Global Search

The Global Search feature provides a unified search interface to quickly find customers, contacts, services, inventory, and sites across the entire OmniCRM database.

See also: Customers , Inventory , Service Management .

Access Global Search

From anywhere in the CRM:

Click the search icon in the top navigation bar or navigate to:

The global search page appears with a large search box and filter options.

How It Works

Global search performs a cross-entity search across five data types:

What Gets Searched:

Customers - Customer name
Contacts - First name, last name, email address, phone number
Sites - Site name
Inventory - Serial numbers, ICCIDs, identifiers (itemtext1, itemtext2)
Services - Service name, service UUID

Search Behavior:

Partial matching - Searches for terms containing your query (e.g., "Smith" matches "John Smith" and "Smithson")
Case-insensitive - "john" matches "John", "JOHN", and "john"
Multiple entities - Single search returns results from all entity types
Paginated results - Shows 10 results per page by default

Performing a Search

Basic Search

Enter your search term in the search box
Click "Search" or press Enter

Global Search Results {.align-center width="800px"}

Example search terms:

Customer name: "Acme Corp"
Phone number: "+1234567890" or "1234567890"
Email: "john@example.com" or "john"
Serial number: "ICCID8944" or just "8944"
Service UUID: "123e4567-e89b"

Include Closed Accounts

By default, search only returns results from Open customer accounts.

To search across all accounts including closed ones:

Check the "Include Closed Accounts" checkbox
Click "Search" again

This will search:

Customers with customer_status = "Closed"
Contacts, services, sites, and inventory linked to closed customers

Use cases for closed account search:

Finding historical customer records
Locating equipment from deprovisioned services
Looking up old phone numbers or services
Recovering customer data for re-activation

Understanding Search Results

Result Display Format

Results are displayed in a scrollable list showing:

John Smith Customer ID: 123 Type: customer

John Smith (Contact) Customer ID: 123 Type: contact

Mobile - +44 7700 900123 Customer ID: 123 Type: service

Each result shows:

Name/Title - The primary identifier (clickable link)
Customer ID - The parent customer this belongs to
Type - The entity type (customer, contact, site, inventory, service)

Result Types Explained

Customer Results:

Clicking opens the customer overview page showing all details, services, contacts, etc.

Contact Results:

Clicking opens the customer page with the Contacts tab active, scrolling to the specific contact.

Site Results:

Clicking opens the customer page with the Sites tab active.

Inventory Results:

Clicking opens the customer page with the Inventory tab active. If inventory is unassigned (no customer_id), it links to the main inventory list instead.

Service Results:

Clicking opens the customer page with the Services tab active, highlighting the specific service.

All search results are clickable links that navigate directly to the relevant page:

Link Pattern:

/customers/{customer_id} - Customer records
/customers/{customer_id}#4 - Contacts (tab 4)
/customers/{customer_id}#2 - Sites (tab 2)
/customers/{customer_id}#8 - Inventory (tab 8)
/customers/{customer_id}#3 - Services (tab 3)
/inventory-items-list - Unassigned inventory

The hash (#) fragment automatically selects the correct tab when the customer page loads.

Pagination

Results are paginated with 10 items per page:

Showing results 11-20 of 47

Navigate through pages using:

Previous/Next buttons
Page numbers - Click specific page
Keyboard - Left/right arrows (if implemented)

Common Search Scenarios

Scenario 1: Find Customer by Phone

User calls in, provides phone number.

Results: • John Smith (Contact) - Customer ID: 123 • Mobile - 555-0123 (Service) - Customer ID: 123

Click either result to access customer account.

Scenario 2: Locate SIM Card

Technician needs to find which customer has a specific SIM.

Results: • 8944538000000001234 (Inventory) - Customer ID: 456

Click result to see SIM assignment, customer details.

Scenario 3: Find Inactive Customer

Need to locate a customer who closed their account 6 months ago.

☑ Include Closed Accounts

Results: • Acme Corporation (customer) - Customer ID: 789

Scenario 4: Search by Email

Customer emails support, staff needs to find their account.

Results: • John Smith (Contact) - Customer ID: 123

Scenario 5: Find Service by UUID

Provisioning log shows service UUID, need to find which customer.

