DirectInfo is an enterprise, server-based full text search engine, which allows direct and fast access to information resources stored in any format and anywhere in the company.
  
DirectInfo Guidelines & FAQ
 
Choose your area of interest:

Search (general)

Where can I search?
DirectInfo allows a standardized access to text information in all storage systems in your company: document filing systems, e-mail server, intranet, portals, internet and even databases.

What formats can I search for?
DirectInfo indexes more than 300 file formats, both well-known formats such as MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), PDF, HTML, XML and rare ones such as Lotus AMI/AMI, Lotus 1-2-3, Adobe FrameMaker (MIF), Quattro Pro, etc. You can see all formats supported by DirectInfo here.

How can I search?
DirectInfo supports various search operators for thematic, root, synonym, linguistic search; search for meta data such as author, topic, keyword, date, path, etc. can also be performed.

How do you determine the result ranking?
In DirectInfo we use Oracle standard scoring algorithm. More information in Oracle Scoring Algorithm.pdf.

How can I decide fast about result relevance?
Each DirectInfo result presents the most important information about the found file
in a well structured way:
- file meta data such as name, author, date, size, etc.
- text fragments containing the searched keyword
- other useful information and links to the file

The table presentation of the result list provides you very fast with an overview of the attributes of all hits. Thus, you can easily identify the information with the relevant attributes.

How can I open a file, for which I do not have the proper program?
You can open an html version of the document by clicking on the html symbol ( ).

Can I find delimiter-separated words (for instance, hyphenated words in MS Word)?
This feature is not available for all formats and depends on format filters. However, the hyphenations in MS Word are correctly identified.

Page reproduction is too slow (despite of the fast search enquiry processing). Is it due to the performance of the client's computer and/or the server where Oracle has been installed?
A slow page reproduction is very untypical! The reasons can vary because there are many factors that influence the performance. The html needed for the page reproduction is created by the server and sent to the client. The reason for the slow page reproduction is certainly NOT related to the application design and thus can be identified after further investigation.
Semantec specializes in performance tuning and would be pleased to help you in improving your database performance parameters.

How can I achieve shorter response time in the standard installation of DirectInfo Express?
The response time in a DirectInfo Express standard installation can be significantly reduced by customizing the default parameters of the installation according to your environment specifics. Semantec team would be pleased to support you re. the desired customizations.
For realistic estimation of DirectInfo maximum performance you should install a test version of DirectInfo full version (i.e. NOT a DirectInfo Express version). Only the full version utilizes completely the available hardware resources and guarantees a very good scalability i.e. more RAM or additional processors will be used optimally and improve the performance.
A 30-day test version of DirectInfo (full version) is available upon request.

How can I configure the Oracle database to minimize the response time?
Semantec professionals would be pleased to support you. By using our web conferencing tools we will connect to your installation and perform fast the needed customizations (please see the question above).

Indexing

Can mail archives such as PST, MSG and EML be indexed?
The e-mail formats PST, MSG and EML are file container and can contain several files. An add-on allows automatically unpacking of these containers by indexing. The files are converted to PDF format, deposited in a subfolder and indexed. Here will be applied a conversion tool of another producer with core competences in processing of e-mail formats.
DirectInfo offers a standard interface for integration of external filters i.e. external filters can be integrated in the indexing process without any programming efforts. Thus, DirectInfo indexing and search can be extended to almost any other file formats.

Can Open Office files be indexed?
Open Office files are supported by DirectInfo. Please see the list of supported formats.

Can MS Office 2007 documents be indexed?
The type of the supported file formats depends on the used file filters. DirectInfo is based on the Oracle database, which contains also file filters. According to the recent statements of Oracle, they will support also the MS Office 2007 format. DirectInfo allows the integration of external filters (please see the question 'Indexing of e-mail archives' above). Thus, Semantec can find and integrate an external filter for MS Office 2007 upon request.

Can Enterprise Vault container be indexed?
Please, see question 'Indexing of e-mail archives' above. A filter/conversion tool for processing of enterprise vault container should be integrated as in case of PST or ZIP/RAR files.

Can indexing be performed several times a day?
The current index schedule can be easily extended with any time intervals (hours, minutes, and seconds).

Can the index be updated in real time?
First, the re-indexing of the indices will be controlled via time schedules. The re-indexing can be started manually and immediately for each individual group in the menu 'Document groups'. The re-indexing is always incremental i.e. only the currently changed files will be re-indexed. Thus, the re-indexing proves to be resource-saving and can be performed in real time if needed.

