Step 4 - User provisioning
Definition of a User in Coveo Expresso
In order to index Exchange mailboxes, desktop content (including personal archives — PSTs), and deploy desktop user interfaces (Coveo Search Bar and Coveo Outlook Sidebar), you must first provision users. The provisioning process does the following:
- Indexes the user's Exchange mailbox
- Opens the door to indexing desktop content
- Sends an installation email with links to the Desktop Integration Package, as well as the Coveo BlackBerry MIDlet for BlackBerry smartphone users.
Even if Coveo Expresso limits the number of provisioned users to 50, it is still possible for an unlimited number of users to search file shares and Microsoft SharePoint content using the web browser interface.
Once the initial configuration is completed, the administrator must cmplete the following two steps: first, the administrator provisions the user (or many users at once); second, the administrator or the user installs the Desktop Integration Package (and optionally, the BlackBerry MIDlet).
1. Configure Exchange
The first time you provision a user, the Index User Content page displays a link to configure some Microsoft Exchange parameters. Click Configure Exchange.
Two things must be configured to index content from Exchange: the credentials of a user with sufficient privileges to index the other user mailboxes (read access), and selecting the appropriate Exchange 2003 Front-End server or Exchange 2007 Client Access server.
2. Add Users
Once the Exchange configuration is completed, click Add new Users to start the provisioning process. A window will open with a list of users from the Active Directory. Check the box next to the users you want to add, up to a maximum of 50. If you provision less than 50 users, you will be able to add users later.
If your network contains a large number of users, the list will not be entirely displayed. You can use the Filter box to start typing the name of users you want to add. The selection will match either their name or their email address. You can also click the link Specify a list of emails to select to enter a bulk list of emails (one per line). Click Next and Previous to navigate between pages of users. You can also filter the list by using the Sort, Show and Select buttons.
Under the Filter box, the number of currently selected users is displayed. Click show to display the names of these users.
Click Add once you are ready to add the selected users.
3. Sending the installation email to end-users
After you add users, a message is displayed in the User content panel. If you click Yes to send the installation email immediately, an email template will be displayed. Values between { } will be automatically replaced by the right information (for instance: the name of the user, the URL of your server, etc.). The administrator can modify the content of the email. By default, modifications will be saved in the template (if you don't want to save the changes, uncheck Set as Default Message). The default template can be restored later by clicking Restore the default values. This email will be sent to all newly provisioned users. Note that you can postpone this process and send installation instructions to users later.
After these steps, the User Content panel will contain a list of provisioned users with their status, the number of documents they have indexed, whether they have installed the Desktop Integration Package and MIDlet or if these packages are outdated, number of queries, etc. You can delete, add, send installation and MIDlet update emails, etc., using the list's controls.
4. Installation of the Desktop Package and BlackBerry MIDlet
Once users have been provisioned, they are able to conduct searches using the Web UI (the URL is specified in the installation email). However, to use the Desktop Integration Package, they must install the software on their PC. Similarly, to search using their BlackBerry MIDlet, users must install the package on their smartphone.
The installation email includes a hyperlink which allows users to download and install the Coveo Expresso MIDlet. When opened on the BlackBerry, clicking on the link to the MIDlet will launch the download of the package. After the installation, Coveo Expresso's MIDlet will be available in the list of applications on the BlackBerry. Opening the application displays a search box from where users can search their personal content, as well as documents from file shares and Microsoft SharePoint.
Similarly, the link to the Desktop Integration Package, when opened in Outlook, will install the package on users' PC/laptop. Since an add-in will be integrated into Outlook, Outlook will be automatically closed by the installation software. After the installation, two applications will be available to users: the Outlook Sidebar and Coveo's Quick Search Bar.
Address Indexing Errors
If the settings entered during initial setup are incorrect, indexing can fail. In this case, the Error status is displayed. By clicking Details, the administrator can review the logs produced by the indexing operation to better understand the error, make the appropriate modifications and start indexing again, using the Retry Indexing link.
<< Step 3 - Index Files
