NEW ENHANCEMENTS to Search, Directories, and Libraries

We’re pleased to announce the upcoming release of new enhancements to Search, Directories, and Libraries.

At a high-level, here’s what’s in the update:

1. Improved Employee + Contact Name Search. We created a Global Name Synonym Catalog and enabled Fuzzy Search to help improve findability of employees and contacts. For example, if you search “jeff” we’ll now find “geoff” and “jeffrey,” and if you search on “diana” we’ll also find “diane” and “dina.”

2. Configurable Search Scopes for Directories + Libraries. You can now choose between Basic Search and Full Search scopes to create the search experience which is better for your firm. For example, the Basic Search option will streamline your Employee Directory search scope to Employee Names. Basic Search will also streamline your Project Directory search scope to Project Names, Project Numbers, and Client Names. The Full Search option will search all fields. Once the update is pushed out, your Directories will automatically be switched to Basic Search (you can easily switch them back to Full Search) and your Libraries will continue using Full Search.

3. Additional Sorting Options for Filters + Groups in Directories + Libraries. You will now be able to configure filters to sort alphabetically in Directories and Libraries. For custom dropdown fields, you’ll be able to configure filters to use the sort order of the dropdown values. In addition, you’ll be able to use the sort order of custom dropdown fields to order your groups.

We will deploy this update after the close of business on Friday, March 15th.

Enjoy!

Best,
Chris

What’s on the Synthesis Roadmap?

Learn more about new Synthesis features in development, in design, and planned for the future, as well as submit product ideas on our interactive product roadmap.

SYNTHESIS AI ROADMAP | Next Generation Search, Video Captions, and Community AI

Knowledge Architecture has been working on two major AI projects for the last six months — Next Generation Search and Video Captioning.

At the same time, we have been developing an opt-in program called Community AI to create AEC-specific AI Infrastructure by training AI models on client content for the mutual benefit of participating firms.

We’re super excited about what we’re building and we hope you are too.

AI-Powered Enterprise Search for AEC Firms

Next Generation Search will bring AI-powered Enterprise Search to Synthesis.

In this video, we share our approach to both AI and Enterprise Search, including:

• AI-Generated Search Summaries

• Three Challenges with End-User Facing Large Language Models (LLMs)

• Benefits of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

• Vector Search Basics

• Benefits of Combining Keyword Search with Vector Search

• Community AI Program Overview

• Why We’re Building an AEC-Specific Embeddings Model

• Enterprise Search Roadmap

• Next Steps + Timeline for Public Beta

AI-Generated + AEC-Specific Video Captions

We’ll be releasing an update this spring that will add AI-generated captions, transcripts, and chapters, along with several other enhancements to Synthesis Native Video.

In this video, we go behind the scenes into:

• Our AI-Powered Video Captioning Infrastructure

• Community AI Program Overview

• Benefits of our AEC-Specific Video Transcription Model

• Next Steps + Release Timing

Introducing Our Community AI Program

Community AI is an opt-in program that will empower Knowledge Architecture to create AEC-specific AI Infrastructure by training AI models on client content for the mutual benefit of participating firms, while also protecting confidentiality and intellectual property.

In the pursuit of researching two use cases for AI — Next Generation Search and Video Captions — we discovered a unique opportunity to work with our AEC client community to achieve more relevant search results and better captioning.

Thus, Community AI was born.

PODCAST | Overhauling Knowledge Architecture’s Synthesis v6

Our own Christopher Parsons recently connected with Evan Troxel of TRXL Podcast and Randall Stevens of AVAIL to go behind the scenes of our transition to Synthesis 6, the story of building Knowledge Architecture, and a high-level overview of knowledge management and intranets in the AEC industry

It was really fun to talk through the journey and lessons learned along the way and we're really grateful to Evan and Randall for the opportunity.

If you are curious to learn about how major software projects are designed and managed and/or how AEC firms can make the best use of their knowledge, then this episode of the Confluence Podcast is for you!

Introducing Synthesis Responsive

We’re excited to announce Synthesis Responsive is now available in all Synthesis 6 environments. The release of Synthesis Responsive means all end user facing content and tools are fully available on mobile phones and tablets, as well as desktop and laptop screens of all sizes.

You can access Synthesis 6 on a phone or tablet using the same URL you are currently using on your desktop or laptop.

Enjoy!

PRODUCT UPDATE | Summer 2023

We’re really excited about the future of Synthesis and want to share what’s in progress with you. This 7-minute video will provide an overview of what we’re currently building, designing, and researching, including:

• Unanet AE ERP + Additional ERP/CRM Integrations

• Mobile/Responsive Updates

• Post Analytics + Content Optimization

• Video Captions + Transcriptions, Dark Mode, and General Accessibility Updates

• Synthesis LMS

• Next Generation Search + AI

• Search Analytics

• SOC 2 Type 2 Security Compliance

We hope our roadmap reflects your intranet hopes and dreams. As always, our roadmap is completely driven by the KA Community, so please keep the questions, feedback, and ideas coming to support@knowledge-architecture.com.

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Accessing the Synthesis Product Roadmap

You have two ways to access the Synthesis Product Roadmap:

1. Via our website. You can find the Synthesis Product Roadmap under the Support tab on knowledge-architecture.com.

2. Via the Synthesis 6 Help Menu. A link to the Synthesis Product Roadmap can be found in the Synthesis 6 Help Menu.

SAVE THE DATE | KA Connect 2024

We’re excited to announce the return of KA Connect, our annual knowledge management conference for the AEC industry.

KA Connect 2024 will take place at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Sundance, Utah from August 13th to August 16th, 2024.

We envision KA Connect 2024 as being “half conference, half camp,” with general sessions in the mornings, and a choose-your-own-adventure program comprised of breakout sessions, intranet tours, outdoor activities, and plenty of unstructured time to connect, reflect, and recharge in the afternoons.

Sundance’s location at 6,100 feet in the north fork of Provo Canyon will provide an inspiring backdrop for you to learn from and with your fellow KA Community members. 

Our program will focus on sharing strategies and best practices for using knowledge management, internal communications, learning + development, and intranet programs to help your AEC firm evolve and grow.

Early registration will open this fall. 

If you’ve got ideas or thoughts to share about KA Connect 2024, please send them our way. 

Save the date!

Introducing Zendesk Help Center Integration

We built this integration because several of our clients have created Information Technology and/or Design Technology articles in their Zendesk Help Centers. They want those articles to appear when their end users go to create new support tickets or to be available in Zendesk Chat.

That said, our clients using Zendesk would also like for that content to be available in Synthesis Search. Our intention with this integration is to give our clients using Zendesk the best of both worlds.

Once enabled, Synthesis will index articles in your Zendesk Help Center and return them in Synthesis Search Results as External Links.

If you’d like to integrate your Synthesis 6 Intranet with your Zendesk Help Center, just reach out to us at support@knowledge-architecture.com and we’ll get you started.

Enjoy!