On March 19, 2014 Information Technology upgraded the College’s Google Search Appliance (GSA) to version 7.2. The upgrade adds some new features that will improve search functionality across the College’s web resources.
- Wildcard search is a new
feature that enables your users to search by entering a word pattern rather than the exact spelling of a term. The search appliance supports two wildcard operators:
* — Matches zero or more characters
? — Matches exactly 1 character
Using wildcards can simplify queries for long names, technical data, or strings where the exact spelling varies or is unknown. A user can search for all words starting with a particular pattern, ending with a particular pattern, or having a particular substring pattern.
- Updated Connectors enable the Google Search Appliance to search and serve documents from resources other than just websites, like SharePoint and Google Apps.
In the most recent TechQual+ Survey identified, several respondents reported lack of search functionality or inaccurate search results on the College website as areas for improvement for online services. This upgrade will allow IT to add more search functionality to online services, as well as improve the accuracy of search results.
The whole list of the new features for Version 7.2 can be found at http://www.google.com/support/enterprise/static/gsa/docs/admin/72/gsa_doc_set/new_features/new_features.html#1078834, but many of these affect the backend and not the user directly.