Microsoft enterprise search teams

Applies to: Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

This is the fourth of 12 articles that compose How Microsoft IT deployed FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint (white paper). In this article:

• Enterprise search positions in MSIT

• Enterprise search product group

Enterprise search positions in MSIT

Among the responsibilities of MSIT is the deployment and operation of SharePoint shared services for the enterprise. These shared services include the Managed Metadata service, the User Profile service, Business Connectivity Services, and the enterprise Search service.

MSIT manages all aspects of the enterprise search implementation at Microsoft, which include planning, deployment, operation, and support. MSIT administers the search service, deploys and maintains related hardware and software, provides the search experience on the enterprise Search Center site, and helps other site owners provide a search experience that meets their requirements and the requirements of their users.

The following positions in MSIT have responsibility for enterprise search:

• Search service manager. This is a program manager position that has the following responsibilities:

  • Business ownership, which includes gathering business requirements from site owners and users, specifying solutions for the end-user experience, managing the budget, and acting as liaison to the search service operations team and the enterprise search product group.

  • Planning and deployment of the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint solution.

  • Configuration of the search service to make sure that published content is easily discoverable, such as by configuring managed properties and global scopes for the search service and by managing Best Bets in the enterprise Search Center.

  • Management and support of search service operations.

  • Training and support for owners of sites that consume the enterprise search service. This includes working with site owners to help them create the search experience that they want for their users. It also includes helping site owners make their content more easily discoverable by using search features such as scopes, managed properties, and Best Bets.

  • Collecting and analyzing end-user feedback and updating the configuration of the search service to meet end-user needs.

  • Training for Helpdesk personnel who provide end-user support.

  • Planning and vision for the MSIT implementation of enterprise search and the user search experience beyond the current deployment.

• Search service engineer. Search service engineers plan, design, test, deploy, operate, and support the search solution. They have primary responsibility for ensuring the continuity and responsiveness of the enterprise search service. This includes server infrastructure and topology (logical and physical components), operations monitoring, incident management, configuration changes, application of updates, and documentation of certain search issues.

• Search analyst. Search analysts create, maintain, and review Best Bets and associated keywords for the enterprise Search Center every day based on user feedback and based on their analysis of search usage reports such as query logs and click-through logs. As the analysts identify new queries and new trends, they can create Best Bets for content that is not appearing high enough in search results or for content that is not in the content index. For more information, see Best bets and URL promotion.

• Software development engineer. This developer migrated customizations from the SharePoint Server 2007 search solution and customizes certain aspects of the end-user search experience on the enterprise Search Center.

• UI designer. The designer creates standards for MSW and other sites and is responsible for the visual design of the search experience.

• Support engineer. This person responds to technical or operational issues with the search service. For example, a site owner might report that new content is not yet showing in search results as expected, or that content that was removed from a site is still appearing in search results. In such cases, the support engineer can check whether a crawl has finished since the given content was added or removed. As another example, a site owner might report that search is not working on a particular site, and the support engineer might verify that search is not available and can notify a search service engineer of the problem. The support engineer also responds to end-user issues and feedback, such as questions about query syntax or content availability in search results.

The following table shows how MSIT allocated these resources during the planning and deployment phases of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint, and how the resources are allocated during the operations and support phase. To help indicate the kinds of duties of each position, the table includes information about SharePoint permissions and local server permissions.

MSIT team members

Table 1. Search team member permissions and resource allocations by phase

Enterprise search product group

The enterprise search product group at Microsoft is responsible for program management, development, and testing of SharePoint Server 2010 and FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint features and functionality. MSIT collaborates with this group to exchange information and recommendations regarding the MSIT enterprise search solution.

MSIT deployed FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint to production at Microsoft in late 2009, before public release of the product in the second quarter of 2010. MSIT provided feedback to the enterprise search product group at that time about the MSIT experience with product deployment and operations. This included feedback that MSIT received from users. This helped the product group make sure that the software was thoroughly tested in an enterprise production environment before it was delivered to customers.

MSIT continues to provide feedback to the product group about its use of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint. This feedback helps improve the product. The product group, in turn, provides occasional guidance to MSIT about configuration and use of certain features and functionality of the software.

Other articles in this white paper

• How Microsoft IT deployed FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint (white paper)

• Executive summary (Enterprise search at Microsoft, white paper)

• Background on the use of enterprise search at Microsoft

• Migration to FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint

• FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint solution: environment and topology

• Measurable gains from implementing FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint

• Administration at the search service application level

• Collaboration with site owners (Enterprise search at Microsoft, white paper)

• Enterprise search center (Enterprise search at Microsoft, white paper)

• Lessons learned and MSIT best practices (Enterprise search at Microsoft, white paper)

• Conclusion (Enterprise search at Microsoft, white paper)

To view the white paper as a single article on TechNet, or to download it, see Improving enterprise search at Microsoft: How FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Powers Worldwide Intranet Search at Microsoft (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb735129.aspx).