Full-Text Search

Last modified on 2023/08/30 15:21

Definition

Full-text search enables you to search for a word or a set of words or an SQL query or in different text fields in the Service Manager objects (incidents, problems, knowledge base, etc.) or in the related attachments via a search engine. Then it presents the results in a list sorted by relevance.

EndDefinition
  • Click one of the results to see the details of the object.
  • If the list of results returned is long, you can use filter criteria to restrict the display to the information you want, e.g. only incidents, only elements modified less than two days ago, or only knowledge articles with the keyword, Windows.
     

You can use the full-text search as follows:

  • To facilitate navigation within forms.

    example  You want to find all problems involving the Oracle server to add an item of information to each form.

  • To facilitate data entry and analysis in forms.

    example  In a quick call, you want to view all previous incidents involving the email server to find a solution to the current incident.

     Open url.png See the description

Two full-text search methods

Facilitate navigation within forms

  • The search is running by selecting General > Full Text Search in the menu. It is performed in a popup window.
  • When you select one of the results from the list, the corresponding record will open in a new tab with closing the search window.

          Full-text search via menu.png

Facilitate data entry and analysis in forms

   Only on Incident and Problem forms.

  • The search is running by clicking the Full-Text Search button.png button in the right sidebar of the form. It is performed in a slide-out window.
  • When you select one of the results from the list, the corresponding record will open in a new tab with closing the search window.

          Full-text search in form.png

Characteristics of the full-text search

  • The search is run on the text and memo fields of the selected elements.

example

  • The Description field in the Incident form.
  • The Title and Contents fields in the Knowledge form.
  • It takes the domain and the time zone of the connected user into account.
  • It is not case-sensitive.

example  If you search for apache, the results returned may be apache, APACHE or Apache.

  • It takes accents into account.

example  If you search for café, the results will not return cafe.

  • It searches for all elements starting with the root of the keyword.

example  If you search for locat, the results returned may be locate, location, located but not relocation.

  • Once you have entered the third letter, predictive entry will automatically display a list containing the history of previous searches with the same string of characters.
    • It works like the LIKE instruction and uses the list of searches run by all Front Office and Back Office users, based on the logged-in user and user language.
    • It retrieves the history of the last five searches run.

Notes

  • Full-text search in forms:
    • The Full-Text Search button.png button is only available on Incident and Problems forms.
    • Place the cursor on the left edge of the FTS window and click and drag left or right to resize the tab pane as required. Note: The configuration is specific to each user.
               Fundamentals - Form - FTS resize.png
    • You can pin the FTS window to keep it displayed in the foreground, making it easier to view your search results. Note: The configuration is specific to each user.
               Fundamentals - Form - FTS ping.png

Caution

  • To avoid displaying too many less relevant results, the search ignores frequently used words. These are words whose presence exceeds 50% of the form or words that are too short, e.g. the, next, or with.  Open url.png  See Discarded strings lists (stopwords)
  • When you select keywords to restrict the display of knowledge articles in the list of results, the selection is taken into account even if the list is not visible on screen. Click Keywords to display the current selection.
  • The list of results only displays the elements that users are authorized to edit or view and the knowledge articles compatible with users' knowledge prerequisites.

example  Oracle training.

Screens description

Search window

         Full-text search window.png

Search field: Words or string of characters you want to search for. 

  • Click Display popup icon.png to run the search.
  • Three options are available:
    • All words: All of the words you enter will automatically be linked using the AND operator.
    • At least one of the words: The words you enter will automatically be linked using the OR operator.
    • Custom SQL mode: You can enter an SQL query to increase the accuracy of the search and to restrict the list of results. You can use different operators such as AND, OR, NEAR, FORMSOF, etc., as well as brackets. Roll your mouse over Full-text search - Help icon.png to see a few examples.

Search Engine: List of search engines you can use.

  • Filter criteria such as Category, Language, or Date are only available for the EasyVista search engine. It is based on native SQL Server functions used by the Bing search engine.
  • For the other search engines, only the search field will be available.
  • You can add another search engine, e.g. to run a search in a corporate or business knowledge base without exiting Service Manager.

example  Add the Wiki EasyVista search engine to search wiki pages.  Open url.png  See the procedure.

Filter criteria (Language, Change Location, etc.) : Used to restrict the display of elements in the list of results using the type of element, keywords associated with knowledge articles, language, location, department, category, CI or period.

  • Filter criteria are cumulative.
  • Once a criterion is selected, the list of results will immediately be refreshed.
  • To display the entire list of results corresponding to the initial keywords you entered, you should clear the criteria applied.
  • Characteristics of certain criteria:
    • Keywords (Note: Applies only to knowledge articles): Used to identify the main category of a knowledge article.

      example  The keyword, printer, is associated with the knowledge articles entitled I cannot print my document and I want to modify my spool settings.

