Release 12.

Full Text Search Users Guide

M10108-00E12000000 July 2003

 19952003, Amdocs. All Rights Reserved. Amdocs Confidential This manual and the software described herein are subject to your Amdocs Software License and are copyrighted with all rights reserved. This manual and the software may not be copied, in whole or in part, without written consent of Amdocs, except as permitted by your Amdocs Software License. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only by authorized persons, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Amdocs. Amdocs assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book. The trademark and service marks of the respective Amdocs companies, including the Amdocs mark and logo, are the exclusive property of such companies, and may not be used without permission. All other marks mentioned in this material are the property of their respective owners.

For technical assistance, visit http://clearanswer.clarify.com to submit a case at any time.

Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 When to Use ClarifyCRM FTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chapter 2 Searching for Information With ClarifyCRM FTS Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Before You Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The FTS Search Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Keywords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Keyword Separators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Solution Rankings by Keyword Match Rates . . . . . . . . . 14 Phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Special Search Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Substitute Zero or More Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Substitute a Character Within a Word. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Wildcard Override Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Changing From the All to Any Match Method . . . 16 FTS Window Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Attach to Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 New Solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Items Found Custom List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 ID Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Contents

Chapter 3

Setting FTS Preferences The FTS Preferences Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Property Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Property Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Property List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Copy and Remove Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Search Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Search Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Options List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Root Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Synonyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Inflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Copy and Remove Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 FTS Preferences Window Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Search Automatically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Time-Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Max Matches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Match Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Rate By . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Hit Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Terms Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Terms Ordered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Rare Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Save Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Sources to Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Sources to Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Include . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Index

Contents

Chapter 1

Introduction

In This Chapter Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 When to Use ClarifyCRM FTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Overview

Overview
ClarifyCRM FTS (full text search) enables users to do a simple, quick, flexible, yet powerful search for relevant database objects or external documents. Since its search is based on textual words and their alternatives (synonyms, plurals, etc.), ClarifyCRM FTS is more focused than character-based searches. ClarifyCRM FTS is likely to work extremely well either when specific words or phrases for the target object are known or when the target collections number less than a few thousand. For its purposes, however, ClarifyCRMs FTS is the best available. It is based on an application programming interface that uses the best of breed commercial full text search engines. It is very simple and quick to use and has many settable options for special purposes. Simply using ClarifyCRM FTS helps build your problem resolution knowledge base for the DE and improve its own accuracy with use (by storing and indexing successful keywords with the found objects to help find them again later and to increase their ratings).

Queries
ClarifyCRMs queries enable finely tuned searches for specific types of objects. These queries compare object attributes (fields and relations) with their potential values to find relevant object matches. In addition, keywords can be added into queries. Essentially, queries provide easy-to-use, customizable windows to construct search criteria that the application translates into SQL queries. Also, ClarifyCRM provides filtered selection windows for even simpler and quicker searches for particular objects.

When to Use ClarifyCRM FTS

Lets assume that a customer calls your support line to report a problem with one of your products say, a disk drive is crashing. If the solution to the disk drive problem has not already been defined within the system, the technical support engineer (TSE) can use ClarifyCRM FTS to find related information. There may be text documents on the network that provide relevant details about the particular product or the problem. There may be

Chapter 1

When to Use ClarifyCRM FTS

change requests (from ClearQuality) or even previous cases that provide information about the problem. ClarifyCRM FTS can search through objects in the database and external documents, either one collection at a time or all at once. Specific queries may be used for many purposes along the way. For example, maybeClarifyCRM FTS finds a previous case recorded against an earlier version of the product that has some similarities to the current case. The TSE can then use a query to check for any additional cases that describe similar circumstances.
Table 1 Component To Use To Accomplish Various Goals Your Goals and Requirements Find particular type of object based on its fields. Find external documents. Want to know related objects of different types. Want to know similar objects of the same type. Research all available aspects of an issue. Check for duplication before defining new object. Search with word variations (synonyms, root expansions, inflections). Component to Use Query Full Text Search Full Text Search Query Full Text Search Query Full Text Search

