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Customer Solution Case Study
General Mills Frees More Time for Innovation
with Research-Focused Search Application
Overview “By using FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint, our
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Manufacturing—Consumer researchers can refine their searches and find exactly
packaged goods what they are looking for. They spend more time
Customer Profile innovating than looking for information.”
General Mills is one of the world’s
Michelle Check, Research and Development Systems Leader, Global Knowledge Services,
leading food companies, marketing General Mills
more than 100 consumer brands
globally. General Mills is based in To stay out front as one of the world’s leading food companies,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has
General Mills strives to get new product ideas out of
30,000 employees.
development and onto supermarket shelves as quickly as
Business Situation
possible. To help researchers take full advantage of information
Company researchers desired a faster,
more accurate search mechanism for and expertise throughout the company, General Mills created a
combing thousands of internal
research-focused search application by using Microsoft
documents, and locating experts, in
the course of creating new products. SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010
for SharePoint. Researchers enjoy faster and more accurate
Solution
General Mills deployed Microsoft searches, which yields more time for innovation. Because
SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft
researchers can perform more comprehensive and accurate
FAST Search Server 2010 for
SharePoint to create a comprehensive, searches, they minimize time spent duplicating efforts and
tunable search-driven application
benefit from the work of others. General Mills was able to meet
focused on the needs of researchers.
85 percent of its search needs with the out-of-the-box
Benefits
functionality available in the two Microsoft programs, and it is
More time for innovation
Ability to expand on research considering extending the solution companywide.
Lower costs from easy customization
“We conservatively Situation applications had its own built-in search
One of the world’s leading food capability, so researchers had to perform
estimated that a better companies, General Mills operates in the same search multiple times, usually
more than 100 countries and markets by using different syntax rules. Besides
search capability could more than 100 consumer brands, consuming time, redundant search
save our employees a including Cheerios, Häagen-Dazs, Nature efforts produced a wide range of results
Valley, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and and huge volumes of poorly qualified
minimum of a couple of Green Giant. Headquartered in results.
Minneapolis, Minnesota, General Mills
hours a month, which employs 30,000 people worldwide and Researchers also had difficulty searching
quickly adds up to posted 2009 sales of U.S.$15.9 billion. for information that they did not know
existed, for example, “What is the trend
thousands of hours a The global food industry is very with whole grain?” or “Is there high
competitive, and to remain a leader in consumer interest in Vitamin D and
year.” the industry, it is critical to develop new calcium?” “We had so many items
Michelle Check, Research and ideas quickly and to be the first to indexed that researchers would get a
Development Systems Leader, Global market with innovative offerings. Before flood of results back, and they didn’t
Knowledge Services, General Mills developing new products, scientists and know where to begin exploring to find
researchers in the General Mills what they needed,” Check says. “We
Innovation, Technology, and Quality needed better search refinement.”
(ITQ) group review the research that
General Mills has already done for similar General Mills also wanted to better
products. “We have accumulated vast connect its researchers with one another.
amounts of knowledge across the The ITQ group includes people located
company over decades spent developing all over the world, and the company
many great products, and we want to knew that researchers in developing
make sure that we’re not wasting international locations could benefit
valuable development time reinventing from the expertise of their peers.
the wheel,” says Michelle Check, Conversely, scientists in Minneapolis
Research and Development Systems wanted to be able to learn about
Leader in the Global Knowledge Services successful ideas developed for non-U.S.
at General Mills. markets. However, none of the
company’s search tools returned
However, the sheer volume of “people” results, which limited the
information that the researchers needed researcher’s ability to find subject matter
to reference made it difficult to navigate experts.
search results and reach meaningful
conclusions. Researchers stored much of “We conservatively estimated that a
their content on Microsoft Office better search capability could save our
SharePoint Server 2007 team Web sites employees a minimum of a couple of
but also consulted other applications hours a month, which quickly adds up to
within General Mills, such as an thousands of hours a year,” Check says.
