Microsoft Ignite 2019 Announcements: Content Services Management: Project Cortex: Part 2

In this second article on Project Cortex, we will discover, in closer detail, what Project Cortex involves. As discussed in the first article, Project Cortex leverages AI, content mining, machine learning, and machine teaching to extract content and data from various sources, and then categorize and organize this data. Even though Project Cortex is AI-powered, how does it manage all this content?

Metadata and Management

AI or experts will be able to apply metadata to content and this metadata is managed in the Managed Metadata Service (MMS) which had been updated to support content tagging across Microsoft 365. Defining common terms in taxonomy, including synonyms and multilingual support, through managed metadata allows for more precise tag definitions. With MMS taxonomy, organizations who utilize this will able to mine those tags to recognize topics in their content. Synonyms allow content retrieval to be performed based on tag synonyms. To assist in analyzing content and tagging activities, a report can be generated.

Managed Metadata will support content types across an enterprise and by doing so, will provide ease for governing document templates and metadata columns. Third-party systems are becoming easier to import, export, and integrate with a custom taxonomy.

Topic Cards

When a topic is detected, a topic card will appear. Appearing automatically in SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Word, Outlook, and in Microsoft Search results, topic cards will show a description, the resources, the experts (people), and other information (related topics), and project details on the topic. Additionally, users can follow the topic or suggest an edit should it be needed.

Across Microsoft 365, topics will be prominently shown in people cards, which will assist easy identification of people belonging to teams who are working on projects. Searching for a topic in Bing or in Microsoft Search will provide a list of people who have added the topic to their profile. By adding the topic to their profile, the search encompasses not only the topic but also their skills, expertise, and projects they are assigned to. With Project Cortex, automatic prompting will ensure that users add topics based on the work they are doing to assist in keeping their profiles up to date.

Topic Page

Information from the topic cards can be explored further, in greater detail and depth, on the topic page. Topic pages are automatically built and kept up to date with Project Cortex’s AI as well as with user infused curation. Topic pages become better and more accurate with information contributed by experts. Experts can edit or create new topics, add additional resources, and incorporate their knowledge. By doing this, experts are training the knowledge network in a transparent fashion.

Knowledge Centre

Topic pages roll up into the knowledge centre. The knowledge centre provides a personalized view of relevant information across the organization. This information includes relevant and trending topics and open questions.

Within the knowledge centre, topic-specific knowledge centres, centres of excellence, that support topic-specific knowledge sharing scenarios can be created. Centres of excellence can be created to share topic-specific knowledge such as policies, projects, products, procedures, or customers.

Custom knowledge centres can be created with web parts to integrate training and knowledge from across an organization. These custom knowledge centres are built-in, seamlessly integrating with, the organization’s SharePoint intranet.

Content Centres

Content centres are libraries where reports and analyses can be generated to see how content is being used. AI-powered capabilities that automate content capture and content categorizing will be delivered to all SharePoint libraries and content centres when Project Cortex is enabled. Creating AI models for content processing can be done in content centres. Additionally, automating content-centric processes with AI Builder and Power Automate, which integrates with Project Cortex, will be available in the content centres.

Security

Project Cortex is built into Microsoft 365. As such, Project Cortex maintains the privacy, securities, and compliances that can be expected from Microsoft 365. Within this framework, IT Admins will have control over which scopes of content are included in Project Cortex by excluding sites or documents, whether content is published with broader visibility, and the exclusion of specific topic names based on a block list. Only users with access to content and related information will be able to see topics. User access is reflective of the topic information they are to see.

Project Cortex, by automatically tagging content with metadata and categorizing content, enhances an organization’s security profile. Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) uses metadata to apply security and compliance policies.

Enabling Project Cortex and AI automated tagging and categorization allows Power Automate to streamline business processes.

Third-Party Repositories

New Microsoft Search connectors allow Project Cortex to connect to content in third-party repositories and systems. Connectors that are currently supported include Windows File Share, ServiceNow, SQL Database, Intranet Websites, MediaWiki, Azure Data Lake Gen2, Salesforce, and third-party connectors through the ingestion API.

Project Cortex extends the collaboration ability of SharePoint and Microsoft services. It strengthens the collaboration of an organization by providing relevant and organized knowledge across the enterprise with ease of access for users. Knowledge is valuable. By providing this value to individuals, teams, and the organization, the accumulation of knowledge provides the power for success.