Table 2 Component To Use Based On What You Already Know What You Know Your Goal Knowing some text content find all relevant objects and documents. Knowing a specific phrase find a solution or other object. Knowing something about an attribute or relation find the object. Component to Use Full Text Search Full Text Search Query

Introduction

When to Use ClarifyCRM FTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Searching for Information With ClarifyCRM FTS

In This Chapter Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 The FTS Search Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Overview

Overview
ClarifyCRM FTS allows you to use keywords to search quickly through both your ClarifyCRM database and external documents. External documents are primarily text files that contain pertinent technical information and are stored outside of any ClarifyCRM database. The first section allows you to get a quick start with ClarifyCRM FTS by doing a simple search. It provides little background or explanation but is a quick way to try out this feature to see how ClarifyCRM FTS works. The next section describes each field of the ClarifyCRM FTS window in which you set up each search. The last section covers the ClarifyCRM FTS Preferences window in which you can set system-wide search parameters that apply to future searches as well as the current search.

Before You Start

Before you continue with this guide, ensure that your particular client system has been set up for ClarifyCRM FTS. If that has not been done, please have your ClarifyCRM System Administrator perform the setup before you continue.
More Information: Please refer to the Full Text Search Administration Guide for

more information on setting up client machines to run ClarifyCRM FTS. Also, ensure that you can access the index files for the database you plan to use and the appropriate ClarifyCRM FTS support files for your client platform. If you need to mount a file server, please do so now. You must be running ClearSupport or ClearQuality to do a ClarifyCRM FTS search. If you do not have ClearSupport or ClearQuality running, start up either one or both of them now. Be sure that you have checked out a license for each application that you intend to run. In addition, be sure you have the correct license. This chapter assumes that you know how to use ClearSupport and/or ClearQuality. If this assumption is incorrect, please familiarize yourself with those components of the ClarifyCRM before continuing.

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Chapter 2

Overview

When you invoke ClarifyCRM FTS, the FTS window appears. If you have entered information in the associated case or CR window, ClarifyCRM FTS automatically selects keywords from the case or CR and copies them into the Keywords field of the FTS window.
NOTE: Your FTS preferences must be set up properly in order for the FTS window to automatically be populated with keywords. Please refer to Chapter 3, Setting FTS Preferences.

You can do a simple search by accepting the keywords selected by ClarifyCRM FTS, or you can make any number of changes before searching by simply adding, deleting, or replacing keywords. You should use no more than three or four keywords for the best results. Once youve found the location of the information you need, you can view the database object or document that contains that information, resolve the case or CR, and link the solution with the case or CR. The remainder of this section walks you through a few simple steps to accomplish a quick search.

To perform a quick search:

1. Click on the Search button in the Case or Change Request window to invoke ClarifyCRM FTS. Notice that ClarifyCRM FTS suggests some keywords by copying them from the Case or Change Request window into the Keywords field of the FTS window. 2. Click on the Clear button to remove all text from the Keywords field. 3. Click on the Restore button to restore the keywords. 4. Add or delete individual words in the Keywords field. Be sure at least one keyword is likely to be found in one of the objects that has already been indexed. 5. Click on the Preferences button to open the FTS Preferences window. In the lower half of the FTS Preferences window is a list of the possible objects to include in the search.

Searching for Information With ClarifyCRM FTS

11

The FTS Search Window

6. Be sure the source object you wish to include in your search has a Yes value in the Include column next to it. If the object you wish to include in your search has a No value change it to Yes. Either click on the Yes button (this button will toggle between Yes and No, depending on whether the selected object has a Yes or No value in its Include column) or double-click on it to change it to Yes. Change the values of all the other objects in the list to No to exclude them. 7. Return to the FTS window, and click on the Search button to start the search. When the search is complete, a list of items where one or more of the specified keywords was found appears in the custom list on the FTS window. Now that you have an idea of how ClarifyCRM FTS works, go to the next section to learn about setting various parameters and doing more complex searches.

