Detailed information on Searches

This database saves records in several types of records. The main ones would be the Standard Record (usually an individual person), Business Record and Political Committee Record.

If a box saying "No Record Found for....", pops up, then that person/business isn't in the database THE WAY IT IS TYPED. This doesn't necessarily mean they aren't in the database. The name could have been misspelled when it was first added. If it is a business you are looking for, the way it was originally added may not be the same as what you are typing in ( "International Brotherhood...." would NOT pull up any records that were spelled "Int'l Brotherhood").

If you don't get any results when you try typing the name as it is shown , then use the % in the search. If you were looking for "James Scheuster", you could type "sch%, j" and get a list of all the people with first names starting with "J" and last names that have "Sch" at the start. Or if you wanted International Brotherhood (as in the example above), you could type Int% Bro%.

LESS IS MORE IN A SEARCH. The less specific you are in the search criteria, the better chance you have of pulling up a list with the correct record you are looking for.

To make sure the person/business you are looking for isn't in, click on the Advanced button right below the Find button. This will pull up another screen in which you can do a more detailed search. (See picture above) The first thing to do is to click the Reset for New Search button on the bottom right side of this screen. When this screen is opened, it carries over search criteria from the last search done. The first time it is used when you open the database, it will be blank, but each time after that it will have the search criteria listed from the previous search. Click the Reset button each time it is used to make sure the list being pulled is the one that is actually needed.

!IMPORTANT! = If searching by street address, it is best to type in ONLY the street numbers and part of the street name.

For example, if the street address is 1234 Central Street, type in "1234 Cent". This will give a list of all records with AT LEAST that in the address. Sometimes someone will leave off the 'avenue', 'street', 'road' or abbreviation for them in an address.

If the full 1234 Central Street is typed in the search box, only records that have that completely in the address will be pulled up, leaving out any records where the avenue, street, road isn't there or where an abbreviation for them is used.

If the address you are looking for is "123 North Central", type in "123 n".

There is now an advance search option "Type of Record" that you can do a search on. If you are looking for people in a certain area or who have given a certain amount you don't need to use this option. You can leave it set at the default of "Any Type". However, if you want only records that are all the PAC's, or Earmarked Conduit records you have, you can use this option. Click the drop down arrow in the field beside "Type of Record" and choose the record type you want, then click the OK button. This will give you a list of records of the type you've specified.

The Advanced search option can be used to look up records by email, occupation, codes, or by how much someone has given to your campaign.

To search by how much someone has given to your campaign (or to someone else's campaign) use the "Include these codes" on the lower part of the screen. Click on the Plus button. The screen will appear as the example below. The first line is where the code can be place. If searching for contributions to your campaign (and you were using JDOE as your code for contributions received for example) type in JDOE in the Keyword/Code line and make sure the box "$ Campaign Field" is checked.

The results for this area can be set with eithor 'and' (list will be records that match this criteria plus also match criteria those of other areas you've specified in the advanced search); or with 'or' (list will be records that match eithor this criteria or that criteria you've set else where in advanced search).

Dollar amounts can be set for eithor current or previous cycles or total amount raised. Notice the operational boxes. These allow the results to be equal/less than/greater than (etc) a certain dollar amount. Date ranges for contributions can also be set here.

Once all of the search criteria is entered, click the Add Button. Notice how there is now a line of search information in the lower right box of this screen.

Once the information in the Advanced search box is filled in (all of the boxes don't have to be filled in) click the OK button on the bottom right hand side to start the search.

You will get a list of possible matches to the search criteria. To view a particular record, eithor double click on the line with the record you want to see, or click on it once to highlight it and click on the "OK" button on the bottom right sided of the screen. This will pull up the main screen for that record.

Clicking once on the gray bar above the column that has field names on it, will put the list in order by that field. Clicking once on the gray bar that says Zip, puts the records in that list in numeric order by zip codes. Clicking on the bar that says Last will put all records in alphabetical order by last name, etc.

You can look at individual records as stated earlier. If the record you chose to view isn't the one you want, you can click on the Show List button on the upper right side of the main screen to go back to the list you had pulled up in your advanced search.