The detailed search permits you to search all coordinates of the company  eg. location, company characteristics (sales, employees), products and markets. You are asked to select or enter data values for various fields on the Detailed Search Form to create search criteria relevant to your needs. By default, the search places an "AND" between these fields. In those cases where you may select multiple values within a field, the search places an "OR" between these values.

For example, if in your search you choose

Province = Ontario, SIC = 3029, the effective search is:
"RECORDS WITH PROVINCE=ONTARIO AND SIC=3029".

Province = Ontario, SIC = 3029, 3039, 3059, the effective search is:
"RECORDS WITH PROVINCE=ONTARIO AND (SIC=3029 OR SIC=3039 OR SIC=3059)".

Province = All, SIC = 3029, Employee size = 1 to 10, 11 to 20, the effective search is:
"RECORDS WITH  SIC=3029 AND (Employee size = 1 to 10  OR Employee size = 11 to 20)".

Province = All, Marketing Alliance = Foreign, Domestic, Technology Alliance = Foreign, the effective search is:
"RECORDS WITH (Marketing Alliance = Foreign OR Marketing Alliance = Domestic) AND Technology Alliance = Foreign".

3.2.1 Company Name

You may search using the full company name or one or more words in the company name Example: a search on the word "Hudson" will find all company names containing the word "Hudson" eg. "Delta Hudson Engineering & Constructors".

If you enter a more precise term such as, "Delta Hudson", the search would be limited to only those companies containing this exact phrase.

When you search for a company, the search examines all company name fields. This includes company operating names, legal names and alternate names. The results list is presented in alphabetical order by operating name. Thus, a search on a particular name, such as, 'Management Information Resource Group Etc."(fictitious) may find the company "MIRGE" (the company's operating name). To see legal or alternate company names, select a complete or custom profile.

You may also search for a company by using a string with a wildcard character. To use this facility you must explicitly include the wildcard character in the search string. For example, you may wish to find companies with "canada" or "canadian" in their name. You can put the string "canad*" in the Company Name field as a search criterion. The "*" represents a wildcard which means "zero  or more characters in this position in the search string" is acceptable. So companies with any of the following :"canada", "canada's", "canadian", "canadians" ... would be found in this  search based on Company Name.

3.2.2 Postal Codes

You can search on a full postal code or a partial code, beginning from the left. For example, if you are interested in all companies within postal code area "K1", you can enter just these two digits and produce a list confined to this area.

3.2.3 Company Profile

This is a free text area where companies  may provide an overview description of the company and its activities, any achievements, awards, or accreditation including information on  experience and export capabilities. If a company has proficiency in working in other languages, or it has experience using certain tools, or software or management techniques, then it  may include that information here. Companies may also include information on  current marketing activities and strategy outside of Canada and some indication of priority markets. You can search this as a text area. The search engine attempts to find matches between  words used as search criteria and words within this text area. You can use wildcard characters in your search of this area.

3.2.4 SIC Code

SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) is a system for identifying and grouping together businesses that produce similar products or services. The SIC codes cover all industries in the Canadian economy from primary sectors such as agriculture, forestry and petroleum industries, through manufacturing (metal, wood, textiles, food, motor vehicles, household electronics etc.) to services (wholesale and retail distribution, finance, consulting, transportation, legal services etc.)

To find companies by SIC, if you know the SIC or a partial SIC you may enter this number in the SIC box. As well as a full 4 digit number you may enter a 1, 2, or 3 digit number, beginning from the left.

If you do not know the SIC code of an industry in which you are interested, there is a look-up feature, “Search for SIC Codes”. You may place one or more words in the look-up box and get a list of SIC codes where this word or these words appear. There is also a “More Detail” section where you will find the full description of the SIC code and the various activities associated with it. Just click on “More Details” to get this listing. You may select multiple SIC codes and then click on “Return to Form” at the bottom of the page to include these codes in your search criteria.

Note that the SIC (Standard Industrial Classification ) codes used here are the 1980 Canadian SIC codes which differ significantly from the US SIC codes. A new North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) has been negotiated and comes into effect for data being collected in 1997 and published in 2000.

3.2.5 Product/Service

Search using single words or combinations of words. If you want your search to be as broad as possible (find the greatest number of companies), use generic terms such as meat, parts, plastic, wood, legal services etc. If you want your search to be more specific, use more restrictive terms, even brand names or trade marks eg.”motor vehicle parts”, not “ parts”. If you do not find what you want, try alternative words which have a similar meaning eg. motor vehicle instead of automobile.

You may also search for a product/service by using a string with a wildcard character. To use this facility you must explicitly include the wildcard character in the search string. For example, you may wish to find product/service with "electronic" or "electrical"  or "electricity" or "electronically" in their name. You can put the string "electr*" in the product/service field as a search criterion. The "*" represents a wildcard which means "zero or more characters in this position in the search string" is acceptable. So companies with product/service containing any of the following : "electric", "electrical", "electricity", "electronic",  "electronically", "electronics" ... would be found in the  search based on Product/Service Name.

You can also search for products using the National Stock Number (NSN), the Federal Supply Class (FSC) or the National Item Identification Number (NIIN).

3.2.6 Exporter

An exporter is defined in this search option as a company that

• has export sales > $0, OR
• exports at least 1 product or service, OR
• identifies exporting experience in at least 1 foreign market.

A non-exporter is defined in this search option as a company that does not meet these exporter criteria.

You may use Exporter Yes/No in your search criteria.

