ProQuest Celebrate Version 7.1
When the Synaptica team was putting the final touches on the 7.1 release of Synaptica KMS we knew we were putting together something special but we weren't prepared for the great reception that it has received among our users. If we do say so ourselves, we included some nice features among the 80 or so enhancements that went into this version, including some great time savers and tools to make the management and distribution of taxonomies and other controlled vocabularies that much more streamlined and efficient.
Longtime customer ProQuest had a little celebration in honor of their installation of Synaptica's version 7.1.
Thank you Paula McCoy (not pictured) for providing these great shots. And be sure to catch Paula and Dave Clarke's presentation on Autoclassification vs. Human Indexing at Taxonomy Boot Camp in November.
Let's get a better look at that cake!
Celebrating Synaptica Version 7.1
Synaptica Version 7.1 New Features Summary
Synaptica "Simple" versioning through the Global Replicator tool
With the Global Replicator one can already take a "snapshot" of an Object Class at a given point in time to use as a versioning method and to store past iterations of a vocabulary for review and comparison. With this new feature, in addition to the terms being replicated, the existing UID numbers will also be preserved which will allow for the immediate replacement of one version of the vocabulary with another as being used in a consuming application. In fact we will still be storing a truly unique identifier behind the scenes, but the existing numeric identifier for each term will be preserved to allow for the complete exchange of one vocabulary for another version.
Allow SA Users to Access the Administrative Area without Taskview Assignment
As a nice shortcut feature for admin users, we now allow SA level users to access the Administrative Tools section even if they are not currently assigned to a specific Taskview in the Taskview Manager.
Ability to add Multiple Object Classes in Relationship Rules Editor
Currently, one must add a set of relationships to connect Object Classes together by selecting only a single related Object Class at a time. This new feature allows you to assign relationships to link together multiple vocabularies with selected relationship types all at the same instance.
Changes to the Alphabetical Report
- New Sub-element Filter Feature
One will now be able to look for sub-elements using the sub-element filter that either simply have a value or are empty without specifying a value string. - Added Descriptor Substitution Display Option
We have added the ability to display specific descriptor elements in report results so that they may be used in conjunction with sub-element filter just as is currently available in the Hierarchical Report. - Sub-Element Filter will allow for different Search Modes
Users will now be able to use an exact or contains mode when searching for values across Sub-elements.
Enhanced Category Editing
When using the "apply to narrower terms" option of assigning Categories through the Item Summary screen, there is now an option to replace or append categories to narrower terms rather than just replace.
Display and Maintain Taskviews for User in User Account Manager
Now you may manage Taskview access through the User Account Manager rather than having to look at individual Taskviews to see which Users are members.
Custom Web Page Labels now Accepts Unicode Characters
If desired, non-western languages may be used to replace the standard terms and phrases used throughout the interface using the Web Page Labels tool.
Incorporated Date Created Field for User Accounts
To assist with identifying when a User was created in the system, that item will now be stored and displayed in association with the account listing.Synaptica will now indicate when a Taskview was created and last modified.
Term AutoMatch Feature
This feature allows for the comparison of terms between two distinct Object Classes (vocabularies) and automatically performs a "mapping" between terms where there is a match based on whole or part of the term descriptions. The feature first allows for the selection of the two Object Classes and then for the matching method one would like to apply. There are five matching levels including exact match, keywords match, a soundex match (based on phonetics) and finally a single or multiple word smart matches. One may then select the relationship type that should be applied between the terms as well as which types of matches should be displayed. See below image:
Next, one may use the built-in review tool to individually remove invalid matches and immediately submit the matches as new relationships in Synaptica. Optionally, the match results can be downloaded, adjusted within a spreadsheet and then uploaded to Synaptica to create new relationships. The AutoMatch feature will also match synonyms (non-preferred terms) to preferred terms. A tips screen is also available to assist with the use of this tool.
This new feature will save countless hours in any situation where manual matching of terms is being performed and we are excited to offer it with the new release.
Incorporated Date Created and Modified Date Fields for Taskviews
CSV Output Now Consistent with Import Field Requirements
Previously, two different sets of column headers were used for the CSV imports and exports. That has now been changed to use just one set of "column headers" so anything exported from Synaptica in CSV can go right back in without having to change those headers in the original file.
Ability to use Remote Storage for Report and Import Files
Previously any files that were produced as downloadable report outputs or those files being staged to be imported into Synaptica were stored on the local server. That has now been changed to allow for the storage and access of these files on a remote file server, just in case an organization might have a policy against storing those files locally on the Synaptica server.
Category Filtering Allows for "and" as well as "or" Parameters
In the Standard Search as well as the Reports areas, one will now be able to filter terms based on category membership on an "and" or "or" basis, thus avoiding returning a set of all matching values for any categories that were selected. This will allow for a much more specific set of data to be returned via all of these interfaces.
Update Date Time Stamp with Category Change
The Date Time Stamp for a term modified date will now be updated when category assignments are added or edited for a given term.
Extension of Outputs to be sent to Global Editor
Synaptica will now allow for output results from the Alphabetical, Hierarchical and standard Search to be submitted to the Global Editor feature. In the Global Editor those terms may be edited at the term attribute level or, if used as a filter, the relationship level as well.
Synaptica Integration: SharePoint
The Synaptica Development Team is proud to announce our SharePoint Integration add on module to allow for the use of controlled vocabularies being managed within Synaptica to be applied as meta-tags to content being stored in SharePoint document libraries, as well as allowing for those same vocabularies to be used for search. This avoids any of the noted problems with document tagging and search having to do with free-text tagging and non-directed search. In short, the Synaptica SharePoint Integration will allow for:
- The import of a Synaptica Vocabulary into SharePoint as a flat list.
- The dynamic access to a specified Synaptica system to allow for the search and browse of terms to apply to documents as meta-tags.
- Dynamic access to Synaptica to provide for the search or browse for terms to search for documents in the document libraries using a "type ahead" auto-completion feature.
This module is available as an add-on to Synaptica KMS and is available under a separate license agreement.