The vast majority of the searches you run are going to be fairly basic, but many regulators deal with thousands or even tens of thousands of registrants. And when there’s that many registrants to keep track of, your bound to need some extra searching power to find everyone you need to, all the time. That’s where Alinity’s advanced search functions come into play; by taking advantage of Alinity’s powerful search capabilities and some advanced searching techniques, you can quickly find the registrants you need, oftentimes with incomplete information.
Wildcards
It’s done using a search term known as a wildcard. Wildcards are characters that allow any value to replace them in the search results. The most commonly known wildcard character is the asterisk (*) but Alinity also supports percentage (%) wildcards as well. Regardless of which one you choose, they work the same inside the program.
Using these wildcards, you can get results that are outside your normal search and query parameters. For example, you could type in %@gmail.com to get back a list of every registrant that uses a gmail email address to login.
In addition to these broad ranging wildcards, you can also use individual characters wildcards, represented either by an underscore(_) or a question mark(?).
Unlike other wildcards, _ and % only allow for a single character to take their place. These searches are useful when you’re unsure of the spelling of a registrant’s name (such when searching for Cheryl or Sheryl).
System IDs (SIDs)
In addition to basic search terms like names and email addresses, you can also perform a number of advanced searches by using the System I.D., or SID, prefix. Knowing how to search for SIDs is important for troubleshooting. When registrants or staff attempt to enter data, or possibly, fail to enter required data, an error message identifying a System I.D. may be generated. To search by SID, all you have to do is type SID: into the search bar, followed by the identification number you want to search for. The registrant associated with that System I.D. will be displayed. Context is particularly important in this case, though. SIDs will be different between the People page, Renewals page, Applications page and so on.
Quickly searching and finding registrants’ important information is a critical requirement for regulatory authorities, and it can be frustrating and disruptive to workflows if staff can’t find the information they need. Take advantage of the advanced search options in your Alinity implementation to help get you’re the results you need!
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