Electronic Lab Notebook application, “That’s a lot of extra time that our people
where scientists record research data; the could focus on innovation rather than on
company labeling system, which contains non-value-added work.”
product packaging copy; and a global
product database. Each of these
“Setting up FAST Search Solution been searching separately. “We linked in
Through 2009, the General Mills our existing SharePoint sites, internal
Server 2010 for Enterprise Collaboration Platform Team Web sites, labeling system, and even
researched search technologies to help federated external sources, such as an
SharePoint was not that the ITQ group—and ultimately the rest external new-products database, and
difficult, because it sits of the company—reduce the time spent Bing, which is included with FAST Search
searching for information and people Server 2010 for SharePoint out of the
behind SharePoint and improve search results. “We did a lot box,” Werner says.
of benchmarking against other
Server 2010 and thus companies,” says Jenny Hon, Project Comprehensive, Tunable Search
uses an architecture that Manager in the Enterprise Collaboration With its new research and development
Platform Team at General Mills. “We (R&D) search application, ITQ
we already know.” were really impressed with what we saw researchers can easily search multiple
of Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for content sources by using a single search
Jeremiah Werner, Development
Consultant, Enterprise Collaboration SharePoint.” box. Icons for each content type, called
Platform Team, General Mills visual cues, tell the researcher what kind
Rapid Setup of Search-Driven of document an item is—a Microsoft
Application Office PowerPoint presentation, a
The General Mills Enterprise Microsoft Office Word document, an
Collaboration Platform Team worked Adobe Acrobat file, an e-mail message,
with Global Knowledge Services (Check’s and so forth—as well as which business
group) to create a pilot of a search- application it comes from—such as the
driven application for ITQ. A search- labeling system or the new-products
driven application is one that helps a database. The visual cues and source
well-defined set of people—in this case, information help researchers find the
scientists and researchers—accomplish information they are looking for faster.
specific business tasks more efficiently by
using a search engine customized to Researchers can index content from a
their content, roles, and needs. number of different sources and use
what Microsoft calls deep refiners to
“Setting up FAST Search Server 2010 for quickly and easily filter results. For
SharePoint was not that difficult, because example, General Mills created a custom
it sits behind SharePoint Server 2010 and product refiner that enables researchers
thus uses an architecture that we already to narrow search results by particular
know,” says Jeremiah Werner, products. If a researcher performs a
Development Consultant in the search for “high fiber cereals,” he or she
Enterprise Collaboration Platform Team can further run specific product refiners
at General Mills. “We had FAST Search up for Total, Cheerios, and Chex cereals. All
and running within a couple weeks, and the content that contains those keywords
it took a few more weeks to implement generates in a separate area of the
the whole solution.” screen. By using refiners, General Mills
can incorporate the language of its
By using the out-of-the-box data business in the search experience to yield
connectors in FAST Search Server 2010 more accurate, useful results.
for SharePoint, General Mills was able to
quickly and easily connect all the diverse Because FAST Search Server 2010 for
information sources that researchers had SharePoint aggregates information from
“Because the information multiple applications, General Mills also relevance of the search process to
added a visual refiner, which is a bar different areas of the business. Marketing
is just a click away, chart that shows researchers how many people are looking for certain types of
of the search results come from each information when they perform a search
researchers are more content source. For example, at a quick on “Cheerios,” and R&D staffers look for
likely to look at it than if glance, a researcher can see that five of something entirely different when they
the results came from the labeling search on the same word. By taking
the information was system and 150 results came from the advantage of the user profiles in FAST
Electronic Lab Notebook application. Search Server 2010 for SharePoint, the
buried in thousands of “Seeing that results appeared from the company can tune search results for
search results.” labeling system might encourage the particular user contexts. “Users in human
researcher to check out labels from resources, manufacturing, marketing, and
Michelle Check, Research and existing high fiber cereals,” Check says. other areas will get results that make
Development Systems Leader, Global “Because the information is just a click sense to them,” Hon says. “We’re excited
Knowledge Services General Mills
away, researchers are more likely to look that we can now do this so easily on the
at it than if the information was buried in SharePoint 2010 platform.”
thousands of search results.”
