Using the Search Tools Version

Contents

Overview

Sourcing and Contract Management has a powerful search feature. It lets you locate supply contracts, shared services contracts, manufacturers, item records, vendors, contract notes, UNSPSC codes, application users, and items in the Product Index Layer.

In addition, with Release 7.0.1, the  ^® Catalog will be available for GPO members who SCA (Supply Chain Advisor). The  Catalog is the one source of information from all of your contracts and item master records. This feature requires implementation for a site.

Security

Searches are governed by the user's data profile settings. Security is also provided by the "Contract" role object (for supply contracts) and by the "Services Contract" role object (for services contracts).

For a user to perform searches on supply contracts or services contracts, the respective role object must be set minimally to View.

• If a supply or services contract is limited to one or more departments, organizations, and/or regions, the contract and contract notes do not appear
  unless the user's data profile settings are compatible.
• Services contracts, vendors, and notes do not appear in search results unless the Contract Type is compatible with the Security Level specified in the user's data profile.
• Item, vendor, and manufacturer search results are also controlled by data profile settings. Search results do not include organizations and asset
  locations to which the user does not have access.

The Search Page

On the menu at the top of any page, click Search to find and display supply contracts, manufacturers, items, vendors, contract notes, UNSPSC codes, services contracts, and Product Index Layer items.

You can also access Search from the main Contents (Figure 1).

The User Search is available from the Administration menu, as described subsequently.

Figure 1 - Accessing the Search Panel

The Search panel (Figure 2), contains tabbed areas where you can run different kinds of searches.

Figure 2 - The Search Panel

You can display the record fields where the search looks for matching characters:
Mouse over the link for any of the record types; for example, Manufacturers. A tool tip displays the searched fields (Figure 2A).

Figure 2A - Getting a List of Searched Fields for a Manufacturer Search

A summary of searched fields is in Table 1.

Table 1 - Search Type and Fields Searched

You can search just for data in a particular category; for example, details about the manufacturer BAX.
Or, you can search in your contracts. For example, to find the Sourcing and Contract Management user who created a contract, enter characters from the user's name in
the Search field, and click Contracts.

Opening a Search

When you first open the supply or services search, the "Search" page displays the "last viewed" list for several search areas of interest.

On the Supply and Services tabs,

• For supply Contracts searches and Product Index Layer item searches, the panel My Last Viewed Contracts displays the last ten contracts that you opened.
  The link Open Full View appears at the bottom of the contracts list if you have worked with more than ten contracts.
  Click Open Full View to display more contracts.
• For Shared Services Contracts , the panel My Last Viewed Services Contracts displays the last ten services contracts that you worked with.
• The Manufacturer search displays a list of My Last Viewed Manufacturers.
• The Item search displays My Last Viewed Items, and so on for Vendors and Services Providers.
• For services or supply contract Notes and UNSPSC searches, the results panel is initially empty.

Specifying Search Values

Searches for alphanumeric or numeric values (such as PP-NS-448, BAX1, 1951, etc.) treat the value as the beginning of a string of characters to look for.

• For example, if you specify 1776, the search returns 1776, 1776AD, 1776BCE, 177678, etc.

Searching for Contract Numbers that Contain Dashes

Searches use a "noiseless" and "non noiseless" matching method to make it easier to search for supply contract numbers that contain dashes.
The system's use of these two methods gives you options when you enter a search string.

When a contract number contains dashes, it is broken down into the characters between the dashes, and stored that way in the system's full text search table.

Then the contract number is stored as a whole, without any dashes.

Search Tips:

• Avoid using the following words in searches: a, an, or, the, be, is, of, it, this, that. The search routine does not look for these "noise words."
  - If you use these words alone, you will get all data items in the search category as a result; e.g., entering "or" in a contract search returns all contracts.
  
• To get the best result, try dropping these words from the beginning or end of longer search strings.
  - For example, in a Notes search, instead of "The time frame" try "time frame."
• When searching for an entity in the Product Index Layer, use a search value longer than three characters. The search routine does not work effectively for three or fewer characters. For example, instead of "MAS" enter "Medical Automation Systems."

A complete list of "noise words" ignored by the search is at the end of this document in Appendix A: Noise Words.

