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Search

ClosedSearching lists

To find a particular value in a list field, you can enter the beginning of any word in the value you are looking for. All values that have words beginning with the string that you enter are displayed.

For example, when editing a service request, to find a particular user in the Requested by field, enter John in the field. All values where the first name, last name, or name values start with John are displayed. For example:

  • David John Smith
  • Smith, John
  • Peters, John
  • Johnson, Andrew

Note For most lists, you can search only by the beginning of the string. For those lists, bel displays Bella, but not Isabella.

However, for the following list fields, you can search for a string that begins any word in the list entry. Words can be separated by - (dash), _ (underscore), or / (slash):

  • Person
  • Group
  • Location
  • Category
  • Offering

For example, dav displays William David Smith.

ClosedGlobal search

Service Management uses an IDOL (Intelligent Data Operating Layer) based search. IDOL indexes new information at regular intervals to ensure that new searches return up-to-date results.

Note It may take up to five minutes for newly added items to appear in the search results.

The global search covers all of Service Management. The search automatically searches all the record type fields that are indexed by IDOL and are configured to be searchable.

  • For article and offering records, the search also searches the comments entered in Discussions tab.

  • Location information is also searched (relevant for device records and location-based Live Support calls).

  • By default, the global search excludes request and incident records to which all of the following apply:

    • Record was closed at least six months previously.

    • Record is not marked as a knowledge candidate.

    You can include these records in a search by selecting the Include older records option. Once selected, the option remains enabled until you close the search in the module you are working in. The Include older records option is also displayed in the Service Asset and Configuration Management search, and all related record searches.

To search:

  1. Click the Search Search icon button on the main toolbar.

  2. In the search box, type the word or words you are looking for.

    A search string must contain a minimum of two characters. If you include a wildcard, the search string must contain at least three characters.

  3. Click Search. The search displays a maximum of 30 results at a time.

    Click a search result to display a preview of the content in the right pane. Click the View details link to open the record.

You can add Boolean operators to narrow your search results.

Task Boolean operator Example

Search for a phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase. The search engine ignores certain commonly used words.

Example: a, an, the, of, to, be, you, your, when, however, for, that, can (and more).

Tip  

  • If your search results are not successful, delete less important words.

  • To search for multiple strings, separate the individual strings with plus symbols or spaces, and put quotation marks around each string.

    Example: "Change Coordinator", "Role", or "Workflow"

 " " (Double quotation marks) "Change Coordinator"
Search for a string that contains one (or any) of the words in the search string.

OR

+

cat OR dog OR mouse

cat + dog + mouse
Search for two or more specific strings. AND cat AND dog
Search for all topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase. NOT NOT cat
Search for all topics that contain one string and do not contain another.

EOR

XOR

cat EOR mouse

cat XOR mouse
Search for a match of any number of characters. * ca*
Combine search tasks. ( ) parentheses cat AND (dog OR mouse)

For keyboard shortcuts, see Service Managementkeyboard shortcuts.

Note  

  • If you search for one or more words, or is inferred. For example, if you type "mail server" the search looks for "mail server" or "mail" or "server".

  • Service Management sorts search results by relevancy and displays a result type summary. You can filter the search results if you click the type.

    Example: If a search produced a summary of:  All (6) Change (2) Service component (2) Problem (2), click "Problem" to display only results of that type.

  • New records/updates to records are available in the search a few minutes after adding/updating the records.

  • So far as Discussions are concerned, only public comments are included in the search.

  • Data in encrypted fields is not included in the search.
ClosedEnhanced search suggestions

This feature promotes certain search results, giving them prominence over others. It does this, based on certain factors, so as to help the user more quickly find the best result.

There are the following types of enhanced search suggestions:

ClosedContext based enhanced search suggestions

This type of suggestion uses the content of the current record, and the context of other records as reflected in their service, category, or included device.

The order of display of the search results takes into account, and gives certain precedence to records:

  • Containing words in their title or description that are similar to those of the current record, and

  • Sharing the same service, category, or related configuration item (CI) as the current record.

Note Context based enhanced search suggestions are not a part of the Service Portal.

Context based enhanced search suggestions affect the records that display in the following cases:

User viewing Enhanced search suggestion availability
Change record In the Related records tab, when you click to add a record (either for Causes of the change, or Effects of the change).
Incident record

In the Resolution section of the General tab, when you click Suggested solutions or Find more solutions.

In the Related records tab, when you click to add a record (either for Depends on this incident, or This incident depends on).
Request record

In the Resolution section of the General tab, when you click Suggested solutions or Find more solutions.

In the Related records tab, when you click to add a record (either for Depends on this request, or This request depends on).

Request record in Live Support All searches in the Suggestions Bar.
ClosedHistory based enhanced search suggestions

This type of suggestion benefits from the ability of the search to dynamically learn from historical usage in similar records. It uses the content of the current record, and the content of certain other record types, as detailed below.

For example, when searching for an offering, history based enhanced search suggestions look at request records, because requests are the record type connected with offerings for the purposes of this functionality. (For details, see the table below.)

Note This feature depends on the accuracy of the underlying records, and in particular good practice when it comes to the classification and selection of records using the right models, offerings, services, and categories.

For example, if a user creates a request using the correctly matching offering, that should improve the quality of the history based enhanced search suggestions for offerings. Similarly, if a user creates a request without the correctly matching offering, that does not improve the accuracy.

History based enhanced search suggestions affect the records that display as summarized in the following table:

Record searched for Record types examined
Offering Request
Change model Change
Release model Release
Incident model Incident
Actual service

Request

Incident

Change
Category

Request

Incident

Change

Here is an example of how the enhanced search suggestions feature works:

ClosedEnhanced search suggestions example

For example, when a Service Management user clicks the drop-down for offering, context and history based enhanced search suggestion does all of the following:

  • Looks at offering records for offerings with similar title and description as the title and description of the new request, and suggests these if the textual match is highly ranked.

  • Looks at request records with text (in their title and description) that is similar to the text in the current record being worked on.

  • If any of the fields of the new request are already selected (for example, the actual service or category), the feature favors requests with similar values for service or category (provided the title and description match the new request text).

  • Selects those offerings that are best matched, either by their own characteristics, or by similar request records.

  • Promotes the display of these offerings to the top of the list of offerings otherwise available for selection.

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