Case Search - defenderData User Manual - US

Case Search

Since one of the primary purposes of the dD Client is to maintain a database of information, it provides powerful functions to search for information in the database.

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Case Master List - Search Criteria

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Under Search Criteria there are a number of fields which can be used to search cases.

Entering information in these fields allows you to filter the results that are found by the search. If the information you enter in these fields is specific enough, only one case will appear in the list; the one you are searching for.

To execute a search, enter either full or partial information in one or more of the fields, then press the

Lookup button (or press the <Enter> key). The system will search through the database and display the cases that match your search criteria. If you enter some letters or numbers in a Search Criteria field, the system will search for any fields matching or beginning with the same letters or numbers that were entered.

To begin a new search, use the

Clear button to clear all fields.

Search Examples

Selecting a "Hearing" Event Type and specifying an Event Date range for the current week will retrieve all Cases with a Hearing scheduled for the current week.
Entering the name “Al” in the First Name field would locate any case beginning with “Al”, such as “Albert”, “Alan” or “Alice”.
Selecting the "Open" Status and an Attorney will retrieve all Open Cases for the specified Attorney.
A combination of the above methods can be used. For instance, entering “F” in the File # field and selecting an Attorney would retrieve all Felony Cases for the selected Attorney.

Note: A maximum of 1000 cases can be found with each search. To narrow your search results, enter additional Search Criteria. A

Report is more suitable when a larger list of cases is needed.

Name Search Modes
The buttons next to the Last & First Name fields can be used to toggle between the following search modes:

Normal Search - This is the default search method which retrieves names of an exact match or names beginning with the characters specified.

Searching for "Jim" will find "Jim", "Jimmy", "Jimi", "Jimbo" and "Jiminy"

Searching for "Mike" will find "Mike", "Mikey", "Mikel" and "Mikela"

Searching for "Steve" will find "Steve" and "Steven"

Name Thesaurus Search - References a Name Thesaurus dictionary containing over 40 milllion first & last names with alternate spellings and common nicknames. In the following examples, search results will include the following names in addition to the names found by the Normal Search.

Searching for "Jim" will find "James", "Jamie" and "Jaime"

Searching for "Mike" will find "Michael", "Miguel" and "Mickey"

Searching for "Steve" will find "Stephen", "Stevie" and "Esteban"

Wildcard Search
In addition to the basic searches, the "wildcard" character (%) can be used to act as a placeholder for unknown letters or numbers that may exist anywhere within a field.

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In the example shown here the search would retreive a list of Open cases with a Case # ending in "MC".

Note: When cases are shown with gray text this indicates that the user has View permissions for these cases but not *Edit Permissions. These cases may be viewed in the Case Edit screen but changes cannot be made.

*Permissions are configured on a per Attorney basis. Only a system administrator may grant Edit permissions.

Picklist Fields
Search criteria fields that have picklists (noted by a small box with the symbol to the right of the field) operate slightly different than other search criteria fields. You can enter information into these fields in one of three ways:

Use the button to the right of the field to open the picklist and scroll through the list to find the desired entry and select it.
Place the cursor in the field and enter a letter. A name will immediately appear in the field which will be the first name in the list that begins with that letter. Additional letters can be entered to locate a more specific name. For example, entering "FS" in the Attorney field select "FS - Smith, Frank".
Right-click anywhere in the field to make multiple selections as shown in the image to the right. To select multiple names, hold down the <Ctrl> key while selecting each name. To select all names in the list, use the All button. To clear any selections that have been made, use the None button. When multiple selections have been made, the field will appear with a blue background as shown to the right.	Enlarge picture

Date Fields
When building a search, you’ll find Date fields (such as DOB, Opened and Closed) where dates and date ranges can be keyed in manually. In addition, using the mouse to right-click anywhere over a Date field opens a calendar as seen to the right.

The blue arrow icons are used to step forward and back through each Year or Month. Once the desired month is displayed, simply double-clicking a Day of the month will insert the numerical date into the field.

To close the calendar at any time, press the button or press the <ESC> key.

Additionally, the picklist can be used to select from a set of predefined dates. These include the following:

Today, Yesterday, This Week, Last Week, Next Week, Selected Week, This Month, Next Month, Last Month, First Quarter, Second Quarter, Third Quarter, Fourth Quarter, This Year, Next Year, Last Year, Selected Year.

Example: When entering an “Opened” date range, single-clicking January 16th then choosing “Selected Week” from the picklist would set a range of 01/16/2011 – 01/22/2011 in the date fields.

Column Sorting
Any of the lists that are displayed in the main display area may be sorted alphabetically or numerically using any of the columns shown. There are two methods that may be used for sorting columns.

By clicking the column headers any column can be sorted in ascending order. Clicking the same column header again would re-sort the list in descending order.

Example: The list shown below is sorted in ascending order by Client Name as indicated by the icon.
You may also sort by multiple columns using a secondary sorting method. This is accomplished by first sorting by one column, then holding the <Ctrl> key and clicking the column header of a different column.

Example: The primary sorting method for the list shown below is ascending order by Attorney and the secondary sorting method is ascending order by Client Name.

Combining Search Results
The Combine search is used to combine the results of your new search with the results found by your previous search.

Example: In the search results shown below, the first 3 cases were found by searching for all cases assigned to Attorney “AJ” where the Client Last Name matches “BELL”. The last 2 cases were found using the Combine search to add all cases assigned to Attorney “AS” where the Client Last Name also matches “BELL”.