CAIRS Search and Distribution

CAIRS Search and Distribution page

You can access the CAIRS Search and Distribution page is accessed from the CAIRS Database Tools page by selecting the Search and Distribution hyperlink. From this page you can initiate searches of accident records and generate Ad Hoc reports. (Note that a Search hyperlink is available at the bottom of most pages in CAIRS. You can click on this hyperlink to return to the CAIRS Search and Distribution page.)

Five hyperlinks are displayed on the CAIRS Search and Distribution menu:

Use Previously Stored Search: This hyperlink goes to the Previous Selections page where you can select previously saved queries and then edited them, delete them, or use them to create a report.

Create Search: This hyperlink goes to the CAIRS Search Selection page where you can define criteria to create a subset of records. You can also save and edit search criteria from this page.

Ad Hoc Reports: This hyperlink goes to the CAIRS Ad Hoc Report Selections page where you can generate reports and distributions from the current set of search criteria.

Organization Code Lists: This hyperlink provides you with a list of active DOE organizations and their associated organization codes as used in CAIRS. The organzations are grouped by Field Office and are listed in numerical order from lowest to highest. The following additional listings are available from the on-line helps:
Listing of active organization codes by area office
Listing of active organization codes by site
Listing of active organization codes by operation type
Listing of active and inactive organization codes by field office

Flush/Start Over: This hyperlink takes you to the CAIRS Search Selection page, completely eliminates any results obtained from previous searches, resets the selection screen, and allows you to start over in building a search criteria set.

CAIRS Search Selection page

A search selection is a subset of CAIRS cases that match a set of user-defined criteria. From the CAIRS Search Selection page you can:

Create a search selection
Use a search selection
Save a search selection
Access a saved search selection

Creating a Search Selection

Search selections are created in two ways:

With the CAIRS Search selection area or
With the advanced query tool

Creating a search selection with the CAIRS Search selection area

The CAIRS Search selection area (partially shown below) displays the set of search fields. A unique number is assigned to each field. Search fields are divided into four general categories:

Coded Fields (Field numbers 1-40)
Narrative Fields (Field numbers 50-62)
Date/Time Fields (Field numbers 70-78)
Numeric Fields (Field numbers 80-86)

You can select search fields in one of two ways:

To the left of each field listing is a check box. Clicking on the check box includes the associated field in the search criteria. The Boolean logic between fields selected with check boxes is AND. CAUTION: Check boxes can only be used in the first iteration of a search.
At the top of the selection area is an edit box. Search criteria fields can be specified by typing search field numbers and Boolean operators (AND, OR, or NOT) into the edit box. When more than one logical operator is used in a statement, AND is processed first, but the order of execution can be changed by using parentheses. For example, a search criteria based on a direct cause or indirect cause at a specified field office would be: (14 or 15) and 1. NOTE: An entry in the edit box will override any selections made with the check boxes.

At any time you can reset the selections made and start over by clicking on the command button.

Designating the field values is the next step and is accomplished by clicking on the command button. A page is dynamically created (shown below) that displays selection areas for every search field specified on the previous page. You can specify values for each field in the field selection areas, using edit boxes, radio buttons, or selection boxes. Where edit boxes are displayed, operators may be used to specify field values.

Narrative searches are always specified in an edit box and have these conventions:

Narrative searches can currently consist of single words only.
The word must be enclosed in double quotes.
A narrative search for "hammer" will recover "jackhammer," "waterhammer," "hammer," "hammers," "hammered," etc. To search for an absolute word, put a space before and after the word (i.e., " hammer ").

Note: If you do not put the quotation marks around the search word, CAIRS interprets the search as looking for those records which contain only the single word in an entire narrative field rather than the desired search for the word within a narrative field.

Once field values are specified, the search is processed by clicking on the command button. This returns you to the CAIRS Search selection area where the search criteria and the number of records found by the search are displayed (shown below).

Further refinements to the search selection can be made by entering additional Boolean operators (AND, OR, or NOT) and search field numbers into the edit box (shown below) and then clicking on the command button.

The search selection can also be used to generate a report or saved for future use.

Creating a search selection with the advanced query tool

The advanced query tool is accessed by clicking on the command button. Clicking on this button presents the CAIRS Advanced Search Selections page where an edit box is provided for SQL database queries. Note that help for creating SQL queries will be included in a later version of the on-line helps.

Using a Search Selection

You can generate reports from the current search selection by clicking on the command button located on the CAIRS Search Selections page. This takes you to the CAIRS Ad Hoc Reports page where you can select from the following reports and distributions:

Saving a Search Selection

A current search selection can be saved by clicking on the command button which dynamically creates the CAIRS Save Selections page.

This page displays the CAIRS Save Selections area, which allows you to name and save the current search selection and to view previously saved search selections. An unlimited number of selections can be saved. The current search selection criteria is shown at the top of the CAIRS Save Selections area. The edit box is used to enter the name of the current search selection. If a name is not entered, the search selection is saved without a name. The names are not unique; therefore, multiple saved search selections can be named the same name. Under the edit box, a listing of previously saved selections is displayed and includes the following information:

The name of the search selection
The date and time the search selection was saved
The criteria associated with the search selection

To save the current search selection, simply click on the command button.

To exit the page without saving the search selection, click on the command button.

Note that saved search selections can be modified/edited.

Previous Selections page

You can access the Previous Selections page from the CAIRS Search Selections page by clicking on the command button or from the CAIRS Search and Distribution page buy clicking on the Used Previously Stored Search hyperlink. From this page, you can select previously saved queries to be edited or deleted, or to be used to create a report.

Next to each saved selection is a radio button. Marking a radio button identifies the search selection that you want to edit, delete, or use to create a report.

Selecting the command button deletes the saved search selection.

Selecting the command button identifies the marked search as the current search selection and presents the CAIRS Ad Hoc Report Selections page where you can generate reports using the saved search selection.

Selecting the command button identifies the marked search as the current search selection and dynamically creates the CAIRS Search selection area. The search fields and associated Boolean operators for this search selection are displayed in the edit box.

To edit the values within the existing search fields, click on the command button. The original values for the search selection are displayed and can be changed. After changes are made, the search is executed by clicking on the command button. This edited search selection can now be saved or used to generate Ad Hoc reports.

To modify the search fields in the search selection or to modify the Boolean operators between fields, enter the field or Boolean changes in the edit box, then click on the command button. After the fields values are defined or changed, the search is executed by clicking on the command button. This edited search selection can now be saved or used to generate Ad Hoc reports.

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