Ease of Use
General Mills has also used FAST Search General Mills also took advantage of
Server 2010 for SharePoint to implement several ease-of-use features in FAST
people search. When a researcher Search Server 2010 for SharePoint to
performs a search on the cereal speed information search. A feature
“Cheerios,” a list of other ITQ researchers called entity extraction alleviates the
affiliated with that product come up in a need for researchers to tag all their
separate area of the screen. This enables documents as they add them to
researchers to quickly find subject matter SharePoint Server. Instead, FAST Search
experts and reach out to them. Server 2010 for SharePoint tags the
documents with the appropriate
General Mills has also added a properties and metadata at the time the
document-type refiner, so researchers documents are indexed. The General
can search only for PowerPoint Mills team also used the out-of-the-box
presentations, for example. “Sometimes Web parts to customize the user
you know that what you are looking for interface for FAST Search Server 2010 for
is in a PowerPoint presentation or in an SharePoint, adding photos and graphics
e-mail message. With a document-type to make search results more intuitive and
refiner, we can search for a topic engaging.
appearing only in those content types,”
Check says. “With FAST Search, we can The content processing pipeline in FAST
also preview the entire PowerPoint Search Server 2010 for SharePoint adds
presentation, which saves a lot of time structure to unstructured information by
spent opening and closing documents.” enriching the information that flows
through it. By using the content
With a possible future expansion of processing pipeline, the ITQ search
SharePoint Server 2010 and FAST Search application can identify people,
Server 2010 for SharePoint beyond the companies, locations, e-mail addresses,
ITQ group, the Enterprise Collaboration and date/time information in a
Platform Team will be able to tune the
document and extract custom metadata has seen faster and more accurate
based on term lists. searches, which yields more time for
innovation and less time wading through
“Effective search … helps General Mills employees can use the search results. Because researchers can
us continue to make spelling and synonyms features of FAST do more comprehensive and accurate
Search Server to find information without searches, they minimize time spent
consistent forward coming up with every possible spelling repeating work done by others. They are
or variation. For example, General Mills also more apt to perform deeper
progress with our R&D refers to Cheerios internally as YBC, so research when they know that their
strategies.” both terms come up in a search for search efforts will be paid off with
“Cheerios.” A search for “yogurt” will accurate, meaningful results.
Michelle Check, Research and return international spellings, such as
Development Systems Leader, Global
“yoghurt” and also “Yoplait,” a General From a development and maintenance
Knowledge Services, General Mills
Mills yogurt brand. “These are additional perspective, General Mills was able to
examples of how FAST Search enables us meet 85 percent of its search needs with
to search in the language of our the out-of-the-box functionality of FAST
business,” Check says. Search Server 2010 for SharePoint and
SharePoint Server 2010 by using its
Because the search engine collapses existing Microsoft licenses.
duplicate results, it reduces the number
of search results that researchers have to More Time for Innovation
read through. Researchers can also use By using FAST Search Server 2010 for
advanced-search options such as “exact SharePoint, General Mills scientists and
phrase,” “don’t include,” “who modified researchers can find information faster,
last,” date-range searches, and other which helps them make faster, better-
delimiters that help narrow search informed decisions during new-product
results. “I’ve been surprised to see how development. “Researchers can go to
eagerly our pilot users jumped into these one place instead of half a dozen to do
advanced searches,” Check says. “All their research, confidently knowing that
these features are very user-friendly and they’re combing through all the relevant
easy to figure out.” information,” Check says. “It’s critical that
we not waste time reinventing the wheel
General Mills has 150 researchers and take advantage of every bit of
piloting the ITQ search application knowledge that we have already created.
during April and May 2010. General Mills This ultimately helps General Mills
is considering rolling out FAST Search develop products faster and continue to
Server 2010 for SharePoint be first to market with new food product
enterprisewide to provide the same ideas.”
tunable search capabilities and also to
consolidate the myriad search General Mills anticipates that its new
technologies currently used across the search application will yield significant
company. time savings as the solution is adopted
by a growing set of employees. Says
Benefits Check, “By using FAST Search Server
From its pilot use of SharePoint Server 2010 for SharePoint, our researchers can
2010 and FAST Search Server 2010 for refine their searches and find exactly
SharePoint, the General Mills ITQ group what they are looking for. They spend
“We have dozens of more time innovating than looking for Also, because there is quite a bit of
information.” internal project rotation in the ITQ
business groups in the group, the ability to reference work that
Greater Opportunity to Expand on others have done is critical in making
company, and they all Existing Research sure that there is continuity as people
have different search The easier it is to find information, the move between projects.
