Standard Search
The Standard Search form allows you to enter a certain amount of information about the constituent for whom you want to search. The system will then search the database and return a list of all the constituents who match the information you entered, or whose names are "similar", if you checked that option. Obviously, the more specific you are, the fewer constituents will match and the shorter the list will be.
The standard Search Database form includes a limited set of data fields from the Basic Data, Names, Address, Phone, Education, and Attribute tables, as described below.
If desired, your institution may edit the Search form to remove data elements that are not relevant to your institution's needs by using the Searches version of the Custom Display Designer under the Tools menu.
If you know the ID Number, that information should be used, as it will be the most specific and efficient search. If the ID Number is entered, it is unnecessary to enter any other information since the ID number will uniquely identify a constituent. If the ID number is not known, you should enter as much of the best information that you have available, in order to narrow the search as much as possible. This may include full or partial name information (even if that name information is not exact).
If you do not know the ID Number, the Search form includes several other data fields to capture information that you do have on hand, and this information may uniquely identify one constituent, identify more than one constituent, or fail to identify a constituent, at which point you will be given the opportunity to create a new constituent or create non-constituent rows (such as a non-constituent relationship) depending on the purpose of your Search. See Search Results, below, for further details.
Wildcards are available for use on the Profiles Search screen. There will be a note at the top of the Search screen that states 'Format for Name is Last/First Middle. Partial and blank fields, as well as wildcards ('%' and '_'), are permitted.
The Search Database Form
Within the Profiles World, there are several situations where you will use the standard Search Database form.
- To view data, you must first tell the system whose data you want to view, using a Search form. Any time that the Profiles world is opened (whether it is the first time in the current session or whether it was closed and re-opened), a blank Search form will automatically be presented.
- If you have already been viewing one constituent's data and want to switch to a different constituent's data, you may click on the Next Search item located in the Millennium Explorer or hit the space bar as that is the Hot Key for Next Search. When you do so, the Search form will automatically be presented.
- If you are entering data into an ID text box in a data maintenance situation, you may enter either the ID Number for the second constituent (leading zeroes may be dropped), or partial or complete name information (in the format: last/first middle, suffix) for the second constituent. If the system finds no constituents who match the information you entered, you will be given a Search Database form so that you can try again with different information. If it finds one or more than one matching constituent, you will be given a Search Results Display list from which to choose the desired constituent. You may encounter ID text boxes when maintaining data for the following tables: Correspondence, Employment, Relationships, Gift Transactions, Dues Transactions, Membership, Tasks, and Screening.