Controlling Search Functionality in Learning

[DeeCrews]

Hi - When using the search functionality in the Learning (LMS) New Home Page 1H2024 release we find the search returns far more courses than we expect.  How is the searching actually working?  What we would like is to ensure our inhouse company courses are listed first, then the remainder of the courses.  Can we prioritise the filters available e.g. Source X should be higher priority in results? Category Y should be higher priority than Z?

Giving users all courses the system 'thinks' it should isnt helpful because often the user will choose what they want especially if its at the top of the results and this could be a more expensive option to what we offer for free. there are time and cost repercussions for the company and it doesnt drive the behaviour we want to first select from our preferred options before looking wider.

1h2024 also removed the ability to search all filters ie start by all courses and narrow down to what we want so its not as if we can manage this issue via training and guidance on what to search for and how to find it quickly.  Any experience or suggestions around this would be much appreciated 

Thanks

[Marie_McGuire · Accepted solution]

As I understand it, the search uses something entitled a 'fuzzy' search where it uses a algorithm to find strings that match patterns 'approximately'. It is helpful for when users do not 'exactly' what they are looking for. For example, if the searcher spells something incorrectly - a fuzzy search would potentially still give the result the user is looking for. 

There is a configuration in the 'Search' config that allows you a bit of control over how fuzzy or specific you want the search to behave. Ours is set at 0.7 - this would mean that the system would return any results that match greater than 70% of what was entered. Increasing the percentage would reduce the matches found, reducing the percentage would increase the matches found.

I am not sure I would recommend adjusting the fuzzy search index without pretty heavy testing on your part to ensure it doesnt end up hurting the end users experience.

That said - something we did to help our end users with specific searches, was to create custom tiles with links to keyword less searches of our different sources (you could put in other criteria as well to meet your specific business need). This gave our users a shortcut to the searches we really felt they would benefit the most from and doesnt require them to know how to search for it. They just click the tile.

Another functionality I have not tested or played with, but that may serve your needs, is the search tier/weight of that item within the library. Library Search Results Booster | SAP Help Portal

Good Luck!

[DeeCrews · Accepted solution]

Hi Marie - Just FYI the Library Search Results Booster | SAP Help Portal info shows a NOTE stating it is for legacxy search only and Noy enhanced search - shame about that as that wouldve helped considerably. I will explore your other suggestions thanks that it is only

[Marie_McGuire · Accepted solution]

Ahh! Good to know! I hadnt yet even dived into that functionality and I guess now I wont have to!

[ReGr87 · Accepted solution]

We are testing the new User experience in LMS. We added new items into library, but we cannot see the item. They are not visible. In the older LMS UI we are able to find the items in the library. Is it a bug?

[Marie_McGuire · Accepted solution]

@ReGr87 - There is an 'expected' delay between when you make a change to a catalog or item, and when that data will be updated in the enhanced search. So if you add an item to the library at 9am, it will not immediately be searchable. I think the delay is like 6 or 8 hrs or something like that. If it has been longer than that since you made your changes, its best to document specifically what you are doing on the legacy search and the results you get and then again in the enhanced search and put in a ticket with SAP. Since this is so new, it is entirely possible that there is something out of wack and SAP would be best poised to determine that and fix it if it is.