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Adding a Custom Search Widget

Using a customizable Search Widget, Users can quickly find available training along with the delivery options. Users can search for, and quickly find their Courses, Classes, Learning Plans, ILT Sessions, Enrollments, Training Offerings, External Training, and other LearnCenter Users. On the Control Panel:

Click on the LearnCenter Design menu to expand it.
Click Widgets.
Click Add Widget.
Select Search from the Select Widget Type drop-down list.

Type a Name for the Widget.
Type a Description for the Widget.
Select a Status for the Widget. By default, the Status of the Widget is Active, which means it will be available for use as soon as you click Save. If you prefer, you can change the Status to Inactive until you are ready for Admins to begin selecting it.
Click Save, and then select the Content tab.

Select the check boxes for the Learning Types to include in Search. If you want to exclude certain types, clear the check boxes.
For Show Selected Categories, indicate which Categories of items you want to include in the results. By default, All Categories is selected. You can manually select categories if you only want Users to search for items mapped to certain Categories. For example, perhaps you only want new employees searching for items that are mapped to the On-boarding Category, or your sales personnel searching for items mapped to the Sales Category.

You can restrict Widgets for certain audiences by using Access Filters. See Access Filters for information.

Select the Only display content in categories the group/user is also mapped to check box to display only the items that are mapped to the same Categories to which the end User or Group is also mapped. What this means is:

If John Smith and Course 1 are both mapped to the Human Resources Category, when John looks at the Category Widget, Course 1 will display to him.
If John Smith is mapped to the Finance Category and Course 1 is mapped to the Human Resources Category, John will not see Course 1 on the Category Widget.
If the Sales Team Dynamic Group is mapped to the Sales Team Category, but Course 1 is mapped to Human Resources Category, then the Users mapped to the Sales Team Dynamic Group will not see Course 1 when they view the Category Widget.

WARNING: Selecting this check box makes your selection implicit, and inheritance from root or parent Categories does not apply. Users and items must be mapped to the exact same Category or sub Category in order for the items to display to Users on the Widget.

Select the Apply to Mapped Items check box to filter even further by only displaying the items within containers (Learning Plans, Enrollments, and Training Offerings) that are also mapped to the same Category as the User. What this means is that everything mapped to a container such as a Learning Plan (Courses, Enrollments, etc.) must also be mapped to the same Category as the User in order for the User to see it on the Widget.

USE CAUTION: Be sure to inspect the learning items that are mapped to Learning Plans to ensure that they are also mapped to the same Category as the Learning Plan and the Users. If required Learning Plan mapped items are not mapped to the same Category as the Learning Plan Users, then Users will not be able to complete the Learning Plans, because they will not have access to all of the Learning Plan’s required learning items.

For example if this check box is selected and:

Learning Plan ABC is mapped to the New Users Category

Course 1 – Required. Mapped to the New Users Category
Course 2 – Required. Not mapped to any Category
John Smith – Mapped to the New Users Category

John Smith cannot complete Learning Plan ABC, because Course 2 does not display to him on the Widget.

Click the Filters tab.

Use this tab to indicate which facets should appear on the search results page.

Select the check boxes for the facets you want to include under Filters for Search Results.
If you are using eCommerce, you may want to include price ranges under Cost Range Results. Select the Cost check box to display the Cost Range Results fields. Type a value in the Under box. By default, all remaining ranges double the previous number based on your initial amount (for example 25, 50, 100, 200). You can edit these numbers if you want.
Click the Display tab.

Type the text you want to display for the Widget Header. This is the heading that displays at the top of the Widget. The default text is “Search”.
Select the Highlight search words check box if you want the search terms in the results to be highlighted on the results page.
or
Clear the check box if you do not want search terms to be highlighted on the results page.
Select one of the following for Default Sort Order:
Relevance - to sort by the terms entered in the search.
Name (A to Z) - to sort in alphabetical order from A to Z.
Start Date (Current to Future) - to sort by the most current start date to the latest future start date.
Start Date (Future to Current) - to sort by the latest future start date to the most current start date.
Select the check boxes next to the items types you want to Display for Results.
(Optional) If you would like any of the field labels to display differently in your output for Users, rest your pointer near the default label and select . A field displays and you can type something else for the label. If you want to return the label to the original default text, click Restore Label. Click the check icon to accept the change, or click the x icon to start over. You cannot change the label for Name.
Indicate which Enrollments, ILT Sessions, and External Training events you want to show up in the search results by selecting (including) or clearing (excluding) Past, Current, or Future.
Select the Supervisor Assigns Enrollments check box to allow Supervisors to assign Enrollments to their direct reports. Select the Include Indirect Reports check box to allow Supervisors to assign Enrollments to their indirect reports.
Select the Supervisor Assigns Learning Plans check box to allow Supervisors to assign Learning Plans to their direct reports. Select the Include Indirect Reports check box to allow Supervisors to assign Learning Plans to their indirect reports.