The FTS Search Window

As stated earlier in this chapter, you can invoke ClarifyCRM FTS from ClearSupport or ClearQuality in any of the following ways:

Click on the Search button in a new Case or new CR window. Click on the Search button in the existing Case or CR window. Select the Search command from the Actions menu with a Case window
open.

Use the accelerator keys from an open Case window: Ctrl-S

(for both Windows and Motif). When you invoke ClarifyCRM FTS in any of these ways, the FTS window appears.

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Chapter 2

The FTS Search Window

Figure 1 The Empty FTS Window

The following sections provide the information you need to understand and use each of the fields and controls in the FTS Search window. The fields and controls are listed in an order that reflects the windows layout from top left to bottom right. Some general principles to keep in mind are:

Stop words are insignificant or commonly used words like the, an,
from, symptom, problem words that are so common that they dont really help in a search. Your ClarifyCRM administrator can set up ClarifyCRM FTS to ignore these words when searching.

ClarifyCRM FTS searches are always case-insensitive, so you need not be

concerned using upper or lower case letters in the fields relative to ClarifyCRM FTS searches.

Searching for Information With ClarifyCRM FTS

13

The FTS Search Window

Keywords
ClarifyCRM FTS automatically selects keywords from fields in the associated case or CR and copies them into the Keywords field of the FTS window. (The fields from which the keywords are selected are determined by the Property List in the FTS Preferences window. Refer to the chapter titled Setting FTS Preferences, for more information.) You can accept the keyword suggestions, or modify the list by deleting words you dont want to search for and/or adding words you do want to search for that were not part of the associated case or CR. Once you get used to using ClarifyCRM FTS, youll find it much faster to include the words you want to search for somewhere in the case or CR Title field. You can speed up the process even more by clicking the Search Automatically checkbox on the FTS Preferences window. Refer to the chapter titled Setting FTS Preferences.

Keyword Separators
When entering keywords in the FTS window, there are several characters that can be used to separate the keywords (just like spaces separate words in a sentence). These keyword separators are as follows:

space: (entered with the space-bar key) tab: (entered with the tab key) ~!@#$^&*()+=|{}[]:;?/.,<>
NOTE: Periods and commas are not separators for numeric words, because they

are part of typical numeric notation. For example: 8,345.72.

Solution Rankings by Keyword Match Rates

Your ClarifyCRM administrator can set up ClarifyCRM FTS to rank Solutions by the number of times they have been linked to Cases. (This essentially ranks Solutions by their success rate). This way when Solutions are listed in the Items found custom list, the ones that have been linked to cases most often (and are therefore most likely to be successful solutions to your problem) are placed at the top of the list. This ranking system is helpful when ClarifyCRM FTS returns multiple Solutions, each of which have the same keywords that match your search.

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Chapter 2

The FTS Search Window

Phrase
You can use the Phrase field for very focused searches, either alone or in conjunction with the Keywords field. If you know exactly what youre looking for but arent sure where to find it, use the Phrase field. If you enter text in the Phrase field, ClarifyCRM FTS searches for that text exactly as you enter it; that is, word order is significant, and all words in the phrase (except noise words) must be found for a match to be reported. If you enter text in both the Keywords field and the Phrase field, the Match Method setting in FTS Preferences determines whether ClarifyCRM FTS looks for both the keywords and the phrase or either the keywords or the phrase. (See section titled Match Method in the FTS Preferences Window Controls section later in this chapter for explanations of these settings.) For example, if you know youve seen some information about a particular drivers incompatibility but cant remember where, you might enter something like The ABC printer driver is incompatible with in the Phrase field. Chances are very good that this search will report the exact database object or external document where you can find the information you need.
NOTE: If any word or words within the phrase are not found, the search will return

nothing.

