BusinessPort Service Desk

2.1.3.1 Introduction to Search

 

Surveys have shown that employees can spend up to 20 – 30% of their day searching for data and information. AgilityBMS provides the robust search functionality needed to find the required information that is buried in a company’s business management system.

Searching the content of Items within AgilityBMS is easy. Simply enter one or more search terms (the words or phrase that describe the Item to be found) and click the 'Search' button. AgilityBMS will then search the content of all Items within the system that contain the search terms you have entered.

Search features are divided into three sections:

• Quick Search
• Advanced Search
• Feedback Search

Tips to help maximize the effectiveness of search:

• Choosing Search Terms
• Phrase Search
• Exclusion of Common Words
• Advanced Search Operators.

2.1.3.2 Choosing Search Terms

 

Choosing the right search terms is the key to finding the documents that you need. Start with the obvious - if looking for Items related to expenses, try expenses.

It is often advisable to use multiple search terms; for example if searching for an expenses claim form then use ‘expense claim form’ instead of ‘expense’ alone.

Available is a drop down list of Item Types next to the search text window.

2.1.3.3 Phrase Search

 

To perform a search for an exact phrase, simply put quotation marks around the search terms, for example, "Health and Safety".

2.1.3.4 Exclusion of Common Words

 

AgilityBMS ignores common words and characters such as "where", "are", and "you", as well as some single digits and single letters. These common words tend to slow down the search without improving the quality of the results.

To include a common word in a search conduct a phrase search, this simply means putting quotation marks around the words. Common words in a phrase search (e.g. "where are you") are included in the search.

2.1.3.5 Advanced Search Operators

 

The AgilityBMS search can be improved by adding operators to the search terms. The advanced search operators that are currently supported are:

• AND
• OR
• NOT

Using AND will find Items that include all of your search terms. For example, Health AND Safety will return all Items that contain both Health and Safety. If no operators are specified, AgilityBMS will automatically add AND operators where necessary.

Use an OR operator to find Items that include either of the search terms specified. For example, health OR safety will return Items that contain either Health or Safety.

Use the NOT operator to find Items that do not contain a search term. For example, Health NOT safety will return Items that contain Health but not Safety. Note that only a single NOT operator can be used in the search terms. Also, if a NOT is used then all words after the NOT will be excluded. For example, Health NOT Safety policy will find Items that contain Health but do not contain Safety and Policy.

Note that operators can be combined, for example Policy AND Health OR Safety will find Items that contain Policy and contain either Health or Safety. 

2.1.3.6 Quick Search

 

The Quick Search feature allows the user to search and quickly locate required Items. It is displayed at the top right hand side of the screen and is available at all times.

To use Quick Search:

1. Navigate to the Quick Search text box (top right hand side)
2. Click on the text box
3. Type in the search criteria
4. You can also select an Item type before entering the text; this will enable the search to be restricted to a particular Item type. This can be done by selecting the grey arrow to the left of the Quick Search text box
5. Click on the Magnifying Glass or Press Enter.

Note that the text box searches the Item Title and Number fields so either criterion can be specified. The search uses partial matching therefore the first few letters or a word contained in the Item Number or Title can be used. Once the Search is carried out the system returns all records containing the specified text.

2.1.3.7 Advanced Search

 

The Advanced Search is accessible through the Advanced Search link displayed above the Quick Search feature.

With the use of the Advanced Search it is possible to search for different Items by entering/selecting a combination of search criteria in the Search Options.

To use Advanced Search:

1. Click on the Magnifying Glass and the Advanced Search screen will be opened

2. Specify Search Criteria a.Use the drop down menu to search for Item title, Item number or both

• Use work or phrase for searching the content of Items that are held in the system
• Specify Item Type
• Date Options - this can be used to filter by Release Date or Last Review Date. Once selected there are various date range options available including custom which enables you to define a start date and end date.

• Use Advanced Property Search Options to search Items assigned to a specific section.