• To restrict your search to EXPORTERS, select EXPORTER = Yes.
• To restrict your search to NON-EXPORTERS, select EXPORTER = No.

3.2.7 Foreign Markets

In earlier versions of the application this area was referred to as Markets in which companies were active or interested. The terminology has been modified, and, at this time, the terms experienced, active and currently exporting to are synonymous and indicate that companies are doing business in these markets.

The terms actively pursuing, interested and would like to commence exporting to are synonymous and mean that companies are ready to do business in these markets, but have not yet done business there.

Foreign Markets are non-Canadian geographic areas. You may search for companies based on their Foreign Market activities.

If you wish to find companies having  export experience in selected market(s), you MUST  select the export experience option AND then select the Market(s) of interest to you from the dropdown list.

If you wish to find companies  actively pursuing opportunities in specific market(s), you MUST  select the actively pursuing option AND then select the Market(s) of interest to you from the dropdown list.

3.2.8 Industry Sector Market Interests

You can search for companies based on the sector to which they target their products.

3.2.9 Alliances

You may search for companies who have identified an interest in establishing alliances.  These alliances may be financial, marketing or technology based and may be directed at foreign and/or domestic partners.

• Financial alliances include joint ventures, sharing expertise and investment.
• Marketing/Sales alliances include product licensing, distributor and joint marketing.
• Technology alliances include technology transfer, R&D and co-development.

 For example, if you use alliances in your search and select

a) Financial Alliance  Foreign, Domestic, the effective search is
"RECORDS WITH (Financial Alliance = Foreign OR Financial Alliance = Domestic)",

b) Financial Alliance Foreign, Technology Alliance Foreign, Domestic, the effective search is "RECORDS WITH (Financial Alliance = Foreign AND (Technology Alliance = Foreign OR Technology Alliance = Domestic))"

3.2.10 Dun and Bradstreet Number

You can search for companies based on the companies DUNS Number. The Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number is a unique nine character identification number provided by the commercial company Dun & Bradstreet.
Example: AlliedSignal has 249648056 as its Dun and Bradstreet number.

The DUNS+4 identifiers are established and maintained by the parent organization, not Dun & Bradstreet. It is used to identify different Central Contractor Registration (CCR) system and Canadian Commercial Corporation records for the same vendor at the same physical location.

3.2.11 CAGE Codes

The Commercial And Government Entity (CAGE) code is a five character ID number used extensively within the defence industries. It can be used to find Canadian companies doing business with the federal government, NATO member nations and other foreign governments.
Example: AlliedSignal has 07213 as its CAGE Code.

NSN, FSC and NIIN

Another way to search for products is using the National Stock Number or parts thereof supplied by some companies. National Stock Numbers or NATO Supply Numbers (NSN) are assigned based on the end use of the item. The configuration of the NSN is a 13-digit number e.g. 6645-00-123-4567.

The first two positions (66) identify the Federal Supply Group (FSG). The FSG is followed by two additional positions which together with the FSG form a four position Federal Supply Class (FSC). In the example cited, the Federal Supply Group 66 identifies the broad category of "measuring instruments"and 6645 narrows it down to a specific type of measuring instrument, "time measuring instruments". The last 9 positions (00-123-4567) are the National Item Identification Number (NIIN) and identify the specific item. The first two positions of the NIIN identify the NATO country code; e.g., 00 and 01 are assigned to the United States.

The NIIN does not follow as logical a sequence as the FSG and FSC do. The same NIIN is never used for more than one FSC at the same time. There are times when an item is transferred from one Center to another by changing its FSC. So it is possible you will run across an item you supplied years ago carrying the same NIIN but with a different FSC.

Because the FSC is assigned based on end use, it is possible for the same item to be in more than one FSC. For example, a cleaning compound could be assigned FSC 6850 when used for general purpose cleaning, but the same chemical composition would be assigned FSC 6750 when used as a photographic cleaner. In each case, the NIIN would be the same, but the FSC would be different.

The NSNs are assigned by Defense Logistics Support Command at Battle Creek, Mich. & DND Ottawa and are based on requests from the branch using the item. Normally, items are assigned an NSN if requisitioned three times by more than one activity using a manufacturers code and part number (non-NSN) for identification.

Quality Certification

You can search for companies that indicated they are certified to certain quality standards. For more information on the standard consult with the relevant standards body. e.g.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

Electronics Industries Alliance (EIA)

Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits (IPC)

International Organization for Standarization (ISO)

Allied Quality Assurance Publications (AQAP)- NATO

Defense Logistics Agency

3.2.14  Search with Wildcard Characters

Truncation and wildcard characters add flexibility to your searches. The search engine is designed to recognize the asterisk ("*") and underscore ("_") characters as wildcard indicators. You can use these special characters to broaden your searches using either the multiple or single character wildcard.

Wildcards are useful for searching truncation and word stems (e.g. pharm* to retrieve pharmacy, Pharmaceuticals, etc.) or variant spellings (e.g. organi_ation to retrieve organization or organisation).

Usage:

Multiple character wildcard
Substitute "*" for a sequence of zero or more characters.
i.e. to search for pharmacy and pharmaceutical, use " pharm* "

Single character wildcard
Substitute "_" for a single wildcard character
i.e. "organi_ation" will match different spellings: "organization" or "organisation"

Wildcards in multiple terms
Wildcards can be used in multiple search terms
i.e. Canad* Gov*

Wildcards in front of characters string
Wildcards can also be used in front of characters string
i.e., *national  will match different terms such as National, International
{Using this search with wildcard method may not perform as well as if you were searching with a character string followed by a wildcard character.}