    • Language (Note: Applies only to knowledge articles): Used to run the search in one of the translated languages.
    • Change Category: Used to select a subset of elements among those displayed in the list of results.

      example  To display only printer-related incidents: 

      • Selected category= Incident 
      • Change category = Equipment/Printers
    • Date: Based on the last modification date of each element in the list of results.

List of results

         Full-text search results.png

Relevance, represented by Star on icon.png (relevant) and Star off icon.png (non-relevant): Assessed by the search engine using different factors such as the ratio between the number of words similar to the search keywords and the total number of words in the element, or the number of repeated words, etc. 

  • The more the element displayed corresponds to the search, the greater its relevance.
  • Roll your mouse over one of the relevance symbols to display its name. Note: To modify names: Administration > Parameters > Classification Thresholds of Search Results.

Identifiers of the element: Name, reference and the last modification date of its form.

example  Knowledge Base KB 21 - 24/04/2013 15:49:54.

Icon of the object associated with the element: Roll your mouse over the icon to see the name of the object.

example  Knowledge icon.png = Knowledge object.

Title of the element: Form title.

example  Did you check the print queue?

Contents of the element: Area in the form where the search keywords highlighted in yellow are found. Note: Search keywords are not highlighted when you use Custom SQL mode.

Rating of the knowledge article: Average score awarded by users based on the quality of the form's contents, represented by Star on icon.png and Star off icon.png. The score is between 0 and 5.

example  User A awards = 3 stars while user B awards = 1 star --> Average score = 2 stars

  • Roll your mouse over one of the stars to see the description of the rating.
  • You can give a score in the detailed form by clicking on the number of stars to be awarded.
  • You cannot give more than one score to a given knowledge article. You can only modify your score.

Procedures

How to use the full-text search

Step 1: Run the full-text search

1. Select General > Full Text Search in the menu.

or

2. Click the Full-Text Search button.png button in the right sidebar of the form.

   Only on Incident and Problem forms.

The search window will appear.
 

Step 2: Enter the text to search for

1. Enter the text you want to search for.

Once you have entered the third letter, predictive entry will automatically display a list containing the history of the five previous searches with the same string of characters.

2. Select one of the suggestions or continue entering the text.

3. Click Display popup icon.png.

          Full-text search - Predictive entry.png

Your keywords will be highlighted in the list of results, except if you used Custom SQL mode.
 

Step 3 (optional): Restrict the number of results displayed

1. Apply filter criteria you want.

Restrict knowledge articles using a group of associated keywords

  • Click Keywords.
  • Select the words you want from the drop-down list.
    or
    Enter the first letters. Note: Once you have entered the third letter, predictive entry will automatically display a list.
  • You can delete one of the selected keywords by clicking Close window icon.png next to it.
  • Close the list of keywords by clicking Keywords again.
             Full-text search - Keywords selection.png
     

Select the value of one of the filter criteria, Change Location/Department/Category/CI

  • Click Tree open icon.png.
  • Search the value you want by browsing through the tree structure of the element.
             Full-text search - Location selection.png

2. Click the element you want in the list of results to see its details.

          Full-text search - Result selection.png
 

Step 4 (optional): Give a score to knowledge articles

Note: Only when you select a knowledge article 

1. Click the number of stars Star on icon.png you want to award in the knowledge article form.

The score will automatically be saved and the average score will be refreshed in the list of results.
         Full-text search - Knowledge review.png

How to add a search engine

example  Add the wiki search engine to run searches in wiki pages

Step 1: Copy the URL of the wiki search engine

1. Open the home page of the EasyVista wiki in your Web browser.

2. Enter TEST in the search field.

   Ensure that you enter all letters in the uppercase.

3. Click Display popup icon.png.

The results page will appear.
         External search engines - Example - Search in wiki.png

4. Copy the URL used by the wiki to run its search.

          External search engines - Example - URL search wiki.png
 

Step 2: Configure Service Manager

1. Select Administration > Parameters > External Search Engines in the menu.

  • Paste the search wiki URL in the step 3 area.
  • Enter the name of your search engine in the step  4 area.
  • Click Install then Save.
             External search engines - Example - Configure wiki search engine.png
     

Step 3: Test the wiki search engine

1. Run a full-text search.

2. Select the new search engine from the drop-down list.

          External search engines - Example - Select wiki search engine.png

3. Enter the text you want to search for.

A new window will display the results found in the Wiki.

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