Results: • Mobile - +44 7700 900123 (Service) - Customer ID: 456

Search Tips

For Best Results:

Use partial terms - "Smith" is better than "John Smith" for broader results
Try variations - If "John" doesn't work, try phone or email
Include closed accounts - When searching historical data
Be specific for equipment - Use full serial numbers for inventory
Search service UUID - When other identifiers aren't known

What Gets Searched (by Entity):

Customers:

Customer name only (not address, notes, or other fields)

Contacts:

First name
Last name
Email address
Phone number

Sites:

Site name only

Inventory:

itemtext1 (typically ICCID, serial number, MAC address)
itemtext2 (typically IMSI, secondary identifier)
Note: Does not search itemtext3-20 or inventory notes

Services:

Service name
Service UUID

What Doesn't Get Searched:

Customer addresses
Customer notes
Transaction descriptions
Invoice details
Provisioning logs
Activity log entries
Inventory notes (beyond itemtext1/2)

API Reference

Global Search Endpoint

GET /utilities/search_everything?search=Smith&page=1&per_page=10&search_closed_records=false
Authorization: Bearer <token>

Query Parameters:

search (required) - The search term
page (optional) - Page number (default: 1)
per_page (optional) - Results per page (default: 10)
search_closed_records (optional) - Include closed accounts (default: false)

Response:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 123,
      "name": "John Smith",
      "customer_id": 123,
      "type": "customer"
    },
    {
      "id": 456,
      "name": "John Smith",
      "customer_id": 123,
      "type": "contact"
    },
    {
      "id": 789,
      "name": "Mobile - +44 7700 900123",
      "customer_id": 123,
      "type": "service"
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "current_page": 1,
    "per_page": 10,
    "total_pages": 5,
    "total_items": 47
  }
}

Search Logic (Backend):

The backend performs a SQL UNION across all entity tables:

-- Customers
SELECT customer_id AS id,
       customer_name AS name,
       customer_id,
       'customer' AS type
FROM customer
WHERE customer_name LIKE '%Smith%'
  AND customer_status = 'Open'

UNION ALL

-- Contacts
SELECT contact_id AS id,
       CONCAT(contact_firstname, ' ', contact_lastname) AS name,
       customer_id,
       'contact' AS type
FROM customer_contact
WHERE (contact_firstname LIKE '%Smith%' OR
       contact_lastname LIKE '%Smith%' OR
       contact_email LIKE '%Smith%' OR
       contact_phone LIKE '%Smith%')

UNION ALL

-- Sites
SELECT site_id AS id,
       site_name AS name,
       customer_id,
       'site' AS type
FROM customer_site
WHERE site_name LIKE '%Smith%'

UNION ALL

-- Inventory
SELECT inventory_id AS id,
       itemtext1 AS name,
       customer_id,
       'inventory' AS type
FROM inventory
WHERE itemtext1 LIKE '%Smith%' OR
      itemtext2 LIKE '%Smith%'

UNION ALL

-- Services
SELECT service_id AS id,
       service_name AS name,
       customer_id,
       'service' AS type
FROM customer_service
WHERE service_name LIKE '%Smith%' OR
      service_uuid LIKE '%Smith%'

Results are then paginated and returned.

Performance Considerations

Search Performance:

Searches use LIKE queries with wildcards (%term%)
No full-text indexing currently implemented
Large databases (>100k customers) may experience slower searches
Results limited to 10 per page for performance

Optimization Tips:

Be specific with search terms to reduce result set
Use closed account filter to reduce search scope
Consider adding database indexes on frequently searched fields

Troubleshooting

No results found (but record exists)

Cause: Search term doesn't match stored data format
Examples:
- Phone stored as "+44 7700 900123", searching "07700900123" won't match
- Email stored as "<john.smith@example.com>", searching "john" won't match
Fix: Try variations, use partial matches that definitely exist

Search too slow

Cause: Large database, complex query across multiple tables
Fix:
- Use more specific search terms
- Limit to open accounts only (uncheck closed accounts)
- Contact administrator about database indexing

Results link to wrong customer

Cause: Multiple customers/contacts with same name
Fix: Use Customer ID to differentiate, or search by unique identifier (email, phone)

Closed accounts not appearing

Cause: "Include Closed Accounts" checkbox not checked
Fix: Check the box and search again

basics_customers - Customer management
basics_navigation - General navigation
administration_inventory - Inventory searches

Access Global Search​

How It Works​

Performing a Search​

Basic Search​

Include Closed Accounts​

Understanding Search Results​

Result Display Format​

Result Types Explained​

Navigation from Results​

Pagination​

Common Search Scenarios​

Search Tips​

API Reference​

Global Search Endpoint​

Performance Considerations​

Troubleshooting​

Related Documentation​