less time General Mills employees spend
needs…. With FAST redoing work that someone else has When researchers had to perform search
already done. When a researcher is inquiries in multiple applications and
Search Server 2010 and creating a new soup, for example, and wade through reams of poor results, it
SharePoint Server, we trying to understand other General Mills discouraged them from making the
soups that have contained oregano and effort in the first place. “We want
can give each group the pasta, he or she can consult relevant researchers to take full advantage of all
documents and experts by using the the knowledge that the company has
specific results based on search application. accumulated,” Check says. “With a better
their user context.” search capability, researchers have
“The ability to find others who have greater confidence that their searches
Jeremiah Werner, Development worked on certain topics is greatly will be worth the time, which encourages
Consultant, Enterprise Collaboration enhanced by the people-search results in deeper research. They spend the time
Platform Team, General Mills
FAST Search Server 2010,” Check says. documenting their own work more
“Effective search is critical in taking full diligently, because they see how it will
advantage of what we have done in the benefit others, and they take the time to
past and building on that in the future. It search the work of others.”
helps us continue to make consistent
forward progress with our R&D Easy to Customize, Low Costs
strategies.” By building its ITQ search application
with SharePoint Server 2010, General
This is especially important as General Mills was able to build on its IT staff’s
Mills continues to expand globally. “Our existing knowledge and take full
newer international locations want to advantage of extensive functionality
take advantage of the tremendous included SharePoint Server 2010 and
amount of knowledge and experience FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.
contained at corporate headquarters,” “SharePoint Server got us 85 percent of
Hon says. “Much of the work that our the way there, out of the box, meaning
international staff members are doing that 85 percent of what we needed to
has already been done. Instead of build a custom search site was included
starting from scratch, they can take in the packaged SharePoint Server and
advantage of what others have done in FAST Search Server product,” Hon says.
setting up new plants and distribution “Also, because General Mills has a
centers, developing snack products or Microsoft Enterprise Client Access
frozen foods, setting up human resource License Suite, we are realizing great
policies, and many other activities. pricing advantages.”
Conversely, easy people connections will
help researchers at corporate General Mills is evaluating the possibility
headquarters take advantage of some of to extend SharePoint Server 2010 and
the expertise and ideas coming out of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
our international talent pool.” companywide. “We have dozens of
For More Information business groups in the company, and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
For more information about Microsoft they all have different search needs,” Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 is the
products and services, call the Werner says. “Right now, all these groups business collaboration platform for the
Microsoft Sales Information Center at use their own search portals, which Enterprise and the Internet.
(800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the represent a heavy investment and
Microsoft Canada Information Centre maintenance burden on the IT staff. With For more information about Microsoft
at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the FAST Search Server 2010 and SharePoint SharePoint Server 2010, go to:
United States and Canada who are Server, we can give each group the www.microsoft.com/sharepoint
deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach specific results based on their user
Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) context.”
services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the
50 United States and Canada, please “If we roll out the solution companywide,
contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. we’ll be able to quickly spin up new
To access information using the World search applications for different areas of
Wide Web, go to: the business and give different sets of
www.microsoft.com users the features they need to conduct
searches that meet their specific
For more information about General requirements,” Werner says. “We’ll also
Mills products and services, call (763) be able to easily customize the user
764-7600 or visit the Web site at: interface to meet different business
www.generalmills.com needs, as the Web parts are
customizable and reusable.”
Hon concludes, “Our goal is to connect
people, documents, and communities, so
that anyone can quickly find out what
they need to know about anything. Our
vision is for employees to enter a phrase
or product name, such as “Cheerios,” and
find all the past projects that involve
Cheerios, research underway, product
specifications, label information,
nutritional information, and everything
necessary to become an expert. We
believe that SharePoint Server 2010 and
FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
are the foundation for this vision.”
Software and Services − Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
− Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010
for SharePoint
This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published May 2010
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