Questions and answers about Ilves Search
We have collected more than 80 frequently asked questions and answers about Ilves Search. Ask for more information or request an introduction here. The text is divided into four sections:
• Frequently Asked Question
• Getting Started
• Ilves Search at Work
• How Ilves Search technology works
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the questions we almost always get when presenting our service. So let’s start with them.
What is Ilves Search?
Ilves Search is the core knowledge management tool for knowledge heavy organizations. It enables access to the information needed for knowledge work from a single location.
Ilves Search improves productivity of knowledge work, accelerating dozens of tasks. For example, discover what use cases international law firm’s innovators found for having all the information they need for their work in one place.
With Ilves Search, the entire information and knowledge base of your organization is always just a few keystrokes away. Ilves Search also boosts transparency and information flow as the latest information updates from the entire organization are available in the user’s personalized feed.
What problem does Ilves Search solve?
The information needed for work is increasingly scattered across on-premise and cloud services within organizations. According to our client, up to 60% of working hours can be spent on information retrieval.
Without Ilves Search, information dispersed in multiple locations can only be found through separate searches in systems in use. Jumping between systems and manually searching for information is time-consuming and a significant productivity problem. As a result, the right information is often not found, and decisions might be made based on outdated information.
The wasted staff time detracts from more demanding work that creates customer value. This leads to financial losses for organizations in the form of unnecessary labor costs and lost profits. Explore Ilves Search’s Search Cost Calculator to calculate the efficiency potential in various tasks.
Ilves Search is the solution to this problem. It consolidates business-critical information for into one place. It frees up professionals to engage in more meaningful and productive work than manual information retrieval.
Why should we use Ilves Search?
Because Ilves Search saves valuable working time (see Search Cost Calculator), enhances knowledge-based work, and improves profitability. No longer will time be wasted on fruitless information searching, as information can be quickly found through search and browsing from a single location.
We believe that all organizations need a proper enterprise search! You and your staff can focus on more demanding tasks that create customer value.
Is implementation of Ilves Search an IT project?
It is not an IT project. Ilves Search is standard software product .Trying it out and implementing of it is straightforward and fast process including the following steps:
- Subscription agreement,
- Ilves Cloud installation for piloting or on-premise installation
- Free piloting
- User trainings.
How much resources do we need to invest to start a trial?
Your team will spend a total of approximately4-8 hours as follows:
- Subscription Agreement, 1-2 h, legal/IT
- Technical meeting, 1-2 h, IT
- Installation support for Ilves,1-2 h, IT
- Admin training, 1-2 h, Search owner
- Kick-off and feedback meeting, 1 h
How much does it cost?
The current price list can be found on the Ilves Search product page. Hosting expenses will be invoiced on the basis of the amount of data indexed.
We always provide an offer with a short payback period for your investment.
Is the software made in Finland?
Yes. Ilves Search is a 100% made in Finland. It has been developed by the family company Ilves Solutions Oy. The company’s subsidiary, Ilves Valmisohjelmistot Oy, is responsible for marketing and sales of the service.. Ilves is a member of Software Finland ry.
Getting Started
Below you will find answers to questions that typically arise when the trial or initiation of use becomes relevant.
Can Ilves Search be tried before purchasing?
The service can be used for a free trial. We can integrate, yourMicrosoft Office 365 applications (Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, calendar) for the trial. After data indexing, it will be possible for you to see how our service speeds up your company’s information retrieval tasks .
We always set 1-3 task optimizations as the goal for the trial period. It might mean that more data sources are needed to analyze the benefits. If so separately agreed, we are happy to connect e.g. your document management system for the pilot period.A free trial includes 4 hours of work. Any exceeding costs will be invoiced.
What credentials do users use to log in to Ilves Search?
By default, Ilves Search users authenticate with their own Windows credentials. Microsoft 365 (Office 365) users can log in to Ilves Search using OAuth2 authentication.
Does Ilves provide support for the trial and implementation?
