Help with Directory

The Directory is a listing of people and their contact information. You may search for people in the Directory. Some search results will also show affiliations to organizations. After sign-in, additional features may be seen, based upon sign-in security level. Additional features may include more search options, saved preferences, reporting and administrative tools.


Easy or Basic Search Form

If enabled, you can see and choose a radio button choice for Easy or Basic.  The Easy interface shows these search dropdown lists: Board Members or Members, Membership Organization, State, Zip Code, and Last Name.  These dropdown lists are constructed from the current information and any selection will show results.

The Basic interface begins with Quick Find where you can enter any part of a person's name or designations and use the Enter key or click its Find.   If enabled, the Basic search form also shows Person Name but adds more search selections and its Find button to view search results.  If enabled, more buttons for advanced options are available.

If enabled, you can see a More Search Choices button that shows more search  features.  Cick any topic for help on more features, below.

Directory - Basic and Advanced Features
Showing Search Results
Reset
Sorting Results
Browser AutoComplete Hints
Features for Administrators


Features of Basic and Advanced Directory Access

Click links below to jump to the topic further below in this Help file.

  1. View and Basic Search Form
  2. Basic Search Form, Extended Search Filters
  3. Advanced Affiliations Search Filters
  1. View, Basic and Advance Search, Reporting & Administration Features

Quick Find

When you first open the Directory you see the Find results for your default search preferences. For a quick search within your default search preferences, type any part of the person's name or designation in the text box next to Find. Press Enter or Click Find to see results. The top of the page shows the search preferences you are using as Viewing:.... The right of the page shows your search results.

To see all results for the default search preferences, delete anything in the quick search text box then press Enter or Click Find. If you are signed in, the default (start up) search preferences is your chosen default preference. If you have not saved your preferences, then, your default search preferences is preset according to your sign-in access privilege (member, board member, or administrator).


Basic Search Form

To search by more than just name or designation, click Search Form on the menu area. After clicking Search Form, you will see Organization and Group, which allows you to quickly display a group of people.

The Organization selected is the organization that has an affiliation with the people you are searching for. View and Basic access levels permit searching for people affiliated with the Organization that owns the database.

Search by group by selecting your choice in the Group drop down list. Each Group is a group of people affiliated with the Organization shown. Each Group is identified by an Affiliation Type or a Position, or both. When both are present, the Affiliation Type is listed first, followed by a comma, followed by a Position.

The Group drop down lists show choices that the administrator has created. Different sets of Group lists are available for public (no sign-in), member, board, and administrator sign-in security privileges. The Group drop down list shows only groups that have one or more people affiliated with the Organization shown.

The Member Type drop down lists show choices that the administrator has created to categorize types of members.

The Specialty drop down lists show choices of the top professional specialties of a member.

The Person Name text box allows typing of all or part of the person's name and/or designations. Best results come from typing just enough information and not too much. If you type Clarke in the Person Name text box and the name Clarke is actually spelled Clark, then you won't find Clarke. It would be better to enter just Clark. Searching for CFP finds all who have the CFP designation in their full name.

The Main Contact for their organization's information checkbox, when checked, filters to show just the people who have indicated that they are the main contact for their organization.

Extended Search Filters

Extended Search Filters ate typically provided for Members. In some cases these may not be visible without sign-in.

The Company drop down list show all companies in the directory (as appears on the top line of a person's mailing address)

The City drop down list show all cities in the directory (as appears on a person's mailing address)

The State/Province drop down list show all states or provinces in the directory (as appears on a person's mailing address)

The Zip/Postal Code drop down list show all zip codes and postal codes in the directory (as appears on a person's mailing address). By default, these are filtered by all digits (Zip +4). You can change that by clicking the radio button to show results that include all that start with the first five digits (basic 5-digit zip code.)

The Email Address text box allows typing all or part of the person's main email address. You might also use all or part of the domain name to see all people at a certain Internet Service Provider or company. For example, enter @aol.com to see all people with an AOL email address.

The ID is a unique numeric identification assigned to each person in the database. The ID must contain the exact number to find.


Hints about Searching

In any search text boxes, your search details will be found if they are contained in any contiguous part of the test box you are searching.

Searching multiple controls (such as drop down lists and text boxes) will give results found in one AND the other control.

The underscore _ character is a wild card . Example: entering All_n in the Person Name finds all Allen and Allan names.

Leave a drop down list or a text box blank to find all matches.

If you cannot find a person that you suspect should be in the directory, it might be that the person as opted to not show their information in the directory. Members can choose to hide their email address, phone, fax, or all.


Affiliations Search Filters (Advanced Search Form)

The advanced Affiliations Search Filters are typically available to users with Board Member or Administrator directory access privilege. After sign-in, if you see an Advanced Search Form button under the basic search form, you may click it to use additional search text boxes of the affiliation controls of Affiliation Type, Position, Start and End Dates, Ended but Date Unknown, Grace Days and Profession.

