Search Terminology

To perform a search, use field values, search operators, and logical operators, which, when combined, form search criteria.

Search Criteria

Search criteria are the directions you provide the system regarding which records you need to retrieve. You can define the criteria:

Specific enough to retrieve a single record
Broad enough to retrieve all records for a data area
In a combination of fields to retrieve a subset of records

Basic Search Types

PowerSchool ERP uses two primary methods for entering search criteria and generating a results list: Simple and Advanced search.

Simple Search: Enter search criteria in the fields displayed on the page. You can perform a Sounds Like search on some fields.
Sounds Like Search: Use the Sounds Like option when available to perform a search when you cannot remember the exact spelling of a name. The system will retrieve records with names sounding like the text you entered.
Advanced Search: Click Advanced Search when available to form a series of search statements. Use logical operators to define the grouping of your statements.

Field Types

Enter search criteria in one or more fields. PowerSchool ERP uses data entry tools that generally follow standard conventions.

Field Values

A field value is data you enter in a search field indicating what the system will look for as it searches. For example, you might want to search for records of employees in a specific department and building at your site. In this case, you would enter the department and building in the appropriate search fields. These field values tell the system to retrieve records for employees in the selected department and building.

You can use field values in combination with search operators to modify your search.

Search Operators

A search operator is a term or symbol combined with field values while entering the search criteria. The search operator helps define or limit which records the system should retrieve.

For example, to search for all records with the Last Name field beginning with the letter B, enter B* in the Last Name field. The asterisk is the search operator, indicating to retrieve records based on the Last Name field, limited to those beginning with the letter B.

You enter search operators differently depending on the search method you use. When performing a simple search, enter search operators as symbols. In an advanced search, choose a search operator term from a list.

The following table lists search operator symbols, corresponding terms used in advanced search pages, and the meaning of each search operator. Some symbols and terms apply only in Simple or Advanced Search, but not both.

When using the asterisk, do not enter spaces between the asterisk and the characters.

Operator Symbols and Terms

Symbol	Advanced Search Term	Definition
=	Equals On (for date fields)	Equal to the field value entered
>	Greater Than After (for date fields)	Greater than the field value or after the calendar date entered
>=	Greater Than or Equal On or After (for date fields)	Greater than or equal to the field value or on or after the calendar date entered
<	Less Than Before (for date fields)	Less than the field value or before the calendar date entered
<=	Less Than or Equal On or Before (for date fields)	Less than or equal to the field value or on or before the calendar date entered
<> or !=	Not Equal	Not equal to the field value entered
, (comma) You can use this symbol for fields accepting character and numeric data.	Is In (Comma Delimited)	Equal to one of the field values entered To use the symbol, enter a field value followed by a comma and another field value. For example: 50,52,54,56.
: (Colon) You can use this symbol for fields accepting Date, Decimal, or Integer as their data types.	Between	Records with field values within a range, including the values bracketing the range For example, if you entered 51:54 as search criteria, the system would retrieve records containing 51, 52, 53, or 54 in the specified field.
\| (Pipe symbol) You can use this symbol for fields accepting character and numeric data.	No Advanced Search term (Simple Search Only)	Records that match data separated by the pipe symbol. For example, if you entered in a Vendor Code field 123\|456\|789, the system would retrieve records that match those codes if they also match other search criteria.
? (Question mark) You can use this symbol for fields accepting character data.	No Advanced Search term (Simple Search Only)	Single character wildcard For example, if you entered 5? as search criteria, the system would retrieve all records with two character entries in the specified field with 5 as the first character.
* (Asterisk) You can use this symbol for fields accepting the character data type.	No Advanced Search term (Simple Search Only)	Multiple character wildcard For example, if you entered 5* as the search criteria, the system would retrieve all records with 5 as the first character in the specified field.
value Place asterisks around the search criteria text.	Contains	Records with field values containing the data string you enter as search criteria
value* Enter the appropriate search text followed by an asterisk.	Starts With	Records with field values beginning with the data string you enter as search criteria
*value Precede search text with an asterisk.	Ends With	Records with field values ending with the data string you enter as search criteria
No Symbol (Advanced Search Only)	Does Not Contain	Records with field values that do not contain the data string you entered as search criteria
No Symbol (Advanced Search Only)	Is Missing	Records for the item where no value is entered Records with data are omitted.
No Symbol (Advanced Search Only)	Is Not Missing	Records for the item where a value is entered Records with no data are omitted.
No Symbol (Advanced Search Only)	Is Not In	Is not equal to one of the field values entered To use the symbol, enter a field value followed by a comma and another field value. For example: 50,52,54,56.