What is federated search?
Federated search means the ability for the user to search multiple sources of information at the same time, using one search query. This can be helpful when your organization has data stored in different places that your users need to access. For example, when a user is searching from your community platform, you might also want to include relevant content from your training platform in the results. The federator system collects the results from different sources and presents them all in one place, allowing the user to filter and refine the results as needed.
How does it work with Skilljar courses?
Learners can search courses on Skilljar by typing keywords into the search bar with matching words in their title, description, tags, or search keywords. These same attributes can be used with federated search.
- Enabling the Search Feature on Pages and Paths
- Adding Keywords to a Course or Lesson for Catalog Search Indexing
You can use the Published Courses List API endpoint when called with the ‘include_searchable_content’ flag set as ‘True’ to include the 'lesson_list', 'tags', 'short_description', and 'long_description_html' fields associated with the course. (This can also be run with the Published Path List API endpoint, using the flag of the same name). The course visibility rules you have set up for groups on Skilljar Dashboard will apply to the federated search results, meaning you can exclude courses from the results by setting their visibility as hidden for a specific group.
After the data is pulled, it can be parsed and stored in the external system’s search results. This process varies from system to system, so it’s best to rely on the platform’s federated search documentation you're trying to load Skilljar data into.
View the screenshot below for a sample response from Skilljar’s Published Courses List API endpoint:
Federated Search with HigherLogic
HigherLogic offers a native integration with the Skilljar API to automatically set up federated search and include your Skilljar courses in their search results. You’ll need to generate a Skilljar API key to get started, and for a configuration guide, please see HigherLogic's help page - Federated Search - Skilljar.