Company is an area of information that appears as part of the mailing address for the person. A similar Company name might also be seen in the Organization and may yield search results in conjunction with an Affiliation such as "employee". Company is not the same as a person's affiliated Organization, unless the administrator has affiliated a person to an organization matching their Company name, and the Affiliation type is one such as "employee".

Advance searching in the Affiliations section requires an understanding of how people are affiliated with organizations. Advanced searching allows you to select any or all organizations.

The Group drop down list is unavailable because it is redundant with the affiliation controls of Affiliation (type), Position, Start and End Dates. The Group drop down list is actually a series of pre-selected combinations of the affiliation controls of Affiliation Type, Position, Start and End Dates.

Unlike the basic search Group drop down list, The Affiliation Type, Position, and Profession drop down lists show all possible selections, whether or not they been chosen to for any actual affiliations. Use the Organization along with the other affiliation controls to see any type of affiliation of any person with any organization in the database.

Start and End dates are optional when an administrator enters an affiliation. However, when entered, they allow tracking of when affiliations start and end. This allows a history of affiliations such as memberships and board positions, along with being able to track and view a current directory of current members, or any other type of entered affiliations. There is no limit to the amount and variety of affiliations the administrator may enter, track, search and report.

Ended but Date Unknown can be checked to search for affiliations that have been so indicated.

Grace Days are a number of days that you want to search as a grace period for an Affiliation that has possibly ended. For instance, setting this number to 90 means that for up to 90 days past their 'end' date, expired affiliations will still be found as current affiliations in the Directory. Grace Days are typically used for affiliations such as 'member' . The member is still listed in the Directory during the Grace period, while their membership renewal is being processed.

The Grace Days that first appear are the default amount of grace days, as decided by the administrator. Enter any number here and you may override the default number of grace days when you click Apply Grace . Grace Days are only active after 'Apply' modifies End operator (after) and the date. Grace Days searching applies to any kind of affiliation being searched. You may enter any positive number of days from 0 to 32768.

Default Grace resets to the Default grace period. It displays the End date by subtracting the Grace Days from today's date. It also changes the End operator to AFTER


Saved Searches

The Save Search button saves the current search preferences that you have entered in the search form. A saved search preference allows you to select and use the exact search preference again, at any time from any computer. The Save Search button is available only when you are signed in.

After you click the Save Search button, you are taken directly to edit the Saved Search Preference. There you can optionally add a search preference name, search notes, and choose whether to make it your default search preference. If you have previously saved an identical search, you can optionally edit any of this information. See Saved Search Preferences help that follows.

Show Saved Searches

The Show Saved Searches button displays all your previously saved search preferences. You can then Find with, Edit or Delete preferences. The Show Saved Searches button is available only when you are signed in. See Saved Search Preferences help that follows.

Saved Search Preferences

You can view your saved search preferences by selecting Search Form, Show Saved Searches. Each row is a saved preference. You may save and recall an unlimited number of search preferences.

Parts of a Saved Search Preference

Each search preference has an ID, Name, Default Option, Notes, View 20 Per Page Option, and Search Criteria. Each search preference is displayed on a row preceded by Find, Edit, and Delete buttons.

Find, Edit, and Delete

The Find button views the results as specified on that row. The Edit, and Delete buttons allow you to maintain the Saved Search Preference. You may have an unlimited number of Saved Search Preferences.

Search Preference ID

Each new Search Preference is assigned a unique ID. You cannot edit the ID. Each Search Preference is also identified by your Sign In identity. No other user can view or use your Search Preference.

Search Preference Name

Each Search Preference includes an optional Search Preference Name of up to 50 characters. You can edit the Search Preference Name if you wish. The Setup Name is for your use so that you can later recall and re-use this Search Preference.

When a new Search Preference is inserted, the name and notes are blank. The Search Criteria shows the "Viewing:" message from the top of the Directory page.

Search Preference Notes

Each Search Preference includes optional Notes. You can edit the Notes if you wish. You can enter an unlimited amount of notes.

The Notes are for your use to further describe the Search Preference. Notes might include such items as what report setup to use, etc.

Search Criteria

Each Search Preference remembers all the search criteria on the Basic and Advanced search forms. The search criteria is the same as the Viewing: message from the top of the Directory page. It cannot be edited. To change a search criteria, delete the row and, go to the Search Form, construct your search criteria, and click Save Search.

How to Maintain, Use, and Re-Use Search Preferences

When you click Save Search, you save a new Search Preferences. When you click Show Save Searches, you view all saved search preferences. You can then find with, edit, or delete preferences. By default, all Search Preferences are sorted by most recently remembered at the top.

After you Edit an Search Preference, be sure to click Update to save any changes to the Search Preference.

If you have many saved Search Preferences, it may help to sort the Search Preferences rows. You can sort by clicking the underlined Column Headings. You can click a column successive times to reverse a sort. The first click sorts lesser values at top. The symbol ^appears in front of the Column Heading to indicate that lesser values are at the top. Clicking again produces a reverse sort order and the symbol v appears to indicate greater values are at the top.


