Configuring search

Search helps end users find correct, structured, and useful information at the right time and place. Focused results improve work efficiency because users quickly find irrelevant results. As an administrator, you can configure search and enhance the search experience by enabling wildcard search and using AND logic, limiting search results to selected sources, using filters in search, and so on.

Before you begin

We recommend that you read the best practices before you configure the search. For more information, see Configuring-search-best-practices.

To configure search settings for enhanced results

Set the parameters that control different searches in BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

The following table describes settings you can configure:

Setting	Description
Maximum results per source	Limit the number of search results per source in a global search so that users are not overwhelmed by a large number of results. You can select any number from 1 to 100. The default value is 25. Scenario Allen is a support manager at the Apex Global company who needs to quickly find the most relevant knowledge articles to answer customer questions. At Apex Global, BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management stores a large amount of knowledge articles from which knowledge resources are retrieved to BMC Helix Digital Workplace. Allen can restrict the number of results to 15, so that the search results are not overloaded with less relevant hits.
Include requests and approvals in All tab	Include or exclude requests and approvals from search results. If you disable this feature, the end user must click the Requests and Approvals tabs to search these categories. This setting is enabled by default. Scenario Bob is a knowledge manager at the Apex Global company. He often prepares for workshops and needs to read knowledge articles. When Bob searches in the application, in All, he sees knowledge articles scattered among requests and approvals. The additional items cause Bob to spend too much time looking for relevant articles. He asks the administrator to exclude requests and approvals from All so that he can quickly find the correct knowledge articles.
Natural language searching	Leverage conversational language (such as "I need to order a new laptop") instead of a keyword-based search. The main purpose of this feature is to determine whether a user is looking for a Catalog item or a knowledge article. The search engine picks up the meaning of a sentence or word group, recognizes the end user's intent, and defines the appropriate category, thus reducing the time spent searching. This setting is enabled by default. Scenario Allen, an administrator at Apex Global, enables the natural-language search feature for employees. Employee Bob types "I want to repair my computer," and immediately receives five relevant results, the first of which answers his query.
Search on studio pages	Restrict the search on a studio page and provide results only from the specific sources. The search is limited to the sources that can be searched in a particular search bar. This capability is available with the Advanced license.
Filters in the search of knowledge articles	Narrow down search results of BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround articles and help users easily find relevant content. Filters are added to search bars on studio pages. Filters use knowledge article tags as filtering criteria. Tags, which can be static or dynamic, are descriptive terms that are added to articles to make them easy to find. Static tag—A search in a search bar that uses a filter with a static tag returns only articles that have the tags included in the filter. For example, if a filter uses the Line of business=HR static tag as a criteria, the search shows only those knowledge articles that have the Line of business=HR tag. Dynamic tag—A dynamic tag is a value generated by a custom process based on the current user. The value is checked against the list of static tags that are added to articles. The search displays all articles that have the static tag that matches the generated value. Scenario The Get Region dynamic tag returns the region of the user who is searching. For example, if a user is from EMEA, Get Region returns Region=EMEA. Allen, the administrator, configures a search bar on a studio page. He selects the Helix Knowledge Management pluggable provider as the source for knowledge articles and adds a filter that uses the Get Region dynamic tag. When Britney, who is from USA, searches for vacation policies in the search bar, the filter retrieves Britney’s location, and returns Region=USA. The search engine checks all articles on vacation policies and displays those articles about vacation policies that have the Region=USA static tag. When Britney opens an article from the search results, the Similar Articles list in that article displays only topics that also have the Region=USA tag. This capability is available with the Advanced license.
Allow wildcards	Let users search for variations of a term by using shortened words or abbreviations. When enabled, the search can return alternate spellings and variations of the search term. This capability is available with the Advanced license.
Search questionnaire responses	Let users search for service requests based on the requestor's questionnaire responses. Limit to searches made from the requestor portal— After enabling this flag, catalog requests based on the requestor's questionnaire responses no longer appear in the search results when a search is performed from the Catalog console or BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT console. The setting limits this capability only to the end-user console. The search based on the responses is more relevant to end users, who can get the results based on the submitted responses and have an improved search experience. IT agents and catalog administrators experience improved system performance when searching in their respective consoles. Scenario Hannah, the catalog administrator, has configured the Search questionnaire responses setting. Carl, an IT agent at Apex Global, wants to search for service requests related to installing the Amazon Polly application. When he performs a global search in the BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT console with the term Amazon, he sees the list of all service requests, including the user responses with the word Amazon. For example, if Bob, an end user, has submitted the travel request with the response entered as his accommodation address, Amazon Residency, Carl would see that request in the search results. The processing takes a long time. Meanwhile, Hannah enables the Limit to searches made from the requestor portal flag in the Catalog console's search configuration. After refreshing page, Carl performs the same search and experiences faster system performance. The search results are now narrowed down and do not include the catalog requests filtered by user responses. This capability is available with the Advanced license.
Use ‘AND’ logic for Catalog services or Requests	Make search results precise by returning results that contain all search terms. The search engine searches for catalog items that match all search terms, narrowing down the search results. This capability is available with the Advanced license.
Enable Full Text Search (FTS)	Let users quickly find the information they need when they use different word forms in a search. With FTS, end users can search for stem words and related terms, and the search engine will return the results that include all the words. For example, when you search for fire, the search results will include words such as firewall, backfire, firefighter, and firecracker. You configure the relevancy weight for fields. This capability is available with the Advanced license.