Indicate whether you want Users to have access to the Advanced Search window by selecting or clearing the Display Advanced Search Options check box.
(Optional) If your LearnCenter is SSO-enabled and you are planning to embed this Widget on a non-LearnCenter web page, click Embed. See Widget Portability - BETA for complete details on using the Embed tab.

Click Save when you are finished making changes.

What Users See

The following illustrations are examples of how this Widget displays to Users based on what the Admin selected in the Widget setup. Initially, all Users see the Search field and the Advanced Search button (if the Admin elected to show this during setup.)

A minimum of 2 characters is required to search. A wild card is assumed at the end of each word or phrase unless you use quotes (“ “) around each search string. Quotes return exact matches.Using Advanced Search. (See "How to Search for Keywords" below for additional search instructions.)

Users can click Advanced Search to display the Advanced Search window. This window makes it easy to do Boolean-style searches.

Everything you type in Include All of These (AND) is considered required. All words you type in this box should be separated with a space. Each space is considered as “And”.

Everything you type in Include At Least One Of These (Or) is considered an “Or” phrase. All words you type in this box should be separated with a space. Each space is considered as “Or”.

You can connect the two statements (fields) by selecting the ‘And Search’ check box. This means it will search for everything in the top box AND everything in the bottom box. (If you are familiar with Boolean search methodology, this field is the equivalent of surrounding the items in the keyword search field with parenthesis.)

A logical set of facets is provided with the search results so that Users can filter them efficiently.

Notice in the example above that search terms found are highlighted. Use of highlighting can be controlled during the Widget setup. Users can click the item title to view details, or click the launch icon on the right side of the results to open and begin an item. Search results can be narrowed using the facets that appear on the left side of the page. Selecting multiple facets further narrows results, and selecting fewer facets widens the search results. You can clear all selected facets and start over by clicking .

Selecting a facet check box includes its related items in the search results. For each selected Item Types or Categories check box, the page refreshes, and the results are cumulative. For example, a User might want to only include search results that are Learning Plans and Enrollments. Selecting the Learning Plans and Enrollments check boxes displays only Learning Plans and Enrollments in the search results. Users can narrow the results by:

Item Type – the types that display depend on what is displayed in the results. Each Item Type also displays the number of items that came up in the results. You can indicate which item types you want to display in the Widget setup. Users can launch certain items directly from the search results. If the item in the results is a User, the icon displays in the details, and Users can click it to launch the Com System.
Categories – displays if there are items mapped to Categories. If you only want to display certain Categories of items, you can indicate this during Widget setup. You can also use Categories in conjunction with Access Filters so that you only display certain Categories of items to specific Users. For example, perhaps you only want your sales team search for items in the Sales Category.
Average Rating – displays if the Ratings and Reviews feature is active for this LearnCenter. Users can use this to limit the results to only those items with a minimum rating.
Cost – applies to the eCommerce feature and displays cost ranges. This facet only displays if you have enabled it in the Widget setup and you have eCommerce activated for the LearnCenter. Note that the field in the results will display if costs are turned on for display even if eCommerce is not enabled. The cost ranges are customizable when you set up the Widget. Using this facet, a User can select training that fits within a particular budget. If items have no cost, “N/A” displays in its search results.

LearnCenter places items in a cost range facet when they are over the minimum, and equal to or less than maximum. For example, if the cost ranges are 25-50; 50-100, and an item costs 50, it is included in the 25 to 50 facet, not the 50 to 100 facet.

Start Date – only applies to Enrollments, ILT Sessions, and External Training. Using this facet, Users can look for a training start date that fits their individual schedules.
ILT Locations - only applies to ILT Sessions. Using this facet, Users can look for training that takes place in locations that are most convenient to them.