If you have assigned values to the Tags user-defined field for a supply contract, user record, or services contract, you can also enter the tag value(s) in the Search box to find the associated record.
For details on user-defined fields and Tags, see Using Tags.

If you are searching a record type, such as Users, entering All in the search box brings up the complete list of records (i.e., all users).

To display all values in a record type (e.g., all manufacturers or all contracts)

• Click the record type. For example, to display all vendors, click Vendors; to display all contracts, click Contracts.
• Enter the word All in the Search box.
• Click Search.

You can search for all notes in both supply and shared services contracts by selecting Notes and entering All in the Search box.

To search for particular values in a record type (e.g., a particular manufacturer)

• Enter the characters that you wish to search for in the box.
• Click the type of records that you wish to search (e.g., click Contracts to search contracts).
  

Or,

• Select the search area (e.g., contract Notes).
• Enter characters in the search box.
  You can also enter All to see all records in the search area.
• Click Search.

Supply Contract Searches

You can use the contract search to find supply contracts and contract items by Contract Name, Contract  Number, GPO ID, contract item description, Manufacturer Name, Manufacturer Item Number, User Name, or UNSPSC code. You can also search for a Review Reason, if used; or a user-defined Tag value, if used.

• Click the Supply tab.
• Click Contracts.
• Enter characters in the Search box.
• Click Search.

Supply Contract Search Results

The search results for supply contracts (Figure 3) display contracts that either have a contract name, contract number, or item names/descriptions, MINs, owners, etc. that contain the search characters, if any are found. (Otherwise, a message that none are found appears.)

On the results panel for each contract, an integer appears in the columns for item categories: All Lines, Unmatched Lines, Matched Lines, Activated Lines, and Non-File Matched Lines (Figure 3). The integer (which can be zero) is the total count of items in the category.

A second number in parentheses, highlighted in yellow, displays the count of items in the category that contain the search string, if any.

The line number values total as follows: All Lines = Unmatched Lines + Matched Lines + Activated Lines.
Note: For matched lines, a line that may be matched to some item vendors and activated on others (mixed) is counted as Activated.

Click an integer in one of the columns to view the list of items. From the list of items, you can use the panel's Search box to find individual items.

Figure 3 - Supply Contract Search Results

For example, in Figure 3, contract number AMC-BA-211 contains the search characters "AMC" (highlighted), and one line in the 34 contract lines contains the search characters. Two of the contract lines are unmatched; neither contains the search characters.

The contract has twenty-two matched items, and the line containing the characters is among them. Ten lines are activated. No non-file matched item lines exist.

If no items with the search characters are found, the appropriate column only displays the item counts (with no value in parentheses). For example, contract AME-BAX-911 in Figure 3 has no activated lines that contain the search characters.

If only the contract name or contract number contains the search characters, and no item lines in the contract do, the system displays the highlighted search string in the contract name or number. The total number of lines and the number of lines in each category appear, with no values in parentheses.

• The Contracts filter on the contract search (Figure 3) allows you to display Current, Expired, Completed, and All contracts. The default is Current. 
• Owner lets you filter the results for all contracts or only for contracts that you own.
• The User Fields filters appear if you have created user fields for contracts and entered values in the user fields. You can filter the list on the value of any of the user fields. Click a value.
• When a contract has expired, the designation Exp appears next to the contract number.
• New contracts are marked "New" (Figure 3).
• A contract that you have marked as "completed" is flagged Cmplt. This is a contract that you are finished working with.
• If notes have been created for the contract, the notes icon appears. Click the icon to display notes.
• On a contract in the list, mousing over the contract name displays icons.
  - The new user note icon lets you create a user note, if none exist.
  - The documents icon lets you display all the documents created for a contract. Clicking the icon opens the list of documents.

Searching Your Local Item Records

You can search for local items by entering characters that match values in an item record's fields. The search looks in these fields:

• Item Number
• Contract (to search for contracts containing the item)
• Description
• MIN (manufacturer item number)
• VIN (vendor item number)
• UNSPSC code
• UNSPSC description
• item Alias
• item record Search Words

To search for a local item record:

1. To search for an item, click the Supply tab.
2. Enter characters that occur in one of the searched fields for the item. (See the previous list of fields that are searched.)
   - For example, you might enter an UNSPSC code such as 42326513; an Item Number -- DT7830; part of a Description -- "scrub pants;" etc.
3. Click Items.