Can the index be updated without re-indexing of all files?
Re-indexing is always incremental; only currently changed files will re-indexed. (Please, see the question 'Index update in real time' above)

What do 'skipped' and 'failed' files mean?
o 'Skipped': certain file formats such as JPG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, etc. cannot be indexed and thus can be excluded from indexing (see Options -> Application parameters -> Indexing -> Not Indexable File Extensions). These files will be 'skipped' i.e. a proper filter cannot be identified. Nevertheless, metadata of these files such as file name, author, topic, date, etc. will be indexed and users can search for these metadata.
o 'Failed': there are several reasons for the failures. For instance, a file format has not been identified (the corresponding filter could not be found) or the file, which was available by crawling, does not exist anymore by indexing (for instance, temporary files). You can review the specific error messages, if you select a document group and check the index logs.

Can DirectInfo guarantee high-speed search and indexing also by larger data volumes?
Directinfo is completely based on the Oracle database technology, which supports very large data volumes. DirectInfo has incorporated all features of this platform such as scalability, high availability, security and performance. Thus, DirectInfo guarantees high-speed search and indexing even of the largest data volumes.

Result presentation

How can I clearly structure the search results?
You can choose between list and table presentation. Change the type of result presentation to 'table' by clicking on the link 'table presentation' right over the search results. Then you can sort the search results according to the different columns (meta data) by clicking on the column title. The result order remains the same if you switch back to list presentation.

How can I sort the search results?
Found documents can be sorted according to either presentation options or relevant criteria in the table presentation, for instance rating, topic, file attributes (size, date, author, etc.)

How can I customize the results page length?
You can choose between several options for customizing the results table view:
1.The table view window can be extended. The separator between the result window and the navigation window on the left side can temporarily be moved to the left.
2. Most often, the user is not interested in all table columns. The columns to be shown can be selected in the menu Options ->Preferences ->User Preferences ->Search hits context in table. All columns are selected by default. Please select here only the columns you want to be displayed.
3. Forecast: in the future the user can change the column width in the table view.

Security

How can I provide my partners (service/call centers, suppliers, partner companies) with relevant information from my documents without any security risk?
You can define access permissions in your preferred authorization system. It can be DirectInfo own system or another directory server, for instance, active directory. The read-permissions can be defined for a document group or a document according to the user’s role. Thus, you can ensure that your external partners can access only these information sources, which they are authorized for.

What happens if the password of the user, who performs the indexing, has been changed?
DirectInfo offers both an own user- and permission management system and a connection to an external security system such as active directory. The user signs in either the internal or external system and will be then identified, resp. authorized by the corresponding system.
If you use exclusively the external system, you should not execute the changes manually.

System requirements/Architecture

Can I deploy DirectInfo in my preferred operating system?
DirectInfo is available for Windows, Unix and Linux.

Does DirectInfo run on MS Windows Vista?
Yes, although we can not guarantee for the deployment in Vista enviroment. The product release for Vista is expected in the next months.

Does DirectInfo run also on FireFox and Opera?
Currently, DirectInfo is optimized for MS Internet Explorer. However, the situation will change in the next months as far as the compatibility between the web browsers will be guaranteed by the better support of the new IE8 web standard.

What type of architecture has DirectInfo?
DirectInfo has a server-based, web-client architecture. Each DirectInfo version is designed and optimized for web use.

Installation and deployment

How fast can be implemented DirectInfo?
Directinfo can be installed in less than an hour and implemented in only 1 day.

How can I change the parameters of the default configuration?
Please select in menu Options -> Preferences -> Default preferences. These values will be default preferences for the users. Later they can change them individually.

Do my co-workers and I need a special training?
No particular training is needed due to the user-friendly interface and the support of well-known search functions. Still, we recommend a short (ca. 2 hours) training course to get acquainted with all search operators and some complex search functionality.

Who can benefit from DirectInfo?
DirectInfo is best suited for document-centric enterprises of any size and industry. Our customers include both international enterprises (Daimler Chrysler Assekuranz Makler, Deutsche Bank, etc.) and mid-sized companies (Drees & Sommer, Trumpf, TRW, etc.). Semantec experts report on increased interest for DirectInfo in the public sector. Municipality Kelkheim has already implemented DirectInfo. Currently, a number of test installations are running in public administration, institutions and communities.