Users can further narrow the results by selecting the Enrollments with Seats Available check box. Selecting this item displays only those Enrollments that have seats remaining.

How to Search for Keywords

Users can search for keywords in several ways.

Type a single word into the search field.
Search for exact phrases by using quotation marks. For example: "New Employee".
Use the AND operator to combine search words or terms. For example: Compliance AND Safety, “compliance courses” AND “required 2013”. Using this method returns results that include all the specified words or phrases. AND is the default operator if more than one term is entered.
Use the OR operator to search for a one or other combination of words and phrases. For example: Compliance OR Safety, “compliance courses” OR “required 2013”. Using this method returns results that include at least one of the specified words or phrases.
Use the NOT operator to exclude words and phrases from the search result. For example: Compliance NOT Safety, “compliance courses” NOT “required 2012”. This method returns results that do not include the specified word(s) or phrases.
Search using a Wild card asterisk (*). For example: 201*, “compliance *”. Using this method returns results that include the initial part of the word(s) or phrases. Note that:
Wild cards must be preceded by 2 or more characters.
Wild cards cannot be used at the beginning of a search term/phrase.
Wild cards cannot be used in between characters (i.e. h*m, M*soft).
Search using a question mark (?). The question mark represents any single character where an asterisk represents any group of characters, including no character.

Advanced search terms can be used in combination with one another. For example: “mandatory for comp*“ NOT Supervisors OR “Level1 Welders”.

Users can use parenthesis to group terms. For example: Compliance AND (Ethics OR Harassment). LearnCenter will retrieve results having the terms "Compliance" and "Ethics", as well as items with "Compliance" and "Harassment".

Search is not case sensitive.

The Search operators AND, OR and NOT must be in English for this first phase of the Search feature. The Search field is limited to 100 characters. For all other keywords, you can search using any supported language. The search term must be found in the item for the item be returned.

When using the search operators AND and NOT, tests are performed against each part of a result (i.e. name, description, standard and custom fields) to see if they meet the search criteria entered. If each part of a result passes the test, the result will be included or excluded based on the operator used. If one part of the result fails the test to match the search criteria, then a User may see results they would not expect to see.

How LearnCenter Searches Finds Results

The Search index includes an item’s name,description, all custom fields, and certain standard fields (see the table below for specifics). Search results with matches in name and description will rank higher in the results than those without name or description matches. It is possible for an item to be returned in the search results, but not have any highlighted terms, because the match was on an attribute or element that isn't displayed in the search result description.

Relevancy ranking is determined based on where the search term is found:

Name – High
Description – Medium
Keywords (Standard and custom fields) - Normal

The results will include items made available in the Global Search functionality. (See Global Search for details about this existing feature.)

Sorting Search Results

Users will initially see the sort order you determined in the Widget setup.

They can also change the sort order to use any of the new sort orders.

Supervisor Assignment

If you enabled Supervisor Assignment options on the Display tab of the Widget setup, an icon displays to only Supervisors on the Widget.

Supervisors can use it to assign Learning Plans and Enrollments to direct and indirect reports (depending on which of these options you enabled). When a Supervisor selects the icon, the following window opens.

They can begin typing the name of the User they want in the To field. Matching team member names appear after just few letters. The only names available for selection are the current Supervisor’s own team members and any indirect reports (if you selected the Include Indirect Reports option on the Display tab of the Widget setup). Once selected, the name appears in the Selected field.

The formatting of the name in this list is dependent on what is selected for the Name Display Order field in Configuration Options > Localization Settings.

Click Assign. A confirmation message appears at the top of the page.

Once assigned, any Communication Messages already set up for Learning Plans and Enrollments will be sent to newly assigned Users.

User Cards

If your LearnCenter is configured to display User Cards, any time you click a User’s name in the Search Widget’s search results, that User’s User Card displays.

Click the X to close the Users Card.

Prerequisites

When Supervisors assign Enrollments from the Search results, LearnCenter checks to see whether a User has completed required Prerequisites. If Users have completed an Enrollment’s Prerequisites, they can be assigned to it. A confirmation message displays to let the Supervisor know that they were assigned.

If Users have not met the Prerequisites, their Supervisors see an error message stating that they were not assigned to the Enrollment.

Both messages can be closed by clicking the X.