Unified User Search Enhancements: Structured Fields and Permissions

Description

The Unified User Search enhancements introduce a dedicated Enhanced Search tab that sits next to the familiar Quick Search field. The two tabs are mutually exclusive, so search logic never overlaps: Quick Search keeps the unified free-text field admins know today, while Enhanced Search exposes six structured fields — first name, last name, email, username, and user ID (all using starts-with logic), plus user status as an exact match.

Search behavior is predictable and keyboard-friendly. Empty fields are ignored, a single populated field returns matches on that field only, and multiple populated fields must all match as AND criteria. Wildcards such as percent and underscore are supported for flexible patterns, and admins can press Enter to initiate a search with no mouse needed. There is no backend search engine change, and the legacy starts-with logic is preserved so results remain consistent.

Business Need

This release was driven directly by customer feedback. Administrators have been frustrated by a single search field that mixes free text and filters in the same box, causing them to lose context every time they refine a search. There was also no way to prevent support staff in one region from seeing managers, org units, and approvers belonging to another region.

By separating structured input into a dedicated tab, persisting the most common filter (user status) across tabs, and adding granular permissions, the release makes user search faster to navigate, more predictable to refine, and safer to expose across roles — keeping each team within its proper scope while protecting configuration integrity.

Key Features

• Enhanced Search tab: A dedicated tab exposes six structured fields using starts-with logic and AND criteria, so exact matches surface where admins expect them.
• Persistent user status: User status acts as a single source of truth across both tabs, updating in one when changed in the other and persisting even after logout — only an explicit Reset Filters action clears it.
• Three new permissions: Manager, approver, and org-unit selections are governed by a clean off-and-on permission model that constrains who can be searched on per security role.
• Flexible patterns and keyboard support: Wildcards such as percent and underscore enable flexible search patterns, and admins can initiate searches with the Enter key.
• Consistent constrained results: Filtering, sorting, and pagination stay consistent under permission constraints, and a clear empty state is shown when no results meet the constraint.

Deployment & Considerations

These enhancements reach Stage and Pilot environments at the start of UAT and Production with the production release. The feature is not activated by default; customers self-activate it through Admin Tools, Core Functions, Core Preferences, Feature Activation Preferences. Specific new permissions control access to the features within this initiative and are assigned to the System Administrator role by default — assign them only to trusted admin roles to protect configuration integrity.

Administrators should be aware of two current limitations. First, it is not yet possible to secure or configure the columns within the search results workspace; that capability is targeted for an upcoming release. Second, password management from the user options menu is not included — admins cannot change a user's password directly from the actions menu in user search yet, with that capability coming in a later update. The feature is available in all languages and all regions, with no specific regulated configuration required.