Special Search Methods

Certain keyboard entries can now be used in ClarifyCRM FTS to change your search methods. For example, when youre not exactly sure what terms or words to search on, wildcard characters allow you to put only partial information into the Keywords field of the FTS window. They can be thought of as character substitutes. You can also change the way ClarifyCRM FTS searches by how you separate your keywords. These search methods and their usage are described as follows.
IMPORTANT: Wildcards cannot be used with the Intuitive Match Method or with

the Inflections Search Option.

Searching for Information With ClarifyCRM FTS

15

The FTS Search Window

The following three features, Substitute Zero or More Characters, Substitute a Character Within a Word, and Wildcard Override Character are supported in ClarifyCRM FTS 4.5 only. They are not supported for use with previous versions of ClarifyCRM FTS.

Substitute Zero or More Characters

The percent sign (%) wildcard substitutes zero or more characters at the beginning or end of a word. For example, a search on ca% might find: California, CA, case, and cases. Note that in the case of the abbreviation for the state of California (CA) this wildcard did not substitute for any characters at all.

Substitute a Character Within a Word

The underline (_) character substitutes for a single character within a word. This is a good character to use if you are not sure of the spelling of a search word. For example, a search on f_xing might find: fixing or faxing.

Wildcard Override Character

If you wish to override the _ wildcard character, you can precede it with a backslash (\). This can be used in searches where you want to include the underline character as part of the keyword. For example, if you wanted to search for the term, special_program.exe, you would enter the following into the Keywords text box: special\_program.exe. This would search for all instances of the term special_program.exe.

Changing From the All to Any Match Method

You can switch your match method on the fly by the way you separate your terms in the Keywords text box of the FTS window. If your match method is set to All it is equivalent to a Boolean AND search. However, you can change your match method to Any (a Boolean OR search) by separating each entry in the Keywords text box with a return (press the enter or return key after each entry).
NOTE: To use this match method, there must be no spaces between the words and

the return character.

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Chapter 2

The FTS Search Window

FTS Window Controls

The following controls are located in the FTS window:

Search Preferences Clear Restore Attach to Case New solution Open Done
These controls are described as follows.

Search
The Search button invokes the search.

Preferences
The Preferences button displays the FTS Preferences window, where you can set your parameters for the current search or all future searches. This window is described in the chapter titled Setting FTS Preferences.
NOTE: You can also use the Desktop Set FTS Preferences pulldown command to

open the FTS Preferences window.

Clear
The Clear button deletes all items from the Keywords field regardless of whether the items are those automatically pre-selected by ClarifyCRM FTS or added manually by you.

Restore
The Restore button restores keywords from the previous search or from the associated object (case or CR) if no previous search was done.
Searching for Information With ClarifyCRM FTS 17

The FTS Search Window

Attach to Case
Platform specific

The attach feature is only available in ClearSupport. This button remains dimmed (inactive) in ClearQuality. The Attach to Case button links a document found in a search to the associated case. (Note that the Attach to Case button is dimmed (inactive) unless a document in the Items Found custom list is highlighted.) Highlight the document you want to link, and click the Attach to Case button. The selected document becomes an attachment to that case. In addition, the text query that ClarifyCRM FTS used to find the object or document is saved in the Keywords field on the case.
NOTE: You must save the associated case before you can link the ClarifyCRM FTS

solution to it.

New Solution
When an FTS window is opened from a case, the New Solution button opens a new Solution window with its Problem Description field pre-filled.
NOTE: The Solution windows Problem Description field is only prefilled from

FTS windows that are opened from a Case. They are not prefilled from Change Request windows.

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Chapter 2

The FTS Search Window

Figure 2 The Solution Window With Pre-filled Problem Description

The contents of the Title and Phone Notes fields of the associated case appear in the Problem Description field. In addition, if a document is highlighted in the Items Found custom list, the title of that document appears in the Solution Title field of the new solution.

