Knowledge-as-a-Service Using Cloud-Based Aggregation and Delivery
The Autodesk Knowledge Network is a strategy with a set of programs and technologies that enable and accelerate the contribution of a broad range of subject-matter experts in an overall ecosystem of knowledge. It has a specific business goal: helping customers be more productive with software offerings that can be complex and require deep professional expertise.
In contrast to thinking of knowledge management as a single technology, the core of the Autodesk Knowledge Network is a set of cloud-based web services that aggregate content from a variety of sources, using text analytics, taxonomy data, and rules engines to categorize the content and enrich the tagging. In addition to traditional sources of knowledge, like a robust KCS program and a structured CMS, the Autodesk Knowledge Network is able to automatically leverage knowledge contributions via forums, blogs, YouTube, and other sources. This empowers a broad virtual ecosystem of employees, partners, and customers to contribute. A flexible set of web services allows the same knowledge assets to be presented to customers, allowing this investment to be leveraged across in-product, web-based, and mobile access points. Community engagement with the content allows the "crowdsourcing" of curation to bring the most helpful and relevant content to the top and provide feedback to authors on content effectiveness and quality.
Learn how Autodesk is enabling customer productivity and success in this informative session.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zuVodAreG0
3. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
We help people
imagine, design, and
create a better world
We help people
imagine, design, and
create a better world
Helping is more than just
providing the tools
3
4. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Is this you?
1. Employees, partners, customers share
knowledge all over the place?
2. That knowledge needs to be delivered to
multiple ‘channels’?
3. Pace of business change is accelerating?
4. Extreme need to scale?
5. Knowledge management vendors want to sell
‘all in one’ solutions to you?
4
9. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN 9
Highly-motivated global ecosystem of
highly-specialized expertise and knowledge
• Employees
• Resellers
• Training Centers
• Student Expert program
• Highly-engaged community of users
• Designated experts in large accounts
Opportunity: Established Ecosystem
11. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
What is a “Knowledge Network”?
“Knowledge Management”, but:
Beyond the bounds of a single enterprise
Embracing a broad ecosystem of multiple
sources and contributors of knowledge assets
Blended, multifaceted approach
11
12. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
No single
CMS -
Aggregate &
Standardize
Content
Embracing Ecosystem Complexity
Tutorials
& Help
Wiki
Support
Knowledge
Base
YouTube
Discussion
Groups
Blogs
IN PRODUCT BROWSER MOBILE
Design for
Multichannel
Delivery
12
16. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Service-Oriented Architecture, in the Cloud
Java Web Services on Amazon WS
JSONP/XML
RESTful
Query
SEARCH
JSONP/XML
RESTful
Request
CONTENT
JSONP/XML
RESTful
Request
USER FEEDBACK
IN PRODUCT BROWSER MOBILE
16
17. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
17
Conceptual Architecture
Knowledge
Assets
Knowledge-as-a
Service
Presentation Layer In-Product Viewer
Tutorials &
Learning
Materials
YouTube Blogs.
