10 Replies Latest reply: May 17, 2012 7:48 AM by Anirban Dutta

Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Ashley Hall Jan 17, 2012 4:30 AM

This is a great resource, for customers and those considering BMC software - however one major frustration that I have is the quality of the search feature. I'll search for an error message using the top-right box (set to 'All Communities'), Communities will find no matching results - I then head over to good 'ole Google, enter the same search but prefix it with 'BMC', and I'll find a set of relevant matches!

My suggestion would be to scrap the Communities search, and instead link the above search form to Google - using the Google Webmaster kit, you can specifically configure a Google profile that will index your entire site, allowing you to use their engine instead of your own.

Hopefully I am not the only one with the above frustrations!

1. Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Anirban Dutta Jan 17, 2012 4:33 AM (in response to Ashley Hall)

Hi Sergeant - could you tell me what are you searching for then maybe I can help you. Also you said the "All Communities" option in search is not giving you satisfactory results?
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2. Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Ashley Hall Jan 17, 2012 5:26 AM (in response to Anirban Dutta)

Hi Anirban,

I use the 'All Communities' to ensure that I'm searching articles in all forums, because as you know people post in the wrong place all the time!

Here's one example of where the BMC search isn't intelligent when revealing results:

Search for "ar system optional license tags"

The BMC Communities results are far from useful, infact none of the results on the front page contain anything related to this subject.

The same search in Google reveals 4 top results, of which two are from the BMC Communities site and are very relevant threads:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=ar+system+optional+license+tags+file#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&safe=off&source=hp&q=ar+system+optional+license+tags&pbx=1&oq=ar+system+optional+license+tags&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=4716l4835l0l4988l2l2l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&fp=1&biw=1152&bih=738&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&cad=b

I am possibly others just use Google now instead of the BMC Communities search, because it saves me a lot of time trawling through irrelevant articles.
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3. Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Anirban Dutta Jan 31, 2012 4:09 AM (in response to Ashley Hall)

Thanks for the use case. We are looking into the issue internally.
Regards,
Anirban
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4. Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Ashley Hall Jan 31, 2012 4:20 AM (in response to Anirban Dutta)

Great to hear, thanks
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5. Re: Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Anirban Dutta Feb 10, 2012 5:53 AM (in response to Ashley Hall)

Unfortunately any platform level performance improvement would have to be realized in a version update when we are ready to go for it. Till then and throught the success depends on users helping each other to find answers and resolve queries which should better the content indexing in turn.
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6. Re: Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Ashley Hall Feb 11, 2012 9:04 AM (in response to Anirban Dutta)

Thanks for the update Anirban, thats unfortunate but I appreciate you taking the feedback into consideration.
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7. Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Anirban Dutta Mar 15, 2012 5:50 AM (in response to Ashley Hall)

I'm revisiting this discussion, cause you've definitely rasied a valid point. tagging content better will also be the best way to have keyword search work better. I plan to blog about it too.
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8. Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Ashley Hall Mar 15, 2012 11:05 AM (in response to Anirban Dutta)

Sounds good Anirban, thanks for this and please keep me updated.
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9. Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Anirban Dutta Apr 5, 2012 4:29 AM (in response to Ashley Hall)

Here you go, blooged as a tip.
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10. Quality of BMC Communities Search feature

Anirban Dutta May 17, 2012 7:48 AM (in response to Anirban Dutta)

Also the newly introduced Community description would help.
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