Open
The Open button attempts to display an item found in a search. Highlight the item you want to display, and click the Open button. Alternatively, you can double-click on an item in the list to open it. If you open a database object (such as a solution) the appropriate window opens and displays the object. If you open an external document, ClarifyCRM FTS launches your editor of choice, which is defined in your clarify.env file, and attempts to display the document. If the document cannot be read by your editor of choice, ClarifyCRM FTS displays a message informing you of that fact. In such cases, you must use an appropriate application to view the document outside ClarifyCRM. (For more information about the clarify.env file and instructions for setting your editor of choice, see the Client Installation Guide unique to your database, or seek help from your ClarifyCRM administrator).

Searching for Information With ClarifyCRM FTS

19

The FTS Search Window

Done
The Done button closes the FTS window.

Items Found Custom List

When you first open the FTS window (unless Search Automatically is in effect) the Items Found custom list on the lower half of the window is empty and the read-only Items field in the bottom left-hand corner shows that the number of items found is 0. If Search Automatically is in effect when the FTS window appears, the results of the search are displayed, if any. (See the chapter titled Setting FTS Preferences later in this guide for more information about this control). When you run a search, the results are reported in the custom list, and the number of items found is shown in the Items field in the bottom left-hand corner of the window. Each object or document in the custom list can be opened and viewed. If either the Time Out or Max Matches setting is reached, an informational message appears above the Items Found custom list. (See the Time Out and Max Matches sections in the chapter titled Setting FTS Preferences for more information about these controls.) Since this is a custom list, you can easily modify the widths of the columns or even remove a column, if you wish. The sections below describe the type of information listed in each of the columns in the Items Found custom list.

Rating
The Rating column shows the ClarifyCRM FTS rating of each item found in the search. The rating is determined according to the Rate By setting in your FTS Preferences. (See Rate By in the FTS Preferences Window Controls section later in this chapter for more details.)

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Chapter 2

The FTS Search Window

Type
The Type column lists the type of object or document.

Title
The Title column lists the contents of the Title field of an object or the name of a document, such as Need fix for printer driver incompatibility or ClearSupport Users Guide.

ID Number
The ID Number column lists the internal identification number of the database object, for example CR 01154-090194. The ID Number column is blank for external documents.

Searching for Information With ClarifyCRM FTS

21

The FTS Search Window

22

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Setting FTS Preferences

In This Chapter The FTS Preferences Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Property Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Search Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 FTS Preferences Window Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Sources to Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

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The FTS Preferences Window

The FTS Preferences Window

When you click on the Preferences button in the FTS window or select the Set FTS Preferences command from the Desktop pulldown menu, the FTS Preferences window appears.
Figure 3 FTS Preferences Window

You set your own ClarifyCRM FTS preferences; that is, whatever you set as your default settings have no effect on other ClarifyCRM users. Furthermore, if you use ClearSupport or ClearQuality on different platforms, as long as you log in as the same user each time, your preferences are saved for you in the database associated with your user ID. You can set up defaults for all of your searches in this window and never change the settings again; or you can leave this window open and change settings on the fly, based on the specific requirements for each search.

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Chapter 3

Property Options

The settings you save in the FTS Preferences window remain in effect until you change them. Any changes you make in this window in a particular ClarifyCRM FTS session are not saved unless you explicitly save them by clicking on the Save Preferences button. That is, changes remain in effect as long as the associated ClarifyCRM FTS window is open; however, if you close the ClarifyCRM FTS window, the FTS Preferences window closes, and the settings revert to the last saved settings. Once you log out of ClearSupport or ClearQuality, the settings revert to the last settings you saved. The following sections provide the information you need to understand and change each of the parameters in the FTS Preferences window. The fields and controls on that window are listed in an order that reflects the windows layout from top left to bottom right.

Property Options
The two list boxes at the top left of the FTS Preferences window list properties from the Case and Change Request windows.
Figure 4 Search Property Options

Property Options
The Property Options box on the left contains all of the Property Options (fields) in the Case and Change Request windows from which ClarifyCRM FTS can extract keyword suggestions for your search. The items that appear in this list box are the defaults that have been set by your ClarifyCRM administrator.