Yes, you can. We guide your implementation step by step, making the process as easy as possible, taking into account your specific needs. As standard, the implementation includes the following elements:
• Proposal for welcome message tailored to you.
• Invitations to your staff from the service based on the AD user list.
• Scheduled reminders and satisfaction surveys during the first few weeks.
• The Ilves Search admin view includes statistics such as the number of registered users, active users, feedback, integration status, search result optimization, and more, to support implementation management.
• Monthly meeting with your administrator
We also offer extended implementation support either on an hourly basis or as a package deal.
How long can we pilot the service?
You can now try out Ilves Search risk-free for 14 days. Ask for more details.
Ilves Search at Work
Ilves Search is a service that enables boosting of dozens of daily use cases in knowledge work. The following questions and answers provide an overview of the various tasks in which Ilves Search could serve you. We are happy to help you in selecting the tasks for optimization with the service.
What is the role of Ilves Search?
Ilves Search is a core tool within the toolkit for professional services organizations. It serves:
• As a search hub that enables finding all information needed in knowledge work from one placeIlves Search serves as a core solution for businesses.
• Itmay also serve as a tailored solution for a certain business process challenge like bringing templates or model documents into one place. Its role caneasily expand to serveewider scope of operational information retrieval challenges.
Ilves Search plays an important role in the development of data-centricity. Bringing the necessary information together in one place enables the development of personnel’s data literacy. It is a key component of a modern organization’s data capability.
Why should we acquire the service?
Fast access to your organization’s information streamlines the daily work of employees as well as teamwork in the workplace:
• Transparency builds trust and enhances operations.
• Employees can focus on the essentials when the required information is easily accessible.
• Your employees have a genuine opportunity to improve their data skills (data literacy) and leverage the collective knowledge of the organization.
• Quick access to information improves the employee experience and, consequently, the customer experience.
Assess the value of saved staff time costs and additional billing potential in consulting operations with our Search Cost Calculator. Review our references too.
Which organizations benefit particularly well from Ilves Search?
All communities aiming to develop a modern, transparent workplace benefit from the transparency provided by Ilves Search. Organizations possessing a significant amount of information across multiple systems derive the most benefits from Ilves Search.
What work tasks can Ilves Search streamline?
Ilves Search can enhance numerous knowledge work tasks. Please, explore the task listing in the Search Cost Calculator and start drafting your tailored business case from there or contact us. We are happy to help you.
Is Ilves Search a knowledge management-supporting solution?
Ilves Search is the core system for information and knowledge management in an organization that engages in knowledge work. It enhances knowledge management by bringing together information from all applicable systems into one place.
The significance of the mobility of explicit and tacit knowledge is emphasized in virtual work. Ilves Search enhances the mobility of tacit knowledge by making information and activities fully transparent. It enables the generation of new knowledge.
Ilves Search improves the quality of internal KM services and frees up time of KM experts by offering better self-service to the organization.
What is Ilves Search’s role in relation to the intranet?
This naturally depends on the role assigned to the intranet. Typical pain points for intranets include issues such as the findability of information limited to intranet content and the timeliness of data.
Ilves Search supports your intranet and team communication. People can find the latest information from the intranet and all your other systems with just one search, even if the intranet content has not been updated.
Ilves Search can also be used similarly to an intranet by creating ‘folders’ stored as saved searches. They update automatically, unlike the content of intranet folders, and their content can be in any system.
Therefore, Ilves Search can replace intranet functions or even the entire intranet.
I have to go back and forth between different systems searching for information. Does Ilves Search solve this problem?
Yes, it does. Ilves Search brings together scattered information. You can access the information you need for work with just one search.
How does the service support our Microsoft Office 365 environment?
Ilves Search can integrate all Office 365 applications, significantly speeding up the discovery of accurate information. Ilves Search is a Microsoft 365 booster!
• You can search for content across all Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Teams conversations) while finding information from other systems as well in one place.
