Adaptive learning

Adaptive learning is a feature of Knowledge Management where the system collects words or specific phrases used to search a knowledgebase for those documents that are considered useful or can be used as solutions for incidents, problems, or interactions.

Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) users are encouraged to improve Knowledge Management service levels for customers, gain operational efficiencies, and increase an organization's value to their company. With a defined set of principles and practices, KCS II and KCS III users are able to view the adaptive learning list. Knowledge Management (KM) administrative (KM ADMIN) users can edit the list by adding, deleting, or modifying words in the list or modifying the count.

Knowledge Management maintains a count which specifies the number of times search words or phrases resulted in finding a useful document (whether marked as useful or used as a solution). Each time a user performs a search using the same words or phrases, the count is incremented or a new entry is created when the search returns useful results. Also, each time an operator clicks the Use Solution button, the phrase used by the operator to search for the solution is saved or the count is incremented for the phrase for the adaptive learning record associated with the solution.

When a user performs a search using advanced search and then marks a document as useful, the system creates or increments the associated adaptive learning record as follows:

• When the search results are filtered by "Any of these words," the system adds separate entries for each word in the search phrase.
• When the search results are filtered by "All of these words" or "This exact phrase," the system creates a single entry for all the words in the search phrase.

The useful count becomes a weighted value so that when another user performs a different search using the same words or phrase, documents containing the same words or phrase are returned higher on the hit list in the next set of search results.

Example: If words like "monitor" or "blue monitor" are used in a document and it resolves an incident and is used as a solution, the phrase blue monitor or the word monitor are appended to the adaptive learning terms for that document and the count is incremented. For additional searches, a document with one blue monitor in it will come up with a reasonable relevancy. You can also change the count of monitor to 15, for example, to make this document appear higher on the search results list than another document with the word monitor in it.

Searching with adaptive learning

When adaptive learning is enabled, data about the queries that returned documents that were used for solving issues is stored and integrated into the documents when they are indexed. This allows the scope of the search to grow beyond the actual content of the document itself. Adaptive learning is only available for searches of sclib-type knowledgebases.

Searching is enhanced by adaptive learning as follows:

• Adding additional words from the saved queries to the content of the document means that additional hits on the document occur when these words are supplied in a new query.
• The words and phrases collected by adaptive learning can be further weighted to increase the relevancy value of a particular document, which means some documents are found more frequently and appear higher on the hitlist.

Viewing adaptive learning data

There are several ways to view adaptive learning phrases and counts when adaptive learning is enabled.

• Search using a word or phrase and then from the hit list select one of the documents to view. There is an Adaptive Learning button available from the document view if the document is an sclib-type document. Click this button to view a list of phrases and counts for the document.
• View a document from the list of published documents. The view includes an Adaptive Learning button. Click this button to view a list of phrases and counts for the document.
• The Knowledge Management > Configuration menu includes an Adaptive Learning selection. When you click Adaptive Learning, a form appears, from which you can search for adaptive learning data using knowledgebase, document ID, or phrase.
• For knowledge candidates such as Incident or Interaction records found when doing a search, the Adaptive Learning button is available for KM ADMIN users when viewing a specific document.
• The Adaptive Learning button appears for users with a KCS II, KCS III,or KM ADMIN profile when viewing or editing documents from the Pending Documents queue that are new working copy documents (that is, documents without a previously-published version).

Edit adaptive learning data

User role: KM Admin or System Administrator

When adaptive learning is enabled, data about the queries that returned documents that were used for solving issues is stored and integrated into the documents when they are indexed. If you want to edit the actual content of a document, you can edit data that will be used as adaptive learning data.

To edit adaptive learning data, follow these steps:

1. Click Knowledge Management > Configuration > Adaptive Learning.
2. Type the document ID if you are looking for the adaptive learning data for a specific document.
3. Select the knowledgebase if you are looking for the adaptive learning data for a specific knowledgebase.
4. Type the phrase if you are looking for the adaptive learning data for a specific phrase.
5. Click Search.
6. Select a document from the list of documents.
7. Click the phrase or count for the document you want to update and then type the new value for the count.
8. Add the phrase to the next blank line.
9. Click Delete Phrase after you select the phrase you want to delete.
10. Click Save.

You can also edit adaptive learning data by viewing a published document or by viewing a working copy of a document that also has a published version of the document.

Enable or disable adaptive learning

When adaptive learning is enabled, data about the queries that returned documents that were used for solving issues is stored and integrated into the documents when they are indexed.

To enable or disable adaptive learning, follow these steps:

1. Click Knowledge Management > Administration > Environment.

2. Select the Use Adaptive Learning to enhance search results field to enable adaptive learning.

   Note Clear the Use Adaptive Learning to enhance search results field if you want to disable adaptive learning.

3. Save your changes.

4. Reindex all sclib-type knowledgebases.

   Note This step is needed whenever you enable or disable adaptive learning.