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Rao Bhethanabotla edited this page Feb 1, 2026 · 1 revision

Universal Search Functionality – Phase 1 (MVP)

Phase 0: Planning & Alignment

Review Functional Specification

  • Review the functional specification document in detail

  • Walk through:

    • Search scope
    • Supported entities
    • Ranking rules
    • Security constraints

  • Confirm MVP boundaries:

    • No autocomplete
    • No semantic or intent-based search

Define Searchable Entities & Fields

Finalize entity list:

  • Help Requests
  • Users
  • Organizations
  • Categories / Tags
  • Companies (if applicable)

Identify searchable fields per entity:

  • ID
  • Title / Name
  • Description
  • Tags

Define Role-Based Search Access Matrix

  • Document which roles can search which entities

  • Define authorization rules per entity:

    • Ownership
    • Assignment
    • Visibility / scope

  • Get sign-off from Product and Security teams

Phase 1: Backend – Authorization & Search Core

Implement Authorization Context Resolver

  • Extract user context from auth token/session:

    • user_id
    • role
    • organization_id
    • Permissions / scopes

  • Create a reusable authorization context object

Define Secure Search Query Scoping

  • Implement authorization-aware filters per entity
  • Ensure filters are applied before search execution
  • Prevent full-table or unscoped searches

Design Unified Search Service

  • Create a centralized search service/module in Flask

  • Accept:

    • Search text
    • Authorization context
    • Result limit

  • Return a unified result structure across all entity types

Implement Help Request Search (Secure by Design)

  • Query only help requests the user is authorized to access

  • Support partial keyword matching

  • Apply weighted relevance:

    • ID and title matches (highest weight)
    • Description matches (lower weight)

  • Validate that no unauthorized records are queried

Implement Search for Other Entities

  • Users (role-filtered)
  • Organizations (visibility-based)
  • Categories / Tags (public or scoped)
  • Companies (if applicable)

Phase 2: Ranking, Results & Navigation Logic

Implement Relevance Ranking

  • Apply weighted scoring:

    • Exact ID matches
    • Name / title matches
    • Description matches

  • Normalize scores across entity types

Create Unified Ranked Result List

  • Merge results from multiple entities
  • Sort results by relevance score
  • Enforce strict result limits for performance

Implement Single-Match Auto-Navigation Logic

  • If only one high-confidence result exists:

    • Return navigation target directly
    • Skip result list view

Define Navigation Targets

  • Map each entity type to its corresponding detail/context page
  • Include entity identifiers and routing metadata

Phase 3: API Contract & Integration

Define Search API Contract

  • Endpoint: /api/search

Request:

  • Query text

Response:

  • Entity type
  • Entity ID
  • Display title
  • Navigation URL
  • Relevance score

Integrate Role-Based Access Checks

  • Validate that the API rejects unauthorized access attempts
  • Ensure consistent authorization behavior across all entity types

Phase 4: Frontend Integration

Implement Universal Search Bar

  • Add search input to the dashboard header
  • Visible only to authenticated users
  • Trigger search on submit / Enter key

Display Unified Search Results

  • Render ranked results
  • Show entity type indicators
  • Support direct navigation on click

Handle Edge Cases

  • No results found
  • Input too short or invalid
  • Single auto-navigation scenario

Phase 5: Performance & Security Validation

Optimize Query Performance

  • Add database indexes on searchable fields
  • Validate response time ≤ 500 ms
  • Enforce strict result limits

Security Testing

  • Verify search does not expose unauthorized entities
  • Attempt cross-role searches
  • Validate no metadata leakage

Logging & Monitoring

  • Log search queries (excluding sensitive data)
  • Track latency and error rates
  • Monitor unusual or suspicious search patterns

Phase 6: QA & Validation

Create Test Scenarios

  • Role-based search access
  • Mixed keyword searches
  • Partial matches
  • Auto-navigation behavior

End-to-End Testing

  • Backend and frontend integration flow
  • Permission enforcement validation

UAT Sign-Off

  • Product validation
  • Security validation
  • Performance validation

Final Deliverables

  • Secure universal search API
  • Dashboard-integrated search bar
  • Role-aware search enforcement
  • QA test cases and supporting documentation

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