To configure search settings in the Admin console

Log in to the Admin console.
Select Configuration > Search .
Specify the maximum results per source.
To include requests and approvals in the All tab, select the check box.
To leverage conversational language in search, enable the Natural Language Searching toggle key.
The following image shows the Search configuration page:

Save the configuration.

To configure search on a studio page

As an administrator, to allow end users to search on a studio page, add a search bar component to the page and configure it. You can restrict the search to specific sources of content.

Log in to the Admin console.
Select Configuration > Studio.
Open the studio page where you would like to configure the search bar.
If the page does not have a search bar, add the search bar component or apply the search block template to a content block.
Open the Component Properties panel.
Select the sources for a search in the search bar.
Important
All configured providers for knowledge articles are available as article sources. Even if you select just one article source, the Articles tab is displayed on the search results page. If an article source does not appear in the list, make sure it is configured correctly. For more information, see Integrating-with-other-applications-by-using-providers.
Save the sources configuration.

Search block template

For information about how to create studio pages, add components, and configure them, see Creating-pages-in-the-studio.

To enhance search of BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround articles with filters

This functionality is available with the BMC Helix Digital Workplace advanced license.

When you configure a search bar, you add filters that will be applied to the search conducted through this search bar. Only the search bars on studio pages can have filters, and only one filter can be added to a search bar. For more information about filters and tags, seeCreating search filters for BMC applications.

Important

These filters apply not only to the search results but also to the list of similar articles. When a user performs a search using the search bar with specific filters and then opens one of the articles returned, the list of Similar Articles in that topic follows the same filtering criteria as the initial search. The Similar Articles list displays only the topics that match the filters set in the search bar.

Log in to the Admin console.
Select Configuration > Studio.
Open the studio page where you would like to configure the search bar.
If the page does not have a search bar, add the search bar component.
Select the search bar to open its Component Properties panel.
Click All sources.
Select Helix Knowledge Management pluggable provider > Add filter.
Select a filter from the list of configured filters.
You can add only one filter to a search bar.
Save the search bar configuration.

Troubleshooting issues with search filters

The actual search results for articles might differ from the results that users expect to receive. The following table describes the most common errors and the steps to resolve them:

Error	Steps to resolve
Newly added tags are not visible in BMC Helix Innovation Studio when administrators configure filters.	Refresh the page.
Articles are not visible in the search results.	Make sure that users have access to articles in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround based on their knowledge permissions defined in BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix Business Workflows. For more information, see Mapping knowledge permissions from BMC applications to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.

To configure search settings for native catalog items

Log in to the Catalog console.
Open the Application Settings by clicking the Configuration .
Click Search.

Configure the following search-related settings.
All settings are optional.

Setting	Description
Allow wildcards	Enable search by shortened words or abbreviations. End users can enter partial strings with the percent (%) wildcard in search. Important: Leading wildcards are not supported if the search is performed on fields that are indexed for Full Text Search (FTS). Only trailing wildcards are supported for these fields. For more information about wildcards, see How search with wildcards works. If the wildcards feature is enabled, search does not display BMC Helix Digital Workplace catalog services with curly brackets {}.
Search questionnaire responses	Enable search for service requests by submitted responses. Important: To enable search by service request answers for enhanced services that are built on SRDs imported from BMC Service Request Management, you must enable the search.by.answer.enabled setting in the Admin console by selecting Configuration > SRM Pluggable Provider.
Search questionnaire responses	Limit to searches made from the requestor portal— Restrict the search capability with questionnaire responses only to end users and improve the system performance for Smart IT agents and catalog administrators. Limit to searches made from the requestor portal
Use ‘AND’ logic for Catalog services or Requests	Make search results precise.

Save the configuration.

See the image showing interface with search settings.

To enable full text search and the relevancy weight for fields

This functionality is available with the BMC Helix Digital Workplace advanced license.

Multi-word search relies on the full text search (FTS) capabilities of the BMC Helix Innovation Studio. When FTS is used, the search engine will weigh words according to their relevancy based on where they appear: in a title, a keyword, or the text. Set the relevancy of items in search results so that fields with higher relevancy appear higher in the search results. For mor information, see Enabling Full Text Search.

Configure the relevancy weights for the following fields:

Title Field weight: Weight for the Title field
Environment Field weight: Weight for the Description field
Keywords Field weight: Weight for the Tags field

Environment Field Weight is set as the base measurement (1.000000), Keywords Field Weight is twice as important as the base, and Title Field Weight is considered four times as important as the base. Search terms that appear in fields with a higher weighting are granted a higher score than terms in fields with a lower weighting.

Where to go from here

Learn about satisfaction surveys and catalog reports that provide information on satisfaction surveys at Setting-up-surveys and Reports-and-analysis-of-the-enhanced-service-catalog.