What is a Global Address List (GAL) and Why Is It Important to You Part 4

This week, I thought that I would try something new.  I am going to focus on a single topic and produce a series on a single topic.  This week’s topic will be on Enterprise Email services’ Global Address List function or GAL for short.  Today is the fourth day of this series.  You can read the earlier days here.

Today, I am writing about what I wish that the Global Address List (GAL) of today could do.  These are the functions, capabilities, and features that I would be working on adding if I was a project manager for a GAL project.

1. Smart Search.  I wish that I could search the GAL like I search using Spotlight on a Mac.  You should be able to create “smart” or self-updating groupings of everyone who works in the Accounting Division without having to have someone with administrative privileges create a Distribution List.  You should also be able to find people based upon multiple criteria simultaneously.  For example, why can’t I search for all the Bob’s in Accounting who have phone numbers with 202 area codes?
2. Drill Down Search.  Along with #1, above, I wish that after you found all the “Bob’s in Accounting with 202 Area Codes, that you could than find all the ones on the 5th floor or with cell phones rather than having to start all over.  Think Google or Amazon.com search like features for the GAL.
3. Proximity Search, Obviously your computer knows where it is, especially if it is a desktop workstation.  Obviously, your co-workers have addresses in their GAL listings.  Why can’t the GAL be sorted by people closest to you?
4. Geographic Searches.  Similar to the third item, why, of why, can’t I search by geography in the GALs of today?  Why is it so hard to find Linda from Dallas in the GAL?  Why can’t I look up all the Jims on the fourth floor? 
5. Face Recognition and Indexing.  This technology is out there.  See Apple’s iPhoto or Google’s Picasa.  Why can’t the GAL include photos that are indexed by characteristics.  I want to be able to find all the people in Marketing with mustaches and phone numbers in the 212 area code for example.  Glasses, hair color, facial hair, and male/female are all non-discriminatory, non-personal attributes that could greatly limit the search results when you are just trying to get in touch with someone from a meeting you attended earlier in the week.

Thank you for entertaining my rant.  Based upon the feedback to this series I understand that many of you work for smaller organizations and therefore don’t appreciate the challenges associated with a GAL containing over 100,000 people.  If you imagine a GAL at that scope, your might understand my frustration with today’s GAL state of the art.

Since I did not get any specific feedback on this series asking for additional topics, this will be the final entry in the series.  I hope that you found it beneficial.

The Global Address Book, Global Address List, or master directory service are critical productivity, security, and resource management services in any Enterprise Information Technology System.  All Information Technology Professionals should be masters of them.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for November 6, 2009  by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: Powerful Intentions

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