Global Search

This standard governs global search in the administrative system: what it searches, what an empty result means, and the search-driven workflows the desk runs daily. It applies to front desk staff and managers, who use one search box across every record type without needing to know which part of the system owns the record. Search results display customer and payment data that shall be used only for the service purpose for which it was found, under the Privacy Policy, and shall not be exported without authorization.

What it searches

Global search covers seven record types, each against its real records and real fields

Single-type search returns up to 50 rows, newest first. Searching across all types runs every type at once, 5 rows each, and totals them. An empty query returns empty; it does not dump the records.

Staff shall read the field lists carefully, because they define search's blind spots

• Customers: no address, no notes. Searching a street name finds nothing even if the address is on the record. Search the name, email, or phone.
• Pets: name and breed only. A description such as "the anxious poodle" will not match; the pet's name, or "poodle," will.
• Appointments: numbers and notes only. Appointments cannot be searched here by customer name or pet name; use the appointments list for that, under Appointments. But the appointment number is searchable, which is why the desk reads it back to phone customers: it gives the customer a key that works in this box.
• Payments: numbers and processor identifiers. Search the payment number from the receipt, or the processor payment identifier for a disputed charge.
• Messages: the actual communications log, not a separate archive.

What an empty result means

The search fields are verified against the records as they actually exist, so an empty result is now meaningful: the record genuinely is not there, or is not under that spelling. It is not a broken query. The standing lesson for the desk is broader: distrust silent emptiness. If a search that should hit returns nothing, say so plainly instead of assuming the customer does not exist. "Not found" and "does not exist" differ by the spelling, the type filter, and which location's records are being searched; check all three before telling a customer they are not in the system.

Working the search

• Start broad, then narrow. Search across all types when the record type is unknown: "a customer called about a charge" could be a payment, an invoice, or the customer. Switch to the single type once the kind of record is known.
• Phone numbers: digits only, no formatting. Matching is by contained text; a formatted query with dashes can miss a differently formatted stored value. Strip the query to digits.
• Names: try last name first. First names collide across customers and pets; the type filter separates them, but last name is still the sharper key.
• Appointment numbers: exact. They are the primary key of the conversation; read them back, write them down, search them exactly as given.

The command palette

The command palette is the keyboard-facing side of the same system: the quick-action dispatcher: and it also fires the appointment actions described in Appointment Detail. If the palette stops offering an action it used to offer, that is a change to the staff member's permissions, not a data problem. Check the staff member's permissions before anything else.

Search-driven workflows

Three searches the desk runs constantly, and exactly how to run them "Has this person been here before?" Search customers by last name. If nothing, try the phone digits. If still nothing, they are new: but search across all types once before creating a record, in case the name appears on a pet or an appointment note under a different spelling. Creating the record is governed by Customers and the search-first discipline in Data Management.

"Where's the money?" For a customer disputing a charge, search payments by the payment number from their receipt. With no receipt, a name will not work in invoice search, because invoices search by number and external identifier; go to the profile's invoices view instead. Search is for when the desk has the number; the profile is for when the desk has the person.

"Which appointment was that?" Search appointments by the appointment number, exactly as given. This is why the desk reads the number back at booking, under Appointments: it is the one key that works here without fail.

Controls

• Staff shall verify spelling, type filter, and record set before telling a customer no record exists.
• Search shall not be used to browse customer, message, or payment data unrelated to the task in hand. Every search is for a stated service purpose.
• An action missing from the command palette shall be treated as a permissions question first, not worked around.

Records

Global search creates no records; it reads the customer, pet, appointment, invoice, payment, message, and document records kept in the customer record system and the accounting records. Actions fired from the command palette create the records described in Appointment Detail.

Escalation and review

Managers review searches reported as wrongly empty and permission changes affecting the command palette. A search fault that the store cannot resolve shall be reported to support@aapawz.com. Legal process concerning a record found through search shall be directed to legal@aapawz.com.