The out-of-the-box search features of MOSS 2007 include two scopes, All Sites and People; but what about customers or clients? Many organizations are in business because of their customer base; so when adding new scopes and search content, the customers are the next best bet (pun definitely intended).

Therefore this article will demonstrate the process of creating a Client scope for use in search from a BDC source. It assumes that a Client BDC definition file has been created and imported into the MOSS implementation. The customer/client is simply a business scenario and the steps outlined can be used for any BDC application.

Creating a Content Source for the Client BDC

The first step is to add a content source to the search settings for the Client BDC. From Central Administration, select the SSP under the Shared Administrative Services menu. Select the Search Settings link:

On the Configure Search Settings screen, select the “Content sources and crawl schedules” link:

On the Manage Content Sources screen, select the New Content Source button:

The Add Content Source screen will appear. Enter a name for the content source and select Business Data as the type. The Applications section will refresh. Select the “Crawl selected applications” and make sure the instance checkbox is checked:

Enter the appropriate Full and Incremental Crawl schedules as applicable.

At the bottom of the screen, select the “Start full crawl…” checkbox and then click OK:

The Manage Content Sources screen should appear with the new content source entry:

Before proceeding, make sure the full crawl is completed and the status is Idle.

Adding the Client Scope

Return to the Configure Search Settings page and select the “View Scopes” link under the Scopes section:

On the View Scopes page, click on the New Scope button:

On the New Scopes page, enter a title for the scope. For now, make sure the “Use the default Search Results Page” is selected. We will generate a new search results page in future articles.

Click OK, the screen should return the View Scopes page. The new scope should be listed but with an Empty status. Click on the Add Rules link under this status:

On the Add Scope Rule page, select Content Source. This will make the Content Source section appear. Select the BDC content source created for the search previously. Leave the Behavior to the default “Include” and click OK:

Return to the Configure Search Settings screen and select the “Start update now” under the Scopes section:

The scope should begin the update process. Refreshing the screen will show the % complete on the Update status line. We are done with the SSP settings at this point.

Adding the Scope to the Site Collection

Open a new browser and navigate to the main MOSS web site. Select Site Settings from the Site Actions menus (if there is a extended menu, select “Modify All Site Settings”).

Under the Site Collection Administration section click on the Search Scopes link:

On the View Scopes page, select the Search Dropdown link:

On the Edit Scope Display Group screen, check the checkbox next to Clients scope. Click OK.

Back on the View Scopes page, select the Advanced Search link:

On the Edit Scope Display Group screen, check the checkbox next to Clients scope. Click OK.

Navigate once again to the main MOSS site. The Clients scope should now appear in the search drop-down box:

Searching within this scope should yield results from the BDC.

What’s Next?

Now that the content source and scope has been created, in order to customize the search results, managed properties need to be mapped to the crawled content. The next article will explain the steps to create the managed properties.