Editing your Information

If you are not already signed-in, you can click the Sign In button. After you Sign In, more Directory features and search options may be displayed, including an Edit link next to your information. You can view and edit your email address, all contact information and much more by clicking the Edit link or by clicking the My Info button. The My Email button allows you to view and edit just your email address.

Administrative Directory Access allows you to edit any person's information.


Report

When you have Reporting Directory access privilege, the Report button is available. To use Report, first search as needed to display the report results you wish to report. Then, click Report. The Report button takes you to the Reports page. Once there, a large button appears named Insert New Directory Report for last-viewed Search. Clicking that button inserts a new report setup with the same search criteria, along with a default (or your saved preference) of report columns. More help is available on the Reports page.


Showing Search Results

On the left, under Showing Results:, are two dropdown lists.  On the top list, select to view 2, 20, 50, 100 or 500 per page. More search results per page will take longer for the page to load.  On the next dropdown list, Select More detail to view the most contact information about each  search result.  Select Less Detail to view a minimal amount of information that fits one result per line and makes for slightly quicker page loads. Select By Company to see people search results similar to More Detail, but sorted by their Company name.

When search results exceed your selected per page option, below the last search result you see BACK and NEXT navigation buttons to scroll through more results. A message indicates what page you are viewing, how many total pages are in the results, the place numbers for those you are currently viewing, and how many total are found.

The More Detail option shows details in affiliation information. If a person has multiple affiliations with the group you are viewing, they will be displayed multiple times in the detailed view, showing each of their affiliations. When this happens, you will notice a higher result count found when viewing More Detail  as opposed to viewing Less Detail.

When information is available, search results show full contact information and links to email addresses, biographies, company information and more. Members of this website can sign-in to edit any of this information.


Reset

At the bottom of the Search Form, the Reset button resets all search preferences to defaults. If you are signed in, this resets the default search preferences to your preference for default search preferences. If you have not saved your preferences, then, your default search preferences is set to your sign in group access privileges. If you are not signed in, your default search preferences is the setting for public access.


Sorting Results

Board groups search results are sorted by board structure (when viewing More Detail). All other results are sorted alphabetically by the last name, first name.


Browser AutoComplete Hints

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 has the AutoComplete feature that allows you to enter search preferences more easily.

The AutoComplete feature saves previous entries you've made in text boxes. Then, when you type information in one of these, AutoComplete suggests possible matches.

In a text box, start typing the information. If you've typed a similar entry before, AutoComplete lists possible matches as you type.

If a suggestion in the list matches what you want to enter in that field, click the suggestion.
If no suggestion matches what you are typing, continue typing.

When typing information in text boxes, you can remove an item from the list of suggestions by clicking the item and then pressing the DELETE key. To see all AutoComplete items for a text box, place the cursor in the text box and press the Down Arrow.

To use AutoComplete, make sure it is checked in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Tools, Internet Options, Content, AutoComplete Settings, Forms.


Features for Administrators

Administrators Only: Insert New

The Insert New button is available only to Administrators. This inserts a new person into the database. To avoid inserting duplicate people into the database, first search all people first, using last name or part of last name, along with any possible alternate or misspellings. If applicable and available, also search for maiden or any other known names.

Administrators Only: RFI

The Request For Information (RFI) button is available on both the 20/page and 2/page views. Click RFI to display and edit a portion of the Person page information: the RFI Date, Last Prospect Contact Date, RFI Field Names, and Administrator's Notes. This information is also available by clicking Edit to edit the complete Person form. See Person - Administrator's Help, Tracking Outdated Information

Administrators Only: Unlisted information displays in Orange

Users on their Person page, Options panel, can choose if they prefer to have their name, email, phone and/or fax hidden in the Directory (unlisted). When signed-in as Administrator, this hidden information displays in an orange color. In addition, the word "(Unlisted)" appears after any hidden name. Unlisted email, phone and fax are completely hidden for all who view the Directory without administrator security privilege. An unlisted name appears as "Unlisted Person" and shows only their website ID number.

Administrators Only: How to Configure Directory Options

From the Administrator's Home page, review your menu selections for Database Configuration and Drop Down Lists. There you will find Help links to assist you in customizing the search features on the Directory Page. To modify the default number of Grace Days, see the Administrator's Home page, menu selections for Database Configuration, panel Directory 1.

Administrators Only: How to Search All People, All Affiliations

On the Directory page, blank everything in the Basic Search Form and the Advance Search Form. Click Find and your search results shall show all people in the database.

On the Directory page, display only the Basic Search Form, blank everything on the Basic Search Form . Click Find and your search results shall show all people in the database, and any additional affiliations each have. Since a person may have none, one or many affiliations, they may be listed once, or many times according to their number of affiliations.

Administrators Only: Query Strings

Query strings are very handy for quickly linking to the Directory and immediately displaying predetermined results. See Directory Page Help - Search using Links

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