Help
Documentation
SFDC Articles –
Customer Service
& Support
SaaS
Products
In-Product
Features
Desktop
Products
Autodesk Web
Sites
Mobile
browsers
Google
Contextual
Help
Search
Web Site Web Services
Apps
Partner & other
3rd Parties
Lithium
Community
Accepted
Solutions
Autodesk Partners Customers
Discovery
- Search
- Faceted Navigation
- Feeds
Syndication
- Syndicate knowledge in a
presentation neutral
format
Feedback
- Usage
- Ratings
- Comments
AutodeskKnowledgeNetwork
Framework &
Tools
- Taxonomy
- Content Guidelines
- Tagging Standards
Access Points
18. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Help Content Restructuring Program
1. “Topic-based Authoring” – ‘atomization’ / ‘chunking’
– Web-ready –‘Every page is the first page’
– Well-formed “Lego blocks”, modular, reusable
– Meta tagging standards to drive search-ready content
– Clean, simple, constrained DITA
2. Keep it light, do it right
– High-quality, simple, helpful content
– Think mobile and web, not print
– Get rid of complex over-designed ‘cruft’
18
19. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Cloud-based Documentation Pipeline
19
Online Help Content
• DITA content standard
– Industry standard XML
– Modular, reusable
– Highly-localizable
• DITA Open Toolkit
running in the Cloud
– Extremely scalable
– Rapid, automated
transformation
– Well-formed HTML
• Optimized for responsive,
multichannel delivery
DITA Open
Toolkit
Cloud
Storage
Web-ready
format (JSONP)
Support & Service Content
• SFDC Articles extracted
to Cloud and transformed
20. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Intelligent Crawling & Aggregation
Autodesk knowledge of content
informs data extraction:
• Selective extraction
• Utilize hidden and custom
metadata
• Intelligently handle
‘duplicate’ content
• Weight content according to
source
• Tune with weightings on
different fields
20
21. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Auto-Classification & Auto-Tagging
• Text analytics applied to extracted content to ‘recognize’
known taxonomy terms, classify content
• Enriches and standardizes metadata and tagging
• Core technology: GATE (open source)
21
22. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Excellence in Search Relevancy
Custom relevancy model
• Leverages enriched ‘hidden’
data
• Tunable according to
communication channel
• Influenced by taxonomy of
product functionality
Integrated into Autodesk’s
‘hero’ products for four
releases now
Core technology: SolrCloud
22
23. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Proof – Relevancy for Autodesk Users
• Side-by-side blind comparison against Google Site Search
• AutoCAD 2011 Web-based Help
• Judged by 14 internal AutoCAD experts
• Test cases based on real world users as well as AutoCAD test plans
23
24. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Syndicate for Multichannel Delivery
Syndicate answers from:
• Help Documentation
• SFDC Articles – Support &
Service Knowledgebase
• Lithium Discussion Forums
(Accepted Solutions)
• YouTube Channels
• Blogs
• Autodesk web sites
Content stored in the Cloud in
presentation-neutral, web-ready
formats (XML/JSONP)
24
25. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Crowd-Sourced Curation by Community
Universal user feedback
mechanisms across
different presentations
of content
Engagement
Helpfulness
Sharing
Comments
Usage
25
27. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Encourage Contribution with Creative
Commons
• “Open Source” licensing of
learning and support
content
• Makes contribution more
inviting
• Facilitates reuse,
translation, remixing
27
See it: http://autodesk.com/creativecommons
29. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
As of today…
4 million visits per month
• 5 million content items in 15 languages
• 1.1 million unique pages transformed from DITA in the
cloud in 2014 so far
• 9,900 SFDC Articles – support knowledge base
• 26,000 blog articles
• 36,000 “Accepted Solutions” from Lithium forums
• 9,300 YouTube videos
29
36. #ADSK_AKN#ADSK_AKN
Lessons Learned
• Cloud infrastructure and open source
technologies = great ROI
• Aggregation is flexible, “Future-proof”
• Deliver something early, then iteratively expand
• A successful solution begets new problems –
Content quality is our next big challenge
• Expanding analytics and feedback loops also a
critical focus where we’re playing catch-up
36
Everyone is familiar with Smartphone metaphor: User’s “Context” is their physical location, specifically ascertained GPS, and what is ‘relevant’ from the ‘search’ perspective is based on that..
In a similar metaphor, as someone is using one of our deep and complex software tools; their ‘context’ is based, in part, on the features they are using. Mapping content to this context is one of the key strategiies
Topic based clustering around user contexts in the form of commands, features and user interfaces; and related to workflows in product are a powerful way we can deliver relevancy fv
Virtual Corporation
Everyone is a subject matter expert of some kind in the corporation
In our final example, the Autodesk Knowledge Team has recently published a Learning Path framework that supports aggregation of curated content in a topic-focused way.
The Learning Path is an exploratory visual learning environment for orienting new users to basic foundational concepts about complex design tools or subjects within the Autodesk product library.
Again, this another best practice of developing relevant experiences for customers based upon content which is curated and aggregated in such away to meet a particular business need, in this case the introductory user.