Guidance for using our site-search
This page offers some helpful tips on how to use our website’s site-search facility. Site-search will help you drill down deeper into the content as it be tailored towards better results compared to public sear services such as Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.
Exact phrases
Putting quotation marks around your search terms can be a better way to get the answers you are looking for.
For example, a search for balancing settlement code matches any page that mentions balancing, settlement and the word code. A search for “balancing settlement code” only returns content mentioning the exact phrase “balancing settlement code”.
Modification and Change documents
Our new search tool enables you to find the most up-to-date documents when you’re looking for a Balancing Settlement Code Procedure (BSCP), Change Proposal (CP), Modification (P) or Code of Practice (COP).
For example, if you search for ‘P300’, the first result will be the P300 page with all its associated documents. A plus (+) symbol appears below the page title, indicating that there are multiple documents relating to this Modification.
If you click on the + symbol, this displays a drop down list of all the documents and changes relating to P300. A search for ‘COP 4’ or ‘Scottish S5’ brings up the corresponding Code of Practice.
When searching for COPs, remember to put a space between the COP and the number so it doesn’t read ‘cop4’. Similarly a search for ‘BSCP514’ will bring up the latest version of the document along with its related BSCP form.
Creating a Reading List
This feature allows you to ‘save’ documents to view and retrieve later. Each result has a small ‘pin’ icon next to it.
Once you click on it, it is added to the Reading List results. The pin then changes to a cross (X), allowing you to clear the results once you’ve finished viewing them. There is just a small browser compatibility issue. Reading List does not work in Internet Explorer 8.
It works in all newer versions of Internet Explorer and all other browsers, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox etc. So if your default browser is Internet Explorer 8 and you have access to another browser, just remember to copy and paste the link into your secondary browser and you’re good to go!
Using Preview
This feature allows you to see a document before opening or downloading it, a little like the Amazon ‘look inside’ feature. It’s easy to use – all you need to do is click the ‘Preview’ link which appears next to each PDF document in your list of search results. By clicking on this link, a new window appears displaying your PDF document.
Selecting document format
This feature allows you to filter documents from a specific format i.e. PDF, Microsoft Word (DOC), Microsoft Excel (XLS) and Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT).
On the right hand side of your search screen, you will see a set of filters labelled ‘Refine Search’. By checking one of these boxes, and selecting a document format, displays results that are published in your selected format.
You can select multiple formats and the filter also tells you the number of documents that are associated with each format.
Auto complete
Find information quickly by seeing search predictions that are similar to what you might be looking for. As you type in the search box, the auto complete kicks in after the third character. For example, if you type BSC, you will see examples of other popular BSC-related searches.
Spelling and Synonym
This feature will provide suggestions where applicable. If you spell something incorrectly, search results may appear, but this message will appear at the top of your list of results: This means it will hopefully bring up items or documents that still relate to what you’re looking for.