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Property Options

Property List
The Property List box on the right contains the properties (fields) that you select to be used when ClarifyCRM FTS extracts keyword suggestions for your searches. You copy your selections from the Property Options box on the left to the Property List box on the right. In the example shown in Figure 4, the Case Title and CR Title fields have been selected. Now, only words in the Case Title and CR Title fields are used as keyword suggestions in subsequent searches; other fields in the associated Case or CR windows are ignored. Some items might appear in the Property List the first time you use ClarifyCRM FTS. You can add to the items or remove unwanted items from this box as described in the next section.
NOTE: When you open the FTS Preferences window from the Desktop Set FTS Preferences command, the Property Options and Property List for both Case and CR are displayed.

When you open the FTS Preferences window from the Case FTS window, only the Property Options and Property List for Cases are displayed. When you open the FTS Preferences window from the CR FTS window, only the Property Options and Property List for CRs are displayed.

Copy and Remove Buttons

The two buttons between the boxes move items in and out of the Property List. Highlight the item you want to select from Property Options, and click the Copy button to copy the item to the Property List. Highlight the item you want to remove from the Property List, and click on the Remove button to remove it. Alternatively, you can double-click on items in either list box to copy or remove them. You cannot remove items from the Property Options list box. (See your ClarifyCRM administrator if you want to change your default list.)

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Search Options

Search Options
The boxes below the Property Options and Property List boxes list the search options available.
Figure 5 FTS Search Options

Search Options
The list box on the left contains all of the search options ClarifyCRM FTS can use to make searches more flexible or more restrictive. The items that appear in this list box, by default, are:

Root Expansion Synonyms Inflections

Options List
The box on the right contains the search options that you select to be used by ClarifyCRM FTS for your searches. You copy your selections from the Search Options to the Options List. In the example shown above, the Root Expansion, Synonyms and Inflections options have all been selected. So, in subsequent searches the root expansion, synonym, and inflections capabilities are used. Some items might appear in the Options List the first time you use ClarifyCRM FTS. You can add to the items or remove unwanted items from these lists, using the Copy and Remove buttons described in the next section.

Setting FTS Preferences

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Search Options

Root Expansion
If you select Root Expansion, ClarifyCRM FTS finds matches to both the singular and plural forms of words in the Keywords field. For example, if printer is one of the words in the Keywords field and you have selected Root Expansion, ClarifyCRM FTS reports a match when it finds either printer or printers.

Synonyms
If you select Synonyms, ClarifyCRM FTS finds matches not only to the words in the Keywords field, but also to words that are synonyms of those words. For example, if program is one of the words listed in the Keywords field and you have selected Synonyms, ClarifyCRM FTS can report a match when it finds such words as executable, code, utility, tool, application.
NOTE: The synonyms in your ClarifyCRM FTS system can be modified by your

system administrator.

Inflections
If you select Inflections, ClarifyCRM FTS finds matches not only to the words in the Keywords field, but also to words that are based on those words. (For example, if your keyword is custom ClarifyCRM FTS might return customer, customers, customize, customized, and customizing.) This is a wide-ranging search option that finds exact word-to-word matches as well as other related word matches.
NOTE: The words matched by Root Expansion, Synonyms, and Inflections are

determined by your ClarifyCRM administrator.

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FTS Preferences Window Controls

Copy and Remove Buttons

The two buttons between the Search Options and Options List boxes work the same as the two buttons between the Property Options boxes. They move items in and out of the options list. Highlight the item you want to select from the search options, and click the Copy button to copy the item to the options list. Highlight the item you want to remove from the options list, and click on the Remove button to remove it. Alternatively, you can double-click on items in either list box to copy or remove them. You cannot remove items from the search options list box. (See your ClarifyCRM administrator if you want to change your default list.)

