Help

1. Overview - Searching and Browsing
2. Value Box
3. Field Box
   • Surname, Given name
   • Surname
   • Given name
   • Telephone number
   • Title
   • Organization
   • Role
4. Match Box
   • Begins with
   • Contains
   • Ends with
   • Approximate
   • Exact
5. Common Questions
   • Why doesn't my telephone number search work?
   • How are accented characters handled for searches?
   • Why does my search take so long?
   • How can I make my search faster or avoid size/time limits?
   • How do I search based on function?
   • How can I see an organization chart for the Government?
   • My search failed to find the entry I wanted. Is it missing?

For more information see the GEDS Frequently Asked Questions

Overview Searching and Browsing

When you first connect to the directory, you are presented with a search form and, below that, a link that allows you to browse through a list of all the federal government departments and agencies. At that point, you can either perform a government-wide search or list the contents of a department or agency.

After having clicked on the "Government of Canada" link, you can list the contents of a department or agency simply by clicking on the appropriate entry which appears on the screen. If you do this, a new search form will be presented along with a list of the "Organizations", "People" and "Roles" which report to that department or agency. You can then list the contents of one of the displayed organizations by clicking on its entry on the screen. You can continue this process and steadily work your way down the organizational structure. This process is called "browsing".

In addition to browsing, you can also search the directory. You can search on surname, given name, telephone number, title, organization or role. Different types of matches can be sought for: begins with, contains, ends with, approximate or exact. The search will be executed within the currently selected organization, which appears in bold at the top of the search form.

As an example, the starting point when accessing the directory is "Government of Canada". If you click on the "Government of Canada" link and then select "Public Works and Government Services Canada" from the list of organizations below the "Government of Canada" heading, organizations immediately below "Public Works and Government Services Canada" will be displayed. If you then submit a search, the search will be executed only within "Public Works and Government Services Canada".

Value Box

In the search form, the first box is called the "Value Box". This is where you enter your search value. Simply click anywhere in the "Value Box" and enter your query in alphanumeric characters. Some examples of valid search values are:

Tip: To empty the "Value Box", simply click on the "Clear Form" button located at the bottom of the search form.

Field Box

In the search form, you have the option of selecting a search field from the drop-down "Field Box". The default selection is Surname, Given name but you may also select Surname, Given name, Telephone number, Title, Organization, or Role.

Surname, Given name

When you have made this selection, you can either type in a full name or part of a full name. The directory returns all entries which meet the matching criterion selected, so you can specify as little or as much of the name as you like. If both a surname and given name are specified, a comma must be used to separate them. Capitalization is ignored when searching, but accents and non-alphabetic characters are taken into account. Some examples of valid searches using the "begins with" matching criterion are:

Tip: Specify as much of the name as possible, as this will produce fewer and more precise results, and will reduce the time required to complete the search.

Surname

When you have made this selection, you can either type in a surname or part of a surname. The directory returns all entries which meet the matching criterion selected, so you can specify as little or as much as you like. Capitalization and accents are ignored when searching, but non alphabetic characters are taken into account. One example of a valid search using the "begins with" matching criterion is:

Given name

When you have made this selection, you can either type in a given name or part of a given name. The directory returns all entries which meet the matching criterion selected, so you can specify as little or as much as you like. Capitalization and accents are ignored when searching, but non alphabetic characters are taken into account. One example of a valid search using the "begins with" matching criterion is:

Telephone number

When you have made this selection, you can either type in a phone number or part of a phone number. Telephone numbers must be prefixed with the area code. The directory returns all entries which meet the matching criterion, so you can specify as little or as much of the number as you like. Brackets, hyphens, spaces or alphabetic characters are ignored when searching. Some examples of valid searches are:

Tip: Some areas have multiple area codes, for example the National Capital Region has 613 for Ottawa and 819 for Hull. You may have to try both of these to find what you're looking for.

Title

When you have made this selection, you can either type in a person’s title or part of a person’s title. The directory returns all entries which meet the matching criterion selected, so you can specify as little or as much as you like. Capitalization is ignored when searching, but accents and non alphabetic characters are taken into account. One example of a valid search using the "begins with" matching criterion is:

Organization

When you have made this selection, you can either type in an organization’s name or part of an organization’s name. The directory returns all entries which meet the matching criterion selected, so you can specify as little or as much of the organization’s name as you like. Capitalization is ignored when searching, but accents and non alphabetic characters are taken into account. One example of a valid search using the "contains" matching criterion is:

Role

When you have made this selection, you can either type in a role or part of a role. The directory returns all entries which meet the matching criterion selected, so you can specify as little or as much as you like. Capitalization is ignored when searching, but accents and non alphabetic characters are taken into account. One example of a valid search using the "contains" matching criterion is:

Match Box

In the search form, you also have the option of selecting a matching criterion from the drop-down "Match Box" to use as a search parameter. The default selection is begins with but you may also select contains, ends with, approximate, or exact.