• You can browse content from all Microsoft 365 applications in the search results view and quick preview without jumping between different systems, and easily move to a Teams conversation with a button press.
• Different data types (e.g., messages, documents, images, videos, people, CRM entries, etc.) are available in one feed using familiar type filters similar to those in Google search.
How does Ilves Search assist with GDPR challenges?
With Ilves Search’s GDPR extension, you elegantly handle your customer’s inspection requests related to the right to access personal data, data correction, or removal. Ilves Search finds customer personal data with a single search across multiple systems and generates a report. Review the report, easily edit it, and deliver it to your customer in record time as a PDF file, customized to match your brand’s appearance.
Does the implementation of Ilves Search require time-consuming training participation?
We made the implementation of Ilves Search so easy that you can get started without training. Quick guides and tutorial videos for the interface are included in the price. They facilitate the implementation in situations where users need self-service support to learn the new workflow.
Does the implementation of Ilves Search require participation in time-consuming training?
We made the implementation of Ilves Search so easy that you can get started without training. Quick guides and tutorial videos for the interface are included in the price. They facilitate the implementation in situations where users need self-service support to learn the new workflow.
Can I search for information from the company’s network in the same way as on the internet?
Yes, you can. It’s very easy with Ilves Search. Just enter keywords and search, and you’ll get search results from one place. You can quickly browse through them and, with a click, proceed to edit them. Ilves Search takes you to the source of information.
Can I access Ilves Search from my iPad at home?
You can access all the information connected to Ilves Search on your iPad by activating the VPN. This way, you can conveniently see what is happening in your organization right now from your iPad.
Can I edit documents on Ilves Search?
Yes and no… Ilves Search is not a document management system (DMS), so you cannot edit documents within Ilves Search. However, you can easily navigate from Ilves Search to any content management system with a click (e.g., Microsoft 365 or MFiles) and work on documents there. The Ilves Search feed updates when you save a document in the content management system, informing other members of your team that progress is being made. In essence, Ilves Search communicates on your behalf while you get your work done.
Does Ilves Search find documents based on their content?
You can quickly find documents, such as scanned PDFs, based on their content. Read more about this feature here.
Does Ilves Search find images based on their textual content?
Yes. As soon as Ilves Search has analyzed the image, it can be found using the identified text within it or through intelligently collected metadata.
Does Ilves Search also find Teams conversations?
Yes, with Ilves Search, you can find Teams conversations. You can preview the conversations and, with a click, move to Teams to continue the dialogue. Ilves Search also discovers private conversations that Teams search may not find.
Can I copy the “OCR’d” information from the preview?
Yes, you can. Search for and preview a document using the Advanced Preview extension, then copy or drag the text from the preview into your document.
Can I open a network location from Ilves Search?
Yes, you can. Ilves Search opens the My Computer view from the correct source system/location and highlights the document you selected in the search results view for editing. You can open the document and edit it as usual.
Can I open email messages in the Outlook desktop application?
Yes, you can. Click ‘open,’ and Ilves Search will open Outlook and the selected message from the search results.
Can I use Boolean operators in my searches?
You can use Boolean operators in the same way as in internet search engines. The interface also provides instructions on how to use them.
Can I narrow down search results by using multiple search terms?
Yes, using multiple search terms is possible and advisable. Add as many search terms as needed to refine search results.
What is the fastest way to access daily-needed information in Ilves Search?
Ilves Search’s data streams (Saved searches and Favorite searches) are the quickest way to access information you need daily. Free search works best in unique information retrieval situations instead.
How can I quickly access information that is important to all of us?
We developed shared searches as shortcuts to important information. They help information flow to you about important matters for everyone.
Can I save my own searches for future use?
You can save and edit searches. Favorites is the fastest way to access information you frequently need.
How can I access my search history?
Ilves Search remembers your previous searches. Start typing a keyword and select search terms from your history to find information again.
Can I choose the format in which search results are displayed?
Ilves Search offers various options for presenting information. Choose the presentation format that suits your task.
