The traditional methods for accessing unstructured content and structured data are divided: enterprise search engines are used for finding content, and database technologies are needed for retrieving data. Most database methods dont search content, and those that do manage only the content that is previously stored and organized in database tables. On the other hand, legacy enterprise search engines dont look at databases, leaving their contents out of search results. More recently, some search engines have included an ability to pull data from databases, but they typically lose the relational quality of the data, which is a main value of databases. Attivio has solved this problem of assembling data from both content sources and databases without losing the data relationships. Attivios JOIN capability is the key to this advance in information access functionality.
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With a SQL JOIN in place, a single query can include CustState from the Customers table and AmountDue from the Accounts Receivable table. For example, a query could return the customer IDs and names of every customer in Maine with a balance over $1000. Though very powerful, SQL JOINs are complex statements created by database developers familiar with the underlying data model. Moreover, the static schema that is required means that uses for JOIN must be planned and implemented well in advance of their use.
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In contrast to AIE, the standard SQL required to accomplish the same thing: Depends on significant up-front work to define the data model, design the schema and structure the content tables Cant access content that isnt previously stored and organized as database records Requires two multi-line queries (one for data, one for content) Doesnt provide dynamic facet recommendation to facilitate navigation and exploration Specifically, AIEs syntax for building this dashboard is much simpler than SQL: a) The SQL UNION that unites the two queries to access the data and content requires the same number of columns (with matching types) from both the data and content queries. AIE does not have this reliance on columns or on pre-defined schemas, so queries can be more flexible. b) The concept of all data including all text-based fields doesnt exist in the relational database model. It would require SQL to include queries for all the tables in the database, creating a HUGE performance issue.
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