Structure Search Tree

There may be circumstances in which you are searching for the correct code for an object that is part of a larger hierarchy of objects. Some objects that fall into this category include the following.

• Personnel in a company or an organization: for example, personnel organized in a hierarchy of president, vice presidents, managers, assistant managers, administrative assistants, and so on down

• Equipment in an assemblage of functionally related equipment: for example, a transformer that is part of a neighborhood power substation, which is part of a regional electrical generation and distribution system

• Organizational units in a business: for example, a department within a business unit within a regional office of a global corporation

When this case arises, you might find a Structure search tab (Figure 10.12A) on the multiple-tab search screen for the object. Click it, and the search screen is replaced by a multilevel structure tree (Figure 10.13).

Figure 10.12. Click the Structure Search tab (A) on a multiple-tab search screen to display a structure search tree for organizational units.

Figure 10.13. A structure search tree for organizational units.

Structure search trees are very similar in their design and operation to menu folders and Favorites folders (see Lessons 5 and 6). For example:

• First-level "branches" in a structure tree identify the major classes of the object. For example, the first-level branches in Figure 10.13 identify the key business groups in a corporation, including Sales UK, Accounting, Avanex, and Bose (A).

• Second-level branches identify subdivisions of the major classes. For example, the second-level branches in Figure 10.13 identify departments Automotive Products and Home Entertainment (B) within the Bose business group.

You can expand the branches in a structure tree to display their upper-level branches in one of three ways.

• Click the control arrow (C) to the left of a specific branch name to reveal the next set of branches beneath it, or

  Double-click a branch name to reveal the next set of branches beneath it, or

  Click the Expand all button (D) to expand all the branches in the structure tree. This is the least optimal method, because it takes some time for the system to display all the branches in the structure tree.

You can select one or more objects in the structure tree by clicking their selection boxes to place checks inside them (E), then clicking the Enter button (F) to enter them in a data entry field. If you select multiple objects, they are automatically entered on the multiple selection screen for a field.

You can also select all the objects in one level of the structure treefor example, both departments in the Bose business groupby selecting the lower-level branch above it (Bose), then clicking the Select all button (G).

You may also encounter a simpler structure search tree when you search for the correct codes for certain objects. For example, when you trigger a search for the correct code to describe structural damages to equipment, the system automatically displays a structure search tree with folder icons (A) in place of the control arrows (Figure 10.14). You would then open its folders and subfolders to locate the correct code by clicking the icons once, then double-click the desired code to enter it in the data field in question.

Figure 10.14. A simple structure search tree with folder and subfolder icons.