Do I see the contents of different systems in a unified format?
Ilves Search normalizes the content of different systems into Ilves Search’s own database, allowing you to see the information in a unified and easily readable format from the user-friendly Ilves Search interface.
Can I see documents in a network drive folder with Ilves Search?
You can quickly see the documents in a network drive folder with Ilves Search. This enhances information flow and project management.
Can I browse the contents of a network drive folder with Ilves Search?
Yes, you can preview and explore the folder and its contents without opening the folder.
What is the fastest way to filter search results for specific types of information, such as documents or images?
Type filters are the quickest way to narrow down search results based on their type—similar to how filters work in Google’s search engine.
Can Ilves Search be used to search for documents stored in OneDrive?
Yes, with Ilves Search, you can find your own OneDrive documents and those shared by others to which you have access.
Can I customize my filter list according to my needs?
There are dozens of filters. Choose the ones that suit your filter list and quick filters. We can also create additional filters for specific requirements if necessary.
How do I access the system where the document I found in the search results is stored?
One of the key features of Ilves Search is its ability to take you directly to the source of system/location. You can access the source file directly from the search results, for example, in SharePoint.
Can I open a document I found with Ilves Search?
Yes, you can. Open any document with a device connected to your company’s network.
Can I share document paths with other members of our team?
Yes, you can easily share document links with your team members instead of sending attachments. It saves everyone’s time.
Can I refine search results after performing a search?
Yes, you can easily narrow down search results. Type and quick filters are quick ways to refine search results. Click on the filters to narrow down the results.
Does Ilves Search also search email attachments?
Yes, it does. The search covers the metadata and content of messages and attachments.
Why don’t email links and images work in the message preview?
References to external content have been removed for security reasons.
Will Ilves Search take me to the right network drive folder?
Yes, it will. Ilves Search opens the network drive folder and highlights the document you want to open.
Are there filters available for complex searches in large datasets?
Yes, there are. Ilves Search filters enable precise refinement of search results in large datasets (tested up to 50 terabytes).
Does Ilves Search support our company’s good governance and processes?
Ilves Search creates transparency for all documentation, correspondence, and discussions related to good governance. For example, you can store the data security policy as a saved search accessible to everyone. This ensures that the latest supplementary information, correspondence, and discussions related to it are always easily accessible to everyone.
What benefits does Ilves Search provide to IT?
IT benefits from unified access to information just like other experts, but specific advantages for IT include:
• IT support can find files more quickly from various systems and can also provide better self-service for the business, freeing up time for core IT tasks.
• If Jira or another ticketing system is integrated, tickets appear in the same feed as all other organizational information. Ilves Search helps in migrations. Identical documents can be quickly found with metadata, and exporting metadata (size, path, author, etc.) assists in transferring documents to Microsoft 365.
• Exporting user rights facilitates IT work. For example, find user rights/permissions when an employee leaves and verify the inheritance of user rights.
How does the Ilves Search technology work?
The questions and answers below hopefully provide a good overview of the IT-related questions. If you’re interested in learning more about how Ilves Search technology works, please request a detailed technical description or read more about enterprise search here. We are happy to provide additional information on the topic.
How does the technical aspect of fast searching with Ilves Search work?
Ilves Search combines and gathers the structured data (systematically and classified storage) and unstructured data (strings without structure, such as text or images) in your systems and indexes their metadata into a fast search index. Through the Ilves Search user interface, users gain immediate access to continually updated datasets within the organization.
How do we ensure data security?
Ilves Search is always installed according to the company’s own security practices, so the data is handled in the same way as other company information. The user interface has been audited for 8/2020 OWASP-framework. Ilves Search is granted read-only permissions to connected data sources. Feel free to ask for more information on this topic.
How reliable is Ilves Search?
Ilves Search is a very stable and reliable service. According to our statistics, the service has a 99.9% uptime, which, of course, depends on the server where the service is installed.
Is Ilves Search available as a SaaS service?