Search Results - Local Item Data

The results display item records with field values that match the search characters entered in the Search panel.

The results show the search characters highlighted in yellow. The search results include three columns, initially grouped and sorted by manufacturer item number (MIN) (Figure 4, last column on the right).

The grouping (MIN, VIN, Item) determines the sort order.

Figure 4 - Item Search Results Grouped and Sorted by Manufacturer Item Number (MIN)

The first column contains Item Number(s), Description(s), and UNSPSC number(s). If a Description is long, only part of the Description appears.
The visible part may not contain the search characters, but you can click the Item Number to view the full description in the item record.

The middle column contains vendor information, including the Vendor(s) and vendor item number(s).

The last column displays manufacturer information, including the item manufacturer(s) and manufacturer item number(s).

If multiple values exist for a value in one of the columns, the link multiple appears instead of data.

• Click the multiple link to display the values.

This link can occur in the Item No, Vendor, Vendor Item, Mfr, or Mfr Item columns.
In the Item No column, clicking multiple displays a list of items with the same manufacturer item number (MIN).

The value multiple items (grayed out) can also appear, instead of data. The multiple items text appears when:
Multiple records exist for the Vendor, Vendor Item, Mfr, or Mfr Item, and the current MIN and VIN values also belong to multiple items.

Getting Item Catalog Information

On the search results, click an item number to display the item record. In Figure 4, the user has clicked AMC1530.

Note: You may also wish to review the section below on the  Catalog, which provides even greater access to item data. (This feature will be available in Release 7.1 or later.)

The Item Catalog Info panel appears (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - An Item Catalog Record

The Item Catalog Info panel lists all the vendors and manufacturers that supply the item, along with contracts where the item is matched.

On the Item Catalog Info panel:

• Click View UOMs to display units of measure and pricing for a vendor.

If a contract number appears in purple text, the contract is current and the item is activated on the contract.

• Click the contract number to get contract information. (Contract numbers that appear in regular text are not current.)
• Click Open Full View to open the "Work with Item Catalog" page for the item.

The search results are initially grouped and sorted by manufacturer item number (MIN) (Figure 4). However, you can change the display to show results sorted by Item number, or by vendor item number (VIN).

• Click the appropriate link in the upper right next to Group By: Item (Figure 6), or Group By: MIN, VIN (Figure 7).

Figure 6 - Item Search Results Grouped and Sorted by Item Number

Figure 7 - Item Search Results Grouped and Sorted by Vendor Item Number (VIN)

Searching for an Item in the Product Index Layer

On the "Search" page, clicking the Product Index Layer tab lets you search for an item in the PIL.

Note: Your site must have the PIL Search feature enabled in order to use the search. Call the Help Desk to turn on the Search feature.

Details about the PIL are in the topic Working with the Product Index Layer.

Product Index Layer item searches look for matches in these fields:

• Item Description
• Manufacturer
• MIN (manufacturer item number)
• Vendor
• VIN (vendor item number)
• UNSPSC code
• UNSPSC description

To search for an item in the Product Index Layer:

1. Click the Product Index Layer tab.
2. Enter characters that you wish to search for in PIL items fields. (See the previous list of fields that are searched.)
   
3. Click Items.

Search Results for the Product Index Layer

In Figure 8, the user has entered characters from the vendor item number (VIN).

Figure 8 - PIL Item Search Results

The search has found items whose Vendor Item Number and Manufacturer Item Number contain the characters "04.001.002."

In Figure 9, the user is searching for items that contain the characters "cardiac." Notice that the search did not return any items with "cardiac" in their vendor or manufacturer item numbers or item descriptions, but did return items with the UNSPSC code description that contains "cardiac."

Figure 9 - Product Index Layer Item Search Results

Search for a User

User searches are available from the User Security panels. Access these panel from the Administration menu.

To search for a Sourcing and Contract Management user:

1. From the main Contents, select Administration > User/Security Settings > All Users.
   The search panel opens with the default value All entered in the search box (Figure 10).

Below the search panel is a list of users.

