SAP Enterprise Search goes much deeper than ordinary text-based search engine, claimed officials at the Waldorf-based firm.
The reason for the differentiation, say SAP officials, is its contextual understanding of users and business processes.
It takes into consideration the enterprise schema and data model, as well as the role and preference of the user. This understanding lets users switch from results into a SAP business transaction, report or workspace.
The searches are based on the end user’ business context, said Kevin Fliess, VP of product marketing in SAP’s emerging solutions group. SAP knows a lot about the end users firing off searches. We’re leveraging this deep knowledge to embed search into SAP applications and provide the best contextual search results.
Strictly speaking, SAP Enterprise Search is a meta search engine, not a traditional indexing engine. That is, it federates searches across multiple search engines and data sources.
For SAP data the software comes pre-indexed against a taxonomy defined by predefined objects inherent in the SAP business applications suite. The search engine searches directly across these objects, which are extensible.
To trawl across non-SAP data sources, the software connects to third-party engines like Google as a service, pulling in external content as part of the results. No indexing is required for this.
SAP has built connectors to sources like EMC/Documentum and Microsoft SharePoint. ISV partners can also build their own connectors.
SAP Enterprise Search is included as part of its NetWeaver stack and implemented as another enterprise service.
Technically, the software is built on SAP’s TREX technology. TREX, which SAP developed internally, is a high-speed indexing engine for unstructured text that been kicking around for some time. It is being used as the basis for the server-side of SAP Enterprise Search, which is also part of NetWeaver.
SAP is using that same engine for its Business Intelligence Accelerator software, affording it the benefits of speedy in-memory processing and blade server scalability.
SAP officials were cagey about positioning SAP Enterprise Search as a standalone enterprise search tool – for now at least.
The initial release is targeted primarily at the SAP development community, and is initially being offered as a free download to SAP’s SDN community for enhancement. Developers will be able to create new interfaces, tweak the search grammar and embed search capabilities into other applications.
The aim, according to Fliess, is to tap into the collective intelligence of this community and roll feedback back into a commercialized product slated for next year.
Indeed, the real benefits accrued are to SAP data and users. Strip that away and it is hard to see SAP Enterprise Search, in its current manifestation at least, being a competitive standalone search solution against the likes of Google and IBM (OmniFind).
Its generally for our own application use right now, Fliess said. But he said the software comes with open search interfaces to easily connect to non-SAP sources and engines including desktop search tools.
SAP also plans to deploy SAP Enterprise Search as an SAP Appliance, as an enhancement for its Business Intelligence Accelerator product. But it did not offer further specifics.
SAP’s sudden interest in search is piqued by an interest in making its applications more easily accessible to a wider set of information workers without necessarily forcing them to go through an intermediary like a power user or analyst.
But it is the integration of search into business applications that is key according to Shai Agassi, president of products and technology at SAP. We don’t see search ending in search, but starting in search, Agassi said. When you think of search as the end you’re not going to get very far. Search should be the way to start your engagement with applications.