Yes, it is. However, Ilves Search is recommended to be installed into the same environment where your organization’s file systems are located.
Can employees see files in Ilves Search to which they don’t have access?
Each user sees only the information in Ilves Search for which they have been granted access. We typically utilize the organization’s AD user management, but other methods of managing permissions are also possible.
How can we connect new data sources to Ilves enterprise search?
A data source is added for your entire team by activating it upon request. Adding new personal data sources is easy through the settings.
How does Ilves Search leverage AI technologies?
Ilves Search can use ready-made AI capabilities (e.g., Microsoft’s, Google’s, Tesseract’s, Open AI), and we also develop custom capabilities tailored to specific customer needs in collaboration with our partners.
Can you log in to Ilves Search through a browser?
Yes, you can. Ilves Search brings together the necessary work-related information in one place through the browser.
What technology does Ilves Search use for text recognition (OCR)?
By default, Ilves Search uses Tesseract 4 Neural Network technology. Other OCR services can also be utilized by connecting them to the data indexing process if needed.
Does Ilves Search modify OCR documents during the text recognition process?
No, it does not. Ilves Search does not alter the original documents during the recognition process. The recognized text is stored in your organization’s Ilves Search index database on the selected server.
What file types does Ilves Search OCR support?
Ilves Search recognizes text in almost all image files and PDF documents.
Which network drives does Ilves Search support?
Ilves Search supports Windows, Mac, and Linux network drives that use the Samba protocol.
Can workstations be connected to Ilves Search?
Yes, they can. Ilves Search can be connected to any network folder, including workstations.
What technology has been used to implement the user interface?
The browser-based user interface is implemented using HTML5 + JavaScript.
What kind of data sources can be connected to Ilves Search?
Ilves Search can connect to multiple internal on-premise data sources or external cloud services. The data in these sources can be structured or unstructured.
Easily bring together, for example, Microsoft 365 application data, Teams conversations, network folders, and much more content from popular services such as Jira, Salesforce, and many others.
What integrations are available for Ilves Search?
There are already ready-made integrations available for the most common systems used by our customers. Other systems can be connected through CSV, Excel, or XML files, direct ODBC connection to the database, or custom API solutions.
How much resources should be reserved for Ilves Search?
Memory requirements are 8-16 GB, storage space is 100 GB per 1 million files, and a minimum of 4 processor cores is needed.
How large does the search index for Ilves Search become?
Typically, the index size is around 50 kB x the number of files. However, the size can vary significantly depending on the amount of data being indexed.
Does Ilves Search utilize metadata?
Yes, it does. Ilves Search puts together critical business data from various sources into one view, leveraging metadata in the process. Metadata is easily accessible through the preview.
Where is Ilves Search installed?
Ilves Search is installed in the company’s internal network on CentOS 7+, Redhat 7+, Windows Server 2012+ server, or another cloud service indicated by the customer (e.g., Azure).
Can Ilves Search be installed on Azure?
Yes, Ilves Search can be installed on your virtual server in Azure.
How long does the initial indexing of my work emails take?
It depends on the number of messages in your email inbox, their content, the number, and size of attachments. Emails are updated in the service during the initial indexing in chronological order, starting with the newest messages.
What happens to our data if we decide to stop using Ilves Search?
You can decide what to do with the data on your server. If needed, we can assist in removing the data.
What if we need support for using Ilves Search?
Our customers’ Admin contacts have direct access, for example, through Teams, to Ilves’s technical support. We support our customers with an agreed-upon response time.
Do you offer volume discounts?
We always provide a customized offer for your organization. Large user counts reduce the per-user license prices according to the pricing list, so we do offer volume discounts.
Can the test environment be used in production?
Yes, it can. However, we recommend keeping production and test environments separate so that you can try out new capabilities in your test environment.
Does Ilves Search work when the user is not connected to the Internet?
Ilves Search operates within your company’s internal network. If a user is connected to your company’s network, Ilves Search works even if the user is not connected to the Internet.