Figure 10 - List of Users with Search Open

2. Enter characters from the User ID or User Name in the Search box.
   - If you have assigned values to the Tags user-defined field for a user record, you can also enter the tag value(s) in the Search box to find
   the associated record. For details on user-defined fields, and the Tags field, see Using Tags.
3. Click Search.
   If found, the user appears with the search characters highlighted in yellow (Figure 11).

Figure 11 - User List Search Results

Search for a Supply Manufacturer

The overall Search locates and displays manufacturer information.
See the discussion of search values for valid characters that you can enter in the Search field for manufacturers.

To search for a manufacturer,

1. Click the Supply tab on the Search panel.
2. Click the Manufacturers link. The system displays recently viewed manufacturers.
   - Clicking a manufacturer name opens the "Work with Manufacturer" page.
   
3. In the search box, enter characters from a manufacturer name, ID, or entity name.
4. Click Enter or Search.
   

Search Results for a Manufacturer

The system returns a list of manufacturers where the search characters you entered are matched (Figure 12).

You can filter the list in the search results for either all manufacturers (All) that contain the search characters, or only manufacturers with items in your item catalog (With Items).

If no matches for the search characters exist, a message appears. For local manufacturers, (Local) appears next to the manufacturer entity name.

The underlined panel columns can be sorted.

Figure 12 - Search Results for a Manufacturer

Search for Vendor Information

You can use the overall Search in Sourcing and Contract Management to locate and display vendor information.
See the discussion of search values for valid characters that you can enter in the Search field for vendors.

To search for a vendor,

1. Click the Supply tab or the Services tab on the Search panel.
2. Click the Vendor link. The system displays recently viewed vendors.
   - Clicking a vendor name opens the "Work with Vendor" page.
   
3. In the search box, enter characters from a vendor name, vendor ID, or vendor set.
4. Click Enter or Search.
   

The system returns a list of vendors where the search characters you entered are matched (Figure 13).

Search Results for Vendors

The results panel contains vendors whose names, IDs, or vendor sets contain the search characters. You can filter the list of vendors in the search results for either services or supply spend types, or display both.

When (Local) appears, the entity has been created by a user, and is a local entity. Local entities are stored in the site's own data tables.

If no matches for the search characters exist, a message appears.

The panel columns can be sorted.

Figure 13 - Search Results for Services Vendors

Filters

• Vendors: displays all vendors (services and supply) or only vendors with item spend.
• Local: displays either all vendors, or vendors that you registered to local entities.
• Spend Type: displays vendors with both spend types (services and supply); supply vendors only, or services vendors only (as in Figure 13).
  - Filter the results list for supply vendors by clicking Spend Type: Supply.
  - Display both services and supply vendors by clicking Spend Type: All.

Columns

Figure 14 shows vendor information for a services vendor. On the Vendor Info panel, note the Category definition "External Landscaping."

Vendor information includes the Supply and Services Contracts tabs, Items tab, Invoices tab (grayed out, if no invoices exist), and Registry Information tab.
For a services vendor, the Supply Contracts tab will be empty unless the vendor is also a supply vendor. Similarly, for a supply vendor, the Services Contracts tab is empty.

If the vendor is not registered, a note is on the Registry Information panel. In this case, you may wish to register the vendor.

Figure 14 - The Work with Vendor Page

Search results for supply contract vendors are in Figure 15.

If the vendor is not registered, a note is on the Registry Information panel. In this case, you may wish to register the vendor.

Figure 15 - Vendor Information Panels on the "Work with Vendor " Page

Panels on the "Work with Vendor" page

Vendor Info lists the vendor name and vendor entity. For services contract vendors, the Category also appears. If a vendor is not registered,
the entity field is missing.

Supply Contracts or Services Contracts lists the contracts for the vendor. Clicking any contract number opens the contract.

Items lists the vendor's items (for vendors of supply contracts).

Invoices lists invoices for vendors of services contracts.

Registry Information displays the entity family -- the parent entity and its child entities and aliases -- to which the vendor belongs.
If the vendor is not registered to an entity, a message appears on the panel. In this case, you may wish to register the vendor.

Actions contains activities that you can perform with the vendor.

