Two kinds of search method are provided - Basic Search and Advanced Search.

Name (combining "Surname" and "Given Name")

In this text box, you can enter a full name or part of a full name to search. A "type ahead" feature is adopted to display the matching suggestion. A suggestion box will be displayed for quick selection if there are no more than 10 matching results.

For Search by Name in English, it does not matter whether the surname or the given name of the officer is inputted first for the search. For example, the following matching results will be displayed when a user keys in a full name or part of a full name in different sequence.

Information keyed in:

• Yeung
• Yeung Chi
• Yeung Chi Keung
• Yeung Chi Keung, Andy
• Andy Yeung
• Chi Keung

Results:

• Yeung Chi Keung, Andy (Health Bureau)
• Yeung Chi Keung, Andy (Civil Aid Services)
• Yeung Chi Keung, Andy (Housing Department)
• Yeung Chi Keung, Andy (Post Office)
• Yeung Chi Keung, Andy (Legal Aid Department)

If the number of matching results is more than 10, the user will still need to click the “Search” icon to trigger the display of all the names together with the related information.

If you can specify as much of the name as possible, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

For Search by Name in Chinese, the search of matching names is bounded by the sequence of the Chinese characters keyed in.

Tips:

• The text to search is case insensitive. Entering "YEUNG", "Yeung" and “yeung” are the same.
• You can input Chinese characters as your search value in this text box even though you are in English mode of search page or vice versa. All returned entries will be in English if you are in the English search page.

Bureau / Department

You can select a Bureau / Department from this list box to confine the search result accordingly. The default selection is All Bureaux and Departments, so you can search all bureaux and departments for the name entered above. If you can specify the bureau / department for searching, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

In advanced search page, you can search for your results by the combination of "Surname", "Given Name", "Post Title", "Office Tel", "Fax", "Other Tel", and "Email".

You can enter texts in different boxes to search and in the list box next to each box you can choose how the text entered should be matched.

Surname

In this text box, you enter a surname or part of a surname to search and in the list box next to it you can choose how the text entered should be matched.

The matching condition can be "Starts with", "Contains", "Equals", or "Ends with".

For example:

• Using the "Starts with" matching condition, Wong will return all entries with surname that starts with Wong
  (e.g. Wong Tak Kwun、Wong Wing Yuen)
• Using the "Ends With" matching condition, Wong will return all entries with surname that ends with Wong
  (e.g. Kwong Chi Keung、Wong Wing Yuen)

If you can specify as much of the name as possible and select the "Ends With" matching condition, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

Given Name

In this text box, you enter a given name or part of a given name to search and in the list box next to it you can choose how the text entered should be matched.
The matching condition can be "Starts with", "Contains", "Equals", or "Ends with".

For example:

• Using the "Starts with" matching condition, Wong will return all entries with given name that starts with Wong
  (e.g. Tsui Wong Bin)
• Using the "Ends With" matching condition, Wong will return all entries with given name that ends with Wong
  (e.g. Yuen Tak Wong)

If you can specify as much of the name as possible and select the "Ends With" matching condition, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

Post Title

In this text box, you enter a person's post title or part of a post title to search and in the list box next to it you can choose how the text entered should be matched.

The matching condition can be "Starts with", "Contains", "Equals", or "Ends with".

For example: Using the "Ends with" matching condition, offr will return all entries with a post title that contains with officer
(e.g. Med Offr, Ch Offr )

If you can specify the post title as detail as possible and select the "Starts With" matching condition, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

Tips:

• Use the abbreviations as contained in the conversion tables.
• The text to search is case insensitive. Entering "Wong" and "wong" are the same.
• In the Surname, Given Name, and Post Title text boxes, you can input Chinese characters as your search value even though you are in English mode of search page or vice versa. All returned entries will be in English if you are in the English search page.

Office Tel

In this text box, you enter a telephone number or part of a telephone number to search and in the list box next to it you can choose how the text entered should be matched. Space(s) and hyper(s) will be ignored.

The matching condition can be "Starts with", "Contains", "Equals", or "Ends with".

Some examples of valid searches are:

• 23456789
• 345-67
• 2345 6789

If you can specify as much of the number as possible with "Starts With" matching condition, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

Fax

In this value box, you can only type in an exact facsimile number to search. Do not type in space(s) and hyper(s).

Some examples of valid searches are:

• 23456789

Other Tel

In this text box, you enter a telephone number or part of a telephone number to search and in the list box next to it you can choose how the text entered should be matched. Space(s) and hyper(s) will be ignored.

The matching condition can be "Starts with", "Contains", "Equals", or "Ends with".

Some examples of valid searches are:

• 93456789
• 345-67
• 9345 6789

If you can specify as much of the number as possible with "Starts With" matching condition, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time. Most often, you can search for person's telephone number other than office telephone and facsimile number in this box.

Email

In this text box, you enter an Internet email address or part of an Internet email address to search and in the list box next to it you can choose how the text entered should be matched.

The matching condition can be "Starts with", "Contains", "Equals", or "Ends with".

For example: Using the "Contains" matching condition, chan@digitalpolicy will return all entries with an email address that contains with chan@digitalpolicy
(e.g. akchan@digitalpolicy.gov.hk, wpchan@digitalpolicy.gov.hk, jmchan@digitalpolicy.gov.hk)

If you can specify as much of the email address as possible with "Starts With" matching condition, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

Bureau / Department

You can select a Bureau / Department from this list box to confine the search result accordingly. The default selection is All Bureaux and Departments, so you can search all bureaux and departments for the name entered above.

After selecting the bureau / department, next level of organisational structure will be shown in a new list box underneath the previous one, and so on.
If you can specify the bureau / department for searching, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

Sort By

You have the options to sort your searching results in the following sequences:

• Name will return all entries with the order of Name, Department, Email, and then Post Title
• Department will return all entries with the order of Department, Name Email, and then Post Title
• Email will return all entries with the order of Email, Name, Department, and then Post Title
• Post Title will return all entries with the order of Post Title, Name, Department, and then Email

Nature of Enquiry

In the list box next to the nature of enquiry, you can choose the nature of enquiry i.e. enquiry / hotline / complaint to search. All bureaux / departments with such kinds of telephone number(s) will be returned.

For example: Enquiry will return all entries with telephone number(s) that contains Enquiry

Tips:
Only those bureaux / departments with such nature i.e. enquiry / hotline / complaint of telephone number(s) will be returned. If those bureaux / departments do not have such nature of telephone number(s), no record message will be returned.

Bureau / Department

You can select a Bureau / Department from this list box to confine the search result accordingly. The default selection is All Bureaux and Departments, so you can search all bureaux and departments for the name entered above. If you can specify the bureau / department for searching, you will obtain more concise results and reduce the search time.

Matching Conditions