Begins with

This selection will return all entries within a given search field which begin with the search value specified.

Example:

Enter value to search for: (819) 956

Select which field to search: Telephone number

Select matching criteria to use: begins with

will yield all phone number entries which begin with "(819) 956-" within the current organization ("Government of Canada").

Note that this type of search is fast but is only useful if you know exactly how the search value name begins.

Contains

This selection will return all entries within a given search field which contain the search value specified.

Example:

Enter value to search for: Atlantic

Select which field to search: Organization

Select matching criteria to use: contains

will yield all organization entries which contain the word "Atlantic" within the current organization ("Government of Canada").

Note that this type of search can take a long time. You can get faster results by performing this search from inside a particular department or agency or from inside a sub-organization of a department or agency.

Ends with

This selection will return all entries within a given search field which end with the search value specified.

Example:

Enter value to search for: desk

Select which field to search: Role

Select matching criteria to use: ends with

will yield all role entries which end with "desk" within the current organization ("Government of Canada").

Approximate

You can select this matching criterion if you are unsure of the spelling of a search value name. The search will then be executed using a "Soundex" algorithm, which performs a phonetic rather than alphabetic match. Approximate searches often return a large number of results.

Example:

Enter value to search for: Smith, John

Select which field to search: Surname, Given name

Select matching criteria to use: approximate

will yield all surname, given name entries which approximate "Smith, John" within the current organization ("Government of Canada").

Exact

This selection will return all entries within a given search field which exactly match the search value specified.

Example:

Enter value to search for: Privy Council Office

Select which field to search: Organization

Select matching criteria to use: exact

will yield all organizational entries which exactly match the search value "Privy Council Office" within the current organization ("Government of Canada").

Common Questions

Why doesn't my telephone number search work?

Values which are specified for telephone number searches must include the area code. If the search returns no matches, there is a strong possibility that you omitted or entered the wrong area code. Note that all international telephone numbers start with "011".

How are accented characters handled for searches?

For surname and given name searches, accented characters always match their non-accented equivalents. For all other types of searches, accented characters do not match their non-accented equivalents.

Why does my search take so long?

Response times for searches will always vary depending on the amount of network traffic and other design factors such as firewalls and communication line speeds. Other factors that will affect response times include the number of matches to your search and the scope of your search (whether it was the entire federal government or restricted to a department). Note also that the "contains" searches are known to take much longer than other types of searches. For performance reasons all searches are subject to a 100 seconds time limit and a size limit of 300 entries (default settings).

How can I make my search faster or avoid size/time limits?

The following tips will help get better performance on your searches:

1. Specify as much information as possible in the Value Box. For name searches, select preferably the "Surname, Given name" search field and type in the surname and given name. For title searches, type in as much of the title as you know. For example if you are looking for the director of operations type "director of operations" not just "director".

2. Restrict the scope of your search as much as possible. This means if the entry you are searching for is inside of Health Canada, then perform your search from inside of Health Canada, not from the top Government of Canada level.

3. For "contains" searches, try "begins with" searches instead. This will give you a faster result if you know how the search value begins. For example, if the title you are searching on is "Director of Informatics" then perform a "begins with" search instead of a "contains" search.

How do I search based on function?

The function of an individual or organization is often reflected in the person's title, a role or the organization's name. The "Title", "Role" and "Organization" searches are provided for this reason.

How can I see an organization chart for the government?

You can browse the organizational structure of the government by listing each successive level starting from the top "Government of Canada" level. When you first connect to the directory, you will notice, below the search form, a link that allows you to browse through a list of all the federal government departments and agencies. Clicking on this link will produce a listing of all the departments below the search form. If you then select a department, all its sub-organizations are listed. You can continue this cascading descent into the tree-like structure of the government in order to see the organizational structure.

My search failed to find the entry I wanted. Is it missing?

There are several reasons for which you may not be able to find a specific entry when performing a search. This depends on what search you tried and if any size or time limits were encountered. Here are some tips to help avoid this problem:

1. If you encountered a size or a time limit, this means that your search was taking too long or that too many entries matched your search value. The operation was stopped with partial results. The time limit is 100 seconds and the size limit is 300 entries (default settings).

   If the entry you were looking for appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that it is not present in the directory. This is because the directory does not return results in alphabetical order. The partial results are sorted after the search has stopped. This means that the directory stopped the search operation before the entry you were looking for was found. You must therefore try to refine your search to avoid size or time limits.

2. If you were performing a search on title, role or organization in French, accents are matched literally. You may have missed an accent in the spelling of the search value or it may also be that the word was incorrectly spelled without the accent when it was entered into the directory.

3. If you were performing a "begins with" search on title, role or organization, try a "contains" search instead.