• Unregister lets you disassociate the vendor in the Vendor field (Vendor Info panel) from the Entity.
  - If the vendor is not registered, the Register link appears. Registering and unregistering a vendor are also available from panels that you can access from the Analysis Workbench, as outlined in the Product Index Layer chapter.
• Set Spend Type (which is grayed out for unregistered vendors) lets you assign the supply or services spend type to the vendor.
  - Note that if you select a new spend type for a registered vendor, the spend type changes at the entity level, and for all the vendor locations.
• Markup Sets lets you display, create, and edit markup sets.
  - Any changes that you make to markup sets from this panel are made at the vendor entity level (and affect all vendor locations), just as though you were editing markup sets on the vendor registration record.
• Set Rounding Type - Visible to Premier staff only: Selects the type of numeric rounding for the vendor. rounding round up 4/5 rounding precision

Search for Services Contracts and Services Contract Notes

Search works the same way from both the Supply tab and the Services tab. See the discussion of search values for valid characters that you can enter in the Search field.

Searching from the Services tab locates services contracts and notes associated with a contract, or the contract;s supporting documents. You can also search for services vendors, as described previously.

When you open the services contracts search, the system initially displays a list of your recently viewed contracts.
Clicking any contract number opens the contract.

To find shared services contracts:

1. On the Search panel, click the Services tab.
2. To find a services contract or services contract notes, enter characters in the Search box.
   - For services contracts, you can enter: characters contained in a Contract Number or Name; UserID, or all or part of the Owner's Name.
   - For notes, enter characters that can be found in the notes.
   - Entering All displays all elements of each type.
3. Click Search

If you have assigned values to the Tags user-defined field for a user record, you can also enter the tag value(s) in the Search box to find the associated record. For details on user-defined fields, and the Tags field, see Using Tags.

On the search results, the User Fields filters appear if you have created user fields for services contracts and entered values. You can filter the list on the value of any of the user fields. Click a value.

On other pages and panels in Services Contracts, such as the Email Users panel, a Search field also appears so that you can search the list.
See the discussion of search values for valid characters that you can enter in the Search field.

Using the Search Icon

The search icon appears on many lists in Sourcing and Contract Management so that you can look for elements of interest. For example, here Figure 16 is the Contract Lines list, which displays the lines in a contract.

Figure 16 - The Contract Lines List with the Search Box Open

To search a list:

1. Click the search icon . The search box opens.
2. Enter the word or number that you wish to search for.
   - For example, in Figure 16 , the user has entered the characters "vanill" in the search box to find an Ensure vanilla product such as item 50460, 50462, or 50464, (at the bottom of the list).
3. Click Enter.

• To close the search, click the X box to the right of the text entry area.

Search Entries

The rules for the types of entries that you can make in the search box are the same as those for the "Search" page.

In sum, the search assumes that characters you enter represent the beginning of the string that you wish to search for.
- So, entering "vanil" would find "vanilla."
- Entering "1865" would find "1865," "1865ABC," "186578PP1," etc.
- Entering "illa" would not find "vanilla." The search would return with no results. Similarly, entering "8PP1" would not find "186578PP1."

The record fields that are searched are listed in Table 1 for each type of search.

About the  Catalog

For  members who use both SCM and SCA: The Catalog is part of the  integrated contract management platform which lets you work with contract data (including local contracts) and item records from a single location. Your site needs to be set up to use the Catalog. Once implemented, the Catalog is available from a new tab on the SCM "Search" page (Figure 17).

Figure 17 - The Catalog Tab on the SCM Search Page

• To open the catalog, click the Catalog tab (Figure 17).

The SCM application takes you to the  Catalog and displays the initial search page. Click the ? in the top right of any Catalog panel to get Help for using the search and for what the search results mean. Also, a detailed discussion of the Catalog is available when you click the link on the Help page in the upper left. The discussion is also available here.

If you are not a   member, you may be unfamiliar with some of the concepts the Catalog uses -- facilities, facility groups, and contract eligibility. A discussion of facilities and eligibility is here. In addition, an index of terms used in  contract management along with the parallel SCM terms is available.

Appendix A: Ignored Words in SCM Searches

The system ignores these words as part of a search string:

Table 2 - Words Ignored When Used in a Search String

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