Searching

The Search screen finds installations, contracts and billing accounts, and it is one screen used everywhere: any program that carries the Search button — Data Entry (#559), Monitoring (#537), Insert Test and Open/Close Status among them — opens it with Search [ALT+F1]. You cannot search while the screen is in New or Change mode — finish or cancel the edit first.

How the module progresses

1. Run a Basic search — one exact fact, straight to the record.
2. Narrow an Advanced search with wildcards when you only know part of the story.
3. Read the results list well — the right record, not just a record.
4. Find the caller — passcard, phone and codeword searches.

1. Run a Basic search

Task: land on the record you want from one exact piece of information.

One field, exactly. The Basic tab takes one field per search — fill a second and you are starting over, not narrowing. It is built for the facts that identify a record on their own: CID, Passcard, Phone, Installation No, Contract No, Account No, Member No and their neighbours. Wildcards are not accepted here, with a single exception: the CID field takes % for a partial CID.

What comes back. One match and the record loads straight into the screen you searched from — no list, no extra click. Several matches and you get a results list to choose from.

Steps:

1. From #559, choose Search [ALT+F1].
2. On the Basic tab, fill exactly one field.
3. Press [ENTER] — the record loads, or a list appears; double-click the row you want.

Worked example (Branch TRAIN): from #559, Basic search on Installation No TRA-00002 — MILLER loads directly, because an installation number identifies exactly one record.

Guided practice: open MILLER's Basics tab and read its CID. Search again on the CID field, typing only the first characters followed by % — the one field where Basic accepts a wildcard — and pick MILLER from the list.

Independent practice: find NORTHERN LIGHTS JEWELLERS (TRA-00001) from any single fact you choose, then say why one of your two searches loaded the record directly and the other showed a list first.

2. Narrow an Advanced search with wildcards

Task: find records from partial information — a fragment of a name, an address, a phone.

When you use it: the caller says "it's the Plateau building on… something street" — you have pieces, not identifiers.

The tab opens wide. The Advanced tab starts with % in every field — every field you leave alone stays wide open, and every field you narrow cuts the result set down. Its fields are the descriptive ones: Name, A.K.A., Phone, Street, City, Zip, State, Monitor Status, Dealer and more. The Primary Search Area selector (Installation, Contract, Account, Marketing, Passcard) decides what kind of record the results describe. The less you narrow, the longer the search runs and the longer the list — give it your best fragment.

The wildcard language:

Steps:

1. Open Search, select the Advanced tab.
2. Set the Primary Search Area for the kind of record you want.
3. Replace the % in one or more fields with your fragment plus wildcards.
4. Choose Search and read the Records Found count before anything else.

Worked example (Branch TRAIN): Advanced search, Primary Search Area Installation, Name PLATEAU% — three rows come back: the main installation and its two subs. The list shows each row's monitoring status alongside the name.

Guided practice: Name [MR]% — predict which two installations that returns before you run it, then confirm: MILLER and RIVERSIDE, and nothing else.

Independent practice: using [^ ], write one search that returns every TRAIN installation except the templates and the test installation, state your predicted Records Found count out loud, then run it and reconcile any difference.

3. Read the results list well

Task: turn a list of candidates into the one record you meant — and reuse the list itself.

How it works:

1. Sort on any column — double-click a column header to reorder the list by it; double-click again to flip ascending/descending.
2. Print the list — right-click inside the results and choose Print.
3. Keep your layout — the Fields menu lets you change and save this screen's layout, per user.
4. Double-click a row to load it into the screen you came from.

Three behaviours worth knowing:

1. Passcards are unique, but codewords need not be — on sites where option ba121 is on, a passcard search also matches account and contact codewords.
2. Searching from Insert Test or Open/Close Status with a passcard and extension carries them back into that screen when the record loads.
3. Sites configured for Elastic Search show an extra search tab (scopes: All, Installation, Contact, CID, Work Order, Service Ticket) that searches as you type. It is an optional server feature.

Worked example (Branch TRAIN): run the PLATEAU% search again, sort the results by monitoring status, then by name, and load PLATEAU B (TRA-00006-02) from the sorted list.

Guided practice: re-run the search, right-click the results and print the list to file, then confirm the printed order matches the sort you chose.

Independent practice: produce a results list of every TRAIN installation sorted by name descending, and hand your neighbour the row count and the third row's name for checking.

4. Find the caller — passcard, phone and codeword searches

Task: turn what a caller can tell you into the record they are calling about — passcard, phone number or name — and know which search each fact belongs to.

When you use it: the phone rings — "this is Marie Tremblay, passcard 4471, extension 2, the alarm at the shop is a false alarm" — and you need her installation, and proof it is her, before you touch the alarm.

How it works.

1. Passcard on the Basic tab: the passcard number, with its Ext. where the holder has one, loads the installation the passcard is attached to — or a list when the same passcard sits on several installations (one keyholder, many premises: the Action Plans module). Where option ba121 is on, the same search also matches installation and contact codewords, so a caller who only knows their word can still be found.
2. Phone on the Basic tab: the number the caller is ringing from, or the premises number — one exact number, digits only.
3. Name on the Advanced tab with wildcards, when the caller gives a name and nothing else — the Records Found count tells you whether you have enough.
4. From Insert Test and Open/Close Status, searching by passcard and extension carries them back into that screen when the record loads — the identity check and the action happen in one move.

Worked example (Branch TRAIN): on the Basic tab, search the passcard of one of the contacts you entered in the Action Plans module — the installation loads; then search the same passcard from your other installation's plan and read the list that comes back instead. Then search MILLER (TRA-00002) by its premises phone number.

Guided practice: a caller gives you a passcard you know is on two of your installations. Predict what the search returns and how you pick the right premises from it, then run it. Then try a wrong extension and read what SBN gives you.

Independent practice: for each of these callers, name the tab and the one field you would fill first, then run one of them: "passcard 12, no extension"; "I'm calling from 555-0142"; "it's the jewellers on Main, I've forgotten my card"; "PLATEAU something, tower A". State for the last one why the Advanced tab is the right place and what you would type.

5. Quick reference

Getting in: Search [ALT+F1] from any screen with the Search button. Not available while the screen is in New or Change mode.

Results list: double-click a header to sort · right-click for Print · Fields menu saves your layout · double-click a row to load it.