FTS Preferences Window Controls

This section describes the controls in the top right-hand corner of the FTS Preferences window.
Figure 6 Automatic Search Setting

Search Automatically
The checkbox at the top of this group of controls allows you to specify whether or not you want ClarifyCRM FTS to search automatically using the keyword suggestions it extracts from the specified case or CR properties. If you check this checkbox, ClarifyCRM does not display the FTS window before starting the search for the suggested keywords. Once the search is completed, the FTS window displays the list of items found. At that point, you can change the keywords and invoke another search using the FTS window as if Search Automatically were not set.

Setting FTS Preferences

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FTS Preferences Window Controls

If you do not check the checkbox, the FTS window is displayed each time you click on the Search button in a Case or Change Request window. At that point you have the opportunity to add or delete keywords and make other changes in the FTS window before starting the search.

Time-Out
The Time-Out setting determines the maximum length of time a search will be performed. If youre searching for something common, and you think it wont take long to find several matches, set the Time-Out fairly low, for example, 15 seconds. If you arent sure how long a successful search might take, set the Time-Out higher, for example, 30 seconds. The maximum Time-Out you can set is limited by the system maximum set by your ClarifyCRM administrator. For example, if the maximum Time-Out setting is 50 seconds, users cannot set their individual Time-Out settings higher than 50 seconds. It is important to keep in mind that, in many cases, the search takes place over a network, accessing the ClarifyCRM FTS index on a file server or other storage device. The general efficiency of your network affects the perceived time a search takes. So, if you set the Time-Out to, say, 5 seconds, and your network is very busy, the search might appear to take much longer to complete. The fact is that the actual search takes no longer than the Time-Out setting, but the time it takes to retrieve and display the results adds to the total time you perceive a search has taken.
NOTE: If the Max Matches limit is reached first, the search terminates before

reaching the Time-Out limit. See the section below for a description of the Max Matches setting.

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FTS Preferences Window Controls

Max Matches
The Max Matches setting determines the limit on the number of matches that terminate the search. For example, if you set Max Matches to 10, when 10 matches are found, the search terminates and the results are reported.
NOTE: If the Time-Out limit is reached first, the search terminates before reaching

the number of matches set for Max Matches. The maximum Max Matches you can set is limited by the system maximum set by your ClarifyCRM administrator. For example, if the maximum Max Matches setting is 100 matches, users cannot set their individual Max Matches settings higher than 100 matches.

Match Method
The Match Method setting determines how ClarifyCRM FTS identifies matches relative to the keywords selected for a particular search. The Match Method options are:

All Any Intuitive

Figure 7 Match Methods

If you select All, the search works like a Boolean AND; that is, it reports a match only if all of the specified keywords are found.

Setting FTS Preferences

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FTS Preferences Window Controls

If you select Any, the search works like a Boolean OR; that is, it reports matches if any of the specified keywords were found, regardless of how many or how few of each were found. The Intuitive search is a combination method that is mainly based on the Any match method with some additional functionality. It is a search for general similarity rather than an exact word-to-word match. For example, if you want to search for information that describes the concept of the ClarifyCRM desktop, you could enter an entire sentence or more in the Keywords field to cover what you know about the desktop and set the Match Method to Intuitive. ClarifyCRM FTS then searches for text that is conceptually similar to the text in the Keywords field; that is, it searches for matches to as many of the keywords as it can find. So, in an intuitive search, the more words found together in a particular document that match the words in the Keywords field, the higher ClarifyCRM FTS ranks that document. Documents are listed in the items found, however, even if they only match some of the keywords.
NOTE: If you select the Intuitive option, the phrase field becomes inactive. With the Intuitive option you must use Keywords only. Also, you cannot use wildcards with the Intuitive option.

Rate By
The Rate By setting determines how ClarifyCRM FTS calculates the ratings reported in the Rating column of the Items Found custom list on the FTS window. The Rate By options are:

Hit Count Terms Count Terms Ordered Rare Terms

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FTS Preferences Window Controls

Figure 8 Rate By Settings

Hit Count
When Hit Count is used, the total number of occurrences of individual words (not phrases) matched determines the ranking, regardless of frequency.

Terms Count
When Terms Count is used, the number of search terms matched determines the ranking, regardless of frequency.

Terms Ordered
When Terms Ordered is used, the hit count and terms count (the total number of occurrences matched, as well as the number of search terms matched) are combined to determine ranking. Terms Ordered also takes into account how common the term is in the keyword index of your database (or the document frequency).

Rare Terms
When Rare Terms is used, the behavior is similar to Terms ordered except that more emphasis is placed on terms that occur in fewer sources being searched (such as cases, CRs, or solutions). Rare Terms ranking is best for an intuitive search.
NOTE: Terms Ordered and Rare Terms are similar in concept, but Rare Terms

exaggerates the relevance by manipulating the ranking.

Setting FTS Preferences

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Sources to Search

Save Preferences
The Save Preferences button saves the current settings in the FTS Preferences window in your database, replacing any previous settings. The next time you do a ClarifyCRM FTS search, your saved settings are in effect. (These are the settings that will appear in any FTS Preferences window, whether or not they are posted from the Desktop Set FTS Preferences command or from the Case or CR FTS windows.)

Done
The Done button closes the FTS Preferences window and will keep those preferences modified by you until the search window is closed. After that, your preferences will revert to the ones you saved.

Sources to Search
The Sources custom list in the lower portion of the FTS Preferences window allows you to select the objects to be searched by default. The more objects you include in the search, the more thorough your search is, but the longer it takes. As you determine which objects to include in the search, carefully consider the likeliest sources of the kind of information you seek.
NOTE: When ClarifyCRM FTS searches a group of document collections, if one

index table of that group is missing, invalid, or empty, the entire search fails, and ClarifyCRM FTS displays an error message.

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Sources to Search
Figure 9 Search Source Custom List

Since this is a custom list, you can easily modify the widths of the columns or even remove a column if you wish. The following sections describe the columns in this Sources custom list.

Sources to Search
The Sources to Search column shows the default list of objects that you can include or not include in searches:

Solution Case Subcase CR (Change Request) Solution Attachment Case Attachment Subcase Attachment CR Attachment

The list of objects in your installation may differ somewhat from this list since your ClarifyCRM administrator can change the defaults.

Setting FTS Preferences

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Sources to Search

Include
The Include column is set to either Yes or No for each of the objects listed. If an object you want to include in a search has a No value in the Include column, highlight it, and click on the Yes button to change its value to Yes. Do the opposite with objects you dont want included in a search, changing their values to No. Alternatively, you can double-click on items to change their values.
NOTE: You must have at least one search source with its Include column set to Yes.

Description
The Description column provides a short description of each object in the custom list.

Collection
The Collection column identifies the name of the ClarifyCRM FTS table or document collection to which the object belongs.

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Index
A
Attach to Case 18

M
match method All 31 Any 31 Boolean AND 31 Boolean OR 31 changing quickly from All to Any 16 Intuitive 31 Max Matches 20, 30, 31

B
Boolean AND,match method 31 Boolean OR,match method 31

C
collection 36

D
defaults, search 24

N
new solution 18

E
external documents 10 viewing 19

O
Options List 27

F
FTS Preferences 24 FTS Preferences window 24 FTS Search window 12 FTS window 11

P
phrases (in FTS) 15 Preferences button 17 Problem Description field 18 property list 26 property options 25

H
Hit Count 33

Q
queries 6 quick start (FTS) 12

I
inflections 28 intuitive search 32 Items Found 20

R
Rare Terms 33 rate by 32 Rate By setting 20 rating 20 root expansion 28

K
keywords 14, 32 Keywords field 11

L
license FTS 10

S
search automatically 20, 29 engine 6

37

Search button 17 search methods overriding special characters 16 special characters 15 Search Options 27 inflections 28 root expansion 28 synonyms 28 sources to search 34, 35 special characters overriding wildcards 16 wildcards 15 stop words 13 synonyms 28

T
Terms Count 33 Terms Ordered 33 Time Out 20, 30

W
wildcards overriding them 16 using them 15

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Index