Search engine equivalent

[joankevin]

Dear Alteryx Community,

I am reaching out to pick some brains and tap into the knowledge of the Alteryx Community. Currently, we have various platforms in used, and the information are scattered across different areas. Instead of integrating all into 1 single platform, which will be costly, we are thinking of creating a workflow that serve as a search engine that cuts across all the different platforms, and direct user to the correct link/platform, where they can find further information. Is there a way that we can use Alteryx to develop a working prototype?

Thanks,

Joan

[danilang]

Hi @joankevin 

It depends on the platforms that you need to access.  Here some questions you can start with

-  Does Alteryx have an easy way to connect to all of the platforms?

-  What type of documents are you pulling from?

-  Are any of these documents in SharePoint Library.  There's no simple way to connect to a SharePoint library and retrieve data.  There are workarounds though.  This one using OneDrive.  This one using the https path

Once you get the data, you're then left with the problem of developing an efficient, comprehensive search algorithm that returns relevant results.  You'll need to put some effort into managing your users' expectations as well.  If not you'll spend the entire prototype phase answering the question "How come this isn't as detailed as Google"   Developing a search algorithm is no easy task either.  Just look at the effort that MS put into BING.

I'm not saying it's impossible...just that it may may more difficult than you think.  

Dan