor Shares and Update on Market Trends, IDC #223926, July, 2010 by Susan Feldman and Hadley Reynolds.

Practical Uses

SBAs are used for a variety of purposes, including:

Enterprise Business Applications: For example, Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...

(CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...

(ERP), Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management
Supply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers...

(SCM), Compliance & Discovery, and Business Intelligence
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....

(BI)

Web Applications: Typically, B2B, B2C and C2B applications that mash-up
Mashup (digital)
A digital mashup usually is in reference to:1. Digital media content containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video and animation drawn from pre-existing sources, to create a new derivative work...

data and functionality from diverse sources (databases, Web content, user-generated content, mapping data and functions, etc.)

The use of a search platform as the core infrastructure for software applications has been enabled largely by two search engine features: 1) Scalability 2) Ad hoc access to multiple heterogeneous sources from a single point of access.

Search based applications have proven popular and effective because they provide a dynamic, scalable access infrastructure that can be integrated with other features that information workers need: task-specific, and easy to use work environments that integrate features that are usually designed to be used as separate applications, collaborative features, domain knowledge, and security.

Search engines are not a replacement for database systems; they are a complement. They have been optimally engineered to facilitate access to information, not to record and store transactions. In addition, the mathematical and statistical processors integrated to date into search engines remain relatively simple. At present, therefore, databases still provide a more effective structure for complex analytical functions.Search applications also focus on providing quality results considering search relevancy.

Pre-Conditions

Practical Uses

See also