SyseroKS and Knowledge Libraries
SyseroKS allows firms to add powerful search tools and formal taxonomies to existing Knowledge repositories. Knowledge Libraries can be templates, precedents, model documents and clauses held in file systems, databases, Sharepoint or DMS such as Worksite, DOCS/DM5 or Documentum. SyseroKS uses SharePoint's workflow abilities to control the submission, classify, review and renew process. Integrated with the free WSS version of SharePoint, fee earners can search the Knowledge Library from the main SharePoint search box even if the source documents are in a DMS. As well as the ability to use a formal taxonomy, SyseroKS provides a number of advanced search tools:
Concept Searching
Tradition search engines use Boolean search techniques to help users search. By combining quotes with AND OR and NOT operators, Boolean search can produce the results required, providing the user has a very good understanding of the data they are searching. Concept Searching looks for phrase patterns similar to the users original query. Exact matches appear at the top of the results list and documents containing similar concepts are also ranked more highly than those that just contain the words in the query. There are numerous algorithms involved which are explained in detail here.
Related Topics
Once a search has returned some results, the Concept Engine extracts terms that appear more often in the results than in the rest of the index. These are listed as related topics and can help fee earners by narrowing their original search using the most unique concepts in the results.
Search within Results
Users can also narrow down searches by using the Search within Results function. This generates a new Related Topics list and gives fee earners the ability to drill down through a large results list until a single document remains.
Filtering
If the source KM repository comes from a DMS or SharePoint library, Sysero KM provides the ability to filter the results by date, author, application, practise area and any other metadata required.
Taxonomy Browsing
By far the most effective method of finding information is browsing a structured classification system. Yet most of us would rather just use a search box as it requires less effort (be honest!). Sysero KM allows fee earners to search the KM repository and the results list shows the classifications of each document. Click on the classification and you're browsing the taxonomy. Using the Search Within Results function and you can even search within a classification node.
Sysero KM comes with a license for the conceptSearching Taxonomy Manager to help create, build and maintain a formal classification system